Cobra Kai Seasons Ranked Worst To Best

Who would have guessed that a 34-years-later YouTube Premium sequel series to "The Karate Kid" — focused on the bully from the original movie, no less — would become one of the biggest hits Netflix has ever seen? Six years after the premiere of "Cobra Kai," the show is still going strong. It's put the franchise back on the map with a curious blend of '80s nostalgia, apolitical moralizing, and "Riverdale"-esque insanity. But not every season of the rambunctious karate saga has reached the same heights.

For its first two years, "Cobra Kai" was a flag-bearer for YouTube's burgeoning arm of original, scripted programming — a branch that never really blossomed. Despite premiering on a less-than-thriving platform, it gained attention. Getting so many original "Karate Kid" actors back and treating a decades-old popcorn underdog flick with such sincerity earned the show curiosity, and the critics praised its charm. When the series moved to Netflix for Season 3, bringing the two YouTube seasons with it, "Cobra Kai" quickly became a massive success.

Since then, the show has expanded significantly, bringing back just about every supporting actor who ever set foot on a "Karate Kid" set. The ratings and viewership have stayed high, but after five-and-a-third seasons, it's easier to tell when the series was at its strongest and when its campy nostalgia held it back. Let's take a look back at each season of "Cobra Kai," rank them, and see what made the best ones so great.

"Cobra Kai" Season 6 isn't all here yet, so it's impossible to pass judgment on it in its entirety. But we can assess Season 6, Part 1 — the first of three five-episode arcs that will comprise the show's final run. Every prior season is only 10 episodes, so while Season 6, Part 1 is only a third of it, it's half the length of all the other contenders on this list.

Unfortunately, "Cobra Kai" Season 6, Part 1 is also the weakest the series has ever been. That's not entirely its fault. Some of it is the inevitable result of a show dragging on a bit too long. The end of Season 5 would have been a pretty perfect sendoff for the series, but that's not the way things turned out. The first five episodes of Season 6 don't do much to prove that another installment was necessary. The conflicts are mostly retreads, and the storylines feel slightly forced overall.

Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka) butt heads again. Tory (Peyton List) is pulled back to the dark side again. Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) and Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) fall out of friendship again. And all the while, John Kreese (Martin Kove) goes on one of the show's most baffling sidequests, only redeemed by a fun villain turn from new cast member Brandon H. Lee, who plays Kwon Jae-Sung.

It all just feels bloated and directionless, even with the impending shonen tournament arc. But no one gets done dirtier in the five episodes than Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), who absolutely should have been named team captain for the Seikai Taikai.

The first five seasons of "Cobra Kai" are all pretty solid, and they're all pretty similar. Ranking them is tricky, but Season 4 ultimately shakes out at the bottom for a few reasons. It's caught between the absurd Season 3 finale and the blockbuster climax of Season 5. Caught in the middle, the whole thing ends up feeling a bit slow, muted, and uneventful.

In plenty of shows, that wouldn't be a problem. You need to take time between big story beats to deal with the aftermath and develop character relationships, especially with such a big cast. The problem is that "Cobra Kai" works best when it keeps things moving. The writing is rarely strong enough to sustain examination under a microscope. After Seasons 2 and 3 built up such audacious stakes, Season 4 frequently feels dull and repetitive by comparison.

Even still, there's a lot to love here. Thomas Ian Griffith absolutely steals the show in his triumphant return as Terry Silver, beginning a two-season run as the best bad guy the show has ever had. And of course, the All-Valley Tournament is fantastic as a two-part finale. The finals matches where Hawk fights Robby (Tanner Buchanan) and Tory fights Sam (Mary Mouser) are some of the best in the whole show, and it's great to see a tertiary protagonist like Hawk take home such a big win. Season 4 has nothing to be ashamed of, but it also isn't anything too special.

The first Netflix "Cobra Kai" season is fun, heartfelt, and occasionally absurd — words that can describe, well, most of the series. Much of what's done here is done better in other seasons, but the blend of campy nonsense and accessible drama still plays, and it plays well.

There's a strong emotional anchor through the season in the form of Miguel's recovery, following the climactic events of the Season 2 finale (more on that later). His relationship with Johnny continues to grow, and it's nice to see the sensei face some real consequences for his recklessness. Hawk and Tory also get great material in Season 3 as the stars of Kreese's new Cobra Kai dojo, and Daniel's visit to Okinawa expands the story in a lot of fun ways, bringing in Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) from "The Karate Kid Part II."

