Recap / Cobra Kai S5 E10 "Head of the Snake"

RECAP:
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Season 5, Episode 10:

Head of the Snake

How does the QuickSilver technique feel now, Silver?

Written by Bob Dearden
Directed by Joel Novoa

"Silver's been screwing us for too long. He kicked your ass, he kicked my ass — it was a sucker kick in my case — but still, it's way past time for some payback!"

— Johnny Lawrence

At the prison, Kreese tells the psychiatrist that he has reached the "end of the road", and has come to terms with the fact that he will be spending the last years of his life in confinement. She tells him that he can still choose to find purpose even in prison, but Kreese responds that his only purpose is teaching his students not to make the same mistakes he did. He repeats Johnny's desire to purge every memory of him from the Valley, saying that everything he ever fought for will be lost, including Johnny himself.

As tears stream down his face, the doctor comes closer to try and comfort him. She encourages him to keep fighting, but with his heart instead of his fists, and to use his remaining time to write an ending he can be proud of. Kreese appears to take her advice to heart, but as he tries to play peacemaker between two quarreling inmates, one of them produces a shiv and stabs him repeatedly, leaving him unconscious and bleeding on the floor.

Back on the road, the limo suddenly comes to a screeching halt. When Daniel moves to escape, however, he is confronted by a furious Mike Barnes who hauls him out of the limo and throws him to the ground. Solely blaming Daniel for the loss of his furniture store, he attempts to take out his rage but Chozen and Johnny intervene, giving Daniel the opportunity to explain that Silver was responsible. He swears he will do whatever it takes to make Barnes whole again, but Barnes craves vengeance and wants to take the fight to Silver immediately, a notion that both Chozen and Johnny wholeheartedly agree with. Unable to dissuade his drunken comrades, Daniel finds himself stranded in the middle of nowhere as the trio speed off in the limo towards Silver's estate.

At the Reseda apartments, Robby, Miguel, Hawk, and Demetri wait for Sam, who has summoned them all individually. When she finally arrives with Tory, she explains her plan to prove that Silver assaulted Stingray by pulling the security footage from the old dojo. Although Robby notes that the place was cleared out after the last All Valley tournament, Demetri tells them the footage would have been saved to a central server, which Tory confirms that Silver took with him to the flagship dojo. Theorizing that they can publish the footage of Stingray's assault online if they can acquire it, Sam tells her teammates to gather the others — they are taking down Cobra Kai tonight.

Just as Silver and Kim Da-Eun are discussing how to handle Daniel and his entourage going forward, Johnny, Chozen, and Barnes crash through the front gate and confront them in the living room. Silver calls them out for trespassing and states that any violence inflicted upon them will be justified, but none of the men are intimidated. When Sensei Min-Jun appears, Barnes makes short work of him, but is ambushed and knocked unconscious by Sensei Bacaria. As the rest of the Cobra Kai instructors enter the room, Johnny and Chozen prepare to defend themselves.

At the LaRusso house, Amanda is enjoying a relaxing evening with Carmen when she receives a frantic call from Daniel. He explains that Johnny and the others are on their way to Silver's home and begs her to come and pick him up, dropping a pin to his location. At that moment, Amanda notices a car pulling into the driveway, which she identifies as Cobra Kai. Daniel advises his wife to flee the house immediately, just before the call drops.

The Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang fighters rendezvous at the flagship dojo, gaining access to the building via Tory's key card. Sam instructs some of them to keep watch on the ground floor, while she and the others head upstairs into Silver's office. As Demetri works to access the server footage, Robby disconnects a security camera, but fails to notice a second camera hidden within the Cobra Kai mural behind them.

As the battle rages on at Silver's home, he and Kim Da-Eun observe the rival students on camera on his office. Realizing they are being attacked on two fronts, Silver instructs Kim to take care of the dojo while he settles matters with Chozen and Johnny. Having momentarily subdued Silver's men, Johnny directs Chozen to confront Silver.

After running several miles on foot, Daniel hails the driver of a pickup truck and asks him for a ride. When the man refuses, a desperate Daniel presses the issue, only to be confronted by several other men who emerge from the truck. Removing his suit jacket, Daniel prepares to defend himself, until a speeding vehicle sends everyone scrambling for cover. To Daniel's shock, the car is revealed to be Johnny's old Challenger, driven by Stingray and occupied by both Amanda and Carmen. Stating that the kids are in trouble, Amanda waves Daniel into the car and they promptly speed away.

Back at the flagship dojo, Demetri accesses the video of Silver's attack on Stingray, only to find that Silver erased the footage just before the assault took place. However, Tory reveals there is another video they can use and inputs the date and time on Demetri's tablet. Alerted to a commotion downstairs, Sam takes Miguel, Robby, and Tory to investigate while Hawk and Demetri stay behind to download the footage.

On the ground floor, the Cobra Kai students have unexpectedly arrived; Devon is stunned that Tory has seemingly turned against them, while Mitch is revealed as a traitor himself who tipped off the Cobras to their plan and promptly defects from Eagle Fang. Tory clarifies that she is no traitor, but is simply not buying what Silver is selling. Robby asserts that Silver lied to them all, but Kenny claims that the only person who lied to him is Robby himself. Miguel steps up in a last-ditch effort to avoid a fight, but Kenny takes the first swing that ignites a full-scale brawl between the dojos.

Chozen confronts Silver in the middle of his sword display room. After mocking Chozen's vow to make him beg for mercy, he engages him in a fight and swiftly gains the upper hand, kicking Chozen to the ground before taunting him once more. Even as Johnny begins to lose the advantage against the other senseis, Chozen battles back and delivers a fierce strike to Silver's knee, momentarily hobbling him. Sensing that he might be outmatched in unarmed combat, Silver picks up a katana while Chozen draws a pair of sai from his jacket; he warns Silver that he is not afraid to kill him. Unfazed, Silver responds that he is not afraid to die.

The two engage in a ferocious duel on Silver's patio. Although Chozen fights well, Silver draws first blood with his katana and takes control of the fight, but Chozen rallies despite his injuries and ultimately sweeps Silver to the ground. Claiming he was meant to die on the battlefield, he encourages Chozen to finish him off, but Johnny's cry of pain from inside the house distracts Chozen long enough for Silver to deal a brutal slash across his back. Chozen topples into the water, a pool of blood quickly spreading beneath him.

At the dojo, Tory and Devon briefly face off, with Tory emphasizing that she is not Devon's enemy. Meanwhile, Hawk urges Demetri to hurry up with the footage before Kyler and a few other Cobras enter the office. Although Kyler mocks him for losing to Kenny, Hawk brushes him off and says that he has moved on, but Kyler is still the same old bully and, despite being defeated numerous times, is too stupid to ever learn his lesson. When Kyler and the others attack, Hawk is able to keep them at bay while Demetri works to upload and publish the footage via Wi-Fi. Elsewhere, Kenny attacks Robby who tries to fend him off, unwilling to harm his old protégé. While Robby is distracted by the other Cobras, however, Kenny catches him off guard with the Silver Bullet.

Back at Silver's place, Johnny continues to take a vicious beating at the hands of the senseis. He is battered, bleeding, and nearly exhausted when Silver re-enters the house, boasting to Johnny that Chozen is now "off the board". Johnny threatens to kill him in retaliation, but Silver deems that unlikely. He admits that Johnny has guts, but berates him for being foolish enough to attack him in his own home. He then leaves for the dojo, but not before ordering his men to finish Johnny off.

Impaired by the effects of the Silver Bullet, Robby is beaten down by Kenny and the other Cobras, until Miguel intervenes giving Robby the chance to recover. At the same time, Demetri joins the fight against Kyler and exacts a measure of revenge by defeating his former bully. With the video now uploading to Cobra Kai's YouTube channel, Hawk and Demetri take the tablet and rush out of the office. Meanwhile, Tory is holding her ground in the melee, but runs into a roadblock in the form of Kim Da-Eun, who vows to teach her a lesson even more painful than the last.

As Hawk and Demetri arrive on the ground floor, Kyler strikes Hawk from behind and sends the tablet sliding across the mat towards Anthony, who quickly scoops it up. With the Cobras determined to take it from him, Miguel signals to his teammates to "protect the egg." They form a defensive circle around Anthony, who continues to monitor the upload as the others fend off the Cobra Kai from all sides.

