King Cobra
Directed by Steven Tsuchida
In a flashback to Vietnam in 1968, Kreese receives a photo of his sweetheart Betsy in the mail before he is called away to see Captain Turner. He finds the man practicing karate on a dummy made of bamboo; the captain explains that he learned Tang Soo Do under Master Kim Sun-Yung during the Korean war, and offers to train Kreese and a small team of soldiers to perform special missions in North Vietnam, but warns that the price of failure is high. Kreese eagerly accepts, and arranges for his squadmates Twig and Ponytail to join Turner's team as well.
In the present day, Kreese scouts the students at West Valley High to fill out the ranks of his dojo. Among his more promising recruits are Brucks and Kyler, two of the school's most aggressive bullies. Despite his tough new persona, Hawk still finds himself intimidated by Kyler and tries to dissuade Kreese from recruiting him, but Kreese points out that it was Hawk who suggested finding more students in the first place. Upon recognizing Hawk as Eli, Kyler immediately resumes teasing him about his surgical scar.
At home, Johnny browses through Ali's Facebook photos and reads a message in which she asks what he has been up to these days. He writes an extremely detailed reply covering every aspect of his life since high school, which Miguel tells him is a bad idea. Instead, he suggests Johnny build a Facebook profile so that he can show Ali what he is up to, rather than simply telling her. He also takes Johnny out to create some trendy new photos for his album. They eventually stop for lunch where Miguel encounters Tory, who coincidentally works at the same restaurant. Their conversation turns ugly when Tory accuses Miguel of using her to get Sam's attention. When Miguel advises her to seek mental help for her anger issues, Tory responds that all she cares about is winning and leaves in disgust.
Daniel returns from Okinawa in high spirits, which are quickly dashed when Amanda explains what has happened in his absence. Incensed, Daniel intends to confront Kreese directly, but his wife insists they will take care of Kreese her way, by going to the police. The LaRussos attempt to file a restraining order, only to discover that Kreese has already filed one against Amanda, citing her attack on him at the dojo. Amanda tries to plead her case, but the officer is more sympathetic towards Kreese in light of his background as a Vietnam veteran. Undeterred, Amanda invokes the "nuclear option" to get rid of Kreese.
In another flashback, Kreese continues his training with Captain Turner, who impresses his pragmatic combat philosophy upon his new students, advising them to kill or be killed and to show no mercy. After dismissing them to rest, Turner receives a letter for Kreese explaining that Betsy was killed in a car accident. He refrains from sharing the news with Kreese, fearing that it would distract him from the upcoming mission.
At the dojo, Kreese begins to put his new recruits to the test, pitting Kyler against Mitch in a sparring match. An experienced wrestler, Kyler quickly takes Mitch to the mat and forces him to tap out. As a result, Kreese allows Kyler to take his opponent's place on the team, claiming that Mitch is no longer Cobra Kai material. In the next fight, Tory ruthlessly defeats Sarah, an aggressive basketball player, reaffirming her own place in Cobra Kai. Anxious to rekindle his confidence, Hawk challenges Brucks when the latter is selected to fight, removing his gi before delivering a vicious beatdown to his former bully, ending with Hawk's fists covered in blood. Having witnessed Hawk's wrath first-hand, Kyler abruptly stops his teasing.
Back in Vietnam, Captain Turner leads Kreese and the other soldiers on a mission to destroy a North Vietnamese compound. Twig inadvertently alerts the enemy to their presence, and in desperation, Turner orders Kreese to trigger the detonator on their explosive device, even though Ponytail remains in the blast radius. Kreese is unwilling to sacrifice his friend, which results in the entire group's capture by the North Vietnamese. As Turner berates Kreese for his hesitation, they are forced to watch as Ponytail is summarily executed.
Amanda invites Armand Zarkarian to dinner at the LaRusso home. Though he refuses to discuss business with a car salesman like Daniel, Amanda offers to pay him double the amount of Kreese's rent if he were to evict him from the Reseda property. Zarkarian negotiates for triple the amount, to which Amanda agrees. However, Kreese refuses to leave, prompting Zarkarian to bring in two of his brawny nephews to remove him by force.
