Line #77 Recap/CobraKaiS5E5ExtremeMeasures


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3	'''Season 5, Episode 05:'''
4	!Extreme Measures
5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cobrakaiextrememeasures.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Why would someone leave this in my mailbox?"'']]
7	->Written by Bob Dearden\
8	Directed by Jennifer Celotta
9
10	->''"You show up out of the blue, raving like a lunatic, you reek of booze, and now you wanna fight me 'cause I don't wanna get pulled back into this rivalry?'' [{{Beat}}] ''[[SincerityMode What's going on with you, man?]]"''
11	-->-- '''Johnny Lawrence'''
12
13	Another training session at Cobra Kai is well underway when Stingray walks into the dojo, his presence bringing everyone to a halt. Silver considers him the embodiment of what Cobra Kai stands for and commends him for returning after Kreese's brutal attack, drawing applause from the students. Privately, it is revealed that Silver has bought Stingray's silence about the assault by providing him with his own fully furnished apartment, and by giving him Johnny's old Cobra Kai Challenger which he recovered from an impound auction. In the trunk, Stingray finds his very own gi to mark him as a member of Cobra Kai.
14
15	Miguel walks into the Olive Garden for lunch with Johnny, only to find Robby sitting at their table. Deducing that Johnny invited them both in an effort to mediate their feud, both teens promptly make for the exits, but Johnny intercepts them and forces them to sit down. Though he tries to sell the Olive Garden as a type of culinary adventure, neither is amused and both quickly abandon him.
16
17	At home, Daniel drowns his sorrows in the wake of his family's departure. Chozen believes they will eventually return, noting that Daniel's family has a strong bond, but Daniel points out it only took Terry Silver to break them. Chozen reminds him why he must be defeated, but Daniel is disheartened, wondering how no one else can see though Silver's schemes. As Chozen sorts through the morning mail, he passes Daniel a newspaper clipping about Kreese's conviction and Stingray’s testimony, with the word "LIAR" and an address written on it. Despite Daniel's skepticism, Chozen convinces him to investigate and speak with Stingray himself, theorizing he might be the key to exposing Silver.
18
19	At her mother's house in Ohio, Amanda is greeted by her cousin Jessica Andrews, one of Daniel's old friends who has come to take her and the kids out for dinner. Though she inquires about Daniel's absence, Amanda simply tells her he has a lot going on at home, but offers no further details.
20
21	Unwilling to give up, Johnny attempts to force Robby and Miguel to cooperate by turning his apartment into an escape room, effectively sealing them in before dropping the key into the garbage disposal. When using the plot of ''Young Guns II'' fails to inspire them, Johnny reveals that the three of them are about to become a family soon, a notion both teens reject out of hand. When Miguel's grandmother Rosa enters the apartment in a cowboy costume, Miguel takes the opportunity to walk out the door, while Robby returns to his room.
22
23	Outside the address written on the newspaper clipping, Daniel laments over his many unanswered texts to Amanda, before Stingray pulls up in front of the building. Daniel immediately recognizes Johnny's old car, and both he and Chozen confront Stingray in his new apartment and show him the clipping. However, Stingray denies he is covering for Silver and suggests that Daniel must have done something to deserve Silver's scorn. Enraged, Daniel advances on Stingray, who falls backward and crushes his brand new [=PS4=] console. Chozen intervenes and escorts Daniel out of the apartment; he compares Stingray to a turtle, in that if they press him too hard, he will simply retreat into his shell. Conceding that Stingray will be of no help to them, Daniel believes he knows someone who can.
24
25	After dinner, Jessica takes the [=LaRussos=] out to a bar and encourages Anthony and Sam to go play video games while she and Amanda catch up. They are interrupted by a crew of mean girls from Amanda's high school who taunt her about the time she wrecked her math tutor's car with a baseball bat. Jessica politely dismisses them before pressing Amanda to explain what happened with Daniel.
