(Man, you know that an article with a headline like this ^^^ is going to have SPOILERS…)
Cobra Kai will never die, but two core characters bit the dust in the sixth (and final) season‘s penultimate episode. And I would be lying if I didn’t admit to enjoying the spectacle, mainly because Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) has loomed large as a hot-tub-loving villain since The Karate Kid Part III, and he died as he lived. It was only fitting that he would be ambushed on his yacht, and the ambusher in question was John Kreese (Martin Kove), who had redeemed himself by essentially admitting to have crushed the spirit of Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) too many years ago, ruining much of his adulthood. And ultimately, Kreese went out protecting Johnny after admitting that the teacher had been “surpassed” by the student. [Sob.]
Johnny also did earn a delicious ending at the Sekai Taikai tournament (and, in a full-circle moment, he even received a “You’re alright, Lawrence” from Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso), but first, the ambush happened. This involved Kreese and Silver grappling on the yacht’s deck, and Kreese decided what the hell, and he threw his cigar toward some propane, which led to an explosion that presumably killed them both. Or did it?
Did Kreese And Silver Really Die In Cobra Kai‘s Penultimate Episode?
Almost definitely. It sounds like there’s a 99.9999% chance they are toast (despite the absence of visible bodies), according to series co-creator Hayden Schlossberg while speaking with Screenrant:
“We knew that the audience wanted to see Kreese and Silver go at it. It’s … something that we’ve [had] teed up for a while. We had a taste of it at the Sekai Taikai, [but] Johnny intervened there. The difference this time is it’s Kreese stopping Silver from doing something horrible to Johnny, which would take him out of the tournament. It’s the moment of sacrifice we’ve been waiting to see [from] Kreese.
“We don’t see the bodies afterward. John Kreese has come back from the dead before, but this [time it] looks like they’ve [both] been taken off the table.”
For the record, Schlossberg’s co-creators, Jon Hurwitz and Josh Heald, do agree that (via a TV Line interview) Silver and Kreese are dead for good.
And how does Daniel feel about this? Well, the series didn’t enlighten viewers on that subject, but Macchio (while noting that Daniel “is still, at his core, a good-hearted human being”) feels as though “he’d probably have mixed emotions about it. They got what was coming to them, but on the flip side, it’s just kind of disturbing and unfortunate.” Yet I’m not nearly as good of a person as Mr. LaRusso because I cheered. These two were so relentlessly dedicated to being karate villains that it’s hard to imagine them allowing everybody else (on a long-term basis) to live their lives peacefully and without interference. Besides, it’s nice to put a bow on the franchise’s two big baddies before the Karate Kid Legends movie, arriving later this year.
Cobra Kai‘s six seasons are now streaming on Netflix.