Overmatched by her former sensei, Tory quickly finds herself on the mat, where Kim Da-Eun mercilessly steps on her injured hand. Seeing Tory in trouble, Sam fearlessly comes to her aid, but both girls struggle to keep up with Kim. When Devon unexpectedly joins the fight, Kim warns her not to throw away her chance to become a champion, but Devon insists she will become a champion on her own terms and dismisses Sam to help defend Anthony. Rejoining Tory, the two girls pick up where they left off against Kim.

Daniel and company finally arrive at the dojo, but find their path blocked by several Cobra Kai students. Although Daniel refuses to fight a bunch of teenagers, Stingray has no such qualms and eagerly steps up to the challenge, decimating the Cobras in short order before waving his friends inside. With the video upload nearing completion, the Cobra Kai redouble their efforts to stop it. As Daniel attempts to break through the crowd of students to reach Anthony, the video begins to play on the dojo's main monitor — the footage of Silver admitting to Tory that he bribed the referee at the All Valley tournament. Faced with this new revelation, the Cobras can only watch in stunned silence.

Silver appears and attempts to downplay the video, but his students are unmoved. He then launches into a tirade, calling out Daniel and his cohorts for breaking into his home and claiming he will do whatever it takes to keep Cobra Kai on top. Elsewhere, Silver's senseis are about to finish Johnny when the photo of the ultrasound falls from his jacket onto the floor. Gaining a Heroic Second Wind at the sight of his unborn child, Johnny flies into a rage and incapacitates all but two of his enemies, who manage to subdue him and prepare to run him through with a sword. However, Mike Barnes comes out of nowhere to take them down at the last second, saving Johnny's life.

Back in the dojo, Silver tells Daniel that all his efforts were for nothing and advises him to accept it, or else get his ass kicked again. With Amanda's support, and with fury in his eyes, Daniel accepts the challenge. Following Chozen's earlier advice to "think like a serpent", Daniel turns Silver's patented "QuickSilver" method against him, first striking his knee before delivering a heavy blow to his chest. In desperation, Silver grabs a trophy from the wall to use as a weapon, but Daniel finishes him off with a perfectly executed Crane Kick that sends Silver crashing into the glass Cobra Kai mural behind him. As Daniel celebrates his victory with his family, a dejected Kenny approaches the fallen Silver and throws his Cobra Kai jersey at his former sensei, with the rest of the students following suit.

In the aftermath, Stingray finally recants his testimony to the authorities. Robby attempts to speak with Kenny, but still reeling from Silver's betrayal, he is not ready to talk just yet. Tory and Robby make up, while Miguel and Sam rekindle their romance. Johnny reunites with Carmen, while Chozen is shown to have survived being wounded at the hands of Silver. After helping Chozen into an ambulance, Daniel notices that Barnes stole an original Rembrandt painting from Silver's estate, intending to sell it to get back on his feet. Finally, Silver is arrested and loaded into a police car, facing a long list of criminal charges.

As Johnny muses about Silver and Kreese becoming cellmates, a detective on the scene reveals to him and Daniel that Kreese actually faked his own death in prison, using red jello to simulate his blood. In a flashback sequence set to "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, Kreese executes his master plan: He fights his way out of the morgue and, disguised in a doctor's lab coat to avoid detection, uses the security badge he lifted from the psychologist in their last session to walk out the door to freedom, a triumphant smile on his face.

---

Tropes:

