The students of the Miyagi-Do karate dojo are headed into their biggest showdown ever in Cobra Kai season 6, but the show needs to resolve one major issue for Miyagi-Do’s prospective win to not be a hollow one.
Sekai Taikai: The Ultimate Tournament
While the All-Valley tournament has long been the biggest tournament showcased in The Karate Kid franchise, Cobra Kai season 6 takes the story into the major international martial arts competition, the Sekai Taikai, with Miyagi-Do competing against Cobra Kai and other schools from around the world. Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) go through an intensive process to select Miyagi-Do’s six designated competitors (the best of the best), but one has unfortunately made it on the team under false pretences – namely Devon Lee (O’ona O’Brien).
The Cheating Scandal
After Daniel recruits Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) to help select Miyagi-Do’s recruits for the Sekai Taikai, Mike sets up a final test to select the last two members, with four students in a race to retrieve two flags from the woods. While Devon and Demetri (Gianni DeCenzco) win the competition and earn spots on Miyagi-Do’s team, it’s revealed that Devon cheated Kenny Payne (Dallas Dupree Young) out of a fair shot by spiking his water with laxatives, causing him to experience horrible diarrhoea and lose the competition. For Cobra Kai to not only end the Sekai Taikai story but also the series as a whole properly, the show will need to address Devon’s deceit head on.
To be clear, Devon is not an inherently nefarious character, but an up-and-coming Miyagi-Do student with potential but also confidence issues. With each school in the Sekai Taiki only entering six students, Devon expresses great doubt that she will be able to make the cut. While Johnny is really in Devon’s corner, Devon still feels like the odds are stacked against her. This obviously greatly influences Devon’s decision to sabotage Kenny’s chances to earn a spot-on Sekai Taikai’s team, but however sympathetic Devon might be as an underdog, she nonetheless makes it onto the team through very dishonourable means one would more readily associate with Terry Silver than Mr Miyagi.
Kenny Payne: An Undeserved Downfall
Cobra Kai does seem to somewhat coax the viewer more to Devon’s corner with Kenny’s cockier attitude in season six 6 compared to his much more timid personality in season four. However, Kenny is no more aggressive or arrogant than Johnny or Tory (Peyton List) have ever been. Moreover, Kenny’s newfound confidence is clearly a byproduct of having previously been under the Cobra Kai influence of John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and having developed genuine martial arts skill after years of being bullied. Even if Kenny needed to be humbled after becoming a little full of himself, he could have learned humility more naturally, and didn’t deserve to lose his shot at competing in the Sekai Taikai (and in such a humiliating manner in front of all his fellow Miyagi-Do students, no less.)
The Consequences For Miyagi-Do
Additionally, in cheating Kenny so horribly, Devon might have also put Miyagi-Do at a disadvantage in the Sekai Takai. While it’s understandable that Devon aspires to compete in the Sekai Takai while despairing that it may be out of her reach, the fact remains that, where Miyagi-Do’s roster currently stands, Kenny is the overall more skilled martial artist of the two. With the abundance of formidable fighters Miyagi-Do will be facing from both Cobra Kai and elsewhere, the dojo will need its best students for their best chance to win, and Kenny was better qualified to for that role than Devon.
Cobra Kai cannot end without addressing Devon’s trickery, both for the sake of her own character arc and for Miyagi-Do to win with a level of honour becoming of Mr Miyagi, especially since Devon could easily reach Kenny’s skill level with the same amount of training and dedication. It could take the form of Devon confessing and giving her spot to Kenny or through Devon redeeming herself through some other means, but without Devon atoning for effectively stealing Kenny’s spot on the team, the story of Cobra Kai’s final season will be incomplete.
Tell us, do you think Miyagi-Do should win the Sekai Taikai in Cobra Kai Season 6? Or do you think Tory deserves to win the Sekai Taikai?
Cobra Kai |
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Decades after their 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament bout, a middle-aged Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence find themselves martial-arts rivals again. |
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| Creator: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg |
| Cast: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Martin Kove, Gianni DeCenzo, Vanessa Rubio, Peyton List, Griffin Santopietro |
| Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama |
| Number of Seasons: 6 |
| Streaming Service: Netflix |
