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"There is always going to be drama," Sensei Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) tells his daughter and student Sam (Mary Mouser) in the final episode of Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2. As she gears up for a fight, the young girl is concerned about her friend Tory (Peyton List) competing for Miyagi-Do's arch-nemesis, the titular Cobra Kai, in the Sekai Taikai, a karate world tournament that just might change their entire lives. The revelation that Tory had joined John Kreese's (Martin Kove) team is how we wrap up Part 1 of the show's sixth season, and a lot goes down between the two dojos (and a couple of others) in between the two finales. Now, as we get ready for Season 6 Part 3, which also doubles as the show's very last run, it is time to remember everything that went down. After all, in Cobra Kai, as Daniel puts it, there's always going to be drama. What really matters is how we choose to deal with it. And, well, when caught between two episodes of a show separated by a span of three months, the best way to deal with the drama is by doing a nice recap.
'Cobra Kai' Takes a Second Look at Mr. Miyagi's Legacy
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The first thing to have at the top of your head is that Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 completely redefines how we look at Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) and his legacy. Ever since Part 1, in which Daniel finds a Sekai Taikai headband among Mr. Miyagi's things, the sensei has been trying to find out what secrets his master kept from him. For years on end, Mr. Miyagi told him that he never competed in tournaments, but now that that has been exposed as a lie, Daniel doesn't quite know what to do with everything that he's learned during the Karate Kid movies. Things get so bad that he even joins Johnny (William Zabka) in a "My Old Sensei Is Awful" crisis and needs a pep talk from Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) to get back on his feet. But why is he so shaken by the revelation that his sensei once fought in tournaments? Doesn't that sound a little silly?
Well, things aren't as simple as once Mr. Miyagi fought some matches for cash. It turns out that Mr. Miyagi actually killed one of his opponents during his time on the Sekai Taikai, emerging as that year's champion with blood on his hands. Daniel finds that out after a pained wild goose chase for a certain Master Serrano, who may or may not be real, who ends up taking him to an abandoned corner of Barcelona where he is kidnapped by some goons he presumes to have been hired by Kreese. After escaping his captors and putting the rival sensei against the wall, though, he discovers that the truth is a little more complicated than that.
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While Terry Silver somehow returned in 'Cobra Kai' Season 6, this character from 'The Karate Kid Part III' won't be coming back.
Remember Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), who was arrested all the way back in Season 5? Well, he got out thanks to Stingray (Paul Walter Hauser) not being considered a reliable witness on his case. Now, Silver has helped rebuild a Hong Kong-based dojo called Iron Dragons and is using them to slither his way into the Sekai Taikai. The Iron Dragons had already been causing trouble for our heroes, particularly for Johnny and Tory up to this point, but there was no reason to believe they were anything but a rogue third party. As it turns out, that is not the case. In reality, they have been put in the tournament specifically to destabilize Kreese and LaRusso, and the long-haired chief of the bandits that kidnapped Daniel is actually a guy that he faced in Karate Kid 3. As if all that wasn't enough, Silver also delivers to LaRusso a record of Sekai Taikai's past matches, revealing the truth about Mr. Miyagi. And, so far, things aren't looking good for the old Miyagi-Do sensei...
'Cobra Kai' Season 6 Part 2 Spells Trouble for Its Teen Pairings
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The Iron Dragons don't just cause trouble for Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai on the mat. Its two champions are also the pivot of relationship crisis for at least two of the show's main pairings. Threatened by Tory's skills, annoying karate influencer Zara Malik (Rayna Vallandingham) is quick to sense that there is something going on with her rival's heart. And, indeed, Tory and Robby (Tanner Buchanan) are having trouble seeing eye to eye now that she's back with Cobra Kai. Eventually, Tory gets so shaken by the weight of it all that she decides to call things off with her boyfriend, at least for the duration of the tournament. Robby, in turn, decides to get drunk and pulls the biggest "we were on a break" this side of Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) by sleeping with Zara. For a while, it seems that things are done for good for the couple of downtrodden kids, but as the Sekai Taikai devolves into chaos, Robby chooses Tory over Zara in a fight. Whether that will be enough to get the two back together remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, as Miguel and Johnny are forced to return to the States due to troubles with Carmen's (Vanessa Rubio) pregnancy, Sam develops a soft spot for the other Iron Dragons champion, Axel (Patrick Luwis). Having seen him getting abused by his sensei, she strikes up a conversation with him at the beach and after a street fight against the Cobra Kai bros, he tries to kiss her. She pulls back, of course, but when Miguel returns to Barcelona, he not only has a little sister, but also a brand-new rival.
