First Learn Stand
Directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
We are introduced to a new character named Kenny, a young teen obsessed with the online game Dungeon Lord, who is getting ready for his first day of school. He quickly dresses and runs downstairs to make breakfast, only to find a plate full of Rice Krispy treats and a loving note from his mom wishing him good luck at school. Waiting for the bus, he puts on his headphones and obliviously starts busting some moves, causing the other students to laugh and tease him when the bus arrives — most notably Anthony LaRusso and his posse.
Having finished constructing the new sparring deck, Daniel is anxious to get started teaching his students the "sand the floor" technique, but is annoyed to find Johnny already working on the task with an industrial floor sander. Another argument ensues in which both senseis accuse the other of disrespecting their styles of martial arts. Ultimately, they agree to a deal: Daniel will teach Johnny Miyagi-Do, and Johnny will teach Daniel Eagle Fang.
Tory is working as a waitress when she finds an unexpected customer: Amanda LaRusso, who orders her to stay the hell away from Sam and berates her over the house brawl. She warns Tory that if she touches Sam again before the tournament, she will press charges and have her thrown in jail. Refusing to be intimidated, Tory stands her ground but a sudden outburst towards a pushy customer leads to her being fired. Resentfully thanking Amanda for costing her a job, she leaves the restaurant.
During gym class at West Valley Middle School, Anthony seems to have eyes on a female classmate named Lia, but finds himself paired up against Kenny in a basketball game. Seeing a chance to stick up for himself by beating him, Kenny embarrasses Anthony when he "accidentally" blocks the ball into his face. Anthony confronts him before Lia breaks it up; she tells Kenny to just ignore the bullying and compliments his Dungeon Lord shirt as Anthony looks on with disdain.
At Miyagi-Do, Daniel tasks Johnny with "painting the house", which Johnny considers a waste of time and energy. When he derides Miyagi-Do for being too focused on defense, Daniel responds by chopping Johnny's beer bottle in half with a single blow, explaining that while his fighting style might seem boring, it had actually saved Johnny's life more than once in the past. Conceding the point, Johnny resumes his Miyagi-Do training, learning its rich history and all the same techniques as Daniel, even performing kata on the floating platform in the garden. Satisfied, Daniel decides that Johnny has completed his training, while Johnny relishes his turn to introduce Daniel to Eagle Fang karate.
True to his word, Robby drills his fellow Cobra Kai students with Miyagi-Do techniques, assuring them that the more they learn, the tougher they will be to defeat. Kreese chimes in and points out a flaw in that the Miyagi-Do style is reactive, and thus can be used to set traps. To demonstrate the point, Robby instructs Tory to show him "paint the fence" and uses it to set her up for a leg sweep. Furious at Robby for taking advantage of her, Tory takes him to the mat in retaliation, but Kreese intervenes and orders her to his office. Upon learning that she lost her job, Kreese counsels her that she can either let the setback tear her down or build her back up, and presses her to explain what happened.
After his military father calls from abroad to check on him, Kenny logs onto Dungeon Lord again after school and receives a friend request from Lia, which he happily confirms. Unbeknownst to him, Anthony is actually impersonating Lia, using their conversation to gain information about him. Noting Kenny's fondness for Dungeon Lord cosplay, Anthony's friend tells him to invite Kenny to a Dungeon Lord party at Balboa Park tomorrow night. Though initially reluctant, Anthony does so.
Amanda is shopping for groceries when Kreese suddenly walks into the store. Though she mentions the restraining order between them, he claims that she is technically the one in violation and accuses her of sabotaging Tory before the tournament. Amanda tells him she never intended to get her fired, but also denounces Tory for breaking into her house and attacking Sam. Kreese commends Amanda for standing up for her daughter, but points out that Tory's mother is in no condition to do so, explaining that Tory is the sole provider for her family; Amanda guiltily admits she did not know. He then warns Amanda to leave Tory alone, or face the consequences.
Daniel shows up at Johnny's place for his first day of training. Johnny takes him to an abandoned factory where he proceeds to put his fellow sensei through his own unique brand of training. After making him shovel hot coals onto the floor, Johnny then orders Daniel to walk across them barefoot. He also forces Daniel to do pushups on his knuckles, parry baseballs fired at him from a pitching machine, and climb a chain. Through grit and determination, Daniel overcomes every obstacle to complete his training.
Kenny arrives in costume at Balboa Park, only to be confronted by Anthony and his crew who begin to make fun of him. When they threaten to post video of his cosplay on social media, he tries to stop them but inadvertently breaks Anthony's phone. His friends then proceed to beat Kenny for calling them assholes, all the while pressuring Anthony to attack him with Miyagi-Do karate. With no actual karate training, Anthony hesitates, giving Kenny the opportunity to break free and run away. His attackers give chase, but Kenny quickly scales a fence and hides in a dumpster to escape them.
