Issue 27: Summer edition ☀️

Coda

“I want you to hate eachother but in a friendly way.” -Johnny Lawrence (Cobra Kai)

I’m switching it up again, or as Johnny Lawrence would say “flipping the script” and doing something a little different. Instead of a film, I’m covering a series; specifically, the first part of its final season. You know the saying, “all good things ...” In the case of this week’s review, the adjective gets a black belt to “all great things.” Today, I’m looking at the first-third of the last sixth of Cobra Kai, which being five episodes (out of 15), would make it 1/13th of the series or 0.076923. If that’s too much math, just know we’re at the beginning of the end to one of the greatest sequels ever produced.

-John

Moving Forward

Episode 476: Summer movie series: Cobra Kai season 6, part 1

Catch this week’s episode on Spotify.

Moving Forward is also available on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, CastBox, Pocket Casts, Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor), and Audible.

2024 Summer movie series

Cobra Kai season 6, part 1 (****)

[Before you read on: for purposes of this review, I’m assuming you have watched this show. So if you haven’t seen Cobra Kai, close your email, go watch it, and come back later. You have been duly warned.]

Moment of truth (pun intended). Cobra Kai could have ended at season five. When we last saw our heroes, they had defeated the plans of Terry Silver who had co-opted Cobra Kai from John Kreese, and brought an end to the karate wars that stretched out over four seasons.

Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen took back the Valley while the kids resolved their differences. Sure, there were lingering plot threads, including a global karate tournament ahead but the major arcs were tied up nicely. The season had a conclusory feel to it, and five felt like a good chapter to end on.

However, I knew that a sixth season was coming as it had already been announced shortly after the fifth debuted. I was curious, and admittedly a little worried as to whether the show was stretching itself a little too thin. Cobra Kai had been so consistently good season after season that I didn’t want it to go the way of other shows that had overstayed their welcome.

I’m pleased to say that I haven’t learned my lesson from 2018; when I went into the first season a skeptic and came out a devoted fan. While season six is not the magical reunion of the first nor the satisfying world building of the fourth (my personal favorite), so far it is a wonderful coda to a series that has proven itself to be “the best around.”

In music, a coda is a concluding section; one that remixes and revisits prior themes. In film and television, codas provide the same function but are not simply concluding chapters or installments. They often serve as love letters to characters and fans. Codas are a last hurrah, an encore that reminds us why we love the beats of the original.

Take the Rocky franchise for example. Putting aside for a moment that the fifth entry wasn’t a great film, it was a conclusion for Rocky’s story and the saga as a whole. However, 16 years later we got Rocky Balboa, a much more satisfactory farewell* to the titular character. It was a surprise given that no one had expected one more round with Rocky. This is how I think of codas in film and television. They serve as postscripts, allowing fans to spend a little more time with beloved characters. A less successful example is The Godfather Part III. The first two Godfather films are complete stories, with Part II being an unfettered conclusion to Michael Corleone’s tale. However, Francis Ford Coppola came back 16 years later with The Godfather Part III, allowing us to revisit Michael and the Corleone family one last time. It added some new layers to the story, and greater depth to our understanding of the characters. Notably, Coppola recut the film in 2020, retitling it The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, further moving away from the idea that it is a part III.

Similarly, Cobra Kai season six feels like a postscript, an epilogue to a complete story that allows us to spend a little more time with beloved characters and lore. It continues some lingering plot threads such as the aforementioned tournament, and dives deep into established relationships while building new ones. But really, this is simply a wonderful way to wrap the show with a bow and say goodbye to characters that we genuinely enjoy watching on screen.

While season five could have served as a satisfactory conclusion, leaving room for a film or spinoff to carry the mantle, one last season is a welcome treat even if some of the beats are familiar and the story not quite as grand as prior seasons. This feels like seeing your high school friends at a summer barbecue one last time before heading off to college. That many of the younger characters are approaching that exact time in their lives is poetic.

Rocky’s coda corrected a misstep while Godfather’s attempted to recapture the magic of the prior films. If the next two parts of Cobra Kai season six delivers as satisfying a punch as the first, I believe it will carve its own unique legacy as a coda. If season five can be seen as this show’s “Godfather Part II,” then season six could end up being its “Rocky Balboa.”

Finally, I know I’m in the minority but I’m glad we’re getting an extended season spread out over three parts. If anything, I would have preferred that Netflix rip off the proverbial bandage in favor of a weekly release schedule rather than mini-binge batches; just so we could savor these last moments with this stellar cast.

While season six may not have been wholly necessary, I’m glad we got it nonetheless. It’s a beautiful bow on top of the great present that is Cobra Kai. Few franchises earn the level of praise and adoration that warrants a coda. This is one of them.

