When thinking about biblical redemption, I consider how scripture tells the story of God flipping the script of human history so that we might be redeemed from the consequences of sin through Christ. And when considering the redemptive qualities of non-biblical stories, I reflect on the ways in which they mirror the biblical story. Thus, while watching the final three episodes of Netflix’s Cobra Kai, I considered how Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and John Kreese (Martin Kove) undergo their own process of redemption, which flips the script of what it means to be Cobra Kai.
In The Karate Kid (1984), Johnny and Kreese are typical bullies from the Cobra Kai dojo who strike first, strike hard, and show no mercy toward Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). Daniel must learn Miyagi-Do karate from Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) to defeat Cobra Kai and what it stands for. Which is a classic good versus evil plot! However, part of what makes the Cobra Kai series so great is how it shows Johnny and Kreese’s transition into heroes, which comes to completion in the final three episodes.1
Note: The following contains potential spoilers for Cobra Kai‘s third season.
In the third-to-last episode—“Skeletons” (S6, E13)—three dojos remain in the Sekai Taikai world championship karate tournament: Miyagi-Do, led in part by Johnny and Daniel; Cobra Kai, led by Kreese; and the Iron Dragons led by Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). The episode features several intense conversations, including two between Johnny and Kreese.
One of Cobra Kai‘s biggest lessons is that second chances can happen, that people can be forgiven, and that the least likely people can change for the better.
The first happens in the parking lot of the All Valley Sports Arena where Kreese humiliated and assaulted Johnny after his loss to Daniel in The Karate Kid Part II (1986). Now, 35 years later, a remorseful Kreese confronts Johnny to address the skeletons in their past. “For the last few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about my failures,” says Kreese. “And my biggest failure happened right here in this parking lot. When you lost to LaRusso back in ’84, you handled it like a man. And what I did next was inexcusable. [. . .] I’m sorry for that, Johnny.”
Johnny, focused on seeing his son Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) fight, is dismissive. However, later in the episode, Daniel helps Johnny understand that despite their teachers’ mistakes, it’s up to them to teach others “the good lessons” they learned. With that in mind, Johnny confronts Kreese, saying that he’ll “never forgive” Kreese and calling him out for “abandoning” him and “thr[owing him] away like trash right when [he] needed [him] most.” Kreese attempts to reach out and touch Johnny’s shoulder. Johnny bats it away. But after a teary-eyed pause, Kreese again reaches out, hugs Johnny, and apologizes: “I’m so sorry, son. I can’t… I can’t change the past.” Johnny lifts his arms to hug Kreese back. Kreese wonders if he “could make it up” to Johnny. And Johnny has an idea…
The episode, which begins by digging up the skeletons in both Johnny and Kreese’s past, ends with the start of their redemption. Kreese does make it up to Johnny by making him Cobra Kai sensei, which allows him to lead Tory Nichols (Peyton List) and his stepson Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) in the fight against the Iron Dragons after Miyagi-Do has to bow out of the competition due to injuries. In one of the episode’s final scenes, Johnny and Kreese bow to each other, which symbolically represents Johnny forgiving Kreese and Kreese making up for his many years of wrongdoing by entrusting Cobra Kai to a new, better leader.
The seeds of redemption planted in “Skeletons” start to bloom in the series’ penultimate episode, “Strike Last” (S6, E14). Johnny can now train Tory, Miguel, and other students in the ways of the new Cobra Kai. As Daniel says to Johnny while both stand in the old Cobra Kai dojo (emphasis added):
[Kreese and Silver] did a lot of damage. But if you could lead Tory and Miguel to victory tomorrow, your Cobra Kai will be Sekai Taikai champions. That’s what it will be known for. And you will be the sensei that made it happen. Clean slate.
Daniel helps Johnny see that he can be a better teacher than Kreese. And later in the episode, when Miguel is angry at the Iron Dragons for injuring Robby and bent on revenge, Johnny draws on Miyagi-Do teachings to help Miguel understand that he shouldn’t fight for revenge. Johnny explains how it was revenge that led to his defeat in 1984. Instead, Miguel needs to respect the lessons he has been taught, respect himself, and show others that bullies will not win. The new Cobra Kai is not just Cobra Kai but also Miyagi-Do. It is the good teachings of both dojos coming together to create what Mr. Miyagi might call “balance.” Johnny can bring this balance to Cobra Kai and flip the Cobra Kai script.
However, ex-Cobra Kai leader Silver is unwilling to abandon his villainous ways and uses Wolf and the Iron Dragons to crush Miyagi-Do and the new Cobra Kai. The final showdown between the Iron Dragons and Cobra Kai is really a showdown between the old and new Cobra Kai. Wolf recognizes as much, saying that “[n]o matter what gi [Miguel] has on, he’s trained in Miyagi-Do.” Both Silver and Wolf utilize Cobra Kai’s older, more brutal tactics to win. At one point, Silver even taunts Daniel, who he tried to lead astray in The Karate Kid Part III (1989), and shames him for letting Cobra Kai have a chance at victory after fighting against them for so long. To which Daniel retorts, “Haven’t you heard? Cobra Kai never dies.” What was once a slogan for violent and oppressive villains is now one for reborn and redeemed heroes—a clean slate. Silver and Wolf do their best to defeat Cobra Kai, but because of Johnny and Miyagi-Do teachings, Tory and Miguel are victorious.
