More than a year and a half after the release of season 2, Cobra Kai has returned to continue the story in the third season of the action packed Netflix series. This next installment of 10 episodes is full of new and old characters, plenty of action sequences, and a fair share of issues as well.

The Story

To begin, season 3 starts off right after the events of season 2. Throughout the duration of the 10 episode assortment, the narrative follows Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso coping after a devastating event at the town high school, and how it affects both of their Karate dojos and LaRusso’s car dealership. Once a major injury is inflicted onto a student at the high school disaster, the town as a whole begins to look down upon karate and issues several rules against it, which causes a struggle within most of the main characters, especially Johnny. 

Sub-par story

The story tackles themes of determination and trust in a sub-par way. Compared to the first and second seasons, this new addition to the series seems to be lacking some of the depth the first two seasons had and also has many more cringey moments. Still, the story is very engaging and leaves the viewer wondering what could happen next at the end of every episode and includes an occasional laugh.

Hit or Miss Characters

To continue, the characters in this season are very interesting. While some development makes a lot of sense with characters like Sam, Robbie, and Johnny, some others grow in a way that is not developed too well and is sudden, which causes them to not seem the same. One character in particular that represents this is Miguel. Between season 2 and 3, Miguel is almost a different person which is very off putting as he is a very important main character. The season also has its fair share of badly written characters as well, such as Tory. However, some characters in this season are written very well, like the backstory and development of John Kreese, but in general this season was lacking on character development.

Verdict

Overall, Cobra Kai Season 3 is definitely the weakest season so far, while still having some good moments. The season as a whole is very enjoyable at times, but poorly written characters and a sub-par story creates a kind of “meh” experience. A six or seven out of ten would be an accurate rating for this selection of episodes, which is a little disappointing compared to the previous seasons and especially the first one. Although it may not be as good as previous installments, season 3 is still an enjoyable piece of entertainment that leaves viewers eager to see what happens in the next season.