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Cobra Kai Season 5 (Spoiler Free) Review

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Here we are once again at that most exciting time of the year… Well actually due to its huge popularity, its actually been moved up by three months so you don’t have to wait the full year for the next instalment of Cobra Kai goodness. So where are we now?

Following the shocking results of the All Valley Tournament, Season 5 finds Terry Silver expanding the Cobra Kai empire and trying to make his “No Mercy” style of karate the only game in town. With Kreese behind bars and Johnny Lawrence setting karate aside to focus on repairing the damage he’s caused, Daniel LaRusso must call on an old friend for help.

Cobra Kai. (L to R) Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver, Peyton List as Tory Nichols in Cobra Kai. Cr. Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix © 2022

Season 4 ended with a rather huge twist (Or a few twists as the case may be) and a few cliffhangers. Well Season 5 doesn’t take long to get you right back into the thick of events and doesn’t pause much throughout the entire series.

Cobra Kai is fortunate enough to have some very clever writing and plotting, however season 5 is probably the weakest of the series, due to mainly nothing out of blue happening. The trailers have revealed that ‘Bad Boy’ Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) makes his return / debut and what appearance that is. But the Mexico shenanigans is done and dusted fairly quickly, without really adding too much to the proceedings. The teenage angst and love triangles seemingly put Sam Larusso (Mary Mouser) back in the same situation once again that we have seen for a few seasons now and it’s in danger of becoming tiresome.

Cobra Kai. (L to R) Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, Mary Mouser as Samantha LaRusso in Cobra Kai. Cr. Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix © 2022

That said, the ladies of Cobra Kai absolutely knock it out of the dojo this season, with Mary Mouser, Peyton List and in particular Courtney Henggeler are absolutely outstanding throughout season 5 and for once taking us away from the continuing Daniel (Ralph Macho) and Johnny (William Zabka) are they / aren’t they bromance.

Cobra Kai. Sean Kanan as Mike Barnes in Cobra Kai. Cr. Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix © 2022

However, the male cast are still having all the fun. The Johnny/Chozen (Yuji Okomoto) scenes are absolute comedy gold and ass kicking at the same time. ‘Bad Boy’ Mike Barnes has been a long awaited addition and worth the wait it is. Kanan looks like he’s loving every minute of time on screen and hopefully there will be more from him in season 6. The younger cast (Tanner Buchanan, Xolo Mariduena) are starting to look like proper stars now especially alongside the likes of Ms. List and Mouser and continuing along this path could end being even bigger stars than the Stranger Things cast.

But let us save the best for last. Thomas Ian Griffith is once again absolutely terrifying as Terry Silver, who now is in complete control of the Valley and seemingly is one step ahead of all of our heroes all of the time. He attacks the role with such relish and is probably one of the best screen villains since the likes of Negan on The Walking Dead or Veckna in Stranger Things.

Cobra Kai. (L to R) Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver, Courtney Henggeler as Amanda Larusso in Cobra Kai. Cr. Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix © 2022

There’s a lot to like once again in season 5 however, you just can’t shake that feeling that it’s not quite up to the standard of previous seasons. The slow start doesn’t help, but once it gets going, it really gets going, only to be let down by some obvious plotting in regards to where they are going for the next season, especially in regards to the dojo war.

But overall you are in for a treat, there’s some great surprises that lay in wait for the uber Karate Kid fans, and plenty to enjoy elsewhere. So buckle up and enjoy the ride as it will all be over so quick and then yet another 12 month wait for the next chapter. Although, Hurwitz, Heald, Schlossberg and co. are going to have to work hard to achieve continuing excellence as the story is in danger as evidenced here, waning for even the most hardcore of fans.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Cobra Kai Season 5 Is Released Friday September 9th Only On Netflix

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