• Accidental Hero: Johnny, Chozen and Barnes come up with a ridiculous plan to attack Silver in his own home, which coincidentally turns out to be the perfect distraction to prevent Silver and his senseis from interfering with the kids' much better thought out plan to expose Silver by stealing an incriminating video from the Cobra Kai security system. Kim and Silver see it on Silver's computer, but are interrupted by the three drunk karate pros barging in. She and Silver would have taken action much sooner otherwise.
• Acrofatic: As with the Season 2 school brawl, Stingray has a chance to show how agile he is for a man of his girth, beating up four teenage Cobra Kai students in the process.
• Acquitted Too Late: Subverted and then played straight. The episode opens on Kreese being shanked, and by the end of it, the man who falsely testified against him has recanted... Then, it turns out he survived. However, had Kreese just put off his escape for at least another day, he would have been out anyway because Stingray's revised testimony would have vindicated him of the bogus assault charge. Now Kreese is legitimately guilty of escaping custody, which is a far more serious crime.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Perhaps the most extreme example in the show so far — having just partied and downed copious amounts of booze, Daniel, Chozen, and Johnny were absolutely in no condition to storm Terry Silver's residence. Unfortunately, Daniel is the only one who understood this and everyone else including Mike Barnes were too high on the prospect of finally giving Terry Silver what's coming to him. Barnes himself is implied to be under the influence of "something even stronger", as Daniel notes how dilated his pupils were.
• All for Nothing:
  • Mitch's betrayal winds up being this as not only do the Cobra Kai students continue calling him "Penis Breath", but their side doesn't even win the final battle, and everyone but Silver (and possibly Kim) abandons their allegiance to Cobra Kai in the end.
  • Kreese breaking out of prison. Stingray would alter his testimony not long after, which would have overturned Kreese's conviction and allowed him to walk free anyway.^note Even if his original charge was dismissed, escaping from custody is a separate charge in itself meaning that Kreese essentially Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook. On top of this, all the Cobra Kai students have abandoned the faith, leaving no one (other than possibly Kim Da-Eun) to follow Kreese's lead. Of course, Tory also sees him as a mentor-figure due to his numerous Pet the Dog moments towards her, though she did feel a little betrayed after he decided to give up on his plans in this season, so whether she still sees him as such or not is not yet known.
• All Your Powers Combined: Daniel weaves together Miyagi-Do, Eagle Fang, and the Cobra Kai training Silver himself gave him to utterly humiliate his arch-enemy.
• Ambiguous Situation: Kreese's emotional session with the prison psychiatrist. Was he actually putting on an act to lure the psychiatrist closer to him to steal her key card? Or were his feelings completely genuine but could not pass up the opportunity to escape prison along with getting back at her for denying him early parole.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Kyler taunts Eli over his loss to Kenny in the Sekai Taikai tryouts, but Eli is unfazed and concedes his loss is what it is, while also calling out on Kyler for not moving past his bullying ways and for not being nearly as tough as he acts.
  Kyler: You heard Kenny when he dropped your ass. Just a Faux-Hawk now, boy.
  Eli: You know what? That's life. You win some, you lose some, but you gotta move on. You never did. You're still pulling the same old bully act as always. You know, everyone you bullied has kicked your ass by now.
  Demetri: I haven't.
  Eli: You'll get your turn. Kyler's too stupid to ever learn his lesson.
• Ascended Extra: Perennial extras Big Red, Edwin and Little Red are finally given dialogue and interactions with the main cast members.
• Asshole Victim: It's hard to sympathize with Mitch when he feels betrayed by Silver's fraudulent actions after he betrayed the Miyagi-Fangs out of his own satisfaction.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Chozen and Silver are both wearing nice suits when they have their epic fight. As shown in the pic up top, Daniel also looks rather snazzy when he's taking down Silver in the end.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • The previous episode ended with Daniel, Johnny and Chozen being abducted by someone in their limo, the implication being, as Chozen concluded, that Silver is behind the attack. Turns out it was Mike Barnes, who is clearly under the influence after having lost his livelihood when Silver burned down his furniture store.
  • Amanda and Carmen are alarmed when it appears Cobra Kai is approaching the house for another home invasion. Then it turns out it was Stingray in his car and he's come to help.
  • At the end, when a detective on the scene overhears Johnny and Daniel mention Kreese, he asks them if they heard what happened to him. Not that he was killed, like the opening scene suggested, but that he actually faked his death to break out of prison.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Daniel takes down Silver with the QuickSilver method, which Silver taught him back in 1985.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Despite being the show’s comic relief, Stingray continues to show how very skilled he is in his craft (after all, he took down a few Miyagi-Dos in the West Valley High School brawl without a sweat). Big Red and his goons learn that the hard way. Admittedly, the fact that he's got a significant strength advantage over the teens and they weren't taking him seriously helps as well.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Just as Sensei Hyan-Woo is about to stab Johnny, who is restrained by Sensei Min-Jun, Barnes arrives in the nick of time and knocks out the two senseis.
  • Daniel was stranded in the woods and about to get into yet another fight, when Stingray suddenly appears to escort him directly to the Cobra Kai dojo.
• Big Sister Instinct: Devon, Tory and Sam all protect Anthony from the Cobra Kai students while the video exposing Silver is being uploaded.
• Bittersweet Ending: Leaning very heavily to the sweet end. Silver is finally exposed thanks to Daniel, Stingray, and the kids and is sent to jail while all of Cobra Kai's students quit after becoming disillusioned, effectively putting an end to this expanded version of the dojo. Johnny, Chozen, and Mike manage to survive their fight, with Mike also planning to use a valuable painting from Silver's house to get his finances back in order. Sam and Miguel get back together while Robby and Tory reaffirm their relationship. And with Sam, Tory, Miguel and Robby patching things up, most of the major feuds between the teens are finally settled. However, while Robby and Kenny are on the road to fixing their friendship, Kenny still needs time to process everything that happened and leaves, with it being uncertain whether he will continue bullying Anthony or not. Lastly, Kreese has escaped from prison and, having learned nothing from his ordeal, is ready to continue his war against Johnny and Daniel, causing the two of them to realize their karate problems aren't over yet. Plus Kim is still at large, so she could still team up with Kreese in time for the tournament, or become a villain in her own right.
• Blatant Lies: In the aftermath of the fight at Cobra Kai, Kyler tells the police that he rescued everyone from that place and knew it was cultish. No one buys it.
• A Bloody Mess: The blood from Kreese's stab wounds turns out to be just melted Jell-O.
• Bookends: Way back in 1984, a Cobra Kai master took on a Miyagi-Do sensei, who treated him to a Curb-Stomp Battle which ended with shattered glass and the master being humiliated in front of his students, in turn leading to the dojo being shut down. Now, the exact same thing happens here, albeit with Silver instead of Kreese and Daniel instead of Mr. Miyagi.
• Break the Haughty:
  • Silver arrogantly thought he could defeat Daniel in the final fight, but Daniel was the one who completely decimated him. After getting beaten up too much, Silver goes into a Villainous Breakdown and attempts to cheat by trying to attack Daniel using a trophy as a weapon. Daniel crane kicks him in the face before he could, smashing him into his display wall. Then Silver gets carted off by the police for assault charges as well as for his match-fixing scandals.
  • This happens to the Cobra Kai students after they see Silver's confession on the TV and realize their accomplishments were a complete sham.
• Brick Joke:
  • When Chozen identifies Barnes as “Karate’s Bad boy”, Johnny remarks that he doesn’t look that bad. This is exactly what Chozen said when he heard Daniel call him that.
  • A few episodes back, Daniel accused Johnny of opening Pandora's box by restarting Cobra Kai in the first place. Johnny told him he didn't know who Pandora is or what's in her box. This episode, he declares that they will put Pandora back in her box by attacking Silver.
• Broken Pedestal: When the Miyagi Dos and Eagle Fangs show the Cobra Kai students that Silver rigged the tournament to let Tory win, they are all horrified by the truth and leave the dojo in disgust, throwing away their Cobra Kai gear in the process.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • Kenny doesn't hesitate throwing the first punch at Miguel when the latter steps in and defends Robby. While most of their fights are off screen, it begins and ends with Miguel laying the smackdown on Kenny.
  • Oh Kyler... When will you learn that continuously bullying the same two people who already Took a Level in Badass many seasons ago isn't going to end well for you? Even Eli calls him out on it.
  • Big Red and his goons literally have the balls to provide a Bring It attitude to Stingray and Daniel LaRusso. Even if Stingray's the only one providing a Curb-Stomp Battle on their end, it's not like they can take on a karate sensei who's light years ahead of their skillset.
• Call-Back: Subverted. Robby's experience with disabling alarm systems is about to get relevant, but Tory tells him it's better not to violate his probation more than he has to.
• Cassandra Truth: Tory and Robby try to stop the brawl from breaking out by telling Cobra Kai that Silver has been lying to them. It's not until they all see the video evidence for themselves that they finally accept the truth.
