Cobra Kai season 6 episode 5 recap: let the games begin

We've come to the end of the first part of Cobra Kai season 6 , dojo diehards. The sixth and final season of the Netflix martial-arts series kicked off with its first five episodes on Thursday, July 18; the second batch will hit the streaming platform on November 28, with the final five eps to follow on a to-be-announced date in 2025. And boy, did they leave us on a cliffhanger at the end of Cobra Kai season 6 episode 5, "Best of the Best."

Tory gets propositioned

Cobra Kai s6 e1 recap
Cobra Kai s6 e2 recap
Cobra Kai s6 e3 recap
Cobra Kai s6 e4 recap

At the beginning of the episode, Tory (Peyton List) is meeting with her mother's doctor, who says her mom is heading in the right direction with her treatment and can taper down her daily medications. As Tory walks through the parking lot to leave, she realizes she's being followed. Even more worryingly, it's John Kreese (Martin Kove).

Kreese apologizes for not involving her in his plan to escape from prison back at the end of Cobra Kai season 5 and also reveals he wants to poach her for his team. "I never thought I'd see the day when the Queen Cobra would join the enemy," he taunts her. "When push comes to shove, they'll always find a reason to keep you second fiddle to LaRusso's kid." However, she doesn't fall for his manipulations: "I am a champion, but I'm not yours," she tells him.

Johnny and Daniel are back at it

Now that Miyagi-Do has their six competitors for the Sekai Taikai tournament, they now have to choose who will lead the team as the male and female captains. The matchups will be Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) versus Robby (Tanner Buchanan), and Tory versus Sam (Mary Mouser).

But first, Johnny (William Zabka) declares he needs to whip the foursome's butts into shape, making them watch Eric Roberts movies and shooting beer bottles at them to check their balance, much to the chagrin of Daniel (Ralph Macchio). He's annoyed that Johnny went behind his back with the Barnes fight and is now "shoehorning his old macho crap into the lessons."

Then Daniel rankles Johnny by training Miguel and Sam in the woods without alerting him. In retaliation, Johnny goes to the car dealership and has a "dime-store Jerry Maguir e" moment, saying he's starting his own dealership, but nobody takes him up on his ridiculous offer.

Back at home, Amanda LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler) helps Daniel realize what's really bothering him, which is the Miyagi mystery: "The thing that bothers me now is knowing there was a part of his life that I didn't know, a part that he was keeping from me." His wife tells him to stop worrying about the past and focus on the present, because his students need him, and so does Johnny.

Tory suffers a tragic loss

When Tory comes home from the doctor's appointment, she finds her mother collapsed on the floor. At the hospital, she is told her mom had a pulmonary embolism and died, leaving Tory reeling in grief and rage.

She ignores Robby's numerous calls throughout the day but shows up in the middle of his showdown with Miguel at the dojo. Robby ends up besting Miguel and being appointed the male captain. When it's time for the female matchup between Tory and Sam, Tory fights fiercely, clearly upset over the loss of her mother. However, Amanda halts the fight when she receives a phone call alerting her about what happened to Tory's mom.

While the LaRussos argue the fight should be postponed out of respect for Tory and what she's going through, Tory is adamant about continuing the fight: "My mom would have wanted this... I have to do this for her!" Despite Johnny agreeing she should be allowed to make the decision for herself — "When my mom died, all I wanted to do was get on a mat for three rounds," he argues — the fight is deemed over. Furious, Tory declares she, too, is done with Miyagi-Do and storms out of the dojo.

Her exit prompts a screaming match between Daniel and Johnny, which escalates into Johnny badmouthing Mr. Miyagi and receiving a punch to the face from Daniel in response. "Once we win, you and I are done," an enraged Johnny tells him. "For good."

Touching down at Sekai Taikai

With Tory's spot now open on the Sekai Taikai team, the sensei announce that Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) will take her place, with Sam chosen as the female captain. "To win, all of us are going to need to be there for each other," Daniel announces, which is ironic given what just happened between him and Johnny.

As he's tying the official Sekai Tekai headband on his daughter, he realizes he's seen the tournament's logo before. Rushing back to search through Mr. Miyagi's box, he finds the same exact headband and realizes that Miyagi-san himself fought at Sekai Taikai.

It's not the only shocking revelation the Miyagi-Do crew receives about the tournament. The final moments of part one finds the team arriving in Barcelona for Sekai Taikai. While they're lined up on the mat eyeing up the competition, the team spots the Cobra Kai team, led by Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim) and a not-actually-dead John Kreese. Not only that but they also spot a very familiar face among the Cobra Kai ranks: Tory Nichols herself!

All five episodes of Cobra Kai season 6 part 1 are now available to stream on Netflix.