'Cobra Kai' season 6 part 1 finale ending, explained

The first installment of " Cobra Kai" season 6 has officially dropped on Netflix as of today (July 18) — the supersized 15-episode season will be released in three parts , with part 2 arriving on November 28 and the final five episodes to come on a to-be-announced date in 2025 — and it has left fans on a doozy of a cliffhanger.

The sixth and final season of the martial arts dramedy sees Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and their Miyagi-Do students preparing for the big Sekai Taikai tournament, an international karate competition where the world's best of the best would descend on Barcelona to prove their dojo is the mightiest.

And in episode 5, we got to get our first glimpse of the Sekai Taikai championship, as well as the fighters who will be competing, including a very surprising addition to the Cobra Kai team. Here's how everything went down but be warned: spoilers are very much ahead!

Who ends up being the captains for Sekai Taikai?

The Sekai Taikai organizers needed the dojos' final roster ahead of the competition, which meant that the Miyagi-Do crew had to decide which male and female fighters would serve as the team's captains. The contenders include Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) and Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) for the male slot, and Tory Nichols (Peyton List) and Sam LaRusso (Mary Mouser) for the female position.

"The captains aren't just the ones leading the team," Daniel explains to the group. "They're the ones who will be fighting in the finals, if we can make it that far."

That pressure prompts some extra instruction from Johnny, who makes the foursome watch Eric Roberts movies and shoots beer bottles at them to check their balance.

During a head-to-head fight between each pair, Robby comes out victorious over Miguel and ends up the male captain for Miyagi-Do. Sam becomes the female captain by default after Tory quits the dojo. (More on that in a bit!)

What causes that blow-up between Johnny and Daniel?

All throughout the first five episodes of season 6, Johnny and Daniel butt heads over their teaching styles for the Miyagi-Do students. Daniel is especially upset that Johnny is "shoehorning his old macho crap into the lessons" and Johnny is angry when he discovers that Daniel is individually training Miguel and Sam behind his back.

The long-simmering tension between the two sensei boils over at the captain comp, with Johnny taking Tory's side (again, more on that in a minute) but the LaRussos choosing to cut short her fight against Sam. To fight with anger is not the Miyagi-Do way, Daniel tells him, but Johnny says he's sick of hearing about Miyagi, calling the old sensei a liar and a thief. That prompts a punch in the face from Daniel, and Johnny declares that once Sekai Taikai is over, he and Daniel are done "for good."

What does Daniel learn about Miyagi-san?

Earlier in the season, Daniel and Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) discover a long-hidden box under some floorboards in Miyagi-Do. Seemingly left behind by their old sensei, the box includes such puzzling finds as a passport with a different name and newspaper clippings detailing a robbery and assault that Miyagi committed when he was young.

Daniel spends much of season 6 grappling with the idea that the man he thought he knew, the man whose teachings he has continued through his own work at Miyagi-Do all these years, is different than the man he's learning about via the secret box. And after receiving the official headbands for the Sekai Taikai competition at the end of episode five, Daniel realizes another surprising detail about Mr. Migayi's past: he, too, once competed at Sekai Taikai.

Why does Tory decide to team up with Kreese?

And now for the big cliffhanger of part 1. After leaving a meeting with her mother's doctor, Tory gets a shock when she encounters Kreese in the parking lot. Wanting to poach her for Cobra Kai, he tells her: "I never thought I'd see the day when the Queen Cobra would join the enemy ... when push comes to shove, they'll always find a reason to keep you second fiddle to LaRusso's kid."

She doesn't take the bait, though: "I am a champion, but I'm not yours."

However, things change for Tory when her mother tragically dies from a pulmonary embolism in episode 5. Tory grieves in secret for much of the episode, until it comes time for her captain face-off against Sam. Tory clearly is tapping into her anguish to fuel the fight, but the match-up gets paused when Amanda gets a call alerting her about Tory's loss.

Daniel calls for the fight to end out of respect, but Tory is adamant she be allowed to continue: "My mom would have wanted this ... I have to do this for her!" Despite Johnny's support, Tory is not allowed to continue. Upset with the decision, she quits Miyagi-Do.

We don't see Tory again until the final moments of episode five when she shows up at Sekai Taikai — but not as a member of Daniel and Johnny's team. No, she has seemingly taken Kreese up on his offer and is now fighting as part of Team Cobra Kai.

Stay tuned for "Cobra Kai" season 6 part 2 on November 28.

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