• Character Development: Eli points this out to Kyler, saying that while he has accepted his loss to Kenny and decided to move on (in stark contrast to his Sore Loser reaction in the Season 1 tournament), Kyler is still stuck on his bullying ways. In fact, Kyler's only development that he's had in the entire series is relatively minor, only realizing that despite his own evil ways, he won't tolerate cheating in sport.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Silver gets the chance to use one of his swords after showing them off in an earlier episode.
  • After Silver pulls out the katana, Chozen finally gets to use his sais in a real fight.
  • The jello from episode six, of all the absurd things. In this episode, Kreese uses it as fake blood as part of his plan to break out of prison.
  • Tory's key card which they use to enter the Cobra Kai dojo: in an earlier episode, Silver specifically instructed her to get a card to access the dojo after hours. Needless to say, he wasn't expecting this.
  • Demetri having a part time job with TechTown ends up playing in Miyagi-Fang's favour (the Cobra Kai dojo uses their service, which grants Demetri some limited access to their server).
  • The previous episode has a gag with Chozen getting stopped by security at the club for carrying a pair of sai in his jacket. They're just what he needs when Silver pulls a sword on him.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Chozen uses the pressure-point technique against Silver and paralyzes his leg.
  • Eli, Demetri, and Anthony's computer skills come in handy when the first two steal the security footage from Silver's system and then Anthony uploads it to the dojo's TV screen for the students to see.
  • The training that the Miyagi-Dos and Eagle Fangs underwent from Chozen's instruction comes into play here, where they protect Anthony from the Cobra Kais while he handles the iPad uploading the footage of Silver. Miguel even tells everyone to "protect the egg" as the signal for the plan.
  • The QuickSilver method comes in very handy for Daniel as he takes on Silver. Guess who taught him that?
    • Even better, the first episode had Chozen advice Daniel when encountering Silver: “to catch serpent, you must think like serpent.” Daniel does exactly that when he uses Silver’s own philosophy against him.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
  • Of the six Fist senseis under Kim, Sensei Morozov is the only one to not be present. The reason for his absence following the Sekai Taikai tryouts is not elaborated upon.
  • Piper Elswith, despite making it to the quarterfinals with Cobra Kai in the All-Valley (as well as posting the Instagram reel of Anthony kicked into the lazy river) is neither around fighting alongside her teammates, nor is she seen feeling betrayed by Silver's fraudulent actions.
• Commonality Connection: Johnny and Mike quickly bond over the fact they've both been screwed over by Silver and want to get revenge on him.
• Conveniently Timed Distraction:
  • Barnes, Chozen and Johnny's drunken decision to just go beat up Silver right then and there ends up becoming this for the Miyagi-Fang students who planned to go break into the flagship Cobra Kai gym to find critical evidence.
  • Just when Chozen is about to finish off Silver with his sais, he overhears Johnny yelling while he's getting beaten by the other senseis, which diverts Chozen's attention long enough for Silver to deliver a slash on his back, ending the fight.
• Continuity Nod: When Robby tells the others he's gonna hack the Cobra Kai dojo security system, Tory reminds him the two of them are still on probation and they should use her keycard to enter the building legally instead.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Daniel points out to Johnny that they are all drunk and Mike himself is under the influence of something strong, so storming Silver in his mansion is a crazy plan. Johnny agrees and adds that that is exactly why Silver will never see it coming. Ultimately, it works (though the Miyagi-Fang students storming the Cobra Kai dojo around the same time certainly helped).
• Crazy-Prepared:
  • When Barnes, Chozen and Johnny go to confront Silver at his house, all of his instructors are already there.
  • Silver thought ahead to delete the portion of the security camera footage that showed him beating up Stingray.
  • Silver put up a hidden security camera, in case anyone took down the more obvious camera.
• Crucified Hero Shot: When Silver slashes Chozen across his back at the end of their fight, Chozen falls on his back in the pool with his arms spread while a halo of blood slowly forms around him in the water.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Kyler and a few of his Cobra Kai lackeys are again beaten down without much effort, with Eli even pointing out that by now, every one of Kyler's enemies has kicked his ass.
  • Miguel has absolutely no trouble taking down Kenny, especially when you consider the former isn't holding anything back (unlike the latter's fights against Hawk and Robby).
  • When Daniel is held back by the Wouldn't Hurt a Child trope, Stingray singlehandedly takes down four Cobra Kai students without breaking a sweat.
  • Unlike the last time they fought, Daniel lays the smack-down on Silver. And Daniel doesn't just kick Silver's ass, he shatters his pride as well.
• Darkest Hour: When Silver takes down Chozen, the best fighter on the Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang side. In that bleak moment, it looks like no one will ever be able to defeat Silver. Subverted in the end, when it turns out that Silver exhausted so much of his energy beating Chozen that Daniel, who's still a bit drunk but hasn't been in any fights yet, is able to pull a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on him.
• Delaying Action: The Miyagi-Dos and Eagle Fangs all hold back the Cobra Kais long enough to stop them from reaching Anthony while he is handling the iPad uploading and mirroring the footage of Silver to the flagship dojo TV for everyone to see.
• Designated Girl Fight: Kim engages in a fight only with the female kids (Tory, Sam, and Devon) and isn't seen actively attempting to subdue any of the male kids. Justified as she has the most beef with Tory and focuses on her at first, then later because the trio are deliberately keeping Kim away from reaching Anthony as he uploads the evidence.
• Deus Exit Machina: When Barnes' guard is down, one of Silver's senseis knock him out, leaving him out of most of the fight, leaving Johnny and Chozen to take on all of them. He does recover eventually, and pulls a Big Damn Heroes to save Johnny in the end, but by that point, Chozen has been taken out of the fight when he was distracted. Meanwhile, Daniel didn't want to get involved, so Chozen, Barnes, and Johnny had gone off without him.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Silver had the foresight to delete the camera footage of him beating down Stingray, but forgot about when he admitted to Tory about his match-fixing. Also, he never imagined that Miyagi-Fang would simultaneously attack him on two fronts (his house and the Cobra Kai dojo).
  • The Miyagi-Fangs never thought that one of them would turn traitor for Cobra Kai and are shocked when Mitch reveals he has.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Silver's downfall comes from his cheating and belief Cobra Kai must win the All Valley to be a hugely successful dojo. While it's helpful to have the winners in his dojo, he could have played it straight considering he's willing to spend vastly larger amounts on expansion with very nice dojos, commercials, etc. His wealthy benefactor/friend of the community guise is also extremely effective. It's also questionable whether it makes sense to consume all the rival dojos since that would leave Cobra Kai with no rivals to battle in tournaments.
  • Silver should have called the police when the three drunk men unambiguously invaded his home. Since two of the men were Miyagi-Fang senseis, he probably could have used this to kick Miyagi-Fang out of the Sekai Taikai.
  • Mitch after he betrays the Miyagi-Fang, he berates them for calling him "Penis Breath" only for Kyler to shut him up by calling him "Penis Breath" (apparently, he never thought about just asking them not to call him that). The real kicker comes when the Miyagi-Fangs succeeded in uploading Silver's incriminating video, leaving all Cobra Kai students of their spirits broken when they learn of Silver's fraudulent actions.
  • Kreese escapes prison unaware that he is going to be exonerated from a crime he did not commit. Escaping detention is a separate crime in and of itself regardless of if he was proven innocent for the previous charges against him, he instead puts himself at risk being caught by the authorities and be put back into his cell.
• Disappointed in You: Kim voices her disappointment in Tory for turning against Cobra Kai and playing a part into attempting to expose Silver and his true colors.
  Kim: You disappoint me, Nichols.
  Tory: Yeah? Well, likewise.
  Kim: I warned Silver you could not be trusted. Let this be my final lesson to you, then. And a more painful one than the last.
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • Seems to be the case in the beginning, with the bully who turned into Kreese's adoring fan after getting his ass kicked by him shanks Kreese in the chest. It is, however, a hint they planned it to aid Kreese's escape in a body-bag.
  • After all the mind games and violence of this season (and after everything Silver did to him in 1985), Daniel finally gets back at the sleazy bastard and defeats him in a one-on-one fight, using the very methods Silver taught him back in Part III (along with a few Eagle Fang moves and "that Crane crap" for good measure). With dozens of supportive witnesses, no less.
  • Mike Barnes decides to go to Silver's house and beat him up for what he did to him and the others. This ends up throwing a wrench in Silver's plans, ultimately bringing him down.
  • Demetri manages to kick Kyler's ass after the latter's tormenting of him in high school. He even revels in how good it felt.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Amanda is dissuaded from calling the cops to save the kids after Big Red points out the Miyagi-Fangs were the ones who broke into the Cobra Kai dojo. Unbeknownst to them, Tory had entered through her keycard given to her by Silver and let the others in, making their entry technically legal.
