(SPOILERS for Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 will be found below.)
The sixth season of Cobra Kai presented the bleakest episode (Season 6, Episode 10) of the series. This landed as a surprise not only due to those final moments but because Daniel-san’s kidnapping (by cartoon villain Terry Silver) had just been resolved with a semi-jokey vibe. That tone was in line with the series’ heightened reality, which usually doesn’t weigh too heavily upon an audience seeking to be entertained. Yet the season took a horrific turn when Kwon fell upon the knife that Kreese had been holding behind his back while Sekai Taikai continued to devolve into chaos.
That moment when Kwon (who is formally part of the Cobra Kai, but that dojo’s lines have blurred with Miyagi-do throughout the series) was killed took this generally sunny series into an unprecedented dark place. Presumably, Season 6 Part 3 will resolve everything and restore The Karate Kid universe’s order before next year’s movie. However, there’s more: the Kwon tragedy followed the show’s revelation that Mr. Miyagi had not only fought at the Sekai Taikai tournament but had killed an opponent. WTF.
With that said (what?), it’s hard not to wonder whether Cobra Kai is suggesting that there is some sort of curse on either Miyagi-do or the Sekai Taikai or the intersection therein. Fortunately, Hollywood Reporter‘s Demetrius Patterson had the same question and broached the subject while interviewing co-creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg. In response, Hurwitz admitted that “[I]t’s very possible” and that “there’s a brutality” to the Sekai Taikai that adds “a level of danger beyond the All Valley [Tournament].” As for the idea of a curse, Hurwitz offered this insight:
“In terms of Miyagi, we learned that match ended in death in the past and a thing that we may find out more about is, what exactly happened in that match? All we know are the results, and that’s what Daniel is wrestling with there. When he’s seeing what happens with Kwon, it’s this element of history repeating itself right in front of Daniel LaRusso. And it continues his soul searching – not just about Mr. Miyagi, but about karate and tournaments in general.”
We do know that Daniel-san hasn’t been doing well emotionally over Miyagi’s hidden past, and even though he and Johnny (supposedly for real this time) vanquished their decades-long beef, plenty of emotional turmoil is still smacking the franchise’s original protagonist in the face. This existential karate woe could, however, bridge the gap between Cobra Kai and the Karate Kid: Legends movie, which comes out on May 30, 2025.
In the meantime, the series will hopefully resolve the “curse” business when Cobra Kai returns for the final time on Feb. 13, 2025.