The Final Episodes of Cobra Kai Are Here on Netflix

The final five episodes of Cobra Kai are now on Netflix, marking the end of an almost seven-year journey deep into the world of The Karate Kid. We’ve held Cobra Kai near and dear to our hearts since the beginning, and these episodes are the cherry on top. The black belt around the waist before your final match. Are they perfect? Almost! We definitely have a few nitpicks but, more than not, watching the story of Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do end was an incredibly rewarding, entertaining experience that hit all the right punches. And kicks.

What We Loved

Johnny Lawrence

By the end of Cobra Kai, one thing is more than certain—this show was about Johnny Lawrence. It certainly began that way back at the start, but as the story went on, Johnny and Daniel kind of ended up sharing the spotlight. Here though, in the final episodes, Johnny came back to the forefront, and it was glorious. We see him grow up as he becomes a father again and asks Carmen to marry him (the montage of him bettering himself is perfect). He gets to unload his trauma from Sensai Kreese (with probably Zabka’s best acting across the entire series), and, of course, he wins the Sekai Taiki by beating the unbeatable Sensei Wolf. Plus, he does that by going against his Crane Kick instincts—a perfect piece of character-building slash nostalgic payoff. We all think he’s going to crane kick. Of course, he should crane kick. But his not doing it, and learning from that moment, is everything for both Johnny and Cobra Kai as a whole.

“You’re the Best”

We’d been waiting years for it. An occasion big enough, a moment grand enough, for Cobra Kai to bring back Karate Kid’s most famous song. And boy did the show find it in the finale, as we watch Daniel LaRusso train Johnny Lawerence for the biggest match of his life. It’s one of those moments you have to pinch yourself as you watch because you can’t believe it’s happening.

The Rebirth of Cobra Kai

Back to the good stuff! At the end of the day, the show is called Cobra Kai, not The Karate Kid. So it was pretty magical how all the pieces are moved into place at the end for Miguel to join Tori back on Cobra Kai, for Johnny to once again become their sensei, and for Daniel to put on the black and yellow one more time. All of which then leads to a Cobra Kai victory, launching it into a new stratosphere, along with its partnership with Miyagi-Do. The very final moment during the credits, in which Daniel and Johnny continue to talk about their students, is such a beautiful note to end on. The legacy left by these two will go on forever.

Smart, More Subtle Nostalgia

Cobra Kai has always been filled with lots of big, obvious winks back to the original series and these episodes are no exception. From “You’re the Best” song to bringing back Darryl Vidal as the ref and the chopsticks, there are plenty of big callbacks to go around. But these final episodes went really hard on the smaller stuff too. Throw away lines like “You did well out there young man,” or the mailman wanting to bring his wife to Miyagi’s backyard, are subtle but obvious to superfans. Miguel racing to catch Sam on her way to Okinawa is another. There are probably more we’ll catch watching again. But it was just a perfect balance of nostalgia. (Oh, and anyone complaining that Hilary Swank’s Julie Pierce didn’t show up, rewatch that movie. It’s so bad that I’m very glad she didn’t come back and remind us of it.)

In Conclusion…

Sure, the signs at the tournament were kind of lame. And yes, maybe Kreese and Silver died a bit over-dramatically. Nevertheless, these final episodes of Cobra Kai were absolutely wonderful. They worked incredibly hard to pay off things fans of the original Karate Kid wanted, while also giving every single character a meaningful place to grow. And, in the end, the show lived up to its original idea—what if the bad guy from The Karate Kid wasn’t that bad of a guy? Johnny Lawrence isn’t a bad guy. He’s a great guy. And, now he’s the owner of the world’s most famous dojo: Cobra Kai. The way it probably always should have been. Even Mr. Miyagi would give that a very enthusiastic smile and nod.