  • Kreese commits another obvious crime by breaking out of prison when, thanks to Stingray's changed testimony, he was on the verge of being released legitimately.
• Easily Forgiven: Even though Kenny went all out on attacking during the brawl despite his protests that he doesn't want to fight him, Robby instantly forgives Kenny for it after he learns the truth about Cobra Kai and is ready to talk things out. Justified as Robby knows very well how seductive Cobra Kai is (and unlike him, Kenny had never heard anything bad about the dojo prior to joining).
• Enemy Mine: Mike Barnes initially blames Daniel for his misfortunes because his life was going smoothly before he showed up, but once he learns Silver was the one who burned his store down, he points out Daniel, Johnny, Chozen and Mike himself were victims of Silver and they all deserve payback. Johnny and Chozen jump at the thought and decide to join Mike in immediately taking the fight to Silver.
• Even Evil Has Standards: After Silver's actions has been exposed to the other students, all of them quit, including Kyler and several others who are genuine bullies.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Silver can't grasp the concept that the Cobra Kai students won't listen to him anymore now that they know the dojo's accomplishments were actually a result of his bribery and not their own skills.
  • Though Mitch isn't exactly evil as such, he doesn't seem to understand at all why the combined dojo is so set on taking down Cobra Kai. As he sees it, the great amenities the dojo provides outweigh the fact the students are a group of bullies and criminals.
• Evil Is Petty: Kim spends most of her time torturing Tory rather than help the other Cobra Kai students outnumber Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang. Ultimately, this turned out to be her undoing as it compels Devon to take Tory's side and defect from Cobra Kai. And to rub salt to the wound, the Miyagi-Fangs succeeded uploading Silver's incriminating video and the students are disillusioned by the truth about Silver.
  • While "evil" is a bit of a strong word, Mitch betrays the combined dojo to Cobra Kai for the chance to train in a dojo with swag, girls, and a roof.
• Face Death with Dignity: When Silver thinks Chozen is about to kill him, the former calmly states, "I was meant to die on the battlefield. Do it." Defied when Chozen is then distracted and Silver regains the upper hand.
• Face–Heel Turn: Mitch returns to the Cobra Kais at the last minute, claiming his reason for doing so is because no one in Silver's Cobra Kai addresses him as "Penis Breath", as well as access to the dojo's luxuries.
• Failed a Spot Check: After Robby takes out what appears to be the only security camera in Silver's office, the teens believe that they'll be able to get away with their plan unseen. What they do not know is that there is a hidden camera in the Cobra Kai logo on the wall behind them, allowing Silver to see what they are up to.
• Faking the Dead: Kreese fakes his death (via shanking) to escape from the prison.
• Fat Bastard: Mitch. He even cites snacks and smoothies as a reason why he rejoins Cobra Kai.
• Final Battle: The entirety of this episode is this.
  • First with three of Daniel's former rivals (all grown-up) against Terry Silver and The Fist (sans Kim and Sensei Morozov). While Barnes is knocked out early on, Chozen pits himself against Silver in a weapons duel while Johnny takes on the rest of Silver's Elite Mooks. This is coincided with the Miyagi-Fang students taking on their Cobra Kai counterparts at the flagship dojo — which Kim Da-Eun, Stingray, Daniel LaRusso, Amanda, and Carmen joining in later on.
  • The aforementioned two face-offs is followed up by an epic rematch featuring Silver against Daniel, to which the latter uses the QuickSilver method (and the crane kick) to finally beat the hell out of his Arch-Enemy after decades of trauma and torture from the ponytailed bastard.
• Fingore: Ouch. Poor Sensei Odell loses a pinkie to a poorly-aimed katana swipe to Johnny, from one of the other Cobra Kai senseis, no less.
• Finish Him!: Before leaving to deal with the invasion of the flagship dojo, Terry utters his former best friend's signature expression to the Fist senseis in regards to what to do with a thoroughly beaten-down Johnny.
• Finishing Move: Daniel finishes off Silver with the Crane Kick, the same technique that won him the 1984 All-Valley Tournament. Also doubles as a Call-Back, after Silver mocked Daniel in Part III for relying on "that Crane crap".
• Foreshadowing:
  • The supporting Miyagi-Fangs show up late to Cobra Kai because apparently Mitch took too long getting ready. Mitch then asks for details on how they're gonna take down Cobra Kai. Soon, they all find out that Mitch is The Mole.
  • When Demetri interrupts Eli's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to point out he actually hasn't beaten Kyler in a fight, Eli tells him he'll get his chance. Moments later, Demetri does and becomes the latest of Kyler's former victims to kick his ass.
  • Kreese clearly faked his death as there are no holes in his shirt (and blood in only one place) despite supposedly being stabbed over 10 times.
• Groin Attack:
  • After his Heroic Second Wind, Johnny executes a solid crotch hit against Odell.
  • Kneeling on the floor, Silver tries it to punch Daniel in the crotch, but Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel to block this in Part II, and he does.
• Go Through Me:
  • Devon (alongside Tory) holds back Kim Da-Eun in Sam's place while she rushes to her little brother's side to protect him from the Cobra Kais.
  • Big Red and his gang stand in the way of Daniel and his company, forbidding them entry into the Cobra Kai dojo without taking them down first.
• Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: The act of Kreese escaping from prison is now a separate crime from his original assault charge. Even if that assault charge were to be dismissed on account of Stingray showing that his testimony was given under duress, the charge of escaping from custody could still be sustained, especially since it involved assaulting the doctor and the guards and stealing the psychiatrist's ID. If Kreese were to be caught, he can only hope that he can get away with time served.^note Kreese also has a criminal record, as evidenced by Johnny seeing Kreese in a halfway house in season 2. Generally speaking, the justice system doesn't look too well at existing criminals who commit new crimes.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: Kenny (along with the other Cobra Kais) is disillusioned after learning of the truth between Tory's match against Sam in the previous All-Valley and quits the dojo. But he still needs to do some self-reflection and is not yet ready to talk things out with Robby after everything that happened.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Tory finally aligns with the Miyagi-Fangs in the Final Battle after spending months being cheated on for her victories, dumped by Robby over a misunderstanding, disillusioned with the new leadership under Terry Silver, and physically abused by Kim Da-Eun.
  • Speaking of Kim Da-Eun, her continuous physical abuse on Tory is enough for Devon to see just how evil and twisted Cobra Kai is, which prompts her to switch sides at the last minute and take Sam's place in helping Tory hold off the psychopathic sensei.
  • Stingray finally gives into his moral conscience (and even realizing how hollow his benefits were) after spending almost the entire season under constant fear of Silver's wrath, helping Amanda, Carmen, and Daniel reach the flagship Cobra Kai dojo to save the rest of the Miyagi-Fangs. He even gets to take down some of the Cobra Kais in the process!
  • After Silver is exposed as a cheater and a fraud, all of the Cobra Kais (including Kyler, Kenny, and Mitch) make their mass exodus from the dojo — especially after Silver faces a humiliating defeat from Daniel.
• Heroic Rematch: After being destroyed by Silver in episode 5, Daniel turns the tables on his enemy and defeats him in a Curb-Stomp Battle at the flagship dojo.
• Heroic Second Wind: Johnny is outnumbered by multiple Cobra Kai senseis and on the verge of death, bloodied and beaten. Recalling that he has something to live for after seeing the ultrasound scan of his and Carmen's unborn child brings him back to his feet and fight back against the senseis and knock nearly all of them out.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: Mitch betrays his Miyagi-Fang friends because he hated that they call him "Penis Breath" and for the lack of girls in their circle. Mainly though he envied Cobra Kai's more luxurious amenities, citing that at least their dojo has a roof over them.
• History Repeats: Again, Silver is defeated by Daniel at the height of his plans, and has Cobra Kai shirts thrown back at him by his disillusioned followers. And like Miyagi before him, Daniel effortlessly defeats Silver and even ends it by smashing him into a wall.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Silver convinced Stingray he can come back to Cobra Kai if he allows him to beat him up and tell the police Kreese did it. Stingray would later warn Daniel, Amanda, and Carmen about Cobra Kai's ambush on their kids and tell the cops what Silver really did, getting him in further trouble.
  • Silver falls victim to his own teachings in his final confrontation against Daniel, who uses the QuickSilver method that he was taught in Part III to defeat his opponent.
• Hollywood Law: After all is said and done, Silver is the only one to end up in handcuffs. This is despite the fact that Johnny, Mike, and Chozen broke into his house and assaulted him and his employees, the Miyagi-Fang students tried to steal information from his computers, Stingray assaulted minors (again), and Stingray's testimony would be next to useless given how he previously perjured himself during Kreese's trial.^note Stingray's testimony could still be used to support a charge of bribery or extortion in continuance of the original crime (the assault). On top of that, there could still be bribery charges from Silver paying off the refs, potential arson charges for torching Mike Barnes's furniture store, AND theft charges given that one of the paintings established to be at his residence had already been previously reported as stolen property.
• Hope Spot: Just as the Miyagi-Fangs locate the video footage which proves Raymond was assaulted by an inebriated Silver and not Kreese, the video pauses a split-second before Silver slaps Raymond. Turns out Silver thought ahead and deleted the rest of the footage incriminating him.
• Humiliation Conga:
  • Oh Mitch... After he betrays the Miyagi-Fangs mainly because they call him "Penis Breath," Kyler takes a page out of their book and calls him "Penis Breath" (and unlike the others, does so in a way that's not at all affectionate). Then when the battle at Silver's flagship dojo does ensue, you can see him knocked out on the ground as the Cobra Kais Zerg Rush the Miyagi-Fangs in getting the tablet. Then, Silver gets exposed as a fraud and beaten by Daniel in front of all the current generation of karatekas, making Mitch's betrayal and defection to Cobra Kai All for Nothing. Less than nothing, since he burned that bridge with the people he was once close with.
  • Silver ends up going through this near the end. Johnny, Chozen, and Barnes break into his house to fight him, he nearly dies in his fight with Chozen, his confession to bribing the ref at the All-Valley tournament is exposed to his students who become disillusioned with him, he challenges Daniel to a final fight only to get curb-stomped in front of everyone, the fight ends with a crane kick to Silver's face that sends him crashing into a glass display of the Cobra Kai symbol, his students all throw their Cobra Kai gear at him to show that they quit his dojo, and while he's hurt on the ground, Stingray comes clean to the police about Silver beating him up. The last we see of Silver is him being escorted into a police car in handcuffs while everyone watches.
• Hypocritical Humor: Johnny brags about "running on whiskey and White Claw" after trashing White Claw in the previous episode.
• I'll Kill You!: On learning that Silver took down Chozen in a fight and left him for dead, Johnny threatens to end him.
• Improvised Weapon:
  • At one point in his beatdown, Silver tries to attack Daniel with a trophy. It doesn't help.
  • Before that, one of the Cobra Kai senseis successfully used a trophy to knock Mike Barnes out.
  • Miguel weaponizes his shirt in the battle at the flagship dojo.
  • Johnny smashes a glass utensil on one of the Cobra Kai senseis' head during his Heroic Second Wind.
  • Kim Da-Eun uses her own braid to whip Sam across the face.
• In-Universe Catharsis: After Demetri gets his turn to kick Kyler's ass, he excitedly admits to Eli that it felt very satisfying.
  Demetri: Man, that felt good! (to Kyler on the ground) Bitch!
• Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: The kids removing their Cobra Kai shirts and hoodies and throwing them down onto the beaten Silver, showing they no longer want any part of his dishonorable conduct.
• Internal Reveal: During the brawl, Kenny uses the Silver bullet on Robby. While he doesn't land it cleanly, it's enough to make Robby gasp for air and realize that Kenny deliberately caused Eli's injury during the tryout.
• Irony:
  • Kreese enacts a violent plan to escape from prison. Had he waited a few more days, his conviction would have been overturned (and Silver put in his place) by Stingray's reversal. Either way, there aren't any Cobra Kai students left. In addition, he's now wanted for escaping custody, regardless if the original charges are withdrawn, as his escape is now considered to be a separate crime.
  • Mitch defects to Cobra Kai because they have more swag and girls, and they don't call him "Penis Breath." Moments later, Kyler does call him "Penis Breath" (and in a harsher way as well), and shortly after that, Cobra Kai essentially becomes defunct. So much for the swag and girls.
  • Silver tells the Cobra Kai students that the Miyagi-Fang senseis attacked him in his home as a way of smearing them. Given that several of the Cobra Kai students previously did the exact same thing a few months before Silver joined up, it's understandably less than successful.
• Ironic Echo: The final battle between Daniel and Silver is intercut with clips of when the latter originally taught him the QuickSilver method, with Daniel using techniques that would fit each of its rules to win. Even better, Daniel finishes Silver off with the crane kick. Looks like Daniel can win with "that Crane Crap."
• It's Personal: Johnny, Chozen, and Barnes are all eager to get back at Silver for their own personal reasons.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Robby tries his absolute best to reach out to the vulnerable and meek Kenny before joining Cobra Kai and free him from Silver's corruption.
• I Warned You: After Kenny sees the footage of Silver admitting to bribing the referee to Tory, he looks at Robby in shock while Robby just silently replies with a "See, I told you so" expression.
• Jerkass Has a Point: When Bert asks Mitch how he could betray them, Mitch snidely replies that the Cobra Kais never call him "Penis Breath". That they meant it as an Insult of Endearment makes no difference to him.
• Kansas City Shuffle: While the therapist leans in close, Kreese steals her badge from her pocket as part of his big gambit to escape.
• Karma Houdini: Kyler and the other Cobra Kais all get off without so much as a slap on the wrist despite numerous criminal actions, with Kyler even having the audacity to play the hero, although Kyler's is Played for Laughs. Sensei Kim, despite her horrendous tactics, also escapes any real comeuppance and is still at large. So is Kreese after faking his death and escaping prison, but even he already spent the whole season being stuck in there, and no doubt the police will be after him now.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Silver got away with Stingray's beating at the end of the previous season after framing Kreese for the misdeed. He finally gets arrested after Daniel takes him down in a one-on-one fight, following a revised statement from Stingray.
• Karmic Jackpot:
  • After going through absolute hell the entire season, Tory succeeds in her goal of bringing down Silver and Cobra Kai, gets her revenge on Sensei Kim after she was tortured by her, gets back together with Robby, and finally achieves peace with Sam.
  • Mike Barnes had done nothing to Silver other than naming his old lawyer and Silver retaliated by burning down his store. In return, Barnes takes the fight to his house triggering a series of events that results in Silver being arrested and steals an expensive painting that’ll help him get back on his feet financially. Daniel is fine with this, having promised earlier that he would do everything in his power to help Mike rebound from the loss of his store.
• Kick the Dog: In the final fight, Kim deliberately grinds Tory's injured hand with her foot. Earlier, when Mike Barnes confronts Terry Silver...
• Lack of Empathy: ...he is understandably pissed about him burning down his business. Silver's response is... quite callous.
  Silver: Oh my. What a crime.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Mitch betrays the others by rejoining Cobra Kai and leaking their plan to them in the hopes of getting to enjoy the perks. By the end of the night, Silver is arrested and everyone has quit Cobra Kai, effectively shutting the dojo down and making his actions All for Nothing. Less than nothing since he effectively destroyed his friendships with everyone in Miyagi-Fang by being a turncoat.
  • Basically all the shit that Silver did going way back in 1985 catches up to him in a big way as he lies on the ground, defeated by the very same technique he taught Daniel (and to add insult to the injury, Daniel using "that Crane crap" to finish him off), and all of his students seeing him for who he really is as he is taken away by the cops.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Johnny, Chozen, and Barnes eagerly storm Silver's residence on a whim to get back at him for all the hell he put everyone through.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Zigzagged. Daniel sees Chozen's injuries from being sliced several times with a katana and tells him to get to a hospital. Chozen replies that it's just a flesh wound. Daniel protests that it's all his flesh. Chozen then jokes about how he should’ve ordered a "Short Island iced tea".
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Mitch claims that he defected to Cobra Kai at the last minute, because no one there addresses him as "Penis Breath."
• Mob War: The climax of the season culminates into an all-out attack against Silver and his Cobra Kais at his dojo.
• The Mole: Both the Miyagi-Fangs and Cobra Kai have one: Tory for the former and Mitch for the latter. Kyler lampshades this after Mitch reveals his true allegiance.
  Kyler: We got a traitor, y'all got a traitor. So that cancels out. So we gonna throw down or what, let's go!
• Mook Chivalry: Averted, all of the Cobra Kai fighters rush Chozen and Johnny at the same time. Johnny even bemoans that his opponents are not following the trope.
  Johnny: [takes a knee to the head] Damn it, wait your turn.
  • During the dojo fight, three Cobra Kai students team up to take on Robby at once. It almost works, but fortunately Miguel gives him a hand.
• Mugged for Disguise: The coroner who discovers that Kreese isn't really dead loses his labcoat so Kreese can stroll out of the prison in it.
• Mundane Solution: Three times over. When the Miyagi-dos/Eagle Fangs arrive at Cobra Kai to steal the footage, Robby initially plans on deactivating the security system and picking the locks so they can get inside. Instead, Tory just uses her keycard to unlock the door. A few minutes later, Tory asks Robby if he knows how to disconnect a security camera, and Robby responds by knocking it off the wall. Then Mike and Johnny talk about kicking down the door; Chozen opens it since Silver left it unlocked.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When shown the video of Silver admitting to his bribery and realizing Robby's claims about Silver and Cobra Kai were true, Kenny feels ashamed that he sided with the dojo rather than Robby.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Silver burning down Mike's furniture store comes back to bite him hard now, as Mike convinces Johnny and Chozen to storm Silver's residence. Without Mike's involvement, Silver would've arrived at the flagship dojo and ruined the kids' plans of exposing him. For bonus points, due to Mike's involvement, Johnny manages to defeat Silver's resident senseis; if that hadn't happened, Silver would have had their backup when going on to confront Daniel (which instead ended in disaster for Silver).
