Taikai
Directed by Marielle Woods
At the flagship dojo, Terry Silver greets the Sekai Taikai committee members who have come to evaulate Cobra Kai for admittance to the tournament. Citing their rigorous admission process, the German spokesperson Gunther tells him there are no guarantees, but Silver assures him that his dojo will meet their standards for entry. He talks up their state-of-the-art equipment and top-notch instructors, before proposing a sponsorship deal with the tournament to help make the Sekai Taikai a household name. Unmoved, Gunther informs him that Cobra Kai will only be judged by the quality of its students, leading Silver to tout them as the best in the Valley.
Taking exception to Silver's boast, Daniel interrupts the meeting with Johnny, Chozen, and Amanda in tow. After introducing themselves, the group talks up their own dojo, including the fact they have two All Valley champions among their student body, despite Silver's false claim that all the champions belong to Cobra Kai. Daniel explains the unique hybrid style their students have learned and appeals to the committee for a chance to compete. Though Silver is dismissive, Gunther decides that both dojos will be equally judged to determine if either of them is worthy of entry. Both sides agree to the terms.
Afterwards, Kim Da-Eun accuses Silver of letting his petty rivalry get in the way of their plans, but Silver declares Daniel and his crew already beaten, with the Sekai Taikai being their last act of desperation. Kim vows to continue preparing their students for the tournament, but also warns Silver to be more prepared for such difficulties in the future. In the dojo, Devon expresses her excitement for the tournament as she practices on the kicking pads with Tory, even as Tory is conflicted about staying with Cobra Kai.
At Miyagi-Do, the students arrive for another training session. Despite their enthusiasm, Daniel advises them not to get cocky, while Johnny vows to train them harder than ever before. The evaluation takes place in a montage with the committee visiting both dojos, observing their students and learning about their respective histories and training philosophies. When Sam accidentally splatters Gunther with watermelon pulp during a demonstration, Johnny regains his favor by invoking Rocky IV and the two men form a bond. In the end, the committee is undecided, but proposes that the two dojos compete against each other in an exhibition involving one male and one female student from each side. Silver promptly selects both Tory and Kenny to represent Cobra Kai.
Uneasy with her role in Cobra Kai, Tory seeks counsel with Kreese at the prison, who advises her to do what is right for herself and fight for entry to the tournament. Although she believed their entire plan was to stop Silver, Kreese tells her the plan is over and that nothing they can do will get him released from prison. Feeling both used and betrayed by Kreese, Tory abandons him.
At the LaRusso house, Johnny struggles to decide who should represent their dojo for the boys' side, but both Robby and Miguel agree that it should be Hawk. Meanwhile, Sam trains vigorously at the dojo with Daniel and Chozen, with Daniel declaring that she looks sharper than ever. Nevertheless, Sam feels like she has the world on her shoulders, still haunted by her loss to Tory in the last tournament. Chozen points out that she shouldn't be focused on fighting her opponent, but instead fighting for herself, putting her heart at ease. As she leaves, Sam discovers the golden octopus pendant Miguel discarded shortly after their breakup.
Back at the flagship dojo, a nervous Kenny trains late into the night, knowing he will be up against someone stronger, faster, and with far more experience. Silver offers encouragement and reassures him that his time is now, before demonstrating a new technique called the "Silver Bullet", a fierce strike to the solar plexis designed to incapacitate an opponent. Kenny questions the excessive damage, noting that attacks to the chest already count as a point, but Silver explains that the shortest path to victory is to take the opponent out with one shot. Intrigued, Kenny asks Silver to teach him the technique.
The next day, the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang fighters arrive at the flagship dojo for the exhibition. As Sam and Tory stare each other down, Kim Da-Eun instructs Tory to put Sam away quickly. When Kenny observes Robby with Anthony, he angrily confronts him and accuses him of training a bully. Robby once again attempts to reason with Kenny, urging him to let go of his anger, but Kenny rejects his appeal and looks forward to taking his rage out on Hawk. Feeling guilty for his part in Kenny's corruption, Robby tells Hawk to take it easy on him.
As their match begins, Kenny takes a 1-0 lead, but Hawk answers back with a jumping kick that knocks Kenny out of bounds, leading the referee to rule no point despite the contact occurring in bounds. Amid protests from the opposing side, Tory is stunned to realize that Silver has once again bribed the referee to act in their favor. When the match resumes, Kenny seizes Hawk's leg and delivers an illegal strike to his knee. After a brief time out, Hawk regains his resolve, telling Daniel it is time to "uncage the Hawk." However, Kenny counters by executing the Silver Bullet; Hawk collapses to the mat in a heap, struggling to breathe. Unable to continue the fight, the referee awards Kenny the victory by default. After celebrating with his teammates, Kenny taunts the fallen Hawk before he is carried off the mat by his senseis.