At home, Johnny resumes aiding Miguel with the use of a body harness attached to a rope and pulley, but Miguel is still bothered by his argument with Tory. When Johnny tries to downplay it, Miguel's frustrations finally boil over. He calls out Johnny for trying to create a fake persona to impress Ali and for walking out on his students like a pussy. In the midst of the rant, Johnny unconsciously lets go of the rope keeping Miguel suspended, and both are shocked to find him standing on his own power for the first time. Elated, Miguel embraces his sensei. Afterwards, Johnny deletes all his pretentious Facebook photos and begins to write Ali a heartfelt message about who he really is, but settles for simply answering, "Not much, u?"
As the LaRussos celebrate finally being rid of Kreese, Zarkarian calls to tell them that the deal is off. Having easily defeated Zarkarian's enforcers off screen, Kreese takes the phone and declares open season on both Miyagi-Do and the LaRusso family. At that moment, panic erupts at the dealership when a live snake is discovered on the showroom floor.
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Brucks should have known better than to expect mercy from any member of Cobra Kai, much less his former victim Hawk, but he pleads for it anyway. It doesn't work.
- All There in the Script: The basketball-playing female prospect that Tory defeats is named Sarah, but this is revealed only in the show's credits.
- Artistic License – Martial Arts: Proper punching technique in karate (and most striking martial arts) involves hitting with the knuckles, but at the end of the beatdown, Hawk's hands are bloody at the fingertips and joints instead of the knuckles, and he appears to be pummeling Brucks with his wrists.
- Asshole Victim: Hawk issues a vicious, one-sided beatdown to Brucks that would have made Steven Seagal proud. Recalling his actions in season 1, it's still hard to feel sorry for Brucks.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Towards the end of the episode, Johnny writes up a decent, touching reply to Ali... only to decide that it's too long, deletes it, and instead sends a to-the-point "Not much, u?", which he finds more satisfying.
- One of Kreese's squadmates is nicknamed "Ponytail", implying that he's actually Terry Silver. Instead, Ponytail dies and Terry turns out to be the one nicknamed "Twig".
- The trailers led us to believe that Kyler would be on the receiving end of Hawk's beatdown. Turns out, it was Brucks actually and Kyler actually ended up fighting Mitch.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Before Hawk's fight with Brucks, Kyler taunts him with "Get him, Lip". 'Lip' does.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Johnny is on the receiving end of a "QUIET!" from Miguel when the kid calls him out on just letting Kreese take the dojo away.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Johnny tells Miguel that bringing back Cobra Kai was a mistake, as it lead to the dojo's resurgence as a Thug Dojo and a karate Mob War. Miguel tells Johnny that regardless of what happened, Johnny's lessons still helped him and several others, and that means he shouldn't give up on teaching karate entirely.
- The Bus Came Back: Kyler is among the new recruits Kreese had scouted out, and the only one to defeat a Cobra Kai member on-screen.
- Call-Back:
- When Kyler and Brucks recognize Hawk as Eli, they comment on the fact that the mohawk really distracts from his lip. This is exactly what Johnny told him to do back in Season 1, except that when Johnny first saw the mohawk, he was sincerely impressed, while Kyler and Brucks are disdainful.
- Kreese declares "open season" on Daniel and his dojo after Zarkarian fails to evict the Cobra Kai sensei, much like how he threatened to declare open season on Daniel and Miyagi if the former failed to attend the 1984 All-Valley Tournament.
- Call-Forward: Turner berating Kreese for losing concentration on the battlefield references what Kreese did to a student in 1984 when they looked away during a training exercise, even doing the exact same movements that Turner did too.
- Cassandra Truth: Amanda has spent most of the series mocking Daniel for his teenage rivalry with Johnny and Cobra Kai, but it wasn't until she met Kreese that she understood where Daniel's hostility came from. At this point she is completely on board with using some shady back-door deals to get Cobra Kai out of business.
- Celebrity Paradox: The photos Johnny shows Miguel are William Zabka beef cake photos from the 80s, one of which is even clearly labeled "William Zabka".
- Cerebus Call-Back: In the original movie, Kreese warned Daniel and Mr. Miyagi that it would be "open season on him... and you" if they didn't show at the tournament. While this line was plenty dark in its original context, such an "open season" between Daniel/Miyagi and Cobra Kai never happened. Now, after the failed attempt to evict Cobra Kai, Kreese decides to make good on his promise, and does so right when his snake is set loose in the dealership.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Johnny mistakes Ali's smiling and blushing emoji as her trying to come onto him, despite knowing she's a married woman now.
- At the end of the episode, Johnny writes up his reply to Ali and it's actually quite touching, but remembering that Miguel said his earlier attempt at a reply was "like 80 pages" and that less is more, he decides that it's still too long (it's about a paragraph long, which would be appropriate since Ali's message was also a paragraph) and instead goes for the very short and unsatisfying "Not much, u?".
- Contrived Coincidence: Johnny and Miguel go to a sushi restaurant for lunch, which turns out to be Tory's day job (the roller rink being her night job).
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Kyler defeats Mitch quickly and decisively, as Tory does with the female prospect she gets paired against. Hawk's victory against Brucks, on the other hand, is a straight up No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- While it's shown off-screen, Kreese was able to easily defeat Zarkarian's nephews — even as they try to intimidate him.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Although Kyler defeats Mitch quickly, Mitch does land the opening point with a well-aimed kick while Kyler is still adjusting to the new style of fighting he's up against.
- Death Glare: Having neatly curb-stomped Brucks into pancake batter (see No-Holds-Barred Beatdown), Hawk wastes no time giving Kyler one of "Call me 'Lip' one more time and you can join him". Kyler gets the message loud and clear.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Miguel asks Johnny if he has any old high school pictures for his Facebook page where he's wearing a shirt. He does, but the photos all show him wearing a cut off shirt and bandana. While in The '80s it might have made him look like a heartthrob, nowadays it makes him look like a gay man.
- Designated Girl Fight: Tory and the unnamed female opponent she faces at tryouts. See Kick the Dog for the result.
- Don't Celebrate Just Yet: Daniel and Amanda are quick to celebrate after making their deal with Zarkarian to evict Kreese, and Amanda even tempts fate by teasing Daniel about how quickly she managed to shut down Cobra Kai. They're very unpleasantly surprised when Zarkarian (and Kreese) call to tell them the deal is off!
- Even Evil Has Standards: "Evil" may or may not be stretching it, but Tory and Kyler are both disturbed when they see just how brutally Hawk treated Brucks. Kreese, on the other hand, looks proud.
- Fatal Family Photo: Inverted. Canonically, we already know that young Kreese will survive his tour of duty, so there's no danger in him looking at a photo of his girlfriend Betsy. Instead, it is Betsy who was just killed in a car crash.
- Favors for the Sexy: Zarkarian doesn't trust Daniel enough to even consider making a deal with him. Yet he's happy to make the same deal Daniel wanted if Amanda offers it.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Johnny's hilariously longwinded message to Ali, complemented with all-caps for good measure. It becomes an Overly Long Gag about how much he is rambling.
- Copied here for posterity. note
- Foreshadowing: When Kyler and Brucks enter the Cobra Kai dojo, Mitch assigns them degrading nicknames, just as Miguel and Hawk did when he first joined. However, Mitch backs down when Kyler takes offense at this. A few scenes later, it's not entirely surprising when Kyler defeats Mitch, resulting in Kreese judging that Mitch is not "Cobra Kai material".
- From Nobody to Nightmare: We learn that Terry Silver was originally nicknamed "Twig" by his comrades due to his skinny physique. It also turns out that Kreese became a POW because of his mistake in the field. Yet Silver would later go on to become a corrupt billionaire industrialist who tortured Daniel LaRusso and later betrayed Kreese so that he can have Cobra Kai to himself as a franchise.
- Gone Horribly Right: Earlier in the season, Kreese kicks out the bunch for sympathizing with Clarence the hamster; Hawk later suggests to Kreese that he should get new recruits. Kreese does, except two of them happen to be Kyler and Brucks, Hawk's former bullies. This is just one of the many factors that would eventually lead to Hawk's defection in the season finale.
- For added bonus, Kreese reminds Hawk that the latter was the one who suggested getting new recruits (even if one of them was Kyler of all people).
- Gory Discretion Shot:
- We never see the immediate result of what Hawk did to Brucks, only Hawk's bloody fists.
- Thankfully, we don't see Ponytail being shot.
- Hopeless with Tech: Johnny and Miguel's subplot is about trying to get good photos to post on the former's Facebook to make a good impression on Ali. Before Miguel is let in the loop, Johnny thought Ali's smiling and blushing emoji was a flirt and was going to reply to her with "like 80 pages" about what happened in the last three decades since they last saw each other.
- Hypocrite: Miguel thinks Johnny is this for encouraging his students not to be "pussies", but being one himself about Kreese taking the dojo and being afraid to be a sensei. It makes him so angry he stands.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Kyler gets angry at Mitch for calling him "Chodenose." Note that Kyler always calls Miguel "'Rhea" just to taunt him and constantly makes malicious dick jokes to get kicks out of it when "chode" means a wide but short penis.
- Zarkarian refuses to make a deal with Daniel, saying he doesn't trust car salesmen. This despite Zarkarian himself being a much more corrupt businessman than Daniel himself.
- It's All My Fault: Captain Turner blames Kreese for the death of his platoon mates, as his reluctance to blow up the Vietnamese compound (and kill Ponytail in the bargain) was what got them all captured. In the present day, it clearly rubbed off on Kreese. Terry Silver also blames himself for his radio crackling, which alerted the enemy to their presence in the first place.
- It's Personal: Hawk elects to fight Brucks to get back at him for all the bullying from season 1.
- Jabba Table Manners: Armand Zarkarian's table manners (or lack thereof) remain as disgusting as ever.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Amanda tries to convince Zarkarian to evict Kreese, he points out that Kreese has given him no reason to do so, as he is an excellent tenant who always pays his rent on time, and that it is unethical for him to discuss his and Kreese's lease agreement with the LaRussos. Zarkarian may be a Fat Bastard and a very shady businessman, but he's absolutely right on both points.
- Kick the Dog: Ends up being downplayed. After Tory defeats one of the newcomers to Cobra Kai (by kicking her in the face), the girl complains, "You chipped my tooth, bitch". Tory unsympathetically replies, "You needed braces anyway."
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Brucks finds out the hard way that all that bragging and swagger about picking on meek kids will earn you a well deserved beatdown when one of those kids takes a level in badass. Especially since he is far less fit than anyone else in the dojo. By extension, Kyler finds this out as well and can barely look at Hawk as Hawk gives him a Death Glare.
- Armand may be a wealthy person who owns a lot property in the Valley, including the strip mall containing the Cobra Kai dojo. But just because he has the power to evict Kreese, along with two thuggish nephews as backup, that doesn't mean this will be enough to intimidate Kreese, who proceeds to effortlessly stop the LaRussos attempt to get him out of their lives in an Offscreen Moment of Awesome.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Kreese's Commander quips about him only being remembered in the MIA records they'll declassify "in thirty years or so".
- Mood Whiplash: Miguel gets into a heated confrontation with Johnny over their physical therapy training... then Johnny notices and points out Miguel's moving legs, and the two share a hug.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Hawk effortlessly beats the ever-living shit out of Brucks and leaves him bloodied, complemented with a spit to the face for good measure. Brucks doesn't get even one hit in on Hawk. Naturally, Kyler became silent (and terrified) upon seeing what kind of person his former victim became in his absence.
