SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the series finale of “Cobra Kai,” now streaming on Netflix.
John Kreese, played by the one and only Martin Kove, has been as central to “Cobra Kai” as he was to the original “Karate Kid” films.
And with the final five episodes of “Cobra Kai” now on Netflix, Kreese’s story finally comes to a fiery conclusion. But first…
Over the course of its six seasons, “Cobra Kai” has raised the practice of integrating and fleshing out characters from the “Karate Kid” films to an art form. With the exception of maybe Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), no character has benefited more from that treatment than John Kreese.
What could be viewed as a one-dimensional villain character from the original film has been brought vividly into three dimensions by both the show’s excellent writing and Kove’s nuanced performance. Bringing that level of depth to Kreese was essential to Kove joining the series in the first place.
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“I signed on with the three writers, and I said, ‘Listen, I don’t want to play this character like I did the movie,’” Kove told Variety. “‘So I want to play him with vulnerability, with flashbacks, with emotionality.’ And they agreed to do it, and that was the beginning.”
Kreese has mostly been a bad guy over the course of “Cobra Kai,” but his good side is firmly on display in the final episodes. Following Kwon’s death at the Sekai Taikai, due to Kwon accidentally impaling himself on Kreese’s knife, Kreese realizes that he cannot continue on the path he is on with the Korean Cobra Kai team.
“At the end of Episode 10, you see the expression on my face looking at [Kwon’s] body that’s all bloodied,” Kove said. “And because I go into a whole personalization while I’m acting, I personally saw my body there. I saw what could have happened to me when I went after Terry. It’s funny when people see me as a bad guy because, you know, I cry at supermarket openings. I love romantic characters. I love vulnerability. So it’s frustrating to me when I saw him die, and I felt part of me died too, because I’m somewhat responsible for this.”
Thus, Kreese leaves Korea and returns to the United States. But before he does, he officially signs off on Cobra Kai rejoining the relaunched Sekai Taikai with the intention of helping Tory (Peyton List) get back into the tournament and potentially launch her own competitive karate career.
Kreese and Tory have had a strange kinship from the moment they met. They bonded over their mutual love of martial arts, but also the fact that they both came from broken homes, much like Johnny.
“I think John Kreese has always, as I do, loved the female warrior,” Kove said. “I gravitated to the Tory character right from the beginning.”
With the restart of the tournament upon them, Kreese cryptically tells Tory that he has “one last thing to do” before he must “step aside.” Shortly thereafter, Kreese approaches Johnny outside the tournament and tells him how proud he is of him for bringing back Cobra Kai. “Sure it was different,” he says, “but that’s what it needed.” Kreese then tearfully apologizes to Johnny for attacking him after his loss to Daniel LaRusso at the All Valley Tournament years ago, although Johnny does not want to hear it.
But later, with the championship on the line, Johnny sees Kreese walking out and he chases him down to confront him. In a heartfelt speech, Johnny admits that he loved Kreese like a father, and that Kreese’s attack broke him for years. The two come face to face with tears in their eyes, and finally embrace each other as father and son.
“It’s my favorite scene of any scene ever,” Kove said. “I cry in his arms, and he cries in mine. That scene culminated all the feelings I had for all those episodes, and it’s just what I want to do with my career. Johnny, as far as I was concerned, was the best, the very best. And he had a lousy upbringing, and I was attracted to being his father, because I never had any children, and he was my son.”
As his final gift to Johnny, Kreese officially names him as the new sensei of Cobra Kai, with Johnny naming Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) as Cobra Kai’s male captain, setting Miguel and Tory — two of Johnny’s original students — up for the championship matches.
That would be more than enough for a feel good ending. But this is John Kreese we’re talking about.
As Kove explains, Kreese still feels the need to deal with the threat presented by Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). As he sees it, Silver will do anything to prevent Johnny from winning the tournament.
“Silver functions from his ego,” Kove said. “He doesn’t function as John Kreese does for the sake of martial arts and the purity and the integrity of the sport.”
In the closing moments of the penultimate episode, Silver is plotting with his minions aboard his yacht. He plans to send men to threaten Johnny and his family. But before they can carry out their plan, Silver finds Kreese aboard the yacht smoking a cigar. Silver attacks him with a broken whiskey bottle, and the fight is on.
The two go back and forth, knocking over a portable gasoline pump as they do. Just as it seems that Silver is going to get the better of Kreese, Kreese grabs the smoldering stub of his cigar and tosses it into the gasoline, enveloping the yacht in a massive fireball.
Thus ends the epic life of John Kreese…or does it?
“You have to know that we shot a scene where you see my hand pick up a magazine, but they didn’t use it!” Kove said. “You see my hand picking up a magazine that says, ‘Whatever happened to Terry Silver?’ right next to the magazine with Johnny on the cover.”
“It was very tender subject,” he continued. “The writers felt it was too Hollywood of an ending if all of a sudden, one or two days later after that explosion, I show up at a magazine stand. And I understood that.”