Cobra Kai’s Fearless Dive into Gritty Storytelling

The Netflix hit series, Cobra Kai has been around for 5 years now, spawning 5 seasons as well within that time period. And with the promise of a 6th and final season in the near future.

Originally debuting on YouTube, the show was later sold to Netflix becoming exclusive to the streamer from its third season.

Since then, the series has taken off immensely boasting both critical and general success as well as propelling members of its fairly known cast to higher echelons within Hollywood.

The series is a clever follow up to the events of The Karate Kid film series that was birth as far back as 1984 but that is far from the only thing it is. The series also happens to be generally a good time sporting a TV-14 rating but even that doesn’t mean the series didn’t veer off into darker territory and for this reason, one moment sticks out like a sore thumb.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In Season 3, Episode 10, a flashback sequence that partly chronicles the lives of Kreese & Silver during their Armed Service days begins the episode. With their battalion captured by Vietnamese soldiers whose sense of entertainment was malevolent to say the least. As they select a pair from the captured & caged battalion, forcing them to fight one another over a snake pit filled with all kinds of species as far as the eyes could see.

This of course puts members of battalion in a dire position as personal survival is the goal which can only be guaranteed by subjecting fellow comrades to a gruesome death.

The fight between Kreese and his commander is particularly memorable in this sequence as the show holds nothing back from start to finish.

Right from the unfair mind games the commander plays on Kreese to Kreese’s eventual revenge play by pulling a ‘long live the King’ move on his commander.

The sequence is littered with contexts and scenes too disturbing that brings into question the [aforementioned] TV-14 rating attributed to the show.

However, as the series progressed beyond season 3 there have been other instances that have dared to tap into darker sensibilities but none as concrete as the flashback sequence from season 3’s finale.

But the true brilliance of the sequence is how it offers up insight into John Kreese’s psyche clearly giving context to the character’s actions in present day.

Though Netflix is usually notorious for axing shows ever so often. The fate of Cobra Kai has [mostly] been in tact so much so that the streamer previously announced the renewal of the show’s fifth season well in advance and long before the show’s fourth season release.

With the loyal fan base and impeccable ratings the series boasts, one would be hard-pressed to find the streamer not share the same enthusiasm.

However, Cobra Kai is set to conclude with its upcoming sixth season, which was filming but has since been halted due to the Sag-Aftra strike.

Seasons 1 – 5 of Cobra Kai are available to stream or download on Netflix.