The end of the 3rd season of Cobra Kai raises 4 important questions for the 4th season

Netflix gave the green light for a fourth season Cobra Kai in October, then fans sweeping the legs of Season 3, which debuted on the New Year’s weekend, knew there was more to come. But with so many cameos and callbacks already made, and an ending with more nuances than a direct thriller, what exactly is left for season 4?

[Ed. note: Spoilers for the entirety of Cobra Kai season 3 follow.]

Cobra Kai episode 10 ends with Johnny’s exile dojo training alongside Daniel’s pupils at Miyagi-do HQ. Kreese, however, has full control over Cobra Kai, with Tory as his second in command, and Johnny’s son Robby joining the team out of spite. Daniel finally kicked Kreese’s ass at the Cobra Kai dojo, but failed to get him evicted from such facilities. Kreese also summoned reinforcements, the army friend and wealthy benefactor Terry Silver, whose character goes back to the least known The Karate Kid Part III 1989.

We will now discuss what Cobra Kai season 4 still needs to solve and what else it can bring, following the formula of the first three seasons of adult problems, teen intrigue, links to the original films and good old fashion fights.

Image: Overbrook Entertainment / Netflix

New (old) villain: Terry Silver

In the story of the origin of Kreese’s bananas in season 3, Silver is revealed as part of the Kreese Special Forces unit, captured by the North Vietnamese after an unsuccessful sabotage operation. The NVA forces its prisoners of war to fight, in pairs, to death in a literal snake pit. Kreese replaces Silver when his name is called, saving Silver’s life. Then Kreese kills his commander, even when a surprise air strike frees the camp in the middle of the fight. This puts Silver in Wookiee’s life debt to Kreese, and then we see Kreese calling Silver to pay for it in Season 3.

Silver actually has a 30-year history in the Karate Kid universe. In 1989 The Karate Kid – Part 3, he devised an elaborate and lengthy plan to manipulate the All-Valley final and discredit Daniel and Miyagi in the process. Obviously, it didn’t work, but Silver apparently still has money and a grudge. Observant fans who actually saw the 1989 movie probably recognized his name when the first season’s tournament forum asked Johnny what his relationship was with Terry Silver. And when Daniel, at the end of season 3, mentions that he was also Cobra Kai, that makes reference to the events of The Karate Kid – Part 3 and how Silver attracted him to that dojo.

Silver has only been an off-camera presence so far, but if he returns in season 4, chances are good that original actor Thomas Ian Griffith will return, although he has had no TV or film roles since 2006. But he still is a tae kwon of the black belt IRL.

Less certain is whether Silver’s loose cannon protégé, Mike Barnes, returns. Don’t rule out anything, and getting actor Sean Kanan will certainly not be as difficult as getting Elisabeth Shue back home in season 3, but there’s not much need to give Johnny and Daniel another antagonist his age.

Meetings and separations

Photo: Netflix

It looks like Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) and Samantha (Mary Mouser) are back to making syrupy looks at each other, leaving their rivals, Tory (Peyton List) and Robby (Tanner Buchanan), to find some kind of traumatized love in recovery . Both pairs also have the third match in a best-of-three series.

Miguel shouted a wounded Robby at the end of the season 1 tournament, and Robby paralyzed Miguel at the end of season 2. Tory left Sam with scars, both physically and emotionally, in the high school mess, and Sam beat her with a stick during the invasion of Kai’s house at the end of season 3.

The question here: who wins the championship fight at the All-Valley? The tournament has women’s and men’s divisions (we saw Aisha Robinson fighting for Cobra Kai in season 1). We are not sure if they do a mixed competition, however. So the two groups of rivals are likely to go all the way, as it provides the kind of comprehensive defeat that would force the losing dojo out of the city at sunset.

Elsewhere, Yasmine (Annalisa Cochrane) recovered from her lead wedgie at the canyon party in Season 1 (she was absent for the whole of Season 2) and is now the reluctant, but incredibly friendly friend of Demetri (Gianni Decenzo). Yas is friends with Moon (Hannah Kepple) and Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) defecting to Miyagi-do, which probably puts the two together again. (Hippie child Moon didn’t care about Hawk’s increasingly brutal antics with Cobra Kai.)

Kyler (Joe Seo), who was Sam’s original boyfriend (and Miguel’s original tormentor), also returned for season 3, and was recruited to Cobra Kai by Kreese. He and Miyagi-do Demetri and Hawk’s lieutenants are likely to be responsible for most of the fighting in preparation for the tournament, although Miguel cleaned the cafeteria floor with him in season 1, and those two can get in the way.

New dojo, new name?

Photo: Curtis Bonds Baker / Netflix

Johnny (William Zabka) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) finally came together, united in their desire to free the galaxy from Kreese (Martin Kove). Don’t expect the honeymoon to last long. There is a lot of material to work on, from who will lead your new unified karate team, to what style the fighters will or should follow (Miyagi-do vs. Fist Path), and even what the name of the club should be.

Johnny created “Eagle Fang” for his karate lessons in the park, a name that deliberately sounds like a Dökken tribute band. Miyagi-do, however, can be a little hippy-dippy for Johnny’s aesthetic. Season 4 should give Daniel and Johnny this and several other differences to put aside. But the show’s writers seem to understand the appeal of fans when they legitimately come together, care for each other and fight. They don’t need another improvised double date with their S / O’s. After three (in each of the first three seasons), that device has been used enough.

What about Robby?

Image: Netflix

Say the following for Robby Keene: he won his heel turn. Keene has been used and abused by almost everyone who crosses his path, and he has had enough. In season 3, he serves time in the reformatory for the fight that paralyzed Miguel – and was placed there when ex-mentor Daniel lured him and got him arrested. Robby has also been upset with his father, Johnny, for the past three years, and for good reason. Johnny put more effort into his relationships with Miguel, Carmen, Daniel and anyone without a name Robby Keene than his own son.

This makes it very difficult to just make up for your differences with frank conversation (or a good kick in the ass) with the adults in your life. But if Netflix isn’t sure about a season 5 for Cobra Kai, writers may not have much time or space to fix things. Instead, Robby could get a lot darker and be a sullen Anakin karate – corrupt, brutal, dangerous and the enemy no doubt, but not without some sympathy. Tory, like his love interest, was very humanized in the third season as well. We see that she works two jobs (after being expelled from school) to care for her sick mother and younger brother. She is mean and bitter because there is no adult in her life to support her either.

When will Cobra Kai be released in season 4?

Cobra Kai Seasons 1 and 2 premiered in the spring of 2018 and 2019, and Season 3 hit Netflix on January 1. Netflix ordered a fourth season in October. We will probably see the 4th season in late autumn, at least, and in a year at least, if the pandemic does not delay production further.