Set 30 years after the Karate Kid films, Cobra Kai follows the further adventures of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). As the fourth season came to a close, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) had arranged for Stingray (Paul Walter Hauser) to fake an assault in order to send John Kreese (Martin Kove) to jail so he could take over Cobra Kai, with plans to expand his empire across the Valley. At the All Valley tournament, Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang combined their techniques to face off against Cobra Kai. Daniel had previously agreed to shut down his dojo if they lost, and unfortunately Tory (Peyton List) of Cobra Kai won the match against his daughter Sam (Mary Mouser)—though Tory witnessed Terry Silver secretly paying off the ref, so did she really win or was the judgement biased?! Meanwhile, Miguel learned that he mother had been lying to him that his biological father was dead, and decided to head to Mexico to meet him, despite his mother’s warnings that he was a very bad man.
As the fifth season opens, Johnny takes his son Robby (Tanner Buchanan) on a road trip with him to Mexico to hopefully find Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) and stop him from revealing his existence to his criminal father. Meanwhile, Daniel informs his students that he is shutting down Miyagi-Do karate. However, that doesn’t mean he’s giving up. Terry Silver may have the rest of the world fooled into thinking he’s this philanthropist out to save the kids of the Valley, but Daniel knows what he really is, and wants to expose his true nature to the public. So he enlists the help of the reformed Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) to do so. When they discover that Terry is now teaching his Cobra-Kai students moves he learned from his own sensei, Kim Sun-Yung—a controversial style based on deception, with no honor and no mercy—they decide to use this against him, Silver is trying to expand the Cobra Kai empire, looking for additional senseis to help teach his methods. So Chozen goes undercover as a job applicant, but Terry Silver is a wise man, who’s always two steps ahead. Can they really fool him into revealing his plans?
Cobra Kai is a thoroughly entertaining and engaging series, finding the perfect blend of drama, humor and nostalgia. The characters, while sometimes humorous, never feel like caricatures, but rather fully-developed, complex and interesting people. The writing on this show is so clever and witty, particularly when it comes to the character of Johnny, who is so ridiculously stupid and naïve at times, but this is what makes him so charming and endearing. Johnny is clueless when it comes to technology, and his heart is always in the right place, even when he fails miserably, such as his attempt this season to become a rideshare driver (he’s not really the customer service type). He also had so many great one-liners, especially as he’s trying to explain things to Robby, like the conversion between Mexican cell phone minutes and U.S. cell phone minutes. There’s also a really fun Top Gun beach volleyball dream sequence where Carmen (Vanessa Rubio) imagines Johnny “Playing with the Boys”.
This season, while Johnny is making strides towards fixing his own family, and preparing to start a new one, Daniel has teamed up with Chozen to try to finally expose and take down Terry Silver by showing the world what type of person he really is, before he can brainwash all the kinds in the Valley and beyond. Though, he must do this behind the back of his wife Amanda (Courtney Henggeler), to whom he promised all of this would be over with after the All Valley tournament. However, Silver is an extremely intelligent man and strategist, who always seems to be a few steps ahead. He is a ruthless man who will do anything to get what he wants, and doesn’t care about the consequences or aftermath. Once he realizes that Daniel and Chozen aren’t going to back down, he starts to play his manipulative games to try to destroy Daniel’s marriage and livelihood, as well as that of those who assist him. He’s also ramping up his school, importing some likeminded senseis from South Korea, led by Kim Da-eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), the granddaughter of Kim Sun-yung. Meanwhile, the former Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students are lost without their dojos, and try to convince to their former friends about what’s really going on at Cobra Kai, but all of them have been too brainwashed by Silver to see the truth.
