Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 4 On Netflix, Where Daniel And Johnny Now Have A Common Enemy — And It’s Not Just Kreese

Season 4 of Cobra Kai picks up where Season 3 left off; John Kreese (Martin Kove) has taken over the Cobra Kai dojo, leaving Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) to scramble to create a new dojo called Eagle Fang. But since Cobra Kai is recruiting new members left and right, Johnny and his arch nemesis, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), decide to merge their two dojos. But as any fan of the show knows, the state of the karate rivalry in the first episode is just the beginning of a flurry of switching alliances and clashing philosophies.

COBRA KAI SEASON 4: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: An elegant house on the beach. We hear classical piano playing. A man in a robe and long white hair is playing, and then he receives a call. “Been a long time,” says the voice of John Kreese. The man hangs up on him.

The Gist: Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do mix like oil and water, as do Johnny and Daniel. Johnny is about being aggressive and striking first; Daniel is about acting in defense. The conflicting style confuses the students, but time gets wasted as the senseis argue with each other. The 51st All-Valley Tournament is coming up, and according to the bet the two of them made with Kreese, if Cobra Kai wins, both Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do have to fold up shop. If Cobra Kai loses, Kreese goes away for good.

But Kreese has some tricks up his sleeve to help Cobra Kai’s chances. He still has Tory (Peyton List), who still harbors seething anger over Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) stealing Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) from her. He also wants to bring Johnny’s son, Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), back into the fold. Robby is estranged from Johnny, and would like nothing more than to exact a little revenge, but doesn’t completely buy into Kreese’s sales pitch.

Kreese also thinks he needs to contact an old friend to help him defeat his combined enemies: He goes to visit his old army buddy and Cobra Kai co-founder Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), who is now exceedingly wealthy, and feels he has gotten past this whole karate rivalry BS. Kreese thinks that karate is in Terry’s blood, and that this soft rich guy who eats tofu is not who his friend really is. Not unlike how things went down in Vietnam, he thinks Terry is trapped, and he’s there to bring his old friend out of that trap.

In the meantime, Johnny and Daniel try to come to a compromise, especially because each of their star pupils — Miguel and Sam — are eager to learn the other dojo’s methods. Johnny wants to get back together with Miguel’s mom Carmen (Vanessa Rubio). Demitri (Gianni DeCenzo) tries to convince Eli (Jacob Bertrand) that he belongs back at Eagle Fang even after participating in the Cobra Kai invasion of the LaRusso house. And Amanda (Courtney Henggeler), still incensed that Tory and Cobra Kai damaged her house and hurt her daughter Sam, wants to ensure Tory doesn’t touch Sam again.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Cobra Kai Seasons 1-3. The tone of the show, both heartfelt and hilarious, doesn’t change in Season 4.

Our Take: At this point in the show’s run, it feels like Cobra Kai showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald and Hayden Schlossberg are trying to come up with different combinations of senseis and students to face off against each other. And it also feels like, with the return of Terry Silver, who brainwashed Daniel into joining Cobra Kai in Karate Kid III, they’re starting to reach really deep into the Karate Kid canon to find new enemies.

That may sound like a complaint, but it’s not. Not that everything works this season — more on that in a second — but we do give them credit for trying to continue the story in a somewhat different way than we saw in the first three seasons. There are some aspects that are repetitive, like Johnny and Daniel’s repeated arguments over strike first vs. defense, and the fact that their alliance seems to cycle quickly through a bunch of on and off stages, but at this point the story is less about them and more about everyone else.

Bringing back Terry is not a bad move, but it’s a character that not all KK fans will remember. So when he and Kreese have their inevitable split in philosophy, it becomes unclear just why he’s there to begin with. Is he there to get in Daniel’s head or is he really there to get some level of payback with Kreese?

As for the kids, those plots do work better, though the actors are starting to look a little old to play high schoolers. The creators know this, which is why they end up giving a major plotline to the heretofore little-seen Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro) and a new middle-school classmate, Kenny (Dallas Young), who turns to Robby as a mentor. It’s a way to introduce a “next generation” aspect to the show, but it also involves brutal scenes of bullying that were hard to watch.

But these criticisms are just our way of saying that this is the first of the show’s four seasons that misses some of the big swings it takes. There are still hilarious and touching moments, and Zabka is still eminently watchable as Johnny, who is always behind the eight ball, has no idea how to operate as a person in 2022, but still has a fighting spirit in him.

And there’s still a lot of fighting, but most of it is left to the younger set this season. Considering the story is less about Johnny and Daniel and more about the rest of the cast, that’s just fine with us.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Terry kicks a bottle of wine and it smashes against a mural in his wine cellar. Kreese might be right about who his old friend really is.

Sleeper Star: Courtney Henggeler, who plays Amanda LaRusso, finally gets a meaty plot this year and we find out a little more about her character. We’ve loved how she’s been the voice of reason when things between Daniel and Johnny got a little too silly, but now she actually has some real dramatic moments.

Most Pilot-y Line: One of Terry’s “friends” at the party Kreese crashes calls karate a “phase.” Could Terry’s fake friends be written any more ridiculously?

Our Call: STREAM IT. As usual, Cobra Kai is a fun ride and one of the most bingeable shows on TV. But there are signs that the creators are starting to reach a little bit, even if the season mostly works.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Cobra Kai On Netflix