‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5 Ending Explained: What Happened to John Kreese? And What’s Next for the Dojos?

And… that’s a wrap on Season 5 of Cobra Kai. Co-creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg once again delivered a phenomenal season of television by deftly combining humor, heart, and exceptional storytelling. The fifth season of Cobra Kai isn’t just the funniest season to date; it’s also one of the most entertaining. From the fun “80s buddy cop vibes” we were getting from Johnny and Chozen to the surprise return of Jessica Andrews (Robyn Lively), the newest installment was filled with twists, turns, and crane kicks. But let’s talk about that season finale (“Head of the Snake”).

The final episode of Season 5 centered on two separate impromptu showdowns involving Cobra Kai. The first one pitted the karate adults (a true dream team of Daniel, Johnny, Chozen, and Mike Barnes) against Terry Silver and his coterie of evil senseis, while the second karate brawl focused on the kids. These battles were bookended by John Kreese’s story, which we’ll get to momentarily.

COBRA KAI SEASON 5 ENDING EXPLAINED:

After a brief cold open, the episode begins with a truly iconic scene featuring Daniel LaRusso and the three main antagonists from the Karate Kid franchise: Johnny Lawrence, Chozen, and Mike Barnes. We’ll have more on this historic encounter on Monday, but Johnny referring to Barnes as “the bad boy” is one of my favorite pop culture moments of 2022.

Johnny and Chozen are drunk and, as Daniel points out, Barnes might be on “something even stronger,” but the trio decide to ditch Daniel (lol) and head to Silver’s house to kick his ass. This eventually leads to a violent showdown in which Chozen and Johnny are literally almost beaten to death by Silver and his wicked karate jerks (classic Cobra Kai), but they survive (presumably because they’re the best around).

While the adults are engaging in all sorts of fisticuffs, the kids are… also fighting for their lives! Never a dull moment, I guess. All of our favorites (Miguel, Robby, Tory, Sam, and eventually Devon and Stingray) are finally on the same team in a quest to vanquish their one true enemy: Cobra Kai. Their plan is to break into Cobra Kai (they’ve learned a lot from Johnny, right?) and post the video of Silver beating up Stingray to the dojo’s YouTube channel. This leads to, you guessed it, a karate brawl.

By combining Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen’s teaching, Team Miyagi Fang are eventually successful. They’re unable to upload the Stingray/Silver clip, but they are able to upload Silver and Tory’s conversation about Terry paying off the referee at the All-Valley Tournament. This leads to a truly epic showdown between Daniel LaRusso and Terry Silver. Daniel uses Silver’s own Karate Kid III training against him and eventually defeats his nemesis by, let me check my notes, crane kicking him into a glass Cobra Kai emblem and restoring order to the always tumultuous San Fernando Valley youth karate war.

Stingray retracts his original statement to the police, Silver’s arrested, Robby and Tory kiss, Sam and Miguel exchange I love yous, and all seems right with the world… except for one hiccup: John Kreese. Earlier in the episode, Kreese faked his death (for at least the third time) and escaped prison. The season concludes with Kreese on the loose.

WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN FOR COBRA KAI SEASON 6?

This is pure speculation, but I believe that the sixth season will be the end of this particular iteration of Cobra Kai. The show appears to be winding down and I could see the series receiving the Stranger Things treatment, with Netflix announcing a final season (that could be broken down into two parts) and possibly a spinoff or two.

The sixth season will almost certainly center on the global Sekai Taikai karate tournament (and Kenny’s redemption), with perhaps Sensei Kim Da-Eun teaming up with Kreese to battle Team Miyagi Fang. If Kim Da-Eun does return as one of the main antagonists, I happen to know one former female student of Mr.Miyagi’s who could help in the fight against Cobra Kai: Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank). While the Cobra Kai debut of Pierce now makes more sense on paper, the show tends to foreshadow the returns of their legacy characters and they have yet to mention Julie. Knowing what we know about the series, I’d guess that Swank eventually makes an appearance on the show, but that’s just a guess.

Getting back to the Kreese of it all, I asked Cobra Kai co-creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg about the possible redemption of the former Cobra Kai sensei and if Kreese will be the main antagonist of Season 6.

“We like the idea that his character right now is like ‘fuck redemption,'” Schlossberg told Decider. “He’s got scores to settle with everybody, and it makes him that much more dangerous at a time when it seems like everything is at peace, everyone’s happy, and the karate war’s over. He’s gonna play a role for sure.”

We can’t wait.

Cobra Kai Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix.