By Geno McGahee
I’m a huge fan of COBRA KAI. It’s the best return to any series and it gives characters of the past some new life. The first three seasons were outstanding and the fourth was good, but it seemed to run out of a little steam. The fifth has its issues but it relies on one of the strongest characters in KARATE KID history, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), to keep it interesting.
Picking up where season 4 left off, Cobra Kai dojo has taken over the valley, Miguel (Xolo Mariduena) is off to Mexico to find his real dad and Johnny (William Zabka) and his biological son, Robby (Tanner Buchanan), are on the way to rescue him, even though Robby and Miguel have a lot of bad blood.
Kreese (Martin Kove) is still in prison after being set up by Silver and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) has closed the doors to his dojo but still wants to stop Silver in any way he can. He brings in Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) to once again team up with and Johnny is still there as well, once he returns from Mexico. The problem is that Silver will not be taken down easily and is gaining power by the minute as he absorbs all the local dojos and their students while pretending to be a really nice guy.
LaRusso becomes obsessed with Silver and it starts to hit his family very hard and he even gets his ass handed to him by Silver in a fight. Johnny finds out that he is having a child with Miguel’s mother and must now focus on making a family with Miguel, Robby, his girlfriend and the baby and it’s working well, but Karate is still part of his being and Cobra Kai is still haunting him.
The “Bad Boy of Karate” Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) returns and it was great to see him back. He is not the same man he was in KARATE KID 3. He owns a furniture store and has moved far away from karate, but when Silver finds out that he has been speaking to LaRusso, he burns down the store. My thought that Barnes would rejoin Silver and bring the deal back didn’t happen, but the direction they went with Barnes was pretty good.
I’m not a fan of Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser). She is constantly playing the victim and constantly being a bitch to Miguel. She was the one that was bouncing between Miguel and Robby and is greatly responsible for their conflict and in season five, she gives Miguel endless guilt trips. The good thing is that the character is unlikable but not annoying, which brings me to a few I could do without.
Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) is the worst part of this series. He’s not funny or likable and not believable. His comments that are supposed to be funny in serious situations never work. The series relies on a mix of drama, comedy and action but Demetri takes away whatever scene he is in.
The war of the dojos is the theme here as it’s been from the start, but Silver is such a killer villain. Griffith plays the role so well and he’s the character that you love to hate. He is so determined to make his dojo the best in the world that he brings in masters from Asia to teach the students the art. It seems like an unstoppable team, but LaRusso assembles his own.
LaRusso, Johnny, Chozen and the students of the two dojos are going to give one more shot to take down Cobra Kai, leading to some great action sequences and some outstanding moments where Silver gets to be sinister or charming to win people over.
COBRA KAI: SEASON FIVE is a lot of fun. The good heavily outweighs the bad. I loved seeing Johnny and Mike Barnes meet up and get along. It would have been better had Barnes joined the trio sooner because the amount of gold that could have been there with Barnes and Johnny would have made the series better.
The best thing about this series is Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver. John Kreese is a great villain and he’s great this season, but Silver sells this so well. He’s charming at times and then menacing, and Macchio does a great job working off of him. When you add the ending with Barnes, Johnny, LaRusso and Chozen teaming up, it really hits high gear and is enjoyable.
I really liked COBRA KAI: SEASON FIVE. It was still binge-worthy and fun, but there was some padding I could have lived without. When it’s good it’s great but it can also turn into a mediocre teen drama at times as well. The series might be running out of steam, but I’m still eager to see where they will take it from here.
