Cobra Kai - Season 5
The fifth season of Cobra Kai, also known as Cobra Kai V, was released to Netflix on September 9, 2022, and consisted of 10 episodes. The series is a direct sequel to the original four films in The Karate Kid franchise, focusing on the characters of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence over 30 years after the original film.[1][2] This is the third season to be released to Netflix.
Cobra Kai - Season 5
The season has twelve starring roles, eleven of which returned from the previous season. Dallas Dupree Young was promoted to main cast after recurring in the previous season, and Gianni DeCenzo was demoted to a recurring cast member, being credited as a "special guest star".
All main cast members from the previous season returned for the fifth, with Gianni DeCenzo now being credited as a "special guest appearance". Sean Kanan and Robyn Lively guest starred as Mike Barnes and Jessica Andrews respectively, reprising their roles from The Karate Kid Part III.[5][6] In addition to Kanan and Lively returning, Alicia Hannah-Kim joined the cast as Kim Da-eun.[7] Dallas Dupree Young, who portrays Kenny Payne, was upped to a series regular role after recurring during the fourth season.[8]
Filming for the fifth season began in September 2021 and finished in December. Like previous seasons, parts were filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, Marietta, Georgia and Los Angeles, California. The Mexico scenes were filmed in Puerto Rico on a two-day filming block, just like the two-day filming block of Okinawa, Japan and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, Japan for the third season.
The first teaser trailer for the season was released on May 5, 2022, which confirmed a September 9 release date.[9] The official trailer was released on August 16. A home media release has yet to be confirmed, but is likely due to all previous seasons being released on DVD.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the season has received a 98% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.9 out of 10 based on 44 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Deftly managing an expanded roster of punchy personalities, Cobra Kai graduates to a black belt proficiency in heartfelt melodrama and sly humor".[10] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, it has received a rating of 78 out of 100, based on seven reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11]
Per our renewal prediction, Netflix has renewed Cobra Kai for a final season. In a statement on Twitter, the showrunners expressed their heartfelt gratitude to fans and promised a big final season to close out the story.
Using external demand, we can also see that while the show is still popular, we see diminishing returns over time. Google Trends suggests that interest in season 5 was below that of season 4, when the series was at an all-time high.
Where key characters in Cobra Kai previously felt stuck in a rut, unable to develop because the plot demanded certain rivalries, the new episodes offer some very welcome leaps forward with the main cast. Peyton List's Tory has an excellent storyline that makes her more multifaceted than ever. Her unease over Silver rigging the All Valley, coupled with the newfound responsibility of a mentor-mentee relationship with Oona O'Brien's Devon, turns Tory into one of the season's most interesting characters. List gives a strong performance that nails the warring emotions of a champion who's out of her depth. This really is Tory's season.
And Silver is a formidable foe. He enlists a raft of menacing senseis to work across his dojos, as well as newcomer Alicia Hannah-Kim as the knife-sharp Kim Da-Eun. Hannah-Kim brings a vicious edge to the character which spices up the already delightfully evil Cobra Kai action. The dojo is still a force to be reckoned with, which heightens everything. Silver is truly unleashed in his villainous glory, and Griffith again plays him as a real, nuanced person rather than a cartoonish bad guy, making him all the more sinister. Then, lurking in the wings is Kreese, imprisoned after Silver framed him for a violent assault during last season's finale. Despite this more diminished role, he still casts a long shadow thanks to some brilliant interactions with certain characters.
So much was jampacked into Cobra Kai Season 5 Episode 9 and Cobra Kai Season 5 Episode 10 that even I was having trouble breathing, but they left out that pesky little detail, and now we'll have to wait until season six to learn what this new blended dojo will be named and will look like.
It wouldn't be surprising if they were set up to serve as foils to one another in the next season. We deserve to see those two squaring off, and Alicia Hannah has been so fantastic here that I don't want to let her go.
Chozen has truly been the heart of this season, and the prospect of losing him when we were just watching him unwind, get drunk, be jolly, and acknowledge his feelings via voicemail to Kumiko was too much to bear.
Devon coming around all on her own was satisfying because she's a strong-willed girl who follows the beat of her own drum. Hopefully, we'll get to see more of her connecting with Tory. They have so much in common, and Tory unofficially acquiring a mentee truly helped with her redemption arc this season.
