Heading into the second part of the final season of Cobra Kai, the Miyagi-Do dojo is in a bit of disarray, with its senseis and students in a state of tension as they head to Barcelona for the Sekai Taikai.
The alliance between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) is strained, at best, after the events of the first five episodes, and Cobra Kai is coming along with Kreese (Martin Kove) tapping Tory (Peyton List) to join his squad, too. So what does that portend for the episodes ahead?
Co-creator Jon Hurwitz told TV Insider that he likens the current state of Johnny and Daniel’s frenemance to that of feuding spouses, explaining, “It became clear that Johnny isn’t gonna be able to fully embrace Miyagi-Do in the long term. And Daniel’s sort of off balance because of the whole Miyagi thing and snapping at Johnny and punching him. I think they’ve kind of had enough of each other, at least on Johnny’s side, and they’ve agreed to stay together for the kids. In a sense, they’re in a bad marriage, but they’re gonna stay together for the kids until they’re through with this tournament thing.”
Fans will have to wait and see whether the two are able to save face in front of their squad or not and whether it’ll have an impact on the students’ performance on the world stage.
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Meanwhile, theirs isn’t the only relationship on the bubble in this set. Now that Tory’s on Team Cobra Kai, there’s no chance that she and Robby (Tanner Buchanan) can fulfill their plan of winning the whole thing together as a couple, so can their romance even survive?
“It’s not gonna be as easy,” co-creator Josh Heald said of the dynamic that they’ll deal with in the tournament. “You’re kind of trapped on a cruise ship essentially. And there’s a ton of kids, and there’s a ton of new faces, and there’s a ton of rivalry already and some new ones that are going to naturally develop. So it’s kind of like going on spring break when you’re going through something — not exactly the best possible situation. And add to that they all have the expectation of winning for their teams and keeping their heads in the game. So never a great idea to have emotional strife when you have a big important project, too.”
“As is typical with Cobra Kai, we try to dial up all the conflict at the worst possible times just to see how explosive things can get,” Heald added.
For Hayden Schlossberg, the biggest appeal of the second stretch of the season is the new and enhanced martial artistry that fans will get to see on display in the world tournament setting.
“We’re excited for fans to check out these next five episodes because they contain some of the highest levels of martial arts that the franchise has had up to this point,” he teased. “All the actors you’ve been following for the past five-plus seasons are at the top of their game, and we’re about to inject next-level martial artists their age and also their sensei’s age into the story. While the story is covering this top-level karate tournament, we actually do have just amazing martial artists and there’s gonna be just an explosive five episodes where the fighting is gonna reach the next level.”
In other words, get ready to see some new hotshots from around the globe and major infighting with our local heroes when Cobra Kai returns next month.
Cobra Kai, Season 6 Part 2, November 15, Netflix
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