Posted in: Cobra Kai, Netflix, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: cobra kai, Daniel LaRusso, Johnny Lawrence, Ralph Macchio, season 5, william zabka

Cobra Kai Season 5 Predictions: Tory/Kreese, Julie Pierce & More

Another All-Valley Karate Tournament is in the books, obviously not without controversy. There were also new friendships forged, a changing-at-the-guard, perhaps a crisis of conscience, and a reunion along the way. EPs and showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald as expected, outdid themselves making Thomas Ian Griffith's Terry Silver into something far better than anyone could have ever imagined coming from 1989 The Karate Kid Part III finally "shedding" the weakness from the franchise. Without further adieu, here are my five thoughts/predictions going into the next season of Cobra Kai.

Tory Nichols Will Be Key in Getting John Kreese Back

Following Tory Nichols' (Peyton List) victory at the women's final at the tournament, she finds that she couldn't keep her promise to Amanda LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler) in beating her daughter and rival, Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) fairly after discovering that Terry paid off the referee, tainting the result. Terry framing John Kreese (Martin Kove) for beating up Raymond/Stingray (Paul Walter Hauser) certainly seems ironclad considering Kreese kicked Stingray out verbally in disgust in front of his peers earlier. For the purposes of drama, anger, and paranoia going hand-in-hand, there will be some interest within Cobra Kai to find the truth.

Julie Pierce May Factor Into the Season 5 Finale

The fact that Hilary Swank's Julie Pierce hasn't even been teased might lead us to believe that plans to bring her in might not be so final after all. The final scene of season four sees Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) swearing at his former sensei's grave to not honor his deal with Cobra Kai "with men who have none" bringing in Miyagi-do master Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) back into the fold to help bring the dojo into the next level the way Terry did for his. Not sure if the act of disarming limbs will be something that will be taught, but it certainly opens some possibilities. If we see Julie involved at all, it would be a prime opportunity to help mentor Tory into the ways of Miyagi-do without having to deal with Sam since she is literally the reason why Tory never defects despite the bond she forms with her mother. Keep in mind how it would fit since Julie (during the events of The Next Karate Kid) had anger issues of her own she had to deal with and had no one until Miyagi (Pat Morita) came into her life.

Eagle Fang Probably Gets Absorbed into Miyagi-Do

Considering Eagle Fang's no. 1 student Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) ran away to seek out his father in Mexico and his sensei Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) is going after him, it seems like we're set for what they'll be doing for a significant chunk of season five. Not to mention that when Johnny returns, he might be willing to swallow his pride to help his former sensei once more since we know how much guilt Kreese's harbored no matter how stubborn he is. He might be crazy enough to help him take back Cobra Kai from the even-more ruthless Silver. Sure, we could have a side adventure with Eagle Fang students adventuring with Johnny to Mexico to help find Miguel, but they're still high schoolers with parents (allegedly) that probably won't be too keen on them going AWOL on a shady field trip. A third possibility is that they could just be shelved until Johnny and Miguel return from their excursion. The fourth and most likely scenario is with Eli 'Hawk' Moskowitz becoming tourney champion for Miyagi-do, having come from Cobra Kai and Eagle Fang, it would just make sense to follow him to train under Daniel and Chozen.

Season Five Will Be Thomas Ian Griffith's Final on Cobra Kai

Who wouldn't be happy for Griffith to be able to redeem the over-the-top villain as refined and polished for the Netflix series? Whether if it's to teach his former Army Captain a lesson in humility, we don't really know the long game for Silver aside from the obvious expansion plans that never materialized from the films. With multiple dojos, he'll definitely need help and Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) is expected to take the role that Terry did for Kreese in the third season. Knowing the showrunners, it might not be that simple for Terry's former student. One point of exposition we never saw in Cobra Kai is the direct aftermath since the 1989 film other than what's been said. Sure, we get flashbacks to the films and Kreese & Terry's post-Vietnam War days, but we have no idea still how life changed for Barnes. I don't see the conspiracy and fraud dragging out more than one season when Terry will finally be exposed for the cheat he is and his house of cards comes crashing down.

Robby Won't Remain in Cobra Kai

Despite Robby's (Tanner Buchanan) gifts as a leader, there's no way Silver will allow him to continue to lead Cobra Kai. Both senseis saw him hesitate when it came to Kenny (Dallas Dupree Young), the protégé he took in when he found out he was being bullied. We'll likely see Kyler (Joe Seo) take over that role. If Eagle Fang were to continue, I can see Robby actually doing that in Johnny's absence until he comes back. Especially after his epiphany of how his "best of intentions" to help Kenny didn't work out as planned, used only as a tool for revenge against his bully Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro). He unknowingly helped create Frankenstein's monster and it became soul-crushing that he was just repeating the cycle.

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