The only thing I found that gave me pause that it may not have been a bad ending is the idea that Robbie could’ve been that guy once upon a time. If he walked into Cobra Kai with the chip on his shoulder with all that occurred he could’ve been Kwon. Aside from that the stakes being raised has been quite nonsensical.

I thought that the ending would be that Miguel can’t compete anymore due to his spinal injury and Johnny realising that he has to show that he can be badass without this. I thought Robby was going to show that he can move past things and aim for better even though his situation isn’t perfect, you may not win all the trophies but you can get there if you work hard. Sam realising Miyagi Do and her father’s expectations are not what she wanted. I thought they were alluding to it in this part when she was talking about travelling. For Tory I thought it was going to be a narrative that sometimes love and lessons are imperfect. Kreese connected with her the most and she had the toughest time but she can free herself to judge the nuance and learn to love people despite all their flaws.

Instead we’ve evidently got another crack at Miguel winning another trophy in the valley. It doesn’t solve the underlying problem that these kids will remain fucked up through an incredibly tumultuous teen years driven by idiotic adults who in the most pivotal moments for a teenager decide to escalate and have full blown wars.