Cobra Kai’s final season is underway, and Peyton List’s Tory Nichols more than deserves to win, regardless of which karate dojo she is fighting for. As Cobra Kai season 6 begins, the students of Miyagi-Do karate are preparing for a huge international martial arts tournament known as the Sekai Taikai. However, the death of Tory’s mother sets off a chain reaction of events that ultimately leads to Tory re-joining the Cobra Kai dojo and fighting for the ruthless John Kreese (Martin Kove).
Tory’s Journey In Cobra Kai
Tory’s had quite a journey on Cobra Kai, going from antagonist to anti-heroine and experiencing the full gamut of adolescent struggle and tragedy. While Tory has never been a true villainess, she’s certainly had her moments of becoming a loose cannon, particularly in her role in instigating the karate mega-brawls in the hallways of the All-Valley High School and the LaRusso homestead due to her rivalry with Sam LaRusso (Mary Mouser). While Tory’s return to Cobra Kai might look like her giving into the dark side, the truth is that no one on Cobra Kai deserves to win the Sekai Taikai more than Tory does.
Coming from an impoverished, broken family, Tory has consistently had to pull herself up by her own bootstraps, even becoming her family’s main wage-earner due to her mother’s illness. Despite all the difficulties life throws at her, Tory excels in martial arts and becomes a genuinely formidable teenage Ronda Rousey. When the tryouts for Johnny Lawrence and Daniel Larusso‘s Miyagi-Do’s male and female captains begin, there really is no question that Tory is significantly more skilled than Sam, and arguably even better in combat than her fellow students Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena) and Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan). Purely on the level of her fighting prowess, Tory has thoroughly earned her place in the Sekai Taikai.
Tory’s Challenges And Responsibilities
While one might argue that Tory’s aggressive streak and emotional meltdown in front of her teachers and fellow students should rule her out of a spot-on Miyagi-Do’s team, the truth is that Tory has every right to feel cheated. In caring for her family due to her mother’s illness, Tory has had to take on far more responsibility than any kid her age should ever be asked to. At the same time, that has also motivated her to never give up and use her martial arts skills to try to make a better life for herself and her family.
It is true that Tory has definitely gone too far at times and has violent tendencies inside of herself that need to be restrained. But it’s also important to remember that Tory is still a kid and one who has constantly had the rug pulled out from under her. With such misfortunes as Sam’s mother Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) indirectly getting Tory fired from one of her jobs and horrifying moments like Tory’s landlord making sexual advances on her over late rent, who wouldn’t feel like the whole world is stacked against them?
Tory’s Loyalty to Kreese
It also bears repeating that Tory isn’t entirely wrong in retaining some level of loyalty to John Kreese. He did, after all, help save Tory and her family from eviction, and while his motives were obviously to mould her into another of his brainwashed Cobra Kai soldiers, Tory could do nothing but contrast Kreese taking her under his wing with the cruelty she’s consistently gotten from the rest of the world. Moreover, Tory also is a principled fighter, helping to bring down Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) after learning her victory at the All-Valley Tournament came as a result of Silver’s bribery.
The loss of Tory’s mother and Daniel stopping her fight with Sam is the straw that breaks the camel’s back for her. While Daniel is certainly right that Tory needed time to properly mourn her mother, from her perspective, he was also standing in the way of Tory finally making it into a tournament that could quite literally change her life. For Tory, being robbed of that right after losing her mother is just another example of her being cheated, so it’s not that shocking that Daniel’s decision would drive Tory back into Kreese’s clutches.
Tory’s Resilience And Deserved Sekai Taikai Victory
Peyton List‘s Tory has definitely made her share of mistakes on Cobra Kai, but her diligent training and determination in the face of non-stop misfortune has made her the best fighter on the show. It would certainly be ideal for Tory to jump ship from Cobra Kai and abandon John Kreese’s teachings for good before Cobra Kai season 6 ends, but nonetheless, Tory has earned everything that would come from winning the Sekai Taikai.
Tell us, do you think Tori should win the Sekai Taikai in Cobra Kai Season 6?
Also, read: Cobra Kai fans surprised by Yuji Okumoto’s (Chozen) real accent
Cobra Kai |
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Decades after their 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament bout, a middle-aged Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence find themselves martial-arts rivals again. |
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| Creator: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg |
| Cast: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Martin Kove, Gianni DeCenzo, Vanessa Rubio, Peyton List, Griffin Santopietro |
| Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama |
| Number of Seasons: 6 |
| Streaming Service: Netflix |
