Season 5, Episode 03:
Playing with Fire
Directed by Marielle Woods
After a round of golf at a local country club, Daniel finds himself confronted by Terry Silver who calls him out for attempting to sabotage Cobra Kai. Daniel assures him that Miyagi-Do will never back down, but Silver is unmoved and advises him to stay out of his way, warning Daniel that he is playing with fire if he persists. In turn, Chozen boldly asserts that he is "gasoline". With a smug look, Silver puts their drinks on his tab before taking his leave.
Finally back at home, Miguel serves breakfast to his mother and grandmother, who are both relieved to see him safe. Johnny enters the apartment to join them after scrubbing off the graffiti his van accumulated in Mexico. He tells Carmen that the ride home with Robby and Miguel was quiet but uneventful, surmising the two will need some time to sort things out. Suddenly feeling ill after taking a bite of her breakfast, Carmen rushes to the bathroom.
At the LaRusso house, Anthony and Sam quarrel about food before Anthony expresses his fear of Kenny for the upcoming school year. He wants Sam to teach him karate, but Sam has no interest and promptly makes plans for lunch with Yasmine and Moon instead. Meanwhile, Daniel and Chozen reconvene at Mr. Miyagi's house, where Chozen suggests they beat Silver to the punch in calling upon old friends, hoping to preempt whatever Silver's next plan might be. Only one name comes to mind for Daniel: "Mike 'fucking' Barnes".
Back at Miguel's home, Carmen privately confesses to Johnny that she has been feeling ill for some time now and suspects she might be pregnant. Taken aback, Johnny notes that they used protection, but Carmen tells him it is not always fully preventative. She adds that she has not yet taken a pregnancy test, but Johnny cannot help feeling a certain amount of panic at the possibility of becoming a father twice over.
At the tattoo parlor, Eli finishes updating the image of the Grim Reaper on his chest into a lotus flower to signify his new allegiance to Miyagi-Do. While hanging out with Eli and Demetri, Miguel receives a text from Sam stating that they need to talk, which both of his friends interpret as a bad omen. They attempt to glean more information from Sam, who is similarly advised by Yasmine and Moon not to divulge anything more until she meets with Miguel face to face. Hoping to avoid a breakup, Demetri has an idea in mind to salvage his friend's relationship.
Daniel and Chozen stake out Mike Barnes' residence until the man emerges from his house and follow him to a warehouse loading dock, where he unloads several power tools from his car trunk. Despite Chozen's protests, Daniel insists on speaking to Barnes alone, confident that he can avoid a fight with his former rival.
Johnny and Carmen stop by the pharmacy to pick up a pregnancy test, where Johnny humorously asks for a refund on his box of "Tiger Glove" condoms. Still reeling from the news, he explains he wasn't ready to be a father when Shannon got pregnant and doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes. Carmen admits she was also scared when she was pregnant with Miguel, but assures him they can get through this together. Nevertheless, Johnny is overwhelmed upon noticing a man playing with his infant son nearby. Noting his uneasiness, Carmen informs him that she will take the test later and advises him to pull himself together.
Yasmine and Moon bring Sam to a local spa, where they hope to help Sam cleanse her negative energy by immersing herself in a "self-actualization pod", which Sam identifies as a sensory-deprivation tank. Reluctant to take part in the activity, citing her prior nightmare about being drowned by Tory, Moon reassures her that the only thing she will find in the tank is herself. At the same time, Miguel and his friends enter a jewelry store to pick out a gift for Sam. Inspired by their first date at Golf N' Stuff, Miguel selects an octopus-shaped gold pendant, but bemoans the $187 price tag.
Daniel sneaks inside the warehouse and locates Barnes, who is on a phone call with an unknown party. Hearing menacing words eerily similar to those from Barnes in the past, Daniel assumes he is speaking to Terry Silver and forcibly takes the phone from a startled Barnes, only to find one of Barnes' business clients on the phone. He then discovers that Barnes is the owner of a furniture store.
At home, Johnny researches "how to get ready for a baby" and begins watching instructional YouTube videos covering all aspects of how to care for a newborn child, such as the proper way to carry a baby and creating a safe living environment. To that end, Johnny gives his apartment a makeover; cleaning out his refrigerator, replacing lewd artwork, and even fumigating for roaches before collapsing in exhaustion.
