Kicks Get Chicks
Directed by Joel Novoa
Kreese: And neither one of them have the fighters to compete in both divisions.
Terry: We're gonna win this tournament before it even starts.
The All-Valley Tournament Committee convenes (minus Daniel, who is no longer eligible due to his sensei status) ahead of the 51st edition of the annual event. Among the topics discussed are celebrity guest appearances and the recent increase in female viewership. Fearing bad publicity, the committee votes unanimously to create separate tournament brackets for boys and girls, as well as introduce a variety of skill-based competitions.
Daniel shares the news with his students at Miyagi-Do; Sam is confident she will win the girls' division, while Demetri and the others are skeptical about their chances in the boys' division and the other competitions, believing they would stand a better chance if they were still partnered with Eagle Fang. But Daniel encourages them to put the past behind them and see the new format as a potential blessing.
Conversely at Eagle Fang, Johnny is irritated when he learns about the new rules. It is clear they will need at least one female student to compete; Bert suggests a girl from the high school debate team, but Johnny tells him the last thing they need is more nerds. While the students are dismissed to run laps, Miguel tries to convince Johnny to recruit Sam for their team, but Johnny is adamant about cutting all ties with Daniel.
At Cobra Kai, Kreese and Silver are elated with the new format, realizing that neither Miyagi-Do or Eagle Fang have the numbers to compete with their students separately. In anticipation of the tournament, Silver has purchased some new top of the line gear for the dojo, insisting that Cobra Kai be represented in style.
On her way into the dojo, Tory is confronted by her sleazy aunt who is after her ill mother's unemployment check. She warns Tory that she will become the primary caregiver both for her and her brother once her mother passes away. While Tory argues she will be a legal adult by that time, her aunt strongly doubts she would win a custody battle in light of her criminal record.
At the high school, Johnny and Miguel try to recruit some new students from the girls' sports teams, but have no success. After turning down the invitation herself, Moon suggests they ask her ex-girlfriend Piper if she would be interested.
Amanda receives an unexpected visitor at the LaRusso house — Tory has come to ask if she would be willing to sign a consent form to allow her back into school. Though Amanda applauds her decision to get her life back on track, as well as her promise to stay away from Sam, she has one other condition: she wants Tory to seek counseling for her issues. Tory agrees she will do whatever it takes. Their conversation is interrupted when Sam walks in, furious at the sight of Tory in her house.
Demetri shows up at Eli's house to tell him about the new tournament format. He seriously doubts his chances against Robby Keene and is hoping to convince his best friend to join Miyagi-Do, but Eli is still forlorn over the loss of his mohawk. After the way he treated everyone as Hawk, he feels he got what he deserved, but Demetri has already forgiven him and insists that it doesn't matter what his hair looks like. Nevertheless, Eli has decided to quit karate altogther.
Miguel and Johnny track down Piper at gymnastics practice. Forewarned that Piper is extremely "woke", Johnny attempts to finesse her into joining Eagle Fang with a prepared speech. Fortunately, Piper has been looking to join a dojo and accepts the invitation. Unbeknownst to Johnny and Miguel, however, Cobra Kai has already made their presense felt.
Back at home, Sam is beside herself for having to go back to school with Tory. Amanda explains that she doesn't want their rivalry dominating her life, but Sam argues it is hypocritical to expect her to coexist with Tory when Daniel and Johnny can't get along themselves. Amanda stresses that Tory has too much to lose to try and hurt her again, but Sam accuses her parents of not listening to what she wants and storms off.
When Daniel asks Amanda why she is helping Tory, she tells him about the time she was arrested for vandalizing her math tutor's car with a baseball bat because the tutor was having an affair with her father. She was charged with misdemeanor reckless endangerment, missed walking the stage for her high school graduation, and her parents ultimately divorced anyway. She can relate to Tory being young and upset, and believes that she just needs a wake up call to keep her from ruining her life. Introspectively, Daniel states that Tory isn't the only one needing a wake up call.
Demetri attempts to motivate Eli into taking up karate again. He says he never would have tried karate for himself if not for his best friend, and now considers it one of the best things that ever happened to him. When his words fail to have any effect, Demetri resorts to showing Eli their old "Binary Brothers" video, impressing upon him that it doesn't matter whether he is Hawk or Eli — they will always be best friends.
Robby drops by the mini-mart and encounters Daniel, whom he deduces is there to try and lure him back to Miyagi-Do. Instead, Daniel tries to tell him the truth about Terry Silver. He insists that Silver is sick and twisted and will eventually corrupt him, until Silver himself interrupts and excuses Robby from the conversation. He tells Daniel it is considered unethical to poach students, but Daniel responds that he is nothing but a con man. Silver claims he did nothing but bring out what was already inside Daniel, referring to him as a hothead. He suspects there was always a little bit of Cobra Kai inside him, but Daniel does not dignify the claim and tells Silver they will settle this on the mat.
