Summary
Miyagi-do finally put their issues aside and get on with the tournament, leading to some great action and long-awaited resolutions.
Now we know that Terry Silver is back and pulling the strings, there’s a sense of urgency to Cobra Kai Season 6 that feels fitting for the final season. Episode 9, “Blood In Blood Out”, gets back on track with a return to the action of the Sekai Taikai, now with all of the dynamics seeming a bit more complicated and the outcome feeling less predetermined. This is a good thing, since there are only so many tournaments this show can reasonably pull off without things getting weird.
I already mentioned in the previous recap that there aren’t enough villains in the franchise to go around, and there’s an especially funny reveal here that I’ll get to in a minute that will feel like a super deep cut for even the most ardent fans of The Karate Kid. But it’s all part of the nostalgia, I suppose.
Silver’s Back, Back Again
Usefully, this episode opens with a flashback explaining how Silver got off from the copious charges he was facing at the end of the Season 5 — Stingray’s idiocy strikes again! — and how he met Sensei Wolf, who turns out to be a British dude. He was fighting in dodgy underground circuits after having had his dojo taken away from him, and he’s helping Silver take revenge on Miyagi-do and Kreese’s Cobra Kai in an effort to get it back thanks to Silver’s bottomless pockets.
In the present day, it turns out that the dude with the long hair and Cobra Kai tattoo is Dennis, an extremely minor character from The Karate Kid Part III who was one of Silver’s henchmen and had, like, two lines in the entire movie. His entire franchise legacy is getting summarily whooped, so I can’t say I’m particularly worried about his presence.
However, now they’re battling both Cobra Kai and the Iron Dragons, both of whom are targeting Miyagi-do specifically, the kids are all going to need to be on the same page. And, predictably, they’re not.
The Kenny Conspiracy
The reintroduction of Kenny, who is now going to take Devon’s spot since Johnny and Miguel are back, should liven things up, but Demetri worries that he’s not fully on board and that Silver or Kreese will target him and try to switch his allegiance. Even though Kenny clearly accepts Devon’s apology and has forgiven her for drugging him, Demetri won’t let his spy theory go throughout the entire episode.
The paranoia makes things especially difficult for Cobra Kai in a tag team first to three points round in the Sekai Taikai. Cobra Kai and the Iron Dragons both breeze through it with no problem, but Miyagi-do ends up losing to Furia de Pantera because Demetri suspects Kenny and Robby is still absolute rubbish. If it wasn’t bad enough that he’s still pining about Tory, he now has the guilt of having slept with Zara distracting him.
Despite Miguel giving Robby a really sincere pep talk, he still doesn’t seem fit for purpose.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Still | Image via Netflix
A United Front
Things start to turn around a little bit when Chozen, Daniel, and Johnny all try to get Kreese and Silver to turn on each other, and Cobra Kai suffers a defeat to Tiger Strike because Tory is distracted by the Robby thing.
Demetri’s assumption that Silver would target Kenny does indeed come to pass — though he misses the clear irony that his own ostracization of Kenny makes him a riper target — and we have to suffer through a few minutes where it looks like Kenny might be genuinely considering selling the team out. But thankfully we don’t go in that direction. Robby finally makes a solid leadership decision and tags Kenny in during the match against Redentores, and Kenny whoops the whole team. As part of his celebration, he gives Silver the finger.
That was it. That was the thing Miyagi-do needed to finally put their issues aside and get on the same page, and it’s great to see since it really can be frustrating when a whole chunk of a season is devoted to this kind of in-fighting that would be fairly easily resolved with a few conversations and a touch of understanding.
The make-up scene is nice, though. I’m always rooting for Demetri and Hawk.
Miyagi-do vs Cobra Kai
Cobra Kai Season 6, Episode 9 ends with a long-awaited showdown between Miyagi-do and Cobra Kai. It’s a big deal since the winner will advance in the tournament and the loser will be eliminated. Surely Cobra Kai can’t be eliminated at this juncture, can they? Well, they can, but don’t worry since the show won’t stick to it.
Of course, during the fighting, Robby and Tory manage to find space to argue about Zara. It’s kind of weird to me that it has taken Robby this long to realize that Kwon was manipulating him to get an advantage in the competition, but at this point, I’m no longer shocked by any of the dumb stuff Robby does. If nothing else, the revelation helps him to focus on fighting to his full potential, which is just as well since the match comes down to him against Kwon (following some clever Miyagi-do teamwork.)
Finally, Robby gets a win, and takes Kwon for the deciding point. Miyagi-do are through to the next round! But the success is tempered — at least for Daniel — by another revelation. Silver, of all people, gives Daniel a gift — the Sekai Taikai record for the year Miyagi participated. His match ended in death. During the competition, he killed his opponent.
RELATED:
