(CNN) Crossing the streams with its sequels, the fifth season of "Cobra Kai" features heavy dollops of the second and third "The Karate Kid" movies while continue to carve out its own next-generation melodrama, all in extraordinarily nimble fashion.
While it's not the best series on TV (OK, Netflix), there should be some kind of prize for the best revival culled from limited source material.
Still, in order to battle the bad guy from "Karate Kid III," Daniel (Ralph Macchio) has enlisted the heavy from "II," Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), in an unlikely but utterly hysterical alliance.
(A little fuzzy on his English, when Daniel suggests they need to cut off the head of the snake, the literal-minded Chozen pulls out a knife and is ready to go.)
The kids, in fact, have as many shifting allegiances as the elder generation, whose AARP-eligible karate masters continue to prove remarkably spry.