Cobra Kai continues to act like the "Karate Kid" despite losing its edge

The fifth season of "Cobra Kai" heavily incorporates the second and third "The Karate Kid" films, crossing streams with its sequels.

While doing so in an incredibly nimble manner, it will also continue to carve out its own next-generation niche.

There should be some sort of award for the finest revival drawn from a small body of source material, even though it isn't the best television series (OK, Netflix).

Season 4's inevitable struggle between rival dojos, which resulted in practically every child in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley learning karate, has left the area under the control of the gruff Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith)

Like Martin Kove's Kreese, Thomas Ian Griffith has discovered a brilliant encore in getting to play this evil character once more.

However, Daniel (Ralph Macchio) has teamed up with the heavy from "II," Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), in an unexpected but utterly hilarious combination, to fight the villain from "Karate Kid III."