At Eagle Fang, Johnny and his students await Piper who seems to be running late. When Miguel pulls out his phone to message her, however, he discovers a video of Piper and her friends fawning over Silver's new Cobra Kai merchandise, declaring she has sided with them instead. Without a female champion in their ranks, Johnny believes they have no chance to win the All-Valley, but Miguel points out that he wasn't a champion when Johnny met him. He became a champion because Johnny saw something in him, and suggests they simply need to find someone with the same potential.
Sam pays a visit to her old friend Aisha, who now lives in Santa Barbara. She explains that she moved away because her dad found a new job, although her parents were certainly not happy with her after the school fight. When Sam expresses her concerns about Tory returning to school, Aisha tells her about how she preempted a would-be bully at her new school by simply introducing herself and asking if she could show her around. Despite not taking karate anymore, she still carries the lessons she learned from Johnny to "strike first" and advises Sam to set her own terms.
As Miguel and Bert watch the debate club at school, Johnny arrives with the idea of dressing one of their male students as a female to compete in the girls' division, inspired by the film Ladybugs. He quickly abandons this idea, however, when a fiesty female on stage named Devon draws his attention, deeming her "the most badass girl in the valley".
At Miyagi-Do, Daniel begins prepping his students for the All-Valley, even going so far as to set up speakers around the sparring deck to play crowd noise. While sparring with Demetri, Eli turns up looking to join the team and is welcomed with open arms. As Daniel leaves to fetch another gi, he finds Sam stretching in the interior dojo. He attempts to apologize, but Sam admits that he and Amanda were right; it is time to leave the past behind.
However, Sam is immediately hostile to Tory on her first day back to school. She accuses her of playing some kind of game with her parents and threatens to kick her ass for a third time if she steps out of line. She finishes by echoing her rival's words from the day of the school brawl: "I'm coming for you, bitch."
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Johnny shows up to the school debate, implying that he's finally accepted Bert's advice and wants to recruit the girl on the debate team Bert told him about. Instead, it turns out his plan is for Mitch to compete as a girl Disguised in Drag. Then that gets subverted when he sees the girl, Devon, performing, and realizes she'd be perfect for Eagle Fang after all, but he presents this as his own idea and completely ignores Bert when he tries to point out that he already told him about her.
- When Sam visits Aisha to seek advice on what to do about Tory returning to school, Aisha tells the story of how, at her new school, she took the initiative and made friends with the girl who she expected to be her first bully. Later, Sam approaches Tory within moments of the latter entering the school and... threatens her with another beating if she steps out of line, even going so far as to echo Tory's famous "I'm coming for you, bitch".
- Big Damn Reunion: Sam and Aisha meet each other for the first time since the school fight in the season two finale, and they both exchange a hug.
- Blatant Lies: When promoting his dojo using the Sex Sells approach, Johnny at one point claims Miguel isn't even in the "top five" buffest fighters at Eagle Fang.
- Brick Joke: At the start of the episode, Bert tells Johnny he knows a girl on his debate team that might make a good recruit for Eagle Fang, but Johnny dismisses him on the basis that debate is for nerds. At the end of the episode, Johnny finally meets the girl, Devon, and realizes she's aggressive enough to be an Eagle Fang after all.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Aisha returns when Sam visits her to discuss the situation with Tory.
- The bodega guy returns, having been last seen in the season 2 episode "Back In Black".
- Call-Back:
- Sam ends her confrontation with Tory by telling her "I'm coming for you, bitch" which was the same thing Tory said to her over the intercom before starting the brawl in the Season 2 finale.
- In the previous season, when Miguel suggested Johnny should upload more photos in his Facebook to impress Ali, Johnny suggested he should oil up, to show off his muscles. Here, Johnny makes Miguel oil up and flex his muscles to attract female students.
- Cassandra Truth: Daniel warns Robby of the dangers Silver poses, not wanting Robby to be corrupted by Silver the same way he himself was in 1985. Robby doesn't take any of Daniel's warnings to heart, convincing himself he was already trying to avoid it, and surely enough, he ends season 4 in tears realizing he failed.