There are weaker points, like Kreese's over-the-top Vietnam War flashbacks, but in many ways, Season 3 is the platonic standard for "Cobra Kai." It tries hard to one-up the bombastic Season 2 finale with its own ridiculous climax, splitting time between a two-versus-one adult dojo fight (which almost becomes murder) and a home-invasion teenage brawl. Both are fun, but it's in this finale that the show also tips too far into absurdity for the first time. Criminal lines are crossed, and Season 4 responded with a much more measured story, albeit a moderately less fun one.

"Cobra Kai" Season 1 doesn't have any massive brawls, or rainy sword fights, or "Star Wars" vision quests, or international tournaments. It's a simple story — an inversion of "The Karate Kid" where the sensei is an absolute dirtbag and the student with the heart of gold uses cheap tricks to win the big tournament. And it just works.

It's interesting going back to this season after how ridiculous "Cobra Kai" has become over the years. It feels slightly pedestrian, but it's also far more focused. The core of the "Karate Kid" franchise has always been the teacher-student relationship. William Zabka and Xolo Maridueña have instant chemistry, and this whole first season is lifted to great heights on their backs. Maridueña is the perfect teen protagonist as Miguel, and his journey from bullied new kid to heroic fighter to the dark side is basic but extremely compelling. The show also knows not to dip too deep into the well of "Karate Kid" nostalgia here — something it comes to rely on too much later on.

The writing and premise are a little rough around the edges, and "Cobra Kai" has since gone on to bigger and better things. But before it was a giant, ensemble-driven franchise show, it was a hyper-legible story about standing up for yourself and owning up for your mistakes. Sometimes, you don't need more than that.

There's a strong case to be made that "Cobra Kai" Season 5 should be at the top of this list. It's the biggest the show has been (so far), the most bombastic, it has the best villain, and it's just plain fun. Kreese's prison arc is probably his best material in the show, and every character gets interesting material.

The season starts off strong with Miguel's journey to Mexico — a trip he hopes will reconnect him with his father. The arc is handled tactfully, giving Xolo Maridueña some of his best material in the show, and the Johnny and Robby side of the story makes for good comic relief. The other big season highlight is the bizarre Avengers team-up between Daniel, Johnny, Chozen, and Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan). Getting all three "bad boy" villains from the "Karate Kid" trilogy in one place, dousing them with booze, and sending them on a suicide mission to fight Terry Silver is genius. It yields the second-best season finale in all of "Cobra Kai," and certainly the most ridiculous. And Chozen completely steals the show.

Tory and Devon Lee (Oona O'Brien) get some fun scenes together, Stingray (Paul Walter Hauser) makes his triumphant return, and Chozen fights Terry to the almost-death with swords. It's completely over the top, and that's what makes it so great. Even with so many characters and storylines, Season 5 makes it all fit — a task that Season 6, so far, has failed to manage.

"Cobra Kai" Season 2 isn't as absurd as Season 3, nor is it as grand in scale as Season 4 and 5. But that's part of why it still stands as the show's high watermark. This is where the different aspects of the show — the campy teen drama, the nostalgic coming-of-middle-age story, and the ridiculous karate action — blend together the most fluidly. Season 2 also ends with a finale that the show still, despite its best efforts, has never topped.

At the risk of giving the "Ted Lasso" criticism, "Cobra Kai" does lose something when the big beef between the core characters is settled. Sure, Johnny and Daniel continue to butt heads, as do Miguel, Tory, Robby, and Sam. But in Season 2, all of those conflicts are still properly heated. The drama of who's raising whose son is genuinely juicy, as is Robby and Miguel both fighting for their father figure's approval. Kreese works great here because he isn't quite a cartoon yet. He's used to fan the flames of Johnny's story, and the spotlight stays on a tight cast of core characters.

Because the drama of Season 2 actually lands in a more grounded way, the climactic school brawl that ends the season works that much better. It's the moment when everything turns for the series — the moment you realize that this is not the real world anymore and that anything can happen at any time. From the locker-lined hallway fight choreography to Miguel's genuinely heartbreaking fall, the brawl generates a high that "Cobra Kai" has been chasing ever since. This is the moment that made the show what it is today, and it's still the highlight across all six seasons.