In my last review of Cobra Kai, I lamented the show's transformation from a loving homage to the original trilogy and 80s sports movies as a whole mixed with the exploration of characters who are stuck in the past, to a melodramatic teen drama about karate gang wars with action scenes that feel like they'd fit in the Scott Pilgrim movie if they weren't so lacking in self-awareness. While Season 4 does bring the focus back to preparing for a tournament, it still keeps the "over the top" factor that has made the series so tiring.
On a basic structural level, Cobra Kai's fourth season worked great. The decision to focus the whole season on preparing for a big tournament was a good one, as it gave the series a direction. There was a lot of great training montages and sequences focused on the tense build-up towards the All-Valley Tournament. Best of all, the fact that the characters were mostly focusing on the tournament meant that there were hardly any forced fight scenes with Cobra Kai (prom fight excluding), which is very much a good thing. I also really liked seeing Johnny and Daniel try to get along in the first few episodes, particularly when they were trying to learn each other's fighting styles. It really emphasizes how they're two sides of the same coin and if they can unite, they can easily destroy Cobra Kai (which makes it a shame they broke it off, but that's for later). And of course, the big tournament at the end of the season was once again spectacular, and the decision to split it up into two episodes made sure nothing felt rushed or underdeveloped.
However, this is Cobra Kai, and there are still a lot of things that held this season back for me. There's smaller stuff like Miguel's lack of focus and the baffling tone shifts whenever Kenny is on screen, but probably the worst decision this season made was to not have Johnny and Daniel stay working together for the whole season. Sure, we get the "long-awaited rematch" between the two, but at this point in the series, I don't want a rematch anymore. I want them to get over their issues and start working together. It feels like Cobra Kai stretching the series out, especially considering that the All-Valley Tournament could have been a perfect way for the show to end things. It's also frustrating how petty the reasoning for their split was to begin with, which is honestly a problem I had with a lot of the major conflicts this season like Robby's utter refusal to listen to anyone's warnings about Cobra Kai, or Sam claiming that Tory's tragic home life is a "sob story". As a whole, I feel like Cobra Kai struggles at making me feel like any of these conflicts warrant being solved through dramatic fight scenes, karate gang wars, and giant tournaments. I can't help but feel like Amanda is one of the few really sympathetic characters, the only one that realizes just how stupid all of this really is.
Even with my complaints, this season still nailed the final few episodes:
The Fall: Outside of that bizarre Carrie Underwood sequence, this was still a pretty great start to the season's tournament ending. It was exciting, dramatic, and everyone got a great chance to show off their skills. The cliffhanger where Miguel injures his back is also a shocking place to leave the episode off on.
The Rise: Cobra Kai continues to miraculously nail its finales, as this episode did a lot of really cool things. Hawk's great redemption arc ended on a fantastic note, Kenny's beatdown of Anthony was shocking, Chozen's appearance in the cliffhanger is exciting, and I like that Robby and Tory are finally started to be aware of the problems with Cobra Kai. There was still some weird soap-y elements like Kreese getting framed and Miguel leaving to find his father, but this was still a rewarding ending to the season.
Overall, this season of Cobra Kai did have a lot going for it. The tournament storyline was a nice way for the series to go back to basics, the finale is once again spectacular, and some of the redemption arcs were great. However, the series still struggles with cheesy fights, petty conflicts, a melodramatic and over-the-top tone, and the fact that it's starting to feel like it's stretching things out a bit.
2/5 Stars
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