Gunther calls Sam and Tory to the mat for the girls' fight, but the Cobra Kai are shocked to find that Tory has suddenly disappeared. With Silver unable to locate her, Kim Da-Eun orders Devon to take Tory's place. After a moment of indecision, Devon agrees to face Sam. It appears that Sam scores the first point, but the referee again rules the strike out of bounds and orders the match to resume. He then further displays his corruption by awarding a point to Devon, despite Sam clearly blocking her attack. After calling a time out, Sam complains to Daniel about the unfair treatment, but Miguel bolsters her by offering his encouragement, while Daniel advises her to make every point undeniable going forward.
Regaining her focus, Sam manages to score three definitive points against Devon, winning the match fairly in the face of Silver's scheme. As Sam celebrates her victory, Devon apologizes to Kim Da-Eun, but Kim lays the blame on Tory instead for walking out on her teammates. She states that if Tory is not ready to lead, then she will make sure Devon is.
After careful deliberation, the committee stands and declares Cobra Kai has qualified for the Sekai Taikai. However, equally impressed with Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang, Gunther reveals that they have also earned admission to the tournament, much to Silver's chagrin. Although Johnny and Daniel struggle to agree on a name for their collective dojo, Gunther welcomes them to the Sekai Taikai. Proud of his students, Daniel encourages them to go celebrate.
A raucous party ensues at Johnny's apartment complex, with Hawk having invited a bunch of students from East Valley. Sam arrives to the party in search of Miguel, but is heartbroken to find him making out with another girl and quickly leaves in tears. As she calls for another Uber, Tory appears and tells Sam that she did not come to fight, but to inform her that she did not truly lose at the All Valley tournament.
Tropes:
- 24-Hour Party People: Lampshaded. Hawk mentions that Moon invited a lot of her friends from East Valley and news of the party spread from there, so while the partygoers are unknown to the audience, none of the characters know who they are either. When Mitch tries to chat up some of the girls by bragging about the dojo qualifying for the Sekai Taikai, they admit they have no idea what that is, indicating that they don't even know why the party is happening.
- All for Nothing: After Kreese reveals that he's given up any hope of getting out of prison or bringing Silver down, Tory freaks out, believing that all the shit she went through "behind enemy lines" at Cobra Kai was for nothing.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Kreese has taken Tory's loyalty to him for granted when he calls quits on his plot to bring Silver down. Tory quickly abandons him once all is said and done.
- Kenny begins to view Robby as such after catching the latter coaching Anthony during the Sekai Taikai tryouts.
- Call-Back: The referee adjudicating the exhibition is one of the flag judges of the finals matches in the last All-Valley tournament. While this is supposed to give this referee some level of credibility, it also means that he could have also been paid off by Silver in the prior tournament as well, given his actions during this exhibition.
- The Wheel Technique Robby and Sam learned in season 2 makes a return for the dojo demonstration.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Terry Silver again bribed a referee to favor Cobra Kai. When Tory realizes this, she leaves the match, leaving Sam to fight a less experienced opponent. In this matchup, Sam has enough of an advantage that she can make her points so obvious and undeniable that the ref can't ignore them without making his bias obvious.
- Crippling the Competition: Kenny uses a secret move on Hawk to knock the wind out of him while making it look like a legal hit, forcing him out of the match and giving Kenny the forfeit win.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Sam defeating Devon easily qualifies as this, scoring three consecutive points in a row so obvious, not even a bribed referee can dispute these points.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: An interesting example. As seen in the water park fight, a serious Hawk would easily defeat Kenny. Despite having numerous advantages in his rigged match against Hawk, Kenny managed to score the first point fair-and-square.
- Despite being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle, Devon definitely did not make it easy for Sam to score those points.
- Defeating the Cheating Opponent: Even though Terry Silver has once again bribed the referee to favor Cobra Kai, Sam is able to defeat Devon by making every point so undeniable that the ref can't possibly do anything but give her the win without openly revealing his bias.
- Disappointed in You: Robby all but says this to Kenny when he confronts him about his bullying of Anthony.
- Foreshadowing: Mitch gets envious after he notices that the flagship dojo has a smoothie bar and tries to woo over a trio of female Cobra Kai students before being dragged away by Bert. The scene is played for humor but is important later on.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: While Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen know the tryout referee is screwing them over with his decisions, they assume it's because the referee is just incompetent and don't consider the idea that he's favoring Cobra Kai on purpose.
- Hourglass Plot: Again, Eli and Sam represent the male and female fighters of their dojo and fight Cobra Kai, and Silver again bribes the referee to have the matches rigged. This time however, Eli loses while Sam wins.
- Hypocrite: Kenny Payne. Though, it's justified — as Robby notes: he's become so blinded by hate that he can't think clearly anymore.
- He's pissed when he sees Robby training Anthony and calls him out for it, using the latter's past actions as an excuse. Robby lampshades this trope to Kenny perfectly well in response.Kenny: [Sees Robby training Anthony] KEENE! [Confronts him] Yeah, that's some messed up shit. You're training the kid who bullied me?
Robby: Heard you're the one doing all the bullying. - After being declared the winner, Kenny dubs Eli "Faux-Hawk" for losing, despite the fact that he only won because he cheated and used a non-sparring move that forced Eli to forfeit. So if anything, Kenny is the fraud.
- He's pissed when he sees Robby training Anthony and calls him out for it, using the latter's past actions as an excuse. Robby lampshades this trope to Kenny perfectly well in response.