Cobra Kai season 5 has arrived on Netflix, the one show that A) keeps getting renewed without fail after every season and B) always arrives in a pretty timely fashion without any big delays. But finally C) almost always reviews very, very well, unlike a lot of other Netflix top hits as of late.
Although Cobra Kai wrapped up the main conflict in the series, several stories remain unfinished. Finally, the fight with Terry SIlver's Cobra Kai came to an end in the season 5 finale. However, that doesn't mean all of the main characters' problems are solved.
By ending with Silver's defeat, Cobra Kai set the stage for Johnny, Daniel, Chozen, and all the others to encounter new challenges as the show's moves forward with what will be its sixth and final season. But though Silver has been taken down and every major rivalry between the kids have been resolved, there are still a few loose ends for it to tie up before it all ends in the series finale. Here's every story Cobra Kai season 6 needs to finish.
Cobra Kai season 5 stopped short of ending the storyline involving Kenny and Robby's relationship. Throughout the season, Kenny felt betrayed by Robby's decision to leave Cobra Kai for Johnny and Daniel's karate dojo. The events that occurred in the finale vindicated Robby and seemingly destroyed Kenny's loyalty to Silver, but their brief exchange in the aftermath of the fight didn't see the two put aside their differences. Apparently, Kenny isn't quite ready to make amends with Robby. Kenny processing what happened and deciding where he goes from here may be a multi-episode arc for the show to explore when it returns.
Kreese promised to get revenge on Silver in the Cobra Kai season 4 finale. Ultimately, he did play a behind-the-scenes in role in Silver's downfall by secretly coordinating with Tory and giving information to Johnny and Daniel, but based on who Kreese is as a character, it's hard to imagine him being satisfied with his level of involvement. Personally taking down Silver is sure to be at the top of his priority list now that he's on the loose. Finding out that Silver's good name has already been ruined is unlikely to stop him from pursuing a fight with him.
The same goes for Kreese's issues with Johnny and Daniel. His comments to Tory about "taking care" of Johnny is indicative of Silver not being his only enemy in Cobra Kai season 6. Since both Johnny and Daniel are responsible for deceiving him in prison, both characters are poised to have targets on their backs in season 6. Because of Kreese's fugitive status, there may not be much holding him back from doing whatever it takes to get the revenge he craves.
One particular development in Cobra Kai season 5 strongly hints at what the show's final story will be. Johnny, Daniel, and Chozen, managed to get their dojo a spot in the Sekai Taikai. Of course, the point of their efforts was to combat Silver, but his defeat shouldn't sway them from competing when the tournament starts. After all, earning the right to participate in an international karate competition is a huge honor, so there isn't a good reason why they'd back out. Judging by this setup, the main characters will move on from fighting Silver and shift their focus to the Sekai Taikai. As for how this plotline will play out, it's possible that the first several episodes will shine the spotlight on their preparation for the tournament, whereas the last few episodes can be set in Japan where the event is expected to take place.
Cobra Kai has fallen, but what about Sensei Kim Da-eun? Silver's partner in taking his students to the Sekai Taikai may or not still be in the picture. It shouldn't be forgotten that her deal with Silver means she owns half of the dojo, making her someone who could still be on the table as a potential antagonist. Early on, Cobra Kai season 6 will need to address what happened to her and whether or not she still has a presence in the Valley. If she does, she could rebuild Cobra Kai with new students and make them rivals to the kids as they gear up for the Sekai Taikai. That would make sense, considering that Silver did secure Cobra Kai's participation in the tournament. His arrest shouldn't change that or completely ruin Kim's plan to make her family's teachings internationally relevant.
Chozen and Johnny's talk in the penultimate episode of season 5 let it slip that Yuji Okomuto's character has been secretly in love with Kumiko for years. In a drunken state, Chozen expressed his feelings in a voicemail. Given that Chozen has emerged as a key part of the Cobra Kai cast, it stands to reason that the show has every intention of paying this off. Exactly how it will happen remains to be seen, but Chosen's admission to Johnny and Daniel sets up at least one more guest appearance from Tamlyn Tomita's Kumiko, who could pay a visit to the Valley in a season 6 episode. If this happens, Cobra Kai would have a way of giving Chozen a happy ending in the show. 041b061a72