- Nothing Is Scarier: We don't get to see how awful Brucks looks after Hawk is done pulverizing him. But between Hawk's bloody fists and the unnerved expressions of his fellow Cobra Kai, our imaginations have more than enough to work with.
- Oh, Crap!: Brucks' reaction when Hawk takes off his gi top, revealing his athletic build and tattoos, most specifically the Grim reaper. Also Kyler's reaction after Hawk has proceeded to pound Brucks to a pulp.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: A villainous example, as Kreese obviously beat the hell out of Zarkarian's very large, thuggish nephews (and probably Zarkarian himself) in order to get him to back off on Cobra Kai's eviction, but we don't get to see it.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Hawk's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Brucks is so vicious that even Tory is shaken by it, but it's hard to argue that he didn't deserve it.
- Pet the Dog: In a show of genuine friendship towards Mitch, Hawk protests Kreese expelling him from Cobra Kai after losing to Kyler in a spar and cites his loyalty and dedication to the dojo as reasons why he deserves to stay.
- Police Are Useless: As it turns out being private citizens Daniel and Amanda can't do much to get Kreese in legal trouble besides filing a restraining order, which Kreese had already done to Amanda for slapping him in the previous episode. Kreese is, at best, a periphery accomplice to some of the violence perpetrated by Cobra Kai students and so there is not much the police can do.
- Playing the Victim Card: Tory still has the audacity to see herself as the victim of the brawl, when no part of her situation would've happened had she not started the brawl. Wheelchair-bound Miguel even points out that he was the only Cobra Kai who was actually hurt in the fight, and then Tory makes it clear that she cares more about punishing Miyagi-Do than she cares about Miguel or even herself. Any sympathy he had for her evaporated because of this, ending their relationship.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
- Hawk sees Brucks in cock-of-the-walk mode on the mat and gets right down to business: "HE'S MINE!!!"
- When Armand confronts Kreese with his nephews, Kreese complains that he had just cleaned Brucks's blood off his mat. He proceeds to give the three of them a predatory look and concludes "Oh, well". Then he kicks all of their asses offscreen.
- Spiteful Spit: Hawk does this after delivering his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Brucks.
- Stealth Insult: When Kreese brings in Kyler and Brucks as new Cobra Kai students, Hawk is not happy and voices his concerns to Kreese. Kreese tells Hawk that Cobra Kai needs these new recruits because of a lack of natural athletes in the class. Hawk's unspoken response indicates he took it personally.
- This Means War!: Zarkarian fails to evict Kreese, and the Cobra Kai sensei warns Daniel over the phone to ready his students for an inevitable conflict between their dojos."Hello, Danny Boy. Nice try, but you can't end a war with diplomacy. So I suggest you prepare your students for battle. Because now, it's open season. On them... and you."
- Took a Level in Badass: Kyler, who defeats Mitch pretty easily. Brucks, not so much.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Kyler and Brucks find it amusing to see Eli as part of Cobra Kai and with the mohawk, and are quick to return to their bullying ways in mocking him. Their previous bullying behavior focused on their size and numbers to keep kids intimidated. In a one-on-one fight, Kyler has his wrestling training to fall back on, but Brucks was not prepared for the more muscular and rage-filled Hawk to come at him with 1000% and suffers a brutal beatdown that (while Kreese has this knowing look on him) most of the class can't watch.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Frustrated with his physical therapy and helping Johnny develop a fake Facebook persona causes Miguel to lay into him when Johnny accuses him of giving up:Miguel: You're the one giving up!
Johnny: I don't know what-
Miguel: QUIET! You let Kreese take your dojo! You let Hawk, Tory, and everyone else think you're weak.
Johnny: Because it was a mistake to begin with! I should have never bought back Cobra Kai! Look what happened!
Miguel: What happened is you helped a bunch of people, then walked away like a pussy. You're a sensei. It's who you are. If you can't see that, you're blind. - You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Kreese scouts out new recruits, including season one bullies Kyler and Brucks. As a test spar, Mitch loses to the wrestling-trained Kyler. Kreese promptly orders him to leave, as he is trying to weed out weak students.