Johnny and Daniel spend the evening at a hockey game. There, Johnny intentionally goads a player in the penalty box into picking a fight with Daniel, who appears to successfully de-escalate the situation. However, the player and several of his teammates angrily confront Daniel after the game and insult his wife. With Johnny suddenly absent, Daniel goes on the offensive and manages to beat them all unconscious. Johnny then reappears with a hot pretzel in hand, mockingly demonstrating Daniel's earlier lesson that the best way to avoid a fight is to not be there.
At LaRusso Auto, Amanda is dismayed to see Tory walking in with a bag full of groceries, which she promptly throws at Amanda's feet and declares she does not need her sympathy. Amanda explains that she only wanted to make sure Tory's family had enough food and wants their conflict to be over. Tory emphatically responds that only she provides for her family, and informs Amanda that this will all be over once she humiliates Sam at the All-Valley Tournament. She then thanks Amanda for lighting a fire under her and storms out of the dealership.
Fed up with being bullied every day, Kenny visits his older brother Shawn Payne in juvie and asks him for advice, noting that one of his tormentors knows karate. Shawn only chuckles and tells his little brother not to worry; he knows a guy who can help.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Law: When he approaches her at the supermarket, Kreese claims Amanda is in violation of the restraining order he had the court declare against her. Actually, he is the one in violation of the same order by deliberately approaching her. Though honestly, it's clear that neither of them truly care about the restraining order anymore.
- Bait-and-Switch: Kenny's dad notably hesitates before using a Deadly Euphemism to remind Kenny that his brother is no longer around. At the end of the episode, it turns out that Kenny's brother is not only still alive, he's also revealed to be Shawn, Robby's bully from juvie.
- Big Brother Instinct: After learning about Kenny's problems at school and that one of the bullies knows karate, Shawn directs Kenny to Robby.
- Black and Nerdy: Kenny is a nice kid who plays video games (and not the Ultra Super Death Gore Fest Chainsawer 3000 kind), draws anime, and even does some cosplay. Like the other nerds on the show, he's quick to get bullied.
- Brick Joke: Johnny finishes his rant about today's lack of manliness with "Might as well let another dude bang your chick!" What finally provokes Daniel into fighting the hockey players? They start making lewd comments about his wife.
- Call-Back:
- In The Karate Kid, after Daniel fell off the rowboat, Mr. Miyagi told him: "First learn stand; then learn fly." This and the next episode are titled after that.
- Johnny at one point states that Daniel is tougher than a "prima donna". In the first movie, Kreese mockingly referred to Daniel as a prima donna in front of Johnny, so the compliment comes across as less left-handed than it may first appear.
- Daniel repeats Miyagi lessons word for (broken English) word to Johnny, including a history lesson, a proverb about ambition (which came from The Next Karate Kid), and the metaphor about doing things half-way.
- Kenny, in costume, being chased to a chain link fence looks very familiar. Unlike Daniel, he succeeds in escaping the Gang of Bullies.
- Catfishing: Anthony and his friends pose as Lia to Kenny via his medieval fantasy game in order to humiliate him — and possibly drive a wedge between them.
- Closet Geek: Anthony's friends don't know he has "nerdy" tastes. He almost slips out when he accurately describes Dungeon Lord, but he then brushes it out as having heard it from some nerds.
- Combat Pragmatist: Robby discloses the teachings of Miyagi-Do Karate to the Cobra Kais, so that they understand how their opponents operate in preparation for the All-Valley Tournament.Robby: To beat the enemy, it helps to know the enemy's playbook.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Daniel says that Mr. Miyagi told him the best defense in a fight is "no be there", Johnny focuses on the bad grammar over the message and calls out Daniel for never helping Miyagi with his English even after all the karate Daniel learned from him. Subverted (and even more comical) later, when the fight with the hockey team reveals that Johnny actually did get Miyagi's point.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The hockey team are the next to learn that unless you're Johnny, Kreese, or Chozen, you're just a speedbump to Daniel LaRusso.
- Did Not Think This Through: The manager of Tory's restaurant had every right to discipline Tory for her behavior. But firing her in the middle of her shift resulted in her proclaiming to all the present customers that the restaurant got a mediocre health inspection and that the chef dips his balls in the soup. You might have at least called Tory away from the customers before letting her go, guy.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Anthony and his friends catfish Kenny just because Kenny accidentally embarrassed Anthony during a game of basketball in gym class and got the attention of Anthony's crush.
