This review is for all episodes of Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1.

I've been on board with Cobra Kai from the very beginning. I remember subscribing to YouTube Red specifically so I could watch the series when it was first released on that platform in 2018. I kept that subscription through the second season before the sequel series eventually moved to its new home on Netflix where it gained a much wider audience. As a kid who had grown up watching the Karate Kid movies over and over again on VHS, this was a series aimed specifically at me. I found myself immediately drawn back into the world of martial arts competition and the All Valley Karate Championship; But as the series enters its sixth and final season, it feels like an appropriate time to close the doors to the Cobra Kai dojo once and for all.

Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) have teamed up to combine their skills and different styles into a unique dojo. As many of the karate students are about to graduate from high school and start planning their futures, the realization that this may be their last chance to prove themselves on the mat is becoming increasingly clear. But in the world of karate, nothing is ever as easy as it seems, and there is always a worthy opponent standing in their way to victory.

Part of what makes Cobra Kai work so well is its shift in perspective and narrative. While Johnny Lawrence is the undisputed villain in the original film, we see a different side of him in Cobra Kai. He is a simple man. His priorities are questionable, his social skills are subpar, and his maturity level maxed out in high school. Yet, in spite of all this, he maintains an amiability and amiability which endear him to our better judgment. Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother always championed Johnny Lawrence as the hero and true "Karate Kid," and this series allows us all to better understand that perspective.