Created By: Josh Heald

Rating: 3/5

Beloved Netflix original series “Cobra Kai” released its fifth season on September 9 this year and fans couldn’t be more excited to see where their favorite karate kids are now.

For those who are not familiar with the show, “Cobra Kai” is a spinoff of the “Karate Kid” trilogy. The show follows karate kid Daniel LaRusso and rival Johnny Lawrence as their feud turns into a battle of both of their respective dojos. Now, that’s how the show began, but every season seems to completely change the dynamic of the show’s characters. For those who have not yet seen “Cobra Kai”, a major spoiler alert is in effect.

This season introduces audiences to Chosen, who worked with Daniel LaRusso’s mentor, Mr. Myagi, in Japan. Johnny and Daniel need the extra power to tackle Cobra Kai leader, Silver. Fans watch the Myagi Fang students quit karate, break up with each other, and battle Cobra Kai to make their way back into the All-Valley tournament as a dojo. Another fan favorite storyline was Johnny and his wife Carmen having their first child together. It is extremely endearing to see Johnny in a more mature role and taking responsibility as well as moving on from his reckless acts. Without giving away too much of the season, season five is definitely a change of scenery from the previous four seasons fans have known and loved.

In an interview with actor Martin Kove, creator Josh Heald claims, “It’s probably our most untraditional season yet in terms of what we’ve set up vs. what we’re paying off.”

Regarding the season’s character dynamics, season five had audiences questioning who likes who. The students of Myagi Fang and Cobra Kai have intermingled romantically on and off and in so many different combinations that at this point it’s confusing and drawn out. When character relationships that don’t have a strong base are inconsistent, there is no rooting for them. This season was primarily based around the adult characters of the show. This creative decision saved the season.

“Season 5 is going to surprise a lot of people, I’ll just say that,” Heald said. “In terms of theories and what could happen, there are some obvious things that we’ve laid out at the end of season 4 that can start connecting some dots and saying I think this then this. But I’ll be shocked if people really put the full picture together of what we did with season 5.”

That being said, the stunt choreography this season is starting to diminish from what audiences have seen in prior seasons. There were minimal fight scenes and when they were included they seemed just a little too fake. So where do we go from here? Even though fans speculate an end to the “Cobra Kai” series in the near future, the series still includes many of the elements “Karate Kid” and “Cobra Kai” fans know and love.

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