And it's not just lovers who are having trouble in Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2. Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) just can't get over the fact that Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) has walked back on their longtime plan to go to MIT as a duo. Formerly good friends, the two even try to avoid bunking together during the trip to Barcelona. Things get even more sour when Hawk, during a video chat with his girlfriend, ends up catching Demetri dancing with another girl, thus causing the end of his relationship with Yasmine (Annalisa Cochrane). Much like Devon (Oona O'Brien) and Kenny (Dallas Dupree Young), who's invited back to the team when Miguel leaves for the U.S. and finds out the truth about who poisoned him, Demetri and Hawk seem to patch up their relationship while throwing some punches, but it's hard to know how long it will last.
With so much heartbreak, at least the grown-ups seem to be faring a little better. Or, rather, at least Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) seems to be faring a little better. Sure, he appears at the Sekai Taikain drunk and utterly destroyed by the discovery that Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) has another beau back in Japan, but that doesn't last long. While wandering around Barcelona looking for his students to make sure they stay out of trouble, he hits it off with Cobra Kai co-sensei Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim). What is initially described as a mistake proves to be something more intense as Chozen comes to Da-Eun's help during the free-for-all the Sekai Taikai semifinals devolve into.
'Cobra Kai's Sekai Taikai Is Stricken by Tragedy in Season 6 Part 2
It's the second time we've mentioned the Sekai Taikai turning into something other than a karate competition, so perhaps it's time to explain what we mean. Well, during the semifinals, Cobra Kai's Kwon Jae-Sung (Brandon H. Lee) and Zara emerge victorious against the local Fúria de Pantera dojo. But when it's time for the Miyagi-Do kids to face their adversaries, things get ugly. Now, it's important to understand that Robby and Sam thought they had gotten rid of Cobra Kai in a previous stage of the tournament, but the elimination of a Russian dojo accused of using performance-enhancing drugs brings back Kreese and his gang. And so, while Robby is facing off against Axel, he's thrown off the mat and elbowed in the rib by Kwon, a move that would eventually lead to the Cobra Kai champion's death.
Basically, after getting hit, Robby turns to Kwon, and the two start fighting. Punches and kicks spread like a virus as all the other competitors and former competitors see an opportunity to air their grievances with one another. The tournament's organizer tries to put a stop to the mess, but he's knocked out by the Russian sensei and soon the Sekai Taikai goes from organized tournament to karate free-for-all. Kids and middle-aged men and women are all up in each other's faces. Only two people fail to join in: Silver and Kreese. Planning to take revenge on his former friend for sending him to jail in Season 4, Kreese takes his eunjangdo, the special knife he got in Korea, and follows Silver behind the scenes of the tournament. Alas, he loses his knife on the way and is almost taken down by Silver. The fight, however, takes a quick turn when Johnny comes to his rescue.
Back on the mat, Kwon finds Kreese's eunjangdo and immediately cooks up a plan to win his fight against Axel, that turned his attention to the Cobra Kai champion after seeing him attack Sam. Sadly for Kwon, though, his plan doesn't quite work out. Instead, while trying a roundhouse kick, he gets hit and falls to the floor, driving the blade straight into his heart. The fighting comes to an end as senseis, competitors, and tournament organizers stare in horror at the boy's lifeless body. As we wait for Season 6 Part 3 to drop, many questions. Will the Sekai Taikai manage to go on after such a tragedy? Will Sam and Tory have their day on the mat? Will Kreese finally see the error of his ways after being saved by Johnny? All that we can say for now is that Kwon's death wasn't simply his fault. Instead, it's on the backs of all the grown-ups that used karate-loving kids to sort out their differences instead of talking them out.
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