The newest season of Cobra Kai is back with a bang! Or a kick, as it were. Season four returned to Netflix over New Year’s weekend with its trademark cheesiness and sugary sweet life lessons. But the uplifting ‘80s reboot has never shied away from brutal honesty, and season four brings many of its characters to their knees. Sure, many episodes end with a saccharine lesson on morality, but often the logical consequences of important life choices play out as they actually would in real life. While past seasons have been based on themes of empowerment and redemption, season four demonstrates the cumulative damage of living life angrily. Karate students Hawk (Jacob Bertrand), Tory (Peyton List), Sam (Mary Mouser), and Robby (Tanner Buchanan), along with their senseis Johnny (William Zabka) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio), have all suffered from the enduring anger that hides their fears of feeling vulnerable and weak. Less a study in bullying and more an examination of the harm suffered by the bullies themselves, Cobra Kai’s newest chapter is centered on the negative impact of continued anger and the healing power of letting it go.
Season three ended with an exciting promise as Johnny and Daniel finally teamed up to fight Kreese (Martin Kove), once again in control of the Cobra Kai dojo. While their truce is often strained throughout the new season, the two foes ultimately join forces for real in the All Valley Tournament’s final matches. Realizing that both of their styles can be effective, they coach Sam to combine offense and defense in her own unique style of fighting. While technical differences are a factor in their conflict, what each man really lets go of is his fear of the other. Still carrying wounds from their high school fights, Johnny and Daniel are both afraid of the influence each has on the younger generation. They worry that their old nemesis will try to create younger versions of their high school tormentors who will in turn hurt their children. It’s only when they let this fear go, that they are able to truly embrace each other’s strengths and finally leave the past behind.
The clearest representation of that symbiosis is Hawk. Severely bullied in season one, he joins Cobra Kai to learn how to defend himself. With an ostentatious mohawk, he creates the persona of Hawk to distract from his perceived weakness, a facial scar from a cleft palate. Combined with a giant tattoo on his back, his appearance is designed to immediately strike fear into the heart of his opponent. But guided by Kreese at Cobra Kai who feeds his anger, Hawk becomes a vicious bully, fighting side by side with his own former tormentors. He attempts to find power by taking on the characteristics of the people who hurt him and punishing the version of himself he views as weak. In the final moments of season three, he sees the error of his ways and switches sides to defend his true friends from Cobra Kai aggressors.
When he sees new recruit Kenny (Dallas Young) wearing a Cobra Kai shirt, he tries to warn the middle school student away from the team of bullies. Though unnecessarily forceful in his message, his intentions are to keep an impressionable kid away from a toxic environment. But this warning backfires. Viewing him as a traitor, Robby and the Cobra Kai team shave off the mohawk he believes to be the source of his power. Humiliated and feeling like the bullied kid he used to be, he retreats from the world and considers quitting karate. With the help of his best friend Demetri and ex-girlfriend Moon (Hannah Kepple), he’s able to remember who he truly is without his costume of aggression. He realizes that he doesn’t need to be a physical manifestation of fear to have power over others. In season three he let go of his anger, but now he releases his fear of feeling weak and finally finds the strength of genuine empowerment.
Tory has also learned to let go of her anger, and this season represents a huge turning point for the rageful character. She’s stayed with Cobra Kai because it feeds the anger that makes her feel powerful. But her dire family situation makes moving past these negative feelings a necessity. Amanda LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler) becomes a protector of sorts to the teenager, encouraging her to go to therapy and giving her the understanding and acceptance she’s been yearning for. It’s a powerful example of mentorship. Though the two never fully find peace with the other, Amanda seems to genuinely want what’s best for Tory. She’s able to hold both love for her daughter Sam and compassion for Tory at the same time showing that guidance doesn’t have to be all or nothing. This counseling does seem to actually help Tory, who returns to school and tries to make amends with Sam. She finally sees that her constant anger may feel good in the moment, but is only hurting her in the long run.
Unfortunately, Sam has not learned this lesson. She was traumatized after the events of the school fight in season two and spends most of season three battling the debilitating fear that keeps her from facing Tory. Their climactic showdown seems to give her the confidence she needs to stand up for herself. But in season four, Sam takes it to the extreme. She refuses multiple opportunities to let go of her grudge and takes every chance to kick her enemy when she’s down. Perhaps Sam is afraid that releasing her anger will reveal the fear still lurking underneath, leaving her feeling helpless and vulnerable once again. But by prolonging this rivalry and rejecting Tory’s attempts to make peace, she has now become the aggressor. Her fearful rage keeps her from seeing that Tory is no longer out to get her. Sam’s father Daniel is afraid that she doesn’t know how to control her anger, and he’s right to be worried. Sam faces a dangerous path if she can’t learn to let her fury go.
Perhaps the most moving example of releasing negative emotions is Robby. Convinced to fight for Cobra Kai to spite Johnny and Daniel, he’s learned to effectively channel his anger to avoid the pain of his father’s abandonment. But like Sam, there’s fear beneath his fury and deep sorrow for the childhood he could have had. Like Sam, he’s afraid of facing that sadness and keeps feeding the rage that makes him feel powerful. He’s afraid of letting his guard down because genuinely caring for anyone else might lead to being hurt again. But when he begins to mentor Kenny, he sees a younger version of himself.
Also severely bullied, Kenny buries his pain in vicious anger. When Robby and his student face each other in the tournament, Robby loses himself in his rage, delivering a shocking kick to Kenny’s face and sending his young student running from the mat in shame. Just like his father Johnny, Robby’s fear of feeling weak has caused him to hurt someone he cares about. He sees this toxic pattern repeat itself when Kenny rejects an apology from his own bully and vows to become the bully himself. Robby realizes that he’s only perpetuating the cycle of anger fed by the Cobra Kai philosophy.
The most moving scene of the series occurs in the final episode, when Robby finally reconciles with his father. He comes to Johnny broken, tired, and afraid that he’s past redemption, telling his dad that he’s tired of blaming him for everything. Like Tory, Cobra Kai has been feeding Robby’s anger, stoking the fires to benefit themselves, and it’s finally worn the teenager down. He cries on his father’s shoulder in fear of who he’s become. But his tears also show his relief at releasing the toxic anger he’s been carrying, even if it opens him up to the fear of vulnerability.
Anger is often listed atop of the hierarchy of emotions, above more vulnerable feelings like fear, sadness, and shame. Anger is action-oriented and often serves to distract us from the pain of feeling helpless. It’s so much easier to kick something than it is to try to have an open dialogue or find a genuine connection with another person. Hawk has learned the power of letting his anger go and sitting with the fear of vulnerability. Though he channels it when necessary, he refuses to let fury consume and control him. Tory and Robbie seem to be moving towards a brighter future, having experienced the relief of moving past their old grudges. Unfortunately, Sam is still holding on to her anger. Given her defeat in the season’s final moments, it’s likely that her rage will only grow stronger, convincing her that the world is out to get her. Perhaps season four’s most poignant moment comes with Amanda’s lesson to Tory. She tells the angry girl that the world isn’t out to get her and that no one can help her if she shuts out the people who care about her. The cracks in the Cobra Kai philosophy are beginning to show with multiple characters realizing that though aggression may win fights, it keeps them stuck in the anger of the past. Broken by continued rage, they find they’ve only been fighting with themselves.
