‘Cobra Kai’ Season 4 (2021) goes down to the wire

Amid the drama of the All Valley Tournament that concludes “Cobra Kai” Season 4 (December, Netflix), Johnny (William Zabka) is told Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) left the tournament in an Uber. “What’s an Uber?” the stuck-in-the-past Johnny says without missing a beat. It’s an example of the endlessly sharp scene-by-scene writing on this series that winkingly yet lovingly continues the “Karate Kid” legacy.

Bully for you

As for the writing on a macro level, there’s so much happening that it’s hard to judge; my head spins when I try to decide where to start.

One of my favorite threads early in the season finds Cobra Kai’s Tory (Peyton List) giving off serious Faith-from-“Buffy” vibes as the bad girl who deep down doesn’t want to be the bad girl. Her rival is Miyagi-Do’s Sam (Mary Mouser), who isn’t precisely the Buffy in this equation; she’s going through anger issues of her own.

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Bullies, victims, and the thin line between the two is an overarching theme of these 10 episodes. Cobra Kai’s youngest student, Kenny (Dallas Dupree Young), is bullied by Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro) in early episodes. I was thinking “I can’t wait till Kenny learns some skills and gets payback.”

But it’s to “Cobra Kai’s” credit as a layered show that by the time this happens, Kenny has gone too far in the other direction. He has become Anthony’s bully. And by the way, Anthony was always sort of like Tory: You can see on his face he doesn’t really want to be bad; he’s just trying to impress his friends – and possibly it’s a cry for attention from his parents.

The kid stays in the picture

Santopietro does interesting work in this regard. Anthony’s inner nature is good, but he’s figuring out who he wants to be. And in this process, he makes bad decisions. But he’s a teenager, so we should look at the parents too.

I and my buddy regularly poke fun at the LaRusso parents – Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) — for loving Sam more than Anthony. Daniel’s teachings are always pointed toward Sam, and when it comes to troubled teens, Amanda develops concern for Tory while being oblivious to Anthony.

Before his re-emergence this season, “Cobra Kai” could’ve simply stopped acknowledging Anthony’s existence and few people would’ve noticed.

But never assume you as a viewer know more than the writing team. They acknowledge this situation when Daniel’s cousin’s wife (Julia Macchio, Ralph’s daughter), a budding psychiatrist, asks the LaRussos why they love their daughter more than their son – and they doth protest a bit too much.

Attacking weaknesses

Another Season 4 theme is “What is your weakness?” Senseis Kreese (Martin Kove) and Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith, returning from “The Karate Kid, Part III” and still resembling a human cobra) teach the Cobra Kais to exploit their opponent’s weakness, and it gets viewers thinking about every character’s weakness. The answer to “What is Silver’s weakness?” provides a great season-finale twist.

It makes up for what was perhaps the weakest part of the season. We know from “Part III” that Silver is a schemer, and the foreboding music whenever he enters a scene further reminds us. But for much of the season, he’s honestly on hand as a great sensei. It takes a long time till we learn what his scheme is, but it nicely ties in with him overcoming his weakness.

If a viewer tunes in to “Cobra Kai” for any specific characters, or hero-enemy pairings, they might be disappointed by Season 4. Tory and Sam fight for the girls’ championship in the All Valley, but their arcs don’t go as deep as promised earlier in the season. (For now. There’s still Season 5 to consider.)

Daniel (sort of) learns something

Similarly, I wanted Daniel to be put in his place for his steady low-grade arrogance – which in the movies comes from Macchio’s young energy and now comes from the writing. Granted, Daniel approves of Sam using some of Johnny’s Eagle Fang tactics in the end, but it’s not a journey of huge conflict. When Daniel does the right thing, it’s like he’s simultaneously patting himself on the back. He hasn’t yet truly been humbled.

The steady changes in rivalries and allegiances are generally not random and quick, but they do require a scorecard; “Cobra Kai” flirts with being a little soapy in this regard. I mean, several of these karate kids have been in all three dojos by now.

Rivalries are so central to the series that when Johnny and Daniel clash in episode five, it’s clearly the season’s undercard, played more for laughs. (Daniel brushes off the fight – drunkenly scheduled the night before — figuring they’ll both cool off and forget it. Then we smash cut to Johnny training to “Rocky IV’s” epic East-vs.-West anthem.)

Stay for the karate

As it gives many of the rivalries a final showdown, episode 9 is almost like watching a karate tournament in real time. If you felt the franchise owed you for the too-short fight in the first film, here’s the makeup. Including its extension into episode 10, it’s an hour of showmanship, with excellent fight choreography (check out Sam’s Japanese-style stances). But I actually labeled episode 9 as “slow.”

My friend pointed out that it was all action, and I realized I found it slow because the character development is set aside for an episode. We get back to it in the finale, but again, there’s so much of it.

Tanner Buchanan might be the best actor on the show, and Robby has a compelling arc this season: He aims to use Cobra Kai for his own ends; he’s loyal to himself, not a dojo. Then he finds his teaching of Kenny has backfired; he’s accidentally created a bully.

Yet I’m only mentioning Robby so I don’t go through the review without mentioning him. He’s just one of dozens of strong characters. Are there too many? Well, it’s hard for me to say that since I love them all.

And meanwhile, I’m calling for even more “Karate Kid” alumni to be added. With Silver giving representation to “KK3,” the logical next addition is Julie (Hilary Swank) from “The Next Karate Kid.” While Daniel knows Mr. Miyagi’s lessons, they turn out differently when channeled through his cockiness; maybe Julie – who also trained under Miyagi – can provide a fresh perspective.

I’ll cautiously say that “Cobra Kai” is not yet too much of a good thing.

IMDb Top 250 trivia

• “Cobra Kai” ranks No. 168 among IMDb’s top 250 TV shows with an 8.5 rating.