The Karate Kid continuation series Cobra Kai is still going strong five seasons in, reigniting old martial arts feuds throughout the San Fernando Valley while a new generation of fighters steps up. After closing its fourth season last year on a cliffhanger, the series is back to wrap up unfinished business, mixing martial arts action with coming-of-age humor. Despite launching the season with a rough and uneven set of opening episodes, Cobra Kai Season 5 is back to its old glory when it tightens its narrative focus as the season progresses.
As the villainous Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) tightens his grip on the fighting community in the San Fernando Valley following his dojo's shocking tournament victory, Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) travels to Mexico to meet his long-lost father. Eagle Fang sensei Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) heads south of the border to find the wayward teen before he gets into trouble, while Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) plot Cobra Kai's downfall. This all leads to a fierce set of martial arts showdowns as the feud between the dojos escalates to its bloodiest and most conniving levels yet.
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There is a sense that the creative team behind Cobra Kai is taking bigger swings with the show going into its fifth season rather than relying entirely on its established formula and nostalgia for the Karate Kid films. The hits come a little harder, and more blood is spilled than before, while the language is a bit more noticeably coarse while still staying in line with the broader sensibilities of the show. The Cobra Kai cast and, presumably, its audience are growing older, and there is a more mature undertone to the show as it continues to grow and evolve over time.
That said, there are plenty of big fights and character-driven moments that have endeared Cobra Kai to millions of fans around the world for years. Daniel and Johnny encounter some familiar faces from their past as Terry's manipulative campaign expands, and that leads to a genuine sense of stakes and peril this time around. Season 5 is all about escalation, and that theme carries over to the fights, which are more tightly choreographed and visceral in their delivery than some of Season 4's more disposable fight sequences.
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Where Cobra Kai Season 5 falters is its clumsy attempt to wrap up the cliffhanger ending from the Season 4 finale, stumbling on connecting with these big storytelling swings. Cobra Kai has succeeded in taking its narrative out of California before, most notably with Season 3's detour to Okinawa, but the Mexican interlude is perhaps the clumsiest set of episodes in the series to date. Once this plot thread is resolved, the show is firing on all cylinders again, but it is a rough way to come out the gate for the season.
As gleefully over-the-top as ever once Season 5 gets its momentum going, Cobra Kai remains just as entertaining and is an all-around improvement over its fourth season. Sporting a relatively harder edge than in previous arcs, Season 5 continues the show's love letter to The Karate Kid Part III than began in Season 4 and satisfyingly delivers on several major plot lines. Though there is a feeling that the revival series has played out its biggest and best tricks, Cobra Kai still knows how to show its fans a good time as it continues its winning streak.
Created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, Cobra Kai Season 5 premieres Sept. 9 on Netflix.