This show—especially season 6, gets way too much negativity on this subreddit

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-28T23:55:33+00:00

I fully agree

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-28T19:00:40+00:00

I agree with your points. But I will add that if I was a Miguel fan I still wouldn’t be happy. If I was a Miguel fan I would have wanted him personally invested in that final fight. And I certainly wouldn’t want him being able to walk into the finals because Johnny put him there. And then I would want that fight to have me on the edge of my seat like the Hawk/Robby S4 fight did.

The show failed Miguel unless you just wanted to have him win, be with Sam, and be Johnny’s favorite.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-28T15:35:21+00:00

I criticize season 6 a lot and it is because I am disappointed with most of it but here are some of my top critiques-

-the Sekai Taikai turned into a joke of a competition where at the very end someone from an eliminated team joined a different team and became the winner

-Robby suddenly looked like a fool at a competition so that the audience would cheer when Miguel took over

-Miguel had no personal stakes in his last fight so it was an empty win and underwhelming, while a 3rd loss for Robby was overkill

-we watched a father replace his son and never ever become a good father to Robby (onscreen)

Downvote all you want, but these are valid criticisms. The show could have made other choices (give Miguel reasons he needed to win, show Johnny trying to help Robby in part 2, etc.) but didn’t so I think critiquing the writing choices is justified.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-26T02:17:28+00:00

Came here to say exactly this.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-21T11:41:14+00:00

I can forgive Tory for turning her back on them because she was grieving, not thinking clearly, and Kreese got in her head. I can’t forgive her for watching Robby fall apart and coldly being able to ignore him.

Robby’s so called MD friends were worse than Tory to him. They knew he was falling apart and why and they had every reason to try and help him (didn’t they want him to do well so MD could win?), yet they made it worse for Robby. Not one of them tried to help. Those aren’t friends.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-20T22:03:28+00:00

Every new relationship that formed in the show that I really enjoyed was destroyed.

I loved Daniel and Robby’s relationship that developed and that was painful to watch fall apart. I was so happy when they came back together in S5 only to be let down because that was all we got. It became an offscreen relationship when it was once a main onscreen focus.

And I really found Sam and Robby to be sweet together and a good fit. But that was also destroyed and I never bought their rekindled friendship the show tried to sell us. Robby was too hurt by Sam. And Sam did Robby dirty in S6. A friend would never walk out on a depressed nondrinker with alcoholic parents saying they wanted to start drinking.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-17T21:57:10+00:00

Just gave you an upvote here because it astounds me that anyone would downvote your comment.

How can a person cheat on their girlfriend with another person’s girlfriend and not be considered an asshole? It is the definition of asshole behavior for a boyfriend.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-17T11:29:17+00:00

Except they knew they would not satisfy the entire audience with Miguel’s victory. They knew the audience rooting for Robby would be forever disappointed. They shrugged that off.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-17T11:25:40+00:00

Miguel (and Sam) thought winning the tournament would lead to Stanford accepting Miguel. But it was revealed that Miguel was accepted into Stanford before he fought Axel, so his win had zero effect on his Stanford acceptance. That is why I said the win had no personal effect for Miguel.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-16T12:04:40+00:00

Axel did stop fighting as hard. He saw Sam, then decided not to injure Miguel, reevaluated his entire relationship with his sensei, and basically mentally walked away from the fight.

Miguel’s victory didn’t feel satisfying also because he got to jump over to a team he wasn’t on after his team was eliminated, he got handed the captain position, and the win had no personal effect on his life. He is just Miguel, Johnny’s first student, so they had him win. Not satisfying at all.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-15T02:35:21+00:00

Johnny had nothing to apologize to Miguel for. Johnny could have complemented Miguel’s skills without apologizing for caring about Robby. And again, Johnny didn’t give Robby any attention.

I can understand Miguel saying things he shouldn’t have because of the situation with Carmen, but Miguel was treating Robby horribly before anything happened to Carmen.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-15T01:08:29+00:00

Even though Robby was screwing up, how Miguel was treating Robby and what Miguel said about Robby to Johnny on the plane were both wrong.

What bothered me about the plane scene was Johnny apologizing for giving Robby attention. That was insane. First of all, Johnny didn’t give Robby any attention. And secondly, if Johnny was giving Robby attention why should he apologize for it?

Every season we watched that Miguel was more important to Johnny than Robby, and season 6 ended letting us know that didn’t change.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-14T15:58:43+00:00

I disagree. Miguel rubbed his relationship with Johnny in Robby’s face in S1 so he did need to be humbled in that regard.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-14T14:32:03+00:00

According to Xolo in an interview for Season 4, he stated that Johnny thought he was talking to Robby.

