Cobra Kai's Overblown Ensemble Cast Creates A Giant Problem In Season 6 Part 3

This article contains spoilers for "Cobra Kai" season 6 part 3.

At the end of the day, "Cobra Kai" has always been Johnny Lawrence's (William Zabka) show. The series finale, titled "Ex-Degenerate," confirms as much, both with its title that nods at the series premiere "Ace Degenerate" and its plot that keeps a laser-like focus on his journey. 

Despite this, "Cobra Kai" has kept expanding its cast over the years, often spending entire seasons to introduce and develop complex new combatants to throw at an established name. This has been highly entertaining, especially since it has kept things from getting stale, and these new faces tend to be quite interesting. Unfortunately, this leaves season 6 with a massive problem: Since comparatively few characters actually exit the show at any point, the final season is overstocked with supporting characters and hangers-around it's either unable or unwilling to deal with. It doesn't help that the three-part structure of "Cobra Kai" season 6 forces the show to close the book on some notable characters well before the final block of episodes, which leaves them twiddling their thumbs throughout part 3.  

All of this means that "Cobra Kai" season 6 part 3 occasionally veers dangerously close to the infamous final season of "Game of Thrones" in the abrupt way it wraps up many long-running character arcs. While the six central karate protagonists — Johnny, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser), Tory Nichols (Peyton List), Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), and Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) — all get their flowers, the show seems to do its level best to sweep the leg from under several previously notable supporting characters.

With its focus on the core characters of the expanded Lawrence and LaRusso families, "Cobra Kai's" season 6 endgame neglects almost everyone else, giving them the bare minimum of screen time to somewhat wrap up their arcs. Recurring character Mitch (Aedin Mincks) is literally sat in the audience for just long enough for Johnny to drop a final insulting nickname. Kenny Payne effectively concludes his arc in part 2, so for the few moments he's actually seen, he's awkwardly hanging out in the background. For the same reason, folks like Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro) – an actual member of Daniel's family — and Devon Lee (Oona O'Brien) are barely there.

It's not much better for major, series-long characters like Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) and Demitri (Gianni DeCenzo). After spending the majority of season 6 in the sidelines locked in yet another one of their frenemy feuds, they don't get a single fight here, let alone a meaningful scene. Instead, they spend the show's final five episodes locked in repetitive bonding moments.  

Granted, the show also uses many of its character focus decisions wisely. Amanda LaRusso gets a lot of attention as the show's eternally entertaining voice of reason, and Courtney Henggeler makes the most of the opportunity. Likewise, Vanessa Rubio's Carmen Diaz and Rose Bianco's Rosa Diaz, who tend to get sidelined for the more karate-oriented parts of the show, get some fun moments. We even get the now-obligatory Chozen side-quest amidst all the endgame plots, and Yuji Okumoto continues to delight as the show's most unexpected comedy weapon. On the other hand, the time spent on the uncomfortable, overly long CGI Mr. Miyagi dream sequence would have been considerably better used elsewhere.

Apart from relegating characters to wallpaper duty, "Cobra Kai" season 6, part 3 chooses to solve its "too many villains" dilemma with various C-plots that barely involve the protagonists. Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and John Kreese (Martin Kove) do interact with the heroes, but they're heavily distracted by their own immediate problems — Silver with his terminal health diagnosis and Kreese with the late-game realization that he's been the bad guy all along. They even take themselves out of the equation without the heroes lifting a finger. The two ultimate Miyagiverse antagonists die together in a yacht explosion, with no one but Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) even noticing that they're gone. Likewise, Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim) removes herself from the proceedings by returning to South Korea, helpfully killing the overarching franchise villain Master Kim Sun-Yung (C.S. Lee) while she's at it.  

Wolf's team is also subject to an underwhelming treatment. While Axel Kovačević (Patrick Luwis) gets a truly gruesome win against Robby and shows some traces of personality, all three major Iron Dragons — Wolf, Axel, and Zara Malik (Rayna Vallandingham) — are ultimately simple obstacles for the appropriate main character to run through with very little character development. After they lose, they exit stage left, never to be seen or commented on again. 

Does all of this mean that "Cobra Kai" season 6, part 3 is bad? Thankfully, no. At many points, it's very good, and it takes serious pains to provide satisfying endings for many central figures. It's just that if your favorite beloved "Cobra Kai" character doesn't have a guaranteed spot at the LaRusso or Lawrence family table, it's very easy to ask yourself once the final credits roll: "Wait, was that it?"