- Dirty Coward: Anthony LaRusso brags about knowing karate from his father, but makes every excuse not to fight.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After learning from Kreese of Tory's hardships, Amanda leaves a bag of groceries at Tory's door. Tory takes this VERY badly.
- Establishing Character Moment: Kenny is introduced playing a medieval fantasy game on his computer, smiling at a note from his mother wishing him luck on his first day at school, then embarrassing himself in front of his new classmates when they catch him dancing at the bus stop, establishing him as a nerdy Nice Guy and the latest new kid in school to be bullied in the franchise after Daniel and Miguel.
- For Want Of A Nail: Had Anthony not lied to his friends about knowing karate, Kenny would have never believed this to be a fact and mentioned it to Shawn and Shawn would have never directed Kenny to seek out Robby.
- Foreshadowing: When Kenny is on a phone call with his dad, his dad mentions that Kenny's mother has had a rough time since what happened to his brother. The end of the episode reveals Kenny's brother is Shawn Payne from the previous season.
- Gendered Insult:
- Anthony calls Kenny a "ballerina" when the two encounter each other eye-to-eye in the school's indoor basketball court.
- Johnny claims that Daniel is "tougher than a prima donna", though it isn't much better than being addressed as one.
- Good Parents: Kenny's parents make a point of showing they love their son even though they're not at home with him, as his mother leaves him a loving note wishing him luck on his first day at school while his dad calls him from abroad to check in and see how his day went.
- Handshake Refusal: When Daniel and Johnny agree to train a day under each others' methods, Johnny spits on his hand and offers a handshake. Daniel, unsurprisingly, decides that a handshake isn't necessary.
- Hate Sink: During season 4, Anthony's friends fail to show any redeeming qualities, as we never see them do anything but bullying Kenny, pressuring Anthony to bully him, or just being unpleasant human beings in general.
- Hometown Nickname: While showing Daniel how to train like an Eagle Fang, Johnny calls him "Newark".
- Hourglass Plot: Kenny's entire story of being the new kid who gets bullied at school calls back to the first film, only this time, a LaRusso is the lead bully rather than the victim.
- Hypocrite: Daniel asks Johnny to respect Miyagi-do karate, but tells him it's gonna be hard for him to reciprocate that respect with the Cobra Kai style. Johnny calls him on it, saying respect is a two-way street.
- Innocently Insensitive: Amanda states that she's only at Tory's because she didn't get a response when she called Tory's home, then berates her reckless attitude by quipping she should've kicked the door down. While she didn't mean it that way, she unknowingly mocked Tory for her unstable home life.
- Insane Troll Logic: According to Johnny, his idea of manliness doesn't entail light beer, vegetarian burgers, or automatic transmissions on vehicles."All your life, the world's been trying to make you less of a man. Light beer? Veggie burgers? Automatic transmissions? Might as well let another dude bang your chick!"
- Ironic Echo: From Johnny after he disappears, leaving Daniel to fight the angry hockey team alone.Johnny: No be there.
- Irony: When Kreese is consoling Tory (in his Tough Love way), he remarks that sometimes taking a step back can reveal a new way forward. This is not so different from the non-linear "circular path" thinking that Daniel / Miyagi-Do has always espoused (a good example of which we'll see the very next episode).
- Jerk Jock: The hockey players are this when they try to pick a fight with Daniel and when they make off-color remarks about his wife.
- Kids Are Cruel: The kids on the school bus, including Anthony, ridicule Kenny for no better reason than he was dancing while waiting for the bus.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Daniel usually paraphrases Miyagi slightly, adding articles his sensei used to omit, but once he quotes him directly, telling Johnny the best defense is "no be there".Johnny: What, guy teaches you his centuries-old karate and you can't help him with his English?
- Leitmotif: Johnny's training under Daniel gets the same music as Mr. Miyagi's of Daniel in The Karate Kid Part III.
- Love Triangle: Lia, Anthony, and Kenny. Lia clearly prefers Kenny, though.
- Mama Bear: Amanda again decides to personally intervene for her daughter, this time by seeking out Tory. Her efforts here go almost as well as when she approached Kreese in season 3.
- Men Are Tough: Johnny's stance, of course. He takes exception to Daniel's "soft" ways of teaching (and thinking).
- Miles Gloriosus: We learn in this episode that Anthony convinced all of his peers that he's trained in karate just like Daniel. This is of course a blatant lie and thus he constantly comes up with excuses to not fight.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Amanda has two of these moments in this episode. First Kreese drops a hint as to how deep Tory's problems runs, and what Amanda costing Tory her job has done. Second when Amanda, in a clumsy ham-fisted way of trying to atone, leaves groceries outside Tory's door, which only infuriates Tory even more. At this point, Amanda even says "What have I done?"