  • Silver gave Tory a key card so she could legally enter the dojo after hours whenever she wanted. It's fair to say he never expected her to bring the Miyagi-Fang students with her.
  • Kenny orders the rest of Cobra Kai not to let the Miyagi-Fangs escape the dojo, which gives Anthony the opportunity to connect the iPad to the dojo's TV monitor via Bluetooth and show everyone the video footage of Silver admitting to his bribery.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
  • While Johnny does well against them at first, the Cobra Kai senseis eventually gain the upper hand and beat him seemingly to the verge of death before he gains a Heroic Second Wind.
  • When Silver throws down with Daniel, he fails to land even a single move as Daniel decimates him.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Mitch claims that Miyagi-Fang's fixation on taking down Cobra Kai made him question why he parted with the opposing dojo to begin with.
• Not Me This Time: Silver assumes that the two front attack is Daniel's latest plan to try to defeat him. In truth, Johnny, Chozen, and Mike's decision to invade Silver's home (which Daniel had actually argued against) and the Miyagi-Fangs' infiltration of the Cobra Kai dojo were planned separately by the groups themselves and they just happened to occur at the same time. Tory even informs Silver of it once he's exposed.
• Not Quite Dead: Kreese was assumed dead at the beginning of the episode after he was repeatedly stabbed by another inmate and left him in a bloody mess. Turns out the "blood" on Kreese was melted Jell-O, and Kreese is alive and well.
• No-Sell: When Miguel attempts to talk down Kenny when Cobra Kai arrives, Kenny tries to respond by sucker punching him. However, Miguel sees it coming and easily blocks it.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Silver's reaction when he realizes Miyagi-Fang is attacking him on two fronts. It's subtle, but the usually unflappable Silver is stunned by the attacks, neither of which he foresaw. Ironically, this was not a preplanned offensive like Terry assumed — Daniel's former rivals’ invasion of Terry's home and the Miyagi-Fangs’ infiltration of the Cobra Kai dojo just happened to occur at the same time.
  • The coroner gets a very understandable one when Kreese advances on him.
• Once More, with Clarity: Kreese's emotional encounter with the therapist is shown again, this time revealing that Kreese pickpocketed her badge.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Chozen says this word for word after Daniel sees the injuries Silver inflicted on him. A worried Daniel retorts that it's "all of [his] flesh" and directs him to the medics on the scene so he can get treatment.
• Only Sane Man: Daniel tries to convince Johnny, Chozen, and Mike that confronting Silver at this moment would be near suicidal. Sadly, the trio is too drunk and enraged to listen.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Incentivized by the facilities that Silver's Cobra Kai provides, Mitch sells out the Miyagi-Fangs to Cobra Kai, allowing them to disrupt the opposing dojo's plans to expose Silver.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Mike stealing a Rembrandt painting from Silver's house is objectively wrong, but you can't exactly blame him for stealing an expensive painting from the guy who burnt down his furniture store so he can get his finances back in order. However, savvy viewers will realize that the painting in question (Rembrandt's On the Sea of Galilee) was famously stolen and still has a ten-million dollar reward for its return. Which means that (perhaps by accident) Mike was actually recovering stolen property, which will presumably go back to its rightful owner. Silver would never be able to claim the painting as stolen from his house without admitting to buying or possessing stolen property.
• Pet the Dog:
  • When Mitch announces his betrayal and complains about how Miyagi-Fang had "no chicks", he quickly apologizes to Sam for lumping her in that statement.
  • Big Red makes amends with his little brother shortly after the fight between Daniel and Silver as the two make their way home.
• Precision F-Strike: Two of them in the same episode.
  • Daniel gets a third one this season, claiming Johnny, Chozen, and Barnes are "out of their fucking minds" for going to confront Silver at his home.
  • Silver takes the fourth one of this season, when he details the contents of the message he plans to send to Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang prior to the Sekai Taikai.
    "Stay the fuck out of our way, or someone will get hurt."
• Quantity vs. Quality: Cobra Kai out numbers Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang by about 3-1. However, Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang have all of the top fighters, including Tory who is top-dog of the Cobras. Furthermore, they have actually been taught how to fight in this exact situation. Thus, Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang manage to hold their own long enough to find the video evidence of Silver's actions, upload the video online, and play the video to Cobra Kai thanks to their teamwork and being trained to fight as a team.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Eli gives one to Kyler, pointing out that for all of his talk, he's just a Miles Gloriosus who continually antagonizes people who inevitably wind up kicking his ass, and is too stupid to ever learn from that.
    Kyler: Yeah, you heard Kenny when he dropped your ass. Just a Faux-Hawk now, boy.
    Eli: You know what? That's life. You win some, you lose some, but you gotta move on. You never did. You're still pulling the same old bully act as always. Even though everyone you bullied has kicked your ass by now.
    Demetri: I haven't.
    Eli: You'll get your turn. Kyler's too stupid to ever learn his lesson.
  • Mike Barnes gives a short one to Silver when he makes his hired senseis fight him, Johnny, and Chozen instead of fighting them himself, like he did with Barnes himself back in The Karate Kid Part III.
    Mike Barnes: Huh, classic Silver! I mean, why get your hands dirty when you can pay someone to do it for you?
  • Chozen also gives a short one to Silver.
    Silver: I knew you were a warrior at heart, just like me.
    Chozen: You’re no warrior.
  • Silver delivers an absolutely brutal one to Johnny when the latter is held at the mercy of the formers' mooks.
    Silver: Kreese always told me...you were his best student. I never saw it. [Beat] You got guts Lawrence, I'll give you that. [Gesturing] But just not much upstairs. [Beat] Attack me on my home turf? COME ON!!! You never stood a chance. [Proceeds to grab Johnny by the hair] But if it's any consolation...at least you won't be around to screw up another kid!
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The detective doesn't arrest Stingray for perjury after he tells him what Silver did to him, since he was clearly under duress when he gave the false statement that Kreese was responsible for his beating.
• Refuge in Audacity: Silver is stunned by Chozen, Mike and Johnny attacking his house, something he never saw coming because Mike had to be high to suggest it and the other two had to be drunk to go along with it.
• Rule of Symbolism: Daniel breaking the Cobra Kai mural by kicking Silver into it marks the point where Cobra Kai is defeated for good, as the revelation of Terry's bribery destroys the dojo's legacy.
• Rule of Three: For the third time, Kreese fakes his own death.
• Running Gag: Yet another TV meets its demise in a karate brawl.
• Sequel Hook: While most of the season's plots are wrapped up, there are still a few unresolved plot threads for Season Six:
  • Kreese breaks out of prison, likely intending to continue his karate war against Daniel and Johnny.
  • Kenny takes off after quitting Cobra Kai, telling Robby he needs to process everything that has happened before they can talk.
  • Sensei Kim disappears after Silver's fight against Daniel and remains at large.
  • While Cobra Kai has seemingly been shut down, Miyagi-do/Eagle Fang are still qualified for the upcoming Sekai Taikai tournament.
• Series Fauxnale: Subverted. The sixth season hadn't yet been announced at the time of the episode's release, and the episode certainly has a Grand Finale feel for the most part. Daniel defeats Silver, Cobra Kai is shut down, all of the Official Couples are back together, and it's hinted Kenny and Robby will soon make up. However, the final scene reveals that Kreese has escaped from prison, showing that our heroes' problems are far from over. And that's not worth mentioning they have the Sekai Taikai to deal with.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Cobra Kais learn the truth about the outcome between Tory and Sam's match in the previous All-Valley Tournament, they all discard their Cobra Kai gear as they leave the dojo. Sensei Kim seemed to pull this as well, as she disappears following Daniel's triumph against Silver and not seen anywhere in the aftermath.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story:
  • Mitch betrays the Miyagi-Fang alliance so he could get to enjoy Cobra Kai's high-end merchandises and was also fed up with being called "Penis Breath". The real kicker comes when he not only gets called "Penis Breath" by Kyler, but witnesses Silver being exposed as a fraud, beaten by Daniel and ultimately leading to his arrest. The Cobra Kai students who were disillusioned by the truth discard their CK apparel, and the dojo is closed down for now.
  • Kreese escapes prison before he could be exonerated thanks to Stingray revising his testimony. Therefore, escaping prison is a separate crime in and on itself and Kreese is unable to continue his villainous schemes with him on the run from the law.
• Shout-Out:
  • When rescuing Daniel, Stingray — geek that he is — quips "Come with me if you want to live" like the hero of The Terminator.
  • Mike steals a painting from Silver that looks like an original Rembrandt to Daniel.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Mitch doesn't have a significant role as a Miyagi-Fang in the story compared to Miguel, Sam, Robby, the Binary Brothers, and even Anthony. Yet he's the one defecting to Cobra Kai by his own will.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Johnny Lawrence.