- Chewbacca Defense: Devon's debate strategy is to yell, insult her opponent, and tear up his book without actually making any factual points. It impresses Johnny, though her opponent points out that it really should cost her points for decorum.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Piper questions how Eagle Fang Karate appeals to non-binary and genderfluid people, Johnny, still ignorant of the concept of genderqueerness, emphasizes on the importance of keeping oneself hydrated with enough fluids, though Piper is no less amused by his remarks, because Miguel makes it look like he is joking.Johnny: We teach anyone who identifies as female to embrace their queenly strength, and tear down the neo-masculine hierarchy to confront internalized sexism.
Piper: Sounds inclusive. But what about non-binary and gender fluid?
Johnny: Yes, fluids are crucial. If you don't hydrate, it affects performance. - Crippling Overspecialization: Up to this point, Johnny has emphasized manliness and aggression for whatever dojo he's in charge of. While this has resulted in Eagle Fang having the strongest male fighters outside Cobra Kai (as Demetri laments after the Eagle Fang / Miyagi-Do alliance is broken), it now bites Johnny square in the ass, as his dojo doesn't have any female fighters at all, much less one who is in a league with Sam or Tory.
- Crossing The Burned Bridge: Tory's aunt's threats force her to go to Amanda for help in getting back into school.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Amanda reveals that she has one of these, being arrested for taking a baseball bat to the car of her math tutor while the tutor was in it. This was because she found out that said tutor was having an affair with Amanda's father, leading up to her parents' divorce.
- Dark Humor: Johnny tells his students not to breathe too much as they warm up, as there's black mold in the corner.
- Disguised in Drag: When Eagle Fang has trouble finding a female student, Johnny decides to go this route with Mitch. Thankfully, he sees Devon's debate performance shortly after and abandons the idea.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Aisha shares with Sam an anecdote on how she used the Cobra Kai teachings in her everyday life. When she was paranoid that a popular girl at her new school would become her new bully, rather than trying to actively avoid her, Aisha "made the first move" and struck up a conversation with her and they ended up becoming best friends. Sam takes this anecdote and instead becomes convinced that she needs to confront Tory, only instead of trying to make peace, she instead makes a threat.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Aisha exits the series on a happy note; she uses the lessons and confidence she learned during her time as a Cobra Kai to make a new life for herself away from the karate drama in the Valley, befriends her new school's Alpha Bitch instead of becoming a bullying victim again, and makes up with Sam.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Hawk has come to terms with and embraced his geeky past, and no longer thinks of being a nerd as an inherently bad thing, but he still recognises just how goofy and lame his and Demetri's old Binary Brothers video is, and considers himself a loser for having made it.
- Johnny's taste in movies is pretty lowbrow, and some of his favourites have even been nominated for Razzies, but even he doesn't seem to think very highly of Ladybugs.
- Fanservice: In one scene, Johnny forces Miguel to oil up and show off his muscles.
- Foreshadowing:
- While Johnny and Miguel were able to convince Piper to join their dojo, a few of her friends are seen carrying black boxes in the background and call her over to see this. While they're waiting for Piper to show up at Eagle Fang, Miguel discovers that she joined Cobra Kai when he sees a video of her with Cobra Kai gear that came from the black boxes.
- Tory's maternal aunt shows up out of nowhere to threaten Tory that she will get custody of her and Brandon for access to their survivor benefits. Season 5 reveals the reason for this; sometime between Mrs. Nichols' first appearance in Season 3's "Nature Vs. Nurture" and her next one in "Survivors", her condition has worsened to the point she's confined to a hospital cot rather than a bed.
- Glad I Thought of It: After seeing Devon's debate performance, Johnny decides she's the perfect recruit for the dojo and ignores Bert telling him that Devon is the girl he was talking about earlier.
- Hate Sink: In a single, short scene, Tory's aunt Kandace has established herself as this, first by demanding Tory's mother's sickness benefits, then deriding her sister's illness, bluntly saying that she'll be dead soon. Finally, Kandace twists the knife further by warning that the courts would grant her custody of Tory's brother if Tory even tries to resist.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Sam has a major freak-out when she finds not only Tory sitting in her house, but that her parents are on board with getting Tory back into school.
- Hawk loses all of his confidence after the events of the previous episode and decides to quit karate. Demetri manages to snap him out of it and he rejoins Miyagi-Do so they have a better chance for the male division.
- History Repeats: Invoked by Daniel when he foreshadows to Robby what's going to happen to him as a result of being trained by Terry Silver.
- Hypocrite: As Sam points out, her parents expect her to somehow coexist with Tory, when Daniel can't get along with Johnny for two seconds.
- I Lied: Demetri whips up his and Eli's old nerding-out videos and admits he lied about deleting them.