- Mythology Gag: A young black kid in a Karate Kid-like environment? May or may not be a reference to the 2010 remake starring Jaden Smith. Given that a basketball court and violence were involved, and Will Smith is one of Cobra Kai's producers, it may or may not also be a reference to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
- Never My Fault: When Tory gets fired, she blames Amanda for it, even though Tory has snapped at a pushy customer asking for his soup, and (from the manager's reaction) this is clearly not the first time she had acted out.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After Amanda inadvertently gets Tory fired from her job as a waitress, Kreese accosts Amanda in an attempt to open her eyes to Tory's hardships. As the season progresses, this in turn sets Amanda on the path to helping Tory, ending the grudge between her and Sam.
- Oh, Crap!: Amanda's reaction when she spots Tory walking into the LaRusso Auto dealership.
- Out of Focus: This episode doesn't feature any of the karate students except Tory.
- Peer-Pressured Bully: It's clear Anthony is uncomfortable with some of the crueler pranks he and his gang play on Kenny, but goes along with it to avoid having his friends turn on him instead.
- Pet the Dog: Kreese again intercedes on Tory's behalf, on this occasion to Amanda (and thankfully without violence this time). As usual, he is only doing this for his own benefit (as he needs his most loyal fighter to remain undistracted), but it's difficult to ignore that his explanation of Tory's hardships eventually leads Amanda to start helping Tory, and that in turn leads Tory to let go of her mindless hatred of Sam.
- Plot Parallel: As his son and his "friends" are ganging up on a kid whose nerdiness apparently offends them, Daniel is ganged up on by a hockey team who are offended by his knowledge of hockey rules. The outcome is a bit different, though.
- Poke the Poodle: Kreese's latest dastardly act of villainy is... eating an apple without paying for it at the supermarket.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: One of the hockey players whom Daniel and Johnny call a foul on turns out to be this. He insults the duo in a homophobic way, referring to Johnny as Daniel's "boyfriend" and Daniel himself as "Sally" in an obvious attempt to goad them into a fight.
- Rage Breaking Point: With the growing frustration during the exchange between her and Amanda, Tory eventually snaps at a customer asking about his order, causing her supervisor to fire her.
- Rejected Apology: Kenny apologizes to Anthony for striking his face directly with a basketball, but Anthony calls bullshit on his apology.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Tory confronts Amanda at the dealership, Anoush tries to reason with Tory, but quickly withdraws from the situation.
- Snarking Thanks: After Amanda's attempt at charity fails, Tory reiterates her desire to humiliate Sam at the tournament, and sarcastically thanks Amanda for "lighting a fire" under her.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Anthony was always a brat, but his behavior has hit a new low here as he and his friends start bullying Kenny.
- Training from Hell: In contrast to Miyagi Do's thoughtful Wax On, Wax Off approach, Johnny's Eagle Fang instruction is outright this.
- Training Montage: We get to see one for both Johnny and Daniel, as the two train a day under each other's style.
- Underestimating Badassery: The hockey players definitely were this to Daniel. Did they really think they had a chance against someone who is known for their karate?
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Every interaction Amanda has with Tory, be it trying to intimidate her into leaving Sam alone or trying to help her, only makes things worse. By the end of the episode, Tory is both jobless and more motivated than ever to hurt Sam.
- Villain Has a Point: Kreese points out to Amanda that, unlike Sam, Tory doesn't have an able-bodied guardian to provide for her and Amanda inadvertently getting her fired made her life more difficult. Amanda concedes the point and spends the rest of the season trying to help her.
- Wax On, Wax Off: Daniel puts Johnny through this as part of their agreement to learn each other's karate styles. Johnny, being a former handyman, keeps pointing out how the techniques Daniel has his students perform aren't just a weird way to learn karate, but also inefficient methods of performing housework.Johnny: (painting the house) You know, you can't just layer paint on shit. You need a heat gun to get down to the base, maybe a right angle scraper.
- Wham Episode: Turns out Kenny is the younger brother of Shawn Payne and Shawn decides to enlist Robby to help Kenny deal with his bullies.
- Wham Line: "Hey, don't worry about it, little bro. I know a guy who can help."
- Wham Shot:
- In line with the other Wham tropes here, the episode ends with Kenny describing all his trouble with the school bullies, perhaps to a guidance counselor, one of his parents, or even a journal... until the camera reveals that he is speaking to none other than Shawn Payne, the brute who gave Robby so much trouble last season.
- Kenny chatting with who he thinks is Lia, a girl from gym class, in an online game. Then it cuts to another computer to show that it's Anthony and his friends catfishing him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Amanda's attempt to intimidate Tory backfires spectacularly.
