Amanda Is Right: Cobra Kai Should Be Over By Now

Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai Season 5In Cobra Kai season 5’s premiere, Amanda LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler) makes a good point to her husband, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio): his feud with Cobra Kai should be over by now. Cobra Kai season 5 picks up soon after Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and his snake-themed dojo won the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. As a result, Daniel was forced to close down Miyagi-Do and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) also had to shutter his dojo, Eagle Fang Karate. Yet, to Amanda’s chagrin at the start of Cobra Kai season 5, the karate war is still going on.

At first, Amanda was a non-participant in Daniel’s escalating rivalry with Cobra Kai and she was bemused by the karate war in the Valley. Things changed after their daughter, Samantha (Mary Mouser), entered into her own blood feud with Cobra Kai’s Tory Nichols (Peyton List), who sent Sam to the hospital and instigated a karate gang war at West Valley High in Cobra Kai season 2. Amanda tried to intervene and settle Daniel’s rivalry with Cobra Kai, only to make enemies with John Kreese (Martin Kove). In Cobra Kai season 4, Amanda came to understand and sympathize with Tory’s difficult home life, and she helped Nichols return to West Valley High. At the All Valley Tournament, Amanda asked Tory to end her feud with Sam regardless of which of them won the Championship final match. True to her word, Tory stayed away from LaRusso in Cobra Kai season 5, in part because she was distraught to learn that Terry Silver bribed the referee so that Nichols would win the All Valley Championship.

After Amanda gets the shock of her life and finds a nude Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) swimming in her pool in Cobra Kai season 5’s premiere, she yells at Daniel about why he’s still continuing to feud with Terry Silver. Amanda points out that “Sam and Tory had their match. Nobody got hurt. Kreese even went to jail. It’s a karate miracle! This should be over.” And Amanda is right because the agreement Daniel and Johnny made with Kreese (and Silver by proxy) at the end of Cobra Kai season 3 is that season 4’s All Valley would settle all business. Daniel and Johnny lost, and they had no reason to suspect it was because of foul play until Tory admitted Silver’s cheating to Sam at the end of Cobra Kai season 5. To Amanda, Daniel was refusing to let go of his grudge, which resulted in her briefly leaving him until she realized Terry Silver was a menace that had to be stopped.

How Much Longer Can Cobra Kai Continue?

However, Amanda’s complaints to Daniel in Cobra Kai season 5’s premiere also cleverly address the overall series, in a meta sense. While Cobra Kai season 4’s ending didn’t come off as a series finale, to Amanda’s mind, the dojo war was settled. Even though Cobra Kai won, Amanda felt relief that the rivalry was over, and she was fine with Daniel shuttering Miyagi-Do. In the bigger picture, Cobra Kai season 5 actually settled many of the major storylines and rivalries that have been ongoing since the series began. Sam and Tory did bury the hatchet and work together at the end of Cobra Kai season 5, while Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) and Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) are also finally cool with each other.

Of course, Cobra Kai fans hope that the series does keep going into season 6 and beyond. Terry Silver was defeated at the end of season 5, but Cobra Kai left seeds like Kreese’s escape from prison to continue the series in season 6. Amanda may have been surprised that Daniel still wanted to war with Cobra Kai when season 5 began but, by the end, she was firmly on his side to put an end to Terry Silver’s Cobra Kai. One Cobra Kai chapter may be over, but season 6 could start a new story altogether.

Cobra Kai Season 5 is available to stream on Netflix.