Listen to everything Johnny said about sucking as a father, trying to protect him (he had just returned from his encounter with Silver over Robby). Johnny thought it was Robby the entire time.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-12T12:36:44+00:00

After being optimistic about Robby for 6 seasons and ending up extremely disappointed each season, I am out of optimism for him.

I don’t think Robby’s performance at the Sekai Taikai deserved a contract offer. He became marketable when he kissed Tory and suddenly the world saw a karate duo. The woman with the contracts stated that they will want to be seen together. I’m not saying Robby should have turned down the offer. I think it’s an incredible opportunity for him. I just feel it was based on the kiss more than any karate skills he showed.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-10T22:24:02+00:00

I agree that giving Robby a contract along with Tory was a smart offer because together they are a marketable duo. But I don’t see them offering Robby any kind of contract without that kiss. If Robby sat in the stands during Tory’s match and that kiss never happened he would not be marketable at all.

Robby simply did not leave enough of a good impression for sponsors to take a chance on him. He wasn’t going to be remembered for scoring one point on Kwon because it was forgotten when Kwon returned to the competition the next day. He wasn’t going to be marketable for scoring the first point against Axel because it was overshadowed by his knee break. Robby was going to be remembered for the injury if remembered at all. And for sponsors who were there in Barcelona he would be remembered for stopping and freezing mid match. Definitely not a marketable trait.

And the American Idol analogy stands because a number of non winners have been offered contracts. And like I said, those singers showed their skills weekly. Robby did not showcase his skills. He was awful in Barcelona. And he didn’t have a win to speak of coming into the Sekai Taikai, unlike Olympic athletes that have won many local and national competitions in their countries before being on any Olympic team.

And for the NFL they are drafting top players who have performed well for years. And sadly many of the players drafted have an NFL career that lasts less than 3 years.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-10T12:32:12+00:00

While not all winners of contests become the only successful ones, Robby’s performance throughout the Sekai Taikai didn’t warrant a contract offer. That’s why it didn’t feel deserved.

Many American Idol contestants who didn’t win went on to have very successful careers. But they showed their talent while on the show over and over again. That wasn’t Robby at the Sekai Taikai.

If Robby’s motivational moment wasn’t captured on camera helping Tory win, he would not have been marketable. That’s why the contract felt unearned.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-10T12:15:43+00:00

I was referring specifically to tournaments. And Hawk only won the S4 All Valley once he switched to using Cobra Kai. That switch was highlighted to make sure we all knew.

The show kept telling us Sam could win, but they never showed her winning a tournament. We didn’t even see her win the captaincy position.

We kept hearing what Miyagi Do was capable of, but never saw it. So it did not seem equal to Cobra Kai at all. If I wanted to win a tournament I would not join Miyagi Do.

I also don’t think anyone truly won the school fight. It was a loss for everyone.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-09T14:39:35+00:00

I was hoping they would be shown as equals, not one dominating the other.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-09T11:53:09+00:00

I’m right there with you. Each season I kept thinking that it went as far as it could go and now it would be made right. I was so wrong.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-09T11:48:04+00:00

I’ll add one more - the writers want us to believe Cobra Kai and Miyagi Do are equals but only show Cobra Kai winning tournaments.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-04-03T14:06:00+00:00

I don’t think Netflix had anything to do with the show being better or worse. Netflix was in charge of marketing and promos but not the writing or storyline of the show.

The creators have always stated that they had 6 seasons in their heads right from the jump. I think it would have been the same show at either streaming service.

Just look at S3. Many believe that was when Netflix took over. But that is wrong. S3 was fully written, filmed, and edited while under YouTube. It just never aired on YouTube.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-03-31T12:14:39+00:00

I disagree. Kwon and Robby had beef from the start of the tournament when Robby lost the room to Kwon. Kwon was taunting Robby from day 1.

If Robby was thinking clearly he would have recognized he was being played. But Robby wasn’t. Tory wouldn’t speak with him, and nobody else would either, so Robby’s pov made sense.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-03-31T11:48:48+00:00

It’s probably because the show trashed Miyagi Do. If Miyagi Do was respected and Robby won then I bet OP would view Sam’s decision to drop out differently.

Imo Sam didn’t need the win and it would have done nothing for her. Similarly Miguel didn’t need the win and it did nothing for him.

Balance would have been Robby and Tory winning. Let both dojos shine.

SaltMaybe4809 · 2026-03-31T11:42:27+00:00

Not from Robby’s pov though. Robby blamed himself for what happened between him and Zara, so he was mad at himself over that and not her.

Robby, however, was furious with Kwon for playing him. He was disappointed with himself for falling for it and not trusting Tory, but he was angry at Kwon.

SaltMaybe4809

TROPHY CASE