    • When recounting how Silver deserves payback for kicking his and Daniel’s asses, he decides to add that in his case, Silver sucker kicked him.
    • When Mike takes down the final two senseis and saves Johnny, he points out that he kicked most of their asses. Mike agrees.
  • Mitch claims that Miyagi-Fang's fixation on taking down Cobra Kai made him question why he left them in the first place, and that unlike Miyagi-Fang, Cobra Kai comes with snacks, swag, smoothies, a roof, and chicks. However, his betrayal is rendered moot when Silver is exposed as a fraud, followed by the mass exodus of students after Silver's defeat and subsequent arrest.
• Smash the Symbol: Literally when Daniel kicks Silver into a large glass display of the Cobra Kai Dojo emblem, with him clutching a trophy he was trying to use as an Improvised Weapon.
• Sore Loser: When the Miyagi-Fangs (and Tory) expose Silver as a fraud, he tries to get defensive by justifying his actions and pointing the blame on Daniel, Chozen, Johnny, and their students. Except no one's buying it.
• Spanner in the Works: Had Mike Barnes not convinced Johnny and Chozen to attack Silver in his house, he may have arrived much earlier at the Cobra Kai dojo, foiled the Miyagi-Fang students' plans, and curb-stomped all of their asses.
• Sparing Them the Dirty Work: Upon arrival at the Cobra Kai dojo, Daniel refuses to beat up a bunch of kids to gain entry and help his own children... but Stingray is more than happy to do it for him.
• Stealing the Credit: When questioned by the police, Kyler fabricates a narrative about how he saved everyone from Cobra Kai after he found out the dojo was becoming cultish.
• Storming the Castle: Mike, Chozen, and Johnny all decide to crash Silver's house to put an end to him for good, while the Miyagi-Fang students coincidentally pick the same night to end Cobra Kai and infiltrate the flagship dojo.
• Sunglasses at Night: As Stingray drives Daniel, Amanda, and Carmen to the Cobra Kai Dojo, he puts his sunglasses on while he's driving at night. This makes everyone in the car nervous.
  Daniel: What are you doing? It's pitch black.
  Stingray: Stingrays see better in the dark.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Nathaniel understandably questions Tory being on the Miyagi-Fangs' side, since she was a top Cobra Kai student who terrorized them for many seasons now.
  • Seeing his unborn child's photo gives Johnny the motivation for his Heroic Second Wind, but he is still outnumbered and the final two senseis nearly take him down. Fortunately, Mike Barnes is back on his feet by then and pulls a Big Damn Heroes, saving Johnny.
  • Silver is an extraordinarily powerful and skilled fighter. But his no holds barred battle with Chozen left him weakened enough that Daniel, who is now emotionally balanced (unlike the last time they fought) was able to defeat him.
  • Kenny's become quite a good fighter, but he's only been training for six months or so at most, and ever since the All-Valley Tournament the previous season, circumstances such as knowing his opponents' moves beforehand, surrounding himself with less talented students, and having bribed referees on his side have heavily stacked his onscreen fights in his favor. Here, he's finally put on even ground with Miguel and the result is not much of a fight, as Kenny fails to land a single hit on him while Miguel repeatedly knocks Kenny to the ground with ease.
  • The combined Miyagi-Fang dojo might have all the aces on their side with the best students of their opposition being Kenny, Kyler and Devon (who defects mid-fight), the sheer numbers of the Cobra Kai students and a trained sensei Kim Da-Eun entering the fight meant that they were just as likely to lose the fight if it weren't for Anthony uploading the footage in the dojo's TV to expose Silver (as well as the Miyagi-Fangs going all the way to protect him in the process).
• Tempting Fate:
  • Robby states "What could go wrong?" whilst ignorant of the active security camera recording him and his friends. From his tone though, it's possible he was being sarcastic.
  • Silver invites Daniel to get his ass kicked a second time, this time in the presence of a full crowd of Miyagi-Fangs and Cobra Kais... and ends with Daniel ass-kicking his opponent.
• Title Drop: Chozen drop this (albeit not word-by-word given he uses broken English) as he, Johnny, and Mike drunkenly prepare to take down Silver.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Earlier in the season, Johnny and Chozen had to work together to fight one of Silver's elite senseis to a standstill. Now, despite being intoxicated, Johnny almost manages to beat all of them on his own. Granted, he still would have died if it weren't for a Heroic Second Wind and the timely arrival of Mike Barnes, but it remains that this time, Johnny did much better against the elite senseis than he did the first time totally sober (and with Chozen's help)!
  • Who would've thought Daniel's lazy, bratty son contributing nothing to the plot in the first three seasons would be the one to expose Terry Silver for the fraud that he is and kickstart his downfall?
• Uncertain Doom:
  • Barnes is about to remark on how his wife was affected by the burning down of his furniture store, but breaks down before he can finish, leaving his wife's status unclear.
  • Given Tory's testimony to the police, Kim may well come up on charges of child abuse, but there's no hint to her fate at the end of the story.
  • The coroner that Kreese Mugged for Disguise; Kreese simply knocks out the two officers in the room, but his ominious advance towards the utterly terrified medical examiner suggest that Kreese probably did more than just incapacitate him...
• Underestimating Badassery: Upon seeing Stingray crawl up the stairs, Big Red takes the time to laugh at him. He then gets a kick to the face when he turns around.
• The Unreveal: What happened to Mike Barnes' wife is not revealed as he breaks down before he can clarify.
• Villain Ball: Kim wastes time torturing Tory by stepping on her injured hand instead of helping the other Cobra Kais Zerg Rush Anthony and prevent him from uploading the video of Silver admitting to cheating at the All Valley, which gives Sam and Devon enough time to help delay her and allow the upload to be completed.
• Villainous Breakdown: With his plans for Cobra Kai falling apart after his true colors are exposed, Silver goes off on quite a tangent.
  "They think they're entitled to victory because their way is 'right' and our way is 'wrong'. But that's not how it works. There are no morals to the story, no happy endings. Life isn't a fairy tale. It's a competitive sport! Right and wrong, there's no such thing. There are only winners... and losers. Cobra Kai builds winners, because we're willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top."
• Wham Episode: This is the climactic episode of the season that sees the downfall of Silver and his plans for Cobra Kai.
• Wham Line:
  • When the Cobra Kais arrive just in time to interfere with the Miyagi-Fangs' infiltration plan, Sam literally asks how they knew they were here. Kenny and Kyler exchange an evil smile before the latter reveals the bombshell.
    Kyler: Mitch, c'mon! Get yo ass over here where you belong!
  • After Kreese has been shanked to death in prison, his body is wheeled to the coroner, who examines the bloody stab wound. But after doing this, the coroner drops this bombshell of a line:
    Coroner: This is melted Jell-O.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Barnes chews out Daniel for getting involved in his life and his former nemesis being the reason he lost his furniture store.
  "My life was fine before you showed up. Next thing I know, there's a pile of ashes where my store was. That place was leveraged to the hilt, Daniel!"
• What Were You Thinking?: A villainous variation. After their plan is clearly backfiring, Silver expresses perverse amazement that Johnny, Chozen, and Mike would be crazy enough to assault him in his home.
• Worf Had the Flu:
  • Silver is a near-match for Chozen as the latter has been drinking heavily barely an hour or so before. Given Chozen's decades of abstinence, he likely has pretty low alcohol tolerance when compared to Johnny, Daniel, and possibly Mike Barnes.
  • Thanks to his fight with Chozen and having his actions exposed to his students, Silver is still exhausted from their fight and isn't thinking straight which makes it easy for Daniel, who hasn't been in any recent fights and is mostly clear-headed, to take him down.
• Would Hurt a Child: On the flip side of Daniel, Kim Da-Eun wastes no time taking Tory down and even stomping on the wounded wrist that she injured in the first place. Stingray is willing to fight the Cobra Kais that are blocking Daniel, Amanda and Carmen from entering the dojo.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: When Daniel, Amanda, Carmen, and Stingray make it to the Cobra Kai Dojo, they are blocked off by four Cobra Kai students and Daniel doesn't want to fight a bunch of kids. Stingray, on the other hand, doesn't have this problem and takes them all down.
• Wrong Insult Offence: Tory takes issue with Kyler calling her a "traitor", telling him and the rest of Cobra Kai that she hasn't betrayed anyone and has simply realized Silver's true colors.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: The Miyagi-Fangs' initial plan to hack Cobra Kai's security footage to get video evidence of Silver assaulting Stingray fails when it turns out Silver made sure to delete that. Luckily, Tory immediately comes up with the alternative of having them steal footage of him admitting to bribing the All-Valley referees to discredit him. Then when Cobra Kai arrives and disrupts Demetri's attempt to upload the clip through the desktop computer in Silver's office, they switch over to an iPad to upload it via Wi-Fi and end up having to defend the iPad like Chozen's egg training.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Kim directs this look twice at Silver while the latter is in the midst of being curbstomped by Daniel. When you consider her concern that Silver's petty grudges are affecting her efforts to spread her grandfather's martial arts style, she is clearly not pleased with this turn of events. It's also pretty clear that she can tell the way the fight is going, and sure enough, Daniel proceeds to crush his opponent.

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"You told me you've been fighting all your life. So keep fighting. But with your heart and soul instead of your fists."