- Ironic Echo Cut: Twice over. When Daniel proclaims that, in the end, the new tournament rules will be the best thing that could have happened, cut to... Johnny ranting about how the rules are the worst thing that could have happened. Then cut to... Silver rejoicing over the announcement as perfect timing for Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang to split, as neither dojo has the numbers to match Cobra Kai in both the male and female divisions.Johnny: Ah, this is just—
Silver: Perfect. First LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence split, now this. Manna from heaven, baby. - Irony: Piper, the woke feminist, ends up joining the least politically correct of the dojos. Even more surprising (counts as Hourglass Plot), when she first meets Hawk — he was still one of Cobra Kai's top students, whereas Piper had no affiliation with any dojo. Now? Piper joins Cobra Kai while Eli has quit karate (albeit temporarily).
- Jerkass Has a Point: Johnny isn't wrong when he points out the tournament committee's decision to have separate competitions for male and females could be considered sexist, as it implies that female competitors can't keep up with the males despite Aisha getting quite far in the last tournament.
- Key Under the Doormat: Demetri is able to just waltz into the Moskowitz family home because Hawk's mom has kept the spare key under a garden gnome next to the front door for over a decade.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Upon learning of the new rules, Demetri declares that he and the other remaining Miyagi-do students are only good for the odd inspirational moments, but they're hardly center-of-the-mat material.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Aisha mentions a girl at her new school who wears more pink than Malibu Barbie and initially gave her a dismissive look due to her overweight and nerdy appearance. However, when Aisha asked the girl if she could show the former around, rather than rebuke her, the other girl agreed and they quickly became close friends (although the fact that Aisha made sure to compliment her shoes to break the ice helped).
- Malaproper: Johnny thinks "woke" is synonymous with "awake" when used in the "social awareness" sense.
- Manipulative Bastard: At the bodega, Silver wastes no time messing with Daniel's head again, this time by pointing out how well the Cobra Kai training he did in 1985 actually suited his hotheaded personality."You just don't wanna admit there's always been a little Cobra Kai in you."
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Some of Johnny's attempts to recruit girls to join his dojo at Miguel's school makes him seem like he's trying to pick up on underage girls with the way he phrased it to them.
- Mondegreen Gag: Johnny mishears a female student, who clarifies that she is asexual, as saying that she's "a sexual".
- Noodle Incident: Members of the All Valley board argue against recruiting celebrities, after a previous tournament's "Malcolm-Jamal Warner debacle."
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: Tory tries to thank Sam for allowing her back in school. Sam rebuffs this by repeating this trope word for word, saying she doesn't believe Tory and that she is the one in control, then threatening to beat her if she so much as looks at her funny.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Daniel's reaction to Amanda's Dark and Troubled Past is basically this, considering that this is the same episode where Silver points out Daniel's own dark past.
- Right Behind Me: When Robby and Daniel meet by chance in the bodega, Daniel tries to tell Robby what a horrible person Silver is. At the end of Daniel's rant, he is unpleasantly surprised to find Silver standing behind him, listening amusedly.
- Serious Business: The All Valley board has very, very intense discussions about the details of the upcoming tournament. Red mats or blue? The discussion only becomes more intense from there.
- Sex Sells: Johnny takes this approach at one point, attempting to entice a girl to join his dojo by showing off Miguel's (admittedly nice) physique. As with all of Johnny's efforts to promote his dojo, he fails miserably, this time because the girl in question is asexual.Johnny: We have babes and everything; whatever floats your boat.
Student: I'm asexual.
Johnny: All right, he's a sexual too. Check him out; total stud. (points to Miguel, who is flexing his muscles) - "Shaggy Dog" Story: Johnny could've avoided a lot of embarrassment and frustration had he just taken Bert's suggestion to recruit Devon at the beginning instead of trying to find a girl recruit on his own.
- Stylistic Suck: The "Binary Brothers" video. Eli is rightfully irked when Demetri reveals that he never deleted it.
- Suddenly Significant Rule: The All Valley board radically changes the format for the upcoming tournament. There are now separate divisions for male and females, skills competitions will now be included with the combat, and the overall dojo champion will be determined by a points system across every competition. This causes problems for both Miyagi-do (as none of their male fighters are in a league with Miguel, Hawk, or Robby) and Eagle Fang (as the dojo has no female fighters at all).
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Sam echoes Tory's "I'm coming for you, bitch" from the school fight during the climax of the second season, to threaten her with another beating if she steps out of line.
- Threw My Bike on the Roof: Devon concludes the death penalty debate by approaching her opponent and tearing his book in half to get her point about the topic across.
- Villain Has a Point: When Daniel accuses Silver of changing him while under his tutelage, Silver rightly points out that Daniel is a hothead and all his lessons did was inspire him to embrace that.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Sam's reaction to the news that Amanda is trying to help Tory.