Cast:

• Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso

• William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence

• Yuji Okumoto as Chozen Taguchi

• Xolo Maridueña as Miguel Diaz

• Mary Mouser as Samantha Larusso

• Tanner Buchanan as Robby Keane

• Peyton List as Tory Nichols

• Courtney Hengeler as Amanda LaRusso

• Martin Kove as John Kreese

• Alicia Hannah Kim as Kim Da Eun

Supporting cast:

• Vanessa Rubio as Carmen

• Gianni DeCenzo as Demetri

• Jacob Bertrand as Eli (aka “Hawk”)

• Dallas Dupree Young as Kenny

• Oona O’Brien as Devon Lee

Cobra Kai season 6, part 1 (2024) is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 will drop on November 15, 2024, and part 3 sometime in 2025. You can also binge the prior five seasons on Netflix or purchase them on physical media from Amazon (affiliate paid link).

[*As Creed is a spinoff series with Rocky being a supporting character, I consider Rocky Balboa the true farewell to Rocky as a main character.]

2024 Summer movie series

Thoughts on The Karate Kid (2025)

As we’re celebrating the end of a fantastic run with Cobra Kai, we’re also looking ahead to a new feature film coming out sometime next year. Strangely, there isn’t much synergistic talk between the two projects. The reason is that this won’t be a sequel to Cobra Kai. Instead, it’s been billed as a follow-up to the original Karate Kid film from 1984.

It’s a head scratcher that none of the Cobra Kai creators, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald, are involved with it. Instead, Sony’s film division greenlit the project to another writer and director. The question is why? Given that Cobra Kai is such a beloved show, one that resurrected a long dormant franchise, it seems fitting that those responsible for its success should be handed the keys to any feature films or spinoffs. As discussed above, season five could have been a proper conclusion to the show with lingering storylines such as the world tournament, being left for a feature film. That would have been a logical graduation and evolution of the franchise.

Instead, we’re getting a film that will purportedly be set on the east coast, bringing Daniel LaRusso into the story and canonizing the 2010 remake by adding Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han to the mix. The problem is that fans expecting to see a true Cobra Kai follow-up won’t get that.

I have nothing against the 2010 remake, and enjoyed it as a wholly separate retelling of the 1984 film. The key word being separate. That film never interfered with my love of the original or competed against it because it was simply an iteration of the underlying story for a new generation. By the same token, I always viewed Cobra Kai as the proper continuation of the original film’s canon. They were separate and distinct. But now, we will be getting a film that George Costanza would call “worlds colliding.” The issue is that Daniel LaRusso is so much more than the protagonist from the first film. Through two sequels and six seasons of Cobra Kai he is a more realized and fully fleshed out character. To have him appear in a film that doesn’t connect to the show or simply leg sweeps it under the rug as “history that’s not spoken of” runs the risk of alienating fans, many of whom have come to know Daniel through Cobra Kai. At best, we’ll get a movie that won’t contradict anything established in the show. At worst, it will be a jarringly disconnected story with Daniel LaRusso in it.

I can’t help but be skeptical at what we’ll end up with. If we can’t have the Cobra Kai braintrust whose track record is unsurpassed in charge of the films, I would have preferred that this movie keep itself separate. Having Mr. Han is fine but why add Daniel if only to entice Cobra Kai fans without giving them what they truly want? And let’s be clear, the reason Daniel is in this movie is because of Cobra Kai’s success. The demographic of fans clamoring for a follow-up to the 1984 film that disregards or minimizes Cobra Kai is as big as what’s under this 🔍. As such, I would have preferred that a new big screen feature be a true sequel to the beloved series -OR- the 2010 film rather than some halfway attempt to mash both into the same continuity. However, I’ll reserve final judgment until it comes out. That Ralph Macchio who is very protective about his character and the franchise agreed to join the project does provide hope. And admittedly, I was very wrong about my initial skepticism of Cobra Kai. I hope I’m proven wrong again and true to this saga, it ends up being an underestimated underdog that exceeds all expectations.

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A catalog of cars that Johnny Lawrence would appreciate

Quirky reads 📚

Some great books to fill your summer hours. 

[Affiliate disclosure: these are affiliate links to Amazon through which I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.]

• Shogun: Part Two by James Clavell (*****)

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Books

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• The Poshmark Guide for Individuals and Small Businesses (Paperback, Kindle, Audible) 

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• The Corporate Cliches Adult Coloring Book

• I Am a Professional Metalhead (audiobook) (Audible affiliate link) written by Angelo Spenillo, narrated by John Lim

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