Following a mind-blowing third season, Cobra Kai continues to deliver on its content, where tensions are high between rivals and characters reflect on their dilemmas. The series itself has already proven itself to be exceedingly entertaining and better than the movies. Also, it could be argued that each season keeps getting better.
Many fans will find that the latest season does an exceptional job in its quality, nailing several character arcs and bringing nostalgia. Despite an enthralling season, the previous seasons could be considered superior for other reasons, especially with its original and creative storytelling.
Season 3 Is Best: Bringing Back Old Characters
There is no denying that the return of older characters from the movie franchises made several fans excited. Considering the show already featured veterans like Johnny Lawrence, Daniel LaRusso, and John Kreese, fans hoped that other characters could appear, such as Ali Mills.
The third season saw the comeback of older characters like the aforementioned Ali, Kumiko, and Chozen. Therefore, their appearance made the third season reflect on the importance and nostalgia of the movie franchise. Now, fans anticipate that more characters from the films will appear, such as Terry Silvers and Mike Barnes.
Other Seasons Are Better: The Originality
A spin-off series benefits when the content is new and diverts from the movie. While the film franchise always saw karate and even characters in black and white, the series benefitted from the message and storytelling that not everything appears as they seem with some grey area.
The series also has original characters like Miguel Diaz and Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz. While Miguel looks to have lots in common with Daniel LaRusso's origin story, it also reflects a different side of a character in their introduction to karate and showing a different perspective of karate outside Miyagi-Do.
Season 3 Is Best: The Humor
The series benefits from the humor, especially by Johnny Lawrence. He has several great one-liners that have fans chuckling in terms of his savagery and nonsensical statements. Regardless, several of the funniest moments never feel forced and work well with the series.
With the tension in the third season, the humor was necessary to balance the tone without feeling overwhelming. The funny insults by Johnny elevated the mood when he was at his lowest point. Other characters were also pretty hilarious this season. Chozen faking his final move on Daniel was a great callback to the movies, which had several viewers smiling.
Other Seasons Are Better: Realism Of Pacing
The latest season struggled a bit with the story's pacing and handling of subplots. Previous seasons are pretty focused, where each character arc intertwines into one anticipated finale. It benefits from taking the time to narrate the story, with the appropriate pacing and development.
Though the third season did not suffer too much of this issue, the pacing problem was quite noticeable. Characters like Demetri and Miguel dealt with health injuries where it would take more time to recover. However, both characters were fine in just two episodes, which looks to be about no more than a month within the series. Also, several other subplots like the LaRusso's dealership issues and Robby in the detention center were rushed and ended in just a few episodes.
Season 3 Is Best: Strong Character Development
The character development of several characters was undeniably strong. The series performs well in writing complicated character arcs like Johnny Lawrence. However, the recent season focused on other character developments for karate trainees that dealt with their imminent struggles.
Robby and Hawk both took a U-turn in their allegiance. Robby turned to the dark side, while Hawk redeemed himself as a humane person who realized Cobra Kai is dangerous. Daniel LaRusso grappled with karate and felt lost without Mr. Miyagi's wisdom, which required a trip to Okinawa, Japan, and found an awakening. Surprisingly, the season also saw the backstory of Kreese when he was in the Vietnam War, which reflected on his transformation leading to Kreese's ruthlessness.
Other Seasons Are Better: The Use Of Secondary Characters
With a show that consists of many main characters, the secondary characters play a big role in assisting their story arcs. Cobra Kai's secondary characters like Kyler and Yasmin first appeared in the first season as bullies that inspired characters like Hawk and Aisha to learn karate. However, both secondary characters were absent because they contributed little to the second season, making the story arcs consistent for other characters.
The third season marked the return of both Kyler and Yasmin, but their appearances were underwhelming. Yasmin was used as a possible love interest for Demetri, but it contributed nothing to his character arc. While Kyler had a larger presence on Hawk's character development, he was not intimidating enough to make much of a difference.
Season 3 Is Best: More Developed Relationships
While the show depicts several rivalries, many amicable and romantic relationships have fans rooting for them. In the third season, viewers saw a different side to some of the relationships following the conflicts and challenges witnessed in the second season.
Johnny and Miguel remain a favorite relationship as they have a father and son style bond. The third season took a different take on their relationship, highlighting loyalty between the two, similar to Mr. Miyagi and Daniel LaRusso. Daniel had a growing and supporting relationship with his daughter, Sam, and his wife, Amanda. Other relationships were complicated, especially for Robby Keene, who turns his back on Daniel and joins Kreese, which was foreshadowed throughout the season.
Other Seasons Are Better: The Intensity Between Rivals
With the rivalry between Daniel and Johnny reigniting after three decades, more rivalries formed. These growing rivalries reflect on the philosophical differences between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do Karate. Since then, feuds strengthened as each rival increasingly could not tolerate the other, including Miguel vs. Robby, Sam vs. Tory, and Demetri vs. Hawk.
Some of these rivalries eased in the third season. Robby vs. Miguel took a pause, considering both boys were dealing with personal issues. Daniel and Johnny briefly allied for a bit before parting ways, and their rivalry was not as intense as previous seasons. While a few remained intense, like Sam vs. Tory and Demetri vs. Hawk, it is still noticeable that intense rivalries were mitigated with lightened feuds.
Season 3 Is Best: The Highly Anticipated & Captivating Karate Fights
The third season had some of the best karate fights that were choreographically pristine. Now that both Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do have talented and skilled fighters, the stakes were high, and the tension between the dojos heightened.
Fans were treated to another karate battle in the season finale, but of course, the most anticipated was the fight between Johnny and Kreese. With Johnny angry about the actions of Kreese, Johnny finally overpowered Kreese, which is a big part of his redemption. Also, Daniel joining the fight against Kreese was electrifying, where he used the Miyagi move to paralyze Kreese and almost took him out.
Other Seasons Are Better: The Execution Leading To Karate Fights
Technically speaking, karate fights are not relatively common to see in the real world outside of tournaments. Despite the impracticalities, the first two seasons managed to execute the buildup of karate fight scenes in a believable way. In the first season, most of the fight scenes occurred at dojos and the tournament. Though less realistic, the second season still made sense of the moments leading up to the karate fight at the West Valley High School, with Tory enraged at Sam for stealing her boyfriend.
Unfortunately, the buildup to the karate fights in the third season was odd. The fights occurred in random places, such as the arcade and at the LaRusso's home. While the karate battles were intense and thrilling to watch, they still did not make sense.