Daniel apologizes to Barnes for his intrusion, but Barnes tells Daniel that he deserves the apology instead for how Barnes treated him in the past. He explains how he came from working minimum-wage odd jobs into the furniture business, which he acquired through his father-in-law and now runs with his wife. He seems content with how his life has turned out and is happy that things have worked out for Daniel, leading Daniel to finally tell him why he came.
Alone in the pod, Sam finds herself confronted by hallucinations of almost everyone she knows: Her father, Yasmine, Moon, Eli, Robby, and Miguel, all of whom are critical of her various actions. Upon hearing Tory's voice, she approaches her phantom in the distance, only to find herself staring at her own image instead. The other Sam produces a pair of sai and viciously attacks, prompting the real Sam to pick up a bo staff to defend herself. However, the doppleganger gains the upper hand and disarms her before striking a blow that jolts Sam back to consciousness. Rejoined by Yasmine and Moon, Sam emerges from the pod visibly disturbed.
As Chozen grows restless waiting in the car, Daniel presses Barnes for information on Terry Silver, but having not had any contact with Silver for years, he struggles to provide anything of note. When he and Daniel begin to playfully spar, Chozen misinterprets the action as aggression and suddenly attacks Barnes, kicking him through a table. Barnes recovers and retaliates, nearly matching Chozen blow for blow until Daniel finally separates and calms both men.
Miguel drops by Johnny's apartment to seek his advice about Sam, but Johnny admits he has never been good at that sort of thing. Nevertheless, he suggests that Miguel simply be honest with her and own up to his mistakes - which Miguel considers to be very good advice.
Having finally cleared up their misunderstanding, Barnes tells Daniel that Silver had a shady attorney back in the day, the same attorney who drew up his contract to harass Daniel into entering the All Valley Tournament in 1985. Although Barnes no longer has the contract as proof of Silver's corruption, he is able to provide Daniel with the attorney's name. Daniel promptly calls him and leaves a voicemail.
Miguel meets Sam at the Miyagi-Do dojo and apologizes for abandoning her. In turn, Sam apologizes for not understanding Miguel's needs, having become too distracted with winning the tournament. While she appreciates that Miguel took the time he needed to discover himself, she needs her own time to sort things out and suggests they take a break from each other. Though they mutually agree to remain friends, Miguel breaks down in tears and drops the octopus pendant he bought for Sam on the ground as he departs.
Carmen stops at Johnny's place after work to see that he has remodeled the entire apartment in anticipation of the new baby. He declares he is ready for the responsibility and will not run away like last time, before Carmen confirms that she is indeed pregnant. The two celebrate their good fortune with a kiss.
As Daniel lounges in the sauna at the Encino Oaks Country Club, Terry Silver emerges to confront him with the voicemail he left for Silver's attorney. Having previously warned Daniel not to play with fire, he vows revenge upon both him and Barnes, who arrives at work to find his furniture store symbolically (and literally) engulfed in flames.
Tropes:
- Abuse Mistake: Chozen attacks Barnes, under the assumption that he is trying to start a fight with Daniel.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: A well-dressed Mike Barnes proves he's still got it when he goes toe-to-toe with Chozen.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Carmen vomiting after taking a bite of Miguel's attempt cooking suggests that Miguel is a Lethal Chef with Johnny suggesting that he should order some take-out. It turns out that Carmen has been feeling ill for a while and is actually pregnant.
- Daniel eavesdrops on Mike's phone call, and hears Mike having a discussion that suggests he's already in league with Silver. After Daniel violently interrupts the call, it turns out that Mike was discussing a furniture order with a woman who very definitely has nothing to do with Silver.
- Brick Joke: At the beginning of the episode, Chozen is aching from sleeping on Daniel's terrible couch. Much later, he is extremely appreciative of the comfortable couch he sits on in Mike's shop.
- The Bus Came Back: Another OG The Karate Kid character has returned! Featuring Daniel's rival in The Karate Kid Part III, Mike Barnes.
- But We Used a Condom!: Justified, turns out Johnny had bought knockoff condoms.
- Character Development: Showcased at its finest.
- Miguel and Sam calmly talk out their problems, with Sam accepting she had been self-centered.
- Hawk actually offers good advice to Miguel about his relationship compared to Season 1 when he had offered terrible advice. Prior to that, Hawk decides to have a brand new tattoo of a lotus replacing the grim reaper, symbolizing his change in personality and more positive outlook in life.
- Johnny shows genuine signs of maturity offering to be by Carmen's side with the baby and working himself to the bone all day to baby-proof his apartment. He also advises a troubled Miguel to be honest with Sam and own up to his mistakes.
- Like Chozen before him, Mike Barnes regrets what a jerkass he was to Daniel back in the day, and even expresses a desire to make amends.
- Contrived Coincidence: The conversation Mikes Barnes is having on his cellphone that Daniel overhears just so happens to include Barnes telling someone, "I've been telling you to get rid of that Italian piece of shit for years" followed by "Ah, flew in from Japan. Wow, that's dedication". He's not talking about Daniel and Chozen though, but a Florentine table and some Japanese cedar chairs.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Chozen single-handedly beat up Mike Barnes' musclebound employees because he mistakes them for goons.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Silver responds to Barnes revealing the existence of their potentially incriminating contract by burning down Barnes's furniture store.
- Double-Meaning Title: Silver warns Daniel he's playing with fire, and he burns Mike Barnes' business down at the end.
- Easily Forgiven: After Daniel apologizes for violently interrupting Mike's phone call, Mike makes it very clear that after what he did in Karate Kid Part III, Daniel is the last person on Earth who should ever apologize to him.
- Failed a Spot Check: Though the building is in plain view from the parking lot, Barnes doesn't realize his furniture store is on fire until he has parked in a spot.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: During the Out-of-Context Eavesdropping sequence, Daniel hears Barnes mention "Ah, flew in from Japan", thinking this is a reference to Chozen (to go along with the "Italian piece of shit" reference to Daniel himself), and concludes Mike is still working with Silver. But Silver would never say that Chozen came from Japan, as the last episode dramatically revealed that Silver damn well knows that Chozen is from Okinawa. Ergo, an attentive viewer (if not Daniel himself) would have immediately realized Mike's phone call had nothing to do with Daniel and Chozen.
- Foreshadowing: Mike Barnes owns a BMW so he was clearly doing well for himself.
- Good Feels Good: Mike explains how he was despondent at being banned from karate in the 80's, only to find new joy in the furniture business. He gushingly describes how it "feels right" helping families furnish their homes.
- Heel–Face Turn: As it turns out, Mike Barnes had one decades ago, putting his violent past behind him and building a happy, stable life. The only reason he hadn't approached Daniel to apologize was for fear of opening up old wounds.
- Happily Married: Barnes is revealed to be married to the daughter of a furniture store owner.
- Hypocritical Humor: Johnny complains that defacing someone's property should be illegal, despite having done the same to Daniel's billboard in Season 1. When Carmen notifies him it is, the look on his face clearly shows he's just learning this.
- Idiot Ball:
- Daniel knows that the lawyer in question works for Silver, and he knows that Silver is watching him closely. Yet apparently his only plan is to call the lawyer and leave a message, saying he needed to talk about Terry Silver. Then he seems surprised when said lawyer immediately contacts Silver. It's unclear what his plan was if he'd actually talked to the lawyer, but the message alone was obviously enough to tip his hand.
- On the other side, Silver was obviously still a client of that lawyer. So all Silver had to do was let Daniel talk to the lawyer, have the lawyer tell Daniel "I'm not at liberty to divulge information about my clients. Good day, sir", and then call it a win. Instead, Silver burns down Mike's furniture store.
- I Hate Past Me: Barnes regrets his past actions and even questions why a lawyer would make a contract like the one Silver had him sign.
- I Warned You: Silver confronts Daniel in a sauna, revealing he caught hold of Daniel's attempts to dig up details on the contract Barnes was made to sign back in 1985. This also leads to Silver burning down Barnes's furniture store."I told you not to play with fire."
- Jerkass Realization: Barnes regrets his treatment of Daniel back in 1985 to the point of wanting to apologize to him multiple times over and mend fences with him, but didn't as he didn't want to open up old wounds.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Justified with Johnny and Carmen, the chances of Carmen getting pregnant is much higher when it's revealed Johnny's condoms are implied to be a shoddy knock offs.
- Lampshade Hanging: Anoush calls Terry Silver a "giant Bond villain", which is the show acknowledging that Silver is a ridiculously over the top character for the Karate Kid world, particularly in KK 3.
- The Masochism Tango: Demetri casually reveals he and Yasmine fight a lot.
- Mood Whiplash: The last scene starts out with a shot of the Encino Oaks Country Club, followed by Daniel having a relaxed morning in the sauna. It all becomes a complete and utter nightmare when he hears his own voicemail, followed by a familiar face coming in through the door.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Daniel's attempts to contact one of Silver's lawyers results in Silver presumably burning Mike Barnes's furniture store down.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Played for Laughs. As soon as Daniel explains to Chozen that Mike is not connected to Cobra Kai anymore, Chozen realizes he has messed up big time and asks Daniel to call for the ambulance immediately. Cut to half a dozen of Mike Barnes' employees writhing in pain on the ground outside, as they were beaten to a bloody pulp by Chozen. He now has a very embarrassed look on his face, while Mike sports a "WTF" look.
- On a more serious note, Daniel has one when he hears his own voicemail after starting a relaxed morning in the sauna. He knows all too well that Silver has found out, and he has only seconds before being face to face with the bastard himself.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Daniel catches Barnes in the middle of a phone call and wrongly assumes that he is once again in cahoots with Silver when he's actually negotiating a commission with one of his suppliers. The way he talks about the Italian furniture and new Japanese goods coming in makes it sounds like he is talking about Daniel and Chozen.
- Path of Most Resistance: Even though there was a front door he could've used, Chozen goes One-Man Army and beats up all the workers to go through the back door to get to Mike.
- Pet the Dog: Despite that (or perhaps because) Chozen beat them up, the furniture movers are very careful with Chozen's new couch.
- Precision F-Strike: Daniel claims the first one for this season; when he comments on Silver's plan to bring old friends to help with Cobra Kai's expansion, Daniel speculates "Mike Fucking Barnes" is one of them.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Mike reveals that it was actually part of Silver's contract to terrorize Daniel the way he did in Karate Kid Part III. Not that you could have guessed that while watching the movie itself.
- Red Herring: Aware that Silver has plans to call upon old friends to help him with Cobra Kai's expansion, Daniel speculates that Barnes is one of them due to his past history as a Cobra Kai. When Daniel confronts Barnes at the furniture store, it turns out he has long put behind him his history with Cobra Kai and moved on to being a furniture salesman.
- Restrained Revenge: After Chozen beat up several of Mike's employees and attacks Mike himself, damaging his store in the process, Mike contents himself with overcharging Chozen for a sofa, rather than having him arrested. Chozen's reaction suggests he recognizes how generous this is.
- The Reveal:
- Anthony reveals to Sam that he and his friends pulled the mysterious "milk in locker" prank on Kenny by filling a bag with milk and rigging it to open when the locker door was unlocked.
- Turns out harassing Daniel was actually in Mike Barnes' contract with Silver back in the day; it wasn't just him resorting to any means necessary to get him to fight in the tournament.
- Revenge Before Reason: Almost immediately after Mike tells Daniel about the existence of an incriminating contract, Silver finds out as well. Considering that the only copy was with his lawyer, he could have simply had it destroyed, eliminating the threat. Instead, he opts to burn down Mike's store, turning a neutral party into a committed enemy.
- Shout-Out: Sam having a Vision Quest in a sensory deprivation tank with the scene shot in an entirely black background brings to mind Netflix's other flagship series.
- Sickening "Crunch!": Chozen stomping on Barnes's leg is accompanied with an audible crack sound.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Previous episodes have made no secret of the fact that Johnny and Carmen often make love. Most shows with hyper-sexual couples never address the question of pregnancy, making Carmen's pregnancy here surprising (yet realistic). They even defy Law of Inverse Fertility in that given his poor finances and low intelligence, Johnny was tricked into buying knock-off condoms.
- Wham Episode: Carmen is pregnant, Miguel and Sam break up, and Silver burns down Mike Barnes's business.
- Wham Shot: Mike Barnes returns for another day at work... only to find his beloved furniture store in flames.
- Wrong Assumption: Daniel incorrectly assumes that Barnes is once again involved with Silver while eavesdropping on a phone call, where he is negotiating a commission with a supplier.
