COBRA KAI Season 3 Ultimate Spoiler-Filled Rundown and Review
Cobra Kai Season 3 has finally arrived. My husband and I binged it and finished it all on New Year’s Day, and we are so happy to have watched it, but so sad that it’s over. The season was full of great nostalgic callbacks to the original films and a propulsive storyline that leaves us clamoring for Season 4! Before I dig into it, I have to remind you that this is a spoiler-heavy review that will point out all the things you need to know, as well as point out a couple of things you may have missed, so proceed with that knowledge.
Episode one drops us off a couple of weeks after the school brawl that landed Miguel in a coma, where he remains. Robby is on the run, and no one has heard from him. Daniel’s business and family are the valley pariah, and Johnny has gone off the deep end, as he has left Cobra Kai to Kreese and is is a constant drunken stupor. The kids are clashing at school, and we see the first hint of Sam realizing she is having panic attacks associated with the trauma she went through during the fight and its aftermath. Daniel gets a lead on where Robby might be, and while it doesn’t pan out, we see Daniel reaching out to Johnny to see if they can help Robby together. Daniel also confronts Kreese, to no avail, and Johnny sneaks in to see Miguel. The episode ends with us seeing Miguel wake up from his coma.
This was a great intro into each of the characters’ struggles this season, and it laid the groundwork for what’s to come. This season has a couple of new storylines, digging into the past of John Kreese, who started out as a kind and quiet young man, with mental health issues running in his family. He headed off to Vietnam and it seems to be there that a switch was flipped in him. When he finds out that his girlfriend was killed in a car accident back home, and he is faced with a fight to the death against his commanding officer at the hands of the enemy, he is pushed to the brink, and is seemingly never the same.
Robby’s mom reappears in the series, this time as a friend of Daniel and Amanda, and a resident at a rehab facility, looking to get her life back on track. We see that the aftermath of the brawl left Tori and Robby expelled and on probation after Robby serves some juvenile detention time. Tori is working two jobs and taking care of her brother and mom, who is on dialysis.
Johnny and Daniel burn their bridge once again after getting into a fight with a garage-full of criminals, and Johnny takes things too far. Johnny throws all of his energy into Miguel, and after an epic concert (and successful surgery), they realize Miguel has the movement back in his feet.
Meanwhile, Daniel’s business is failing, and he learns that his rival has secured a contract with a Japanese car company that will leave him without a deal he previously relied on. This takes Daniel to Japan to try to secure a deal. When the meeting doesn’t go well, he travels to Okinawa to visit the home of Mr. Miyagi and the land he visited over 30 years ago. This reunites him with Karate Kid Part II characters Kumiko and Chozen. His former nemesis teaches him the final lessons of Mr. Miyagi, and Kumiko shows Daniel the letters that Mr. Miyagi had sent in the years before he died that talk about how much Daniel and his family meant to him. Kumiko then surprises Daniel with a reunion with Yuna, the little girl that Daniel rescued all those years ago in the storm, who happens to run international sales for the car company Daniel is looking to partner with.
The season builds tension between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai kids, erupting with more than one brawl, and resulting in a fractured group that joins Miyagi-Do and Johnny’s new group, Eagle Fang, against Kreese and his dwindling gang, led by Robby and Tori. The season welcomes back Elisabeth Shue from The Karate Kid as Ali. This was such a great addition to the story. Fans have been hoping for a long time that she would reprise her role, thinking that maybe she and Johnny would finally get their chance. She returns right after Johnny finally solidifies his relationship with Miguel’s mom, and while the writers could have gone the predictable course, having her throw a wrench in that budding relationship, or the marriage of Daniel and Amanda, she pleasantly just returns as a friend and blast from the past to the characters, and her kindness and honest intentions make the episodes she appears in feel light, happy and refreshing.
The season ends with a saved tournament, and a Kreese who cannot be taken down, despite Daniel and Johnny’s best intentions. We are left with the threat of the impending tournament, which won’t hit us until season 4, and a combined dojo at Mr. Miyagi’s home, with senseis Johnny and Daniel joining forces.
This was a badass season that was so full of great story. My one issue was the confusing brutality of Kreese and the students he was training. They seemed to be stopped only by broken bones, and the intervention of others before literally committing murder. I understand kicking your opponent’s ass, but they truly take it several steps too far, as well as get away with breaking and entering, theft, and damage to property on top of all the assault that can often be seen as attempted murder. The strengths of this season were the characters who surprised us, the storylines that teased an obvious arc, then took a left turn, and the realness of the characters who struggled with mental health, physical impairments, and self-loathing which they turned into motivation. It was fantastic to see the character Hawk, a once lovable and sympathetic character, who had turned into a psycho in the last two seasons, finally come out of that, and return to his true friends. The best part was the team-up of Daniel and Johnny. We knew all along that they had it in them, and with their common enemy in their sights, and both of their focus and priorities having been worked out over the seasons, it was the perfect time to make it happen.
After waiting a year and 9 months for this season after the pandemic and the move to Netflix, and being left once again on a major cliffhanger, I am pumped for them to come back and give us another season. One small part in the final episode which really leaves us wondering is Kreese’s phone call to his Army friend who he saved in the flashback earlier in the episode. This friend essentially told Kreese in that scene that he owes him his life, and Kreese seems to be calling in a favor. Is this a new character, or someone we’ve seen in the films before? What is Kreese up to, and how will this call affect the next season?
Next season, I’m hoping for longer episodes at the new streamer, and an epic defeat of John Kreese. I’m also hoping for some peace in the lives of Robby and Tori. Their characters have made some terrible choices, but it feels like they are products of their difficult lives. There is definitely so much more to delve into, and I can’t wait to see it all unfold.
Cobra Kai seasons 1-3 are available to watch on Netflix now.