Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 recaps

We’re in the endgame now, with Cobra Kai fast approaching its climax – here’s how the final series kicks off, with recaps of the first five episodes of Season 6.

The final season of Cobra Kai is also the longest, with an extended release schedule that lasts into 2025, as our how to watch guide explains. The first six minutes of Cobra Kai are also already online, while our Part 1 ending explainer is here.

The series has been a resounding success for Netflix since the streamer acquired the show from YouTube, with Ralph Macchio playing a more mature Daniel LaRusso, and William Zabka a revelation as the hilarious Johnny Lawrence.

The pair rarely see eye-to-eye, arguing – and sometimes even fighting – their way through the first five seasons in some superb action sequences. But the dynamic duo are working together as we move into Season 6, and here’s how that plays out. So SPOILERS AHEAD…

Cobra Kai Season 6 Episode 1: ‘Peacetime in the Valley’

The big news at the start of Season 6 – and what will clearly be the driving force behind Parts 1 and 2 – is Daniel and Johnny entering their students into a global tournament called the Sekai Taikai.

But first they’ve got to decide what to call their joint dojo, with Johnny remaining loyal to Eagle Fang, and Daniel wanting Mr. Miyagi’s name and legacy to live on. Meaning yes, they are back to arguing again.

The teens also start the season at odds, with Kenny Payne and brother starting a brawl in a baseball cage, though that’s quickly sorted. Meanwhile, Samantha and Tory are in the midst of a truce at this point in proceedings, though it feels like that could break at any moment.

Johnny ultimately gives in regarding the dojo name, with students and teachers all wiping the slate clean so they can have “one purpose,” and be “one team,” as part of “one dojo.”

The episode ends with Karate Kid villain John Kreese re-appearing on foreign soil, and promising that “Cobra Kai is back.”

Netflix

Season 6 Episode 2: ‘The Prize’

The second episode is very much concerned with protagonists and antagonists learning lessons, with the bulk of this installment focusing on Kreese.

Master Kim criticizes John for always focusing on the prize, before sending him on a mission in the jungle to find a knife that’s been lost in a cave. While he’s there, he’s bitten by a snake, and has flashbacks to his wartime experience, and tells a vision of Johnny that he’ll never show him mercy again.

This is Kreese facing death, and discovering that his weakness was, is, and will always be Johnny Lawrence, unless he does something about his former student. So he kills Lawrence in the vision, kills the snake for real, and emerges with the realization that it isn’t about the prize, but about eliminating what’s in the way.

This storyline is interspersed with somewhat less dramatic plots involving the teens going to a frat party and getting in a fight with some older bullies.

While Johnny goes house-hunting with Chozen, admits he’s struggling financially, and ends up getting a job at Daniel’s dealership, where he immediately sells a car.

Season 6 Episode 3: ‘Sleeper’

Kreese takes the lessons he learned in Episode 2 and puts them into practice in Episode 3 through more intense, precise, and demanding Cobra Kai training. One pupil in particular catches his eye: Kwon, a fighter who shows no mercy.

Kreese’s lessons become all about punishment, as “only through pain does a champion reveal himself.” While he has some very specific advice for Kwon: “Take all that anger inside you, and give it purpose.” This esults in Kwon kicking the proverbial out of his main rival, and becoming Cobra Kai’s main man.

Johnny is having a weird one, organizing a slumber party in the hope that it will cause Sam and Tory to fall out, and therefore rediscover their rage. But in spite of cookies, tampons, facials, and pillow fights, there’s little conflict, until the girls start arguing outside. But that’s over as fast as it’s begun.

As for Daniel, while packing up Mr. Miyagi’s belongings, he finds a box that’s filled with secrets. Including a newspaper clipping about a violent assault, and the theft of a necklace, with the prime suspect a Keisuke Miyagi. He also discovers a passport with a different name and birth date.

There’s also an address, which turns out to be a boxing club, where Mr. Miyagi was once a silent partner. Meaning the mystery around Daniel’s mentor only deepens.

Finally, we learn the location of the big tournament – Barcelona – from where it will be televised all over the world. But only six fighters can compete from each dojo, meaning many of the Miyagi-Do students will miss out.

Netflix

Season 6 Episode 4: ‘Underdogs’

The previous three episodes have featured multiple plot strands, but Episode 4 is more focused, revolving around a series of eliminations to pick the dojo’s Sekai-Takai warriors. And to do this, they call upon “Tournament Terror” Mike Barnes, the Karate Kid III villain who came good in Season 5.

A solid montage follows, during which Mike tests their strength, speed, endurance, and teamwork. And in the series’ weakest sub-plot, Devon gets annoyed that her talents are being overlooked.

That’s followed by some night-time training, and a Battle Royale involving flags, that makes everyone look like Morris Dancers. Mike also slips back into his ‘Bad Boy Barnes’ persona, leading to a fight with Johnny.

The big finale is a flag hunt in the forest which sees best buds Dimitri and Hawk fall out over their college plans, and Kenny losing because he accidentally drinks laxatives and soils himself. All of which results in Devon and Dimitri winning.

The episode ends with Daniel doubting the quality of the team, and stating they have no idea what they are up against. But with Mike stating that people have actually died at the tournament earlier in the episode, I think we have a clue.

Netflix

Season 6 Episode 5: ‘Best of the Best’

The Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 finale begins with tragedy, when Tory finds her mom unconscious on the floor of the home, and soon pronounced dead – which puts her in a tail-spin of building rage.

Daniel and Johnny aren’t on the same page, again, as Lawrence trains the kids using beer bottles, racist dummies, and clips from Best of the Best II. Then finds Daniel working with the kids behind his back, which results in another argument, and Johnny walking out on his job at the car dealership.

In the final fights, Robbie defeats Miguel, making him the male team captain. While Tory tries to take Sam’s head off, until Daniel stops the fight when he hears her tragic news. This triggers another Lawrence-LaRusso bust-up, in which Johnny calls Miyagi a liar and a thief, and Daniel responds by hitting him.

“Once we win, you and I are done, for good,” Johnny snaps (though we don’t really believe him). While Hawk is given Tory’s spot on the team.

There’s just time for two more revelations: Daniel finds the Sekai Taika insignia on a bandana in Mr. Miyagi’s box, suggesting that his old friend might have formed the tournament.

The team touches down in Barcelona, enter the arena, and line up opposite their opponents from all over the world. Including Kreese and his Cobra Kai team, which now features… Tory!

Miyagi-Do can’t believe their eyes, as Kreese states, “Let the games begin.”

Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 is now on Netflix, in advance of Parts 2 and 3, and then a forthcoming Karate Kid movie. In the meantime here’s a list of the best new TV shows streaming this month as well as new movies streaming.