The tournament is not over, though. The last two fights end in a tie between both dojos, which must be broken in a final match between Johnny and Wolf. Silver uses this to his advantage, taunting Johnny and his family and plotting to have one of his henchmen harm them. But Kreese, after watching from the sidelines, stops Silver in a climactic confrontation aboard Silver’s yacht. Here, Silver calls Kreese weak for siding with Johnny. “On the contrary,” Kreese responds. “[Johnny’s] a source of strength. He always has been. A student worthy of my dedication who has since surpassed his teacher.” Silver mocks this idea: “That’s a low bar, John. His teacher isn’t what he used to be.” “Let’s find out,” Kreese replies, and the two have one final showdown that results in Kreese’s last strike: he throws his lit cigar into a puddle of gasoline, and the two former Cobra Kai leaders are engulfed in a ball of fire.
In a way, Silver is correct: Kreese is not the teacher he once was. Once a villain, he now dies a hero, sacrificing himself to take down Silver and keep Johnny’s family safe. Redemption almost always requires sacrifice. And through a baptism by fire, Kreese is redeemed. His slate is burned clean.
Johnny’s heroic transformation comes to completion in the final episode, “Ex-Degenerate” (S6, E15). The opening scene takes viewers back to Cobra Kai’s beginning. A drunk, washed-up Johnny sits next to his mother’s tombstone. He explains how someone called him a “loser” at Applebee’s, which led to the cops being called.2 The idea of being a loser has haunted Johnny ever since his fight with Daniel in 1984: “After high school, it’s just been one loss after another. No one rooting for me. No one in my corner. Nothing to be proud of. [. . .] Because in life, you don’t get second chances, Mom. I’m sorry I let you down.” Here, Johnny is a man who has lost everything. In contrast to the pilot’s title of “Ace-Degenerate,” however, this finale demonstrates how Johnny becomes an “Ex-Degenerate.”
The scene transitions to the present. Johnny is holding his newborn, to whom he says, “Daddy’s got a big fight coming up. A second chance. This time, I can’t blow it.” Following a training montage that pays homage to both the Rocky films and the original Karate Kid film, Johnny finds himself fighting on the same red-and-white mat with the same 3-point rules in the same arena as the one from 1984. In this fight, however, he is in Daniel’s shoes. His bully is Wolf, and his trophy is redemption.
When he and Cobra Kai are announced at the beginning of the match, the crowd cheers (and viewers cheer alongside them). During the fight, however, Johnny is afraid; Wolf has him on the ropes. But Daniel, drawing from both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai teachings, tells Johnny that defeat, fear, and pain might not exist in his dojo but he must also “have balance” and let Wolf come to him—just like Daniel let Johnny come into the crane kick back in 1984. The fight comes down to the wire. The scene is interlaced with flashbacks from the original Karate Kid. Johnny can’t help but think back to his previous loss. But in a climactic moment, he defeats Wolf. And like Daniel in the original film, Johnny is held up high to resounding cheers. When presented with his first-place trophy, he calls Daniel over, who says to him, “You’re alright, Lawrence”—just like Johnny said to him in the original film.3 The original script has flipped. As the crowd chants Johnny’s name, he becomes the hero. He is redeemed.
But Johnny’s win also redeems Cobra Kai. Just like the cross, which was once a symbol of torture but is now a symbol of hope and forgiveness, Cobra Kai becomes a symbol of strength that is donned not by villains, but by the heroes who fight against them. In a final scene, as Johnny is introducing a group of new students to the new ways of Cobra Kai, which now incorporates Miyagi-Do training, he demonstrates how even its motto has been redefined:
“Strike First.” It means be aggressive. “Strike Hard.” It means give it your all. “No Mercy.” It means not being Mr. Nice Guy. It’s the hardest one to understand. [. . .] We do not train to be merciful here. But I will bring out the best in you. [. . .] Give it time, and I’ll make a champion out of you. All that matters is you stop being weak little cry babies and start being the strongest versions of yourselves. Can you do that?
Harsh words, certainly. It’s still Cobra Kai, after all. But just as Christians are taught to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves”—a difficult and mysterious balancing act—Cobra Kai students are now taught to balance the “offense” of Cobra Kai with the “defense” of Miyagi-Do. And in the last few frames, Johnny grins, balancing out his harshness with gentleness. He will not lead his students astray, for he has surpassed his teacher.
Cobra Kai has much to offer viewers in terms of valuable life lessons, more than what can be discussed here. But what I hope to have shown is that one of its biggest lessons is that second chances can happen, that people can be forgiven, and that the least likely people can change for the better. And most importantly, that redemption is real, not only in Cobra Kai but also for us in real life through Christ alone.4
- The following discussion uses a “close read” approach. In other words, I draw on my own thoughts regarding the last three episodes of Cobra Kai and do not engage with other articles that may discuss them. I also did not seek out such articles when writing. My reasoning is to show readers what I noticed when watching the episodes on my own as a casual viewer. I hope to engage with other articles that may discuss similar topics in future discussions. ↩︎
- Thank you to Alex Adams who reminded me that the Applebee’s incident was ambiguous until this scene. ↩︎
- A detail that has not been lost on viewers. There are a few videos comparing these scenes. ↩︎
- A special thanks to Jason Morehead at CAPC whose editorial feedback helped me improve the style of this article. ↩︎
