Spoiler alert for season 3 of Cobra Kai!

On January 1, 2021, the third season of Cobra Kai was released. Following the fight between Miyagi-Do Karate and Cobra Kai, spurred by Miguel kissing Sam at a party, Miguel was rushed to the hospital, where he remains in a coma after Robby threw him from the second story of their high school. 

Intense right? 

The most recent season of the Netflix series was rated 91% by Rotten Tomatoes and described as Cobra Kai’s most “confident, nostalgic and entertaining season yet” by iO9. I would have to agree.

When the new season came out, I binge-watched the whole series leading up to it within a week and it was so worth it. 

The show does a fantastic job of developing Johnny Lawrence’s character through his fatherly relationship with Miguel, which ultimately changes him as a person, and the juxtaposition of that relationship with his struggle to connect with his own son, Robby. And Daniel LaRusso gets his share of character development after he goes to Japan in search of a business deal and returns with a newfound sense of self. 

The Cobra Kai that Johnny reopened was taken over by the villainous John Kreese in the second season, leaving Johnny without his dojo. After wallowing in self-pity, Johnny decides to open his own karate dojo, Eagle Fang Karate.

After the All-Valley Karate Tournament is almost shut down, Sam LaRusso and Miguel Diaz, the Romeo and Juliet of the series, show how two sides of a conflict can sometimes find a middle ground, proving to the board that is should be continued, regardless of the conflicts that go on between the karate dojos. 

In the climactic finale of the season, Robby joins Cobra Kai after being manipulated into joining by John Kreese. In an awesome display of teamwork and humanity, Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do work together to defeat Cobra Kai, who attacks LaRusso’s house unprovoked, led by Tory, who still sought revenge on Sam for kissing Miguel. 

Miguel, previously unable to fight at the caliber he used to since the fall, has a flashback to his coma dream in which he was fighting for his life as Kyler, the bully from season 1, beats him up during the fight. The flashback enables him to tap into some kind of energy that brings back all of his old abilities from before he was in the coma. 

The series ends with a montage of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence speaking to their new combined dojo mixed with clips of John Kreese addressing his Cobra Kai bullies. 

The great reviews and high ratings are very well deserved.