26
27	While trying to unseal the window he glued shut for the escape room exercise, Johnny is unexpectedly visited by Daniel who appeals to him for help. Daniel explains that Kreese was framed and that Silver paid off Stingray to keep quiet about the assault, but Johnny doesn't want to get involved, citing his more important family issues. Daniel argues that Johnny was responsible for the resurgence of Cobra Kai in the first place and cannot ignore his part in the conflict, but Johnny counters that with Robby out of Cobra Kai and Kreese in prison, he is content to leave well enough alone, leading an irate Daniel to call him a pussy. Instead of escalating, however, Johnny defuses the situation by simply talking to Daniel, who settles down and confesses that Amanda left him after he pushed her too far.
28
29	At the bar, Sam shows Anthony the video of him being kicked into the pool at the waterpark, which has now gone viral. She asks why he didn't come to her for help; Anthony explains he didn't want his sister to fight his battles, but also admits he might have deserved it to some extent, leading him to explain his ongoing conflict with Kenny. Meanwhile, Jessica chokes on her beer when Amanda mentions Terry Silver. She elaborates upon Daniel's history with him, describing how both she and Daniel were frequently terrorized by Silver's hired henchmen, a story which Amanda had never heard before.
30
31	Despite advice not being his strong suit, Johnny counsels Daniel, telling him that although he and Amanda might have their issues from time to time, they have always gotten over them and suspects this time will be no different. In turn, Daniel expresses his confidence that Johnny will help Robby and Miguel work out their own issues. He muses that if he and Johnny had simply worked out their aggression on the street rather than in a tournament, they might have gotten it all out of their system and wouldn't have carried their feud into adulthood. Nevertheless, he thanks Johnny for his advice before taking his leave.
32
33	Anthony finishes his story about Kenny, explaining that he tried to apologize for his bullying only for Kenny to lash out at him. He also mentions that Robby intervened and prevented the beating from getting worse, which Sam did not know. At the bar, the mean girls return to tease Amanda with her old nickname of "Babe Ruthless", but Jessica tells them off and a fight breaks out. The bullies gang up on Amanda until Sam comes to her rescue, enabling the [=LaRussos=] and Jessica to quickly escape.
34
35	Back at home, Chozen is preparing to return to Okinawa, with Daniel having decided the conflict with Silver is not worth losing his family over. He sincerely thanks Chozen for his service and apologizes for wasting his time, but Chozen responds that helping a friend is never a waste of time. Daniel tells him he intends to make amends with Stingray before he drives Chozen to the airport.
36
37	At the Reseda apartments, Johnny summons both Robby and Miguel outside with an air horn. Inspired by Daniel's remark, he encourages the two teens to brawl it out on the spot, so they can finally put all their bad blood behind them. The fight starts tamely, but quickly escalates upon Johnny's coaxing, with Miguel drawing first blood on Robby with a wheel kick. From that point on, neither of them hold back. The fight ultimately reaches the balcony, where a furious Miguel gains the upper hand and threatens to kick Robby over the railing as Johnny scrambles to reach them.
38
39	Fortunately, Miguel stands down at the last second, sparing Robby the same fate he once suffered. He explains he didn't get into karate to hurt people, but to be badass and to find balance. When he asks Robby why he didn't hold back in the school fight, Robby replies that he just wanted to finish the fight and got swept up in the moment, but tells Miguel he would take it all back if he could, describing it as the worst moment in both of their lives. With that, the two boys make peace, just in time for Johnny to reveal that they are going to be half-brothers. Robby and Miguel are elated and embrace Johnny in a group hug.
40
41	Celebrating with White Castle after the bar fight, Sam offers to teach Anthony karate, acknowledging that there will always be bullies in the world who need a comeuppance. In the kitchen, Jessica rationalizes that Daniel has every reason to hate Terry Silver, admitting even she still has nightmares about those days. She advises Amanda to cut her husband some slack.
42
43	At Miguel's apartment, Robby and Miguel share a takeout feast of Olive Garden when Carmen arrives home from work. She is pleased to see the boys getting along and tells Robby he is welcome to visit anytime. Johnny credits Daniel with the unorthodox peacemaking effort, but wanting to protect his new family from Silver, Johnny hints that he and Daniel may need to team up again soon.
44
45	Daniel drops by Stingray's place late at night with a new [=PS4=], only to be confronted by Terry Silver instead. Daniel tells him that he did not come to fight and yields the Valley to Silver, but Silver implies his plans go far beyond the Valley and gloