With the original The Karate Kid movie airing in June of 1984 followed by second and third movies, the beginning of the series Cobra Kai started in May of 2018. The newest season, season four, was released on December 31, 2021. Cobra Kai is mostly about the two main martial artists, Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso. It continues their constant head-to-head fights, starting with the original martial arts from 1984 to their dojos going at it in 2021. From what went to one dojo, to two dojos, to three dojos by season four, there is bound to be one going home by season five.

In previous seasons, the plot and endings of each episode flowed and built from one episode to the next, which is different from season four. Personally, I think there could have been a smoother transition to the next episode. I understood what was going on, but the plot was spread out and didn’t have much substance to it. Like every other season, there seemed to be one big fight at the end with several problems and issues that built up to it. There were two new characters introduced this season. Mr. Silver used to work with Cobra Kai’s new central sensei John Kreese. A middle school protagonist, Kenny, gets bullied, hence him joining Cobra Kai and getting mini-lessons from Robby Keene, Sensei Lawrence’s son. 

Halfway through the series, there was a dispute which resulted in two separate divisions, boys and girls, at the All-Valley tournament. In previous episodes, there has been one big winter, with boys and girls combined. One thing I really wished for was something unexpected and eye-opening instead of the finale always being a tournament, which it was. Hawk of Eagle Fang, taught by Sensei Lawrence, won the boys division, and Tory of Cobra Kai won the female division, which was predictable. Sam LaRusso had a lot of talk throughout the season, so I wasn’t surprised when she lost the female division.

Overall, I didn’t find anything eye-opening throughout the season. The biggest thing that might’ve surprised me was Miguel’s newfound search for his father, which will most likely lead into season five. I hope in season five that there will be more action rather than the same talk there has been in the previous seasons. I would recommend watching this if you are bored one weekend and there is nothing else to watch on Netflix. I would give this a 7/10 because it was somewhat interesting, but I don’t feel like anything was too new. If you take a martial arts class or anything revolving around it, this series will most likely appeal to you.

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