- Insistent Terminology: Kim doesn't want Devon to fight Sam; she wants Sam to be defeated.
- Internal Reveal: Tory finally decides to come clean and tells Sam about Silver fixing the tournament.
- Motive Decay: Robby calls Kenny out on this, pointing out that he'd wanted to learn karate to fight off bullies, but that turned into a quest for revenge, and now he's become a bully himself.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: 1-0 down against Kenny and having just been hit with an illegal knee strike, Eli declares "No more Eli, it's time to uncage the Hawk." The hawk-screech sound effect that accompanies Hawk's badass moments plays, the next round begins... and Hawk's first punch is met with a perfect block-counterstrike from Kenny, who hits him with the Silver Bullet, leaving Hawk writhing in pain and unable to breathe on the mat, at which point the ref declares Kenny the winner by forfeit.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Robby asks Eli to not go all out on Kenny because he's still trying to get him out of Cobra Kai. Eli agrees, but this just causes him to be caught off-guard when Kenny fights dirty against him and he winds up getting injured. That said, this is somewhat downplayed as Eli underestimated Kenny at the start and when he did "uncage the Hawk", he lost lost due to both the illegal move used by Kenny and because the ref was bribed by Silver to not award Eli any points, something nobody saw coming.
- Not What I Signed on For: Kim calls out on Silver for letting his personal beef with Miyagi-Fang interfere with helping her uphold the legacy of her family's teachings. Silver asserts that the opposing dojo is acting out of desperation and that they're bringing it upon themselves for going to great lengths to disrupt Cobra Kai.Kim: I agreed to train your students under the condition that you would pave the way for my family teachings to emerge from the shadows. And yet, your petty rivalry is standing in the way.
Silver: I have no rivalry. They're beaten. This is a last, desperate gasp of breath. - O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Robby and Miguel immediately note something's off after Tory bails on the Sekai Taikai preliminaries, when she normally never would've passed up against a chance to fight Sam.
- Papa Wolf: After Eli is injured, Johnny stays with him on the sidelines with the medic so he can oversee his recovery.
- Pet the Dog:
- When Tory asks Kreese what her next move should be, he tells her she should try to win the tournament, which could open up new opportunities for her. She's incensed that he's giving up on their plan to take down Silver, but he's actually thinking about her wellbeing, rather than using her for his own ends.
- After Devon loses to Sam, Kim tells her it's not her fault, but Tory's. This is about the only time Kim does anything to encourage one of her students rather than demeaning or torturing them.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Silver's bribed referee screws Sam out of a point and gifts Devon one, Daniel and Chozen give her the perfect advice by telling her to make every point undeniable. However, they say this under the mistaken assumption that the ref is merely incompetent rather than corrupt.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Believing that Kreese merely used her in a plan he isn't following through with, Tory abandons him in prison.
- Realizing Silver once again bribed the match's referee to ensure Cobra Kai's victory, Tory leaves there, as well.
- Shout-Out:
- For once, Johnny's obsession with 1980s movies works as he talks to the representatives on "sometimes you have to train by running up a snowy mountain and yell..." And the German ambassador, Gunther, yells out "DRAAAAAAAGOOOOOO!".
- When being impressed by the Cobra Kai dojo's facilities, Mitch comments that it's more of a Cobra Starship.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Johnny compares his training techniques to those from Rocky. Luckily for him, the German Sekai Taikai ambassador (Gunther) turns out to be a huge Rocky IV fan (even crediting the film with helping to reunite Germany), which gives him a certain respect for Johnny's methods.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Despite having a natural talent for karate (making it all the way to the quarter-finals in her first ever tournament), Devon did not feasibly have much of a chance against Sam who has been training in Miyagi-Do for years. Sam's experience allows her to score against Devon in such undeniable ways that the bribed referee, looking for every opportunity to not count her points, has no choice but to acknowledge them, lest he be exposed for his corruption.
- Similarly, while Kenny has natural talent and was mentored by some of the best fighters in the show, he's also facing an opponent with much more experience, as well as a significant physical advantage. If Eli had taken him seriously from the beginning, Kenny would've been toast. Kenny and Silver acknowledge this which is why Silver teaches the Silver Bullet technique to Kenny.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Cobra Kai wins the match and the slot in the Sekai Taikai, but the judges were impressed enough with Miyagi-do/Eagle Fang to offer them a spot as well.
- Underestimating Badassery: After Kim calls out Silver for letting Miyagi-Fang distract him, he insists that they're beaten and pose no further threat. The season finale will prove him very wrong.
- Villain Has a Point: Subverted. The "Silver Bullet" is a very dirty move with the way it takes an opponent's breath away, but it's hard to argue with Silver's justification for it, namely that the quickest path to victory in a fight is to take out your opponent with one hit. This philosophy is arguably very similar to the Combat Pragmatism taught by Mr. Miyagi, especially his targeting of the "primary target" when necessary. However, since Kenny uses it in a sparring match rather than an actual fight under Silver's instructions, it serves as a demonstration of how dishonorable and deceitful Silver really is.