Cobra Kai always does such an excellent job each season of tying in events and characters from the films, making the series feel like a natural progression of the franchise, and one that had been planned all along. This season explores Chozen’s backstory, and brings in one of Daniel’s former rivals, Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), who has since realized the error of his ways. The fifth season is one of the most tense ones yet. Terry Silver makes an excellent villain—far more sinister and menacing than Kreese has ever been. He’s manipulative and dangerous, and there’s nothing he won’t do to get what he wants, even murder. He proves early on to Daniel and Chozen that he is a major threat, and not to be taken lightly.
Each episode of the season flows perfectly into the next, making this like one 6-hour movie, and a perfect weekend binge. No matter how many times I re-watch these seasons, I enjoy them all over again each time.
While Sony’s DVD release looks and sounds quite good, and is certainly more than just “watchable” quality, it’s a shame that this amazing series still hasn’t received at least a Blu-ray release, especially since the show airs in 4K on Netflix. The picture is generally clean, with nice colors, and a decent level of detail. However, it lacks that extra clarity and pop of the show’s original 4K presentation on Netflix. The audio track provides clear dialogue (which primarily comes from the center channel), and makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to add an immersive feeling to the presentation and enhance the show’s excellent soundtrack.
The fifth season’s ten episodes are evenly split across 2 DVD discs. The bonus material resides on the second disc, and consists of 5 1/2 minutes of deleted/extended scenes, and a fun 9-minute gag reel. The discs are placed in a clear DVD keepcase, with one disc on a swinging tray in the middle, and the other placed on the right side of the case. The case also includes an insert offering a discount on official Cobra Kai merchandise, and is wrapped by a glossy cardboard slipcover.
What’s Included:
Episodes: (6:01:53)
- All 10 episodes of the fifth season
Disc 1 (2:52:50): “Long, Long Way from Home”, “Molé”, “Playing with Fire”, “Downward Spiral”, “Extreme Measures”
Disc 2 (3:09:03): “Ouroboros”, “Bad Eggs”, “Taikai”, “Survivors”, “Head of the Snake” - 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English, English SDH
- Deleted and Extended Scenes (5:29)
Collection of 9 deleted/extended scenes. Play All, or select from:- Giving Up Karate? (:34)
At the water park, the kids talk about giving up on karate if the dojo closes. - It’s Time To Strike (:20)
As the Cobra Kai class leaves, Chozen tells Johnny it’s time to strike. - Tory Tries To Talk To Devon (1:03)
Tory tries to convince Devon leave Cobra Kai, but the sensei interrupts. - Stingray’s TMNT Video (1:16)
Demetri tries to get Stingray to say who really hurt him, but when he avoids the question, they show him a video he created of himself dressed as a Ninja Turtle. - No Hug For Nessa (:59)
Anoush & Louie drunken apologize to one another after a fight at the bar. - Extended Opening Scene (:41)
The guys meet up at Sam’s request, but are surprised to see her arrive with Tory. - Sam Tries To Protect Anthony (:28)
Sam tries to convince her brother Anthony that he doesn’t need to join their fight. - Stingray Button #2 (:21)
Raymond drives Carmen. - Kim Arrives At Cobra Kai #2 (:36)
Sensei Kim arrives on her motorcycle to stop Miyagi-Do.
- Giving Up Karate? (:34)
- Blooper Reel> (8:57)
Fun with the cast and crew as they flub and forget lines, get tongue-tied, break, curse, and just have fun on set.
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DVD:
Extras:
Final Thoughts:
I absolutely love Cobra Kai—it just keeps getting better each season. I enjoyed this fifth season just as much watching it again for the second time around on this DVD release. While I certainly recommend picking this up based on the quality of the show itself, I really wish Sony would release the series on Blu-ray rather than offering it on physical media only in SD format. The picture quality is still quite good and didn’t detract from any enjoyment of the series, but the video lacks that extra level of clarity and pop seen with the original 4K release on Netflix. The discs contain about 15 minutes of bonus material, including deleted/extended scenes and a fun blooper reel. No digital copy is included. This is an easy recommendation for any fan of the franchise.
Cobra Kai – Season 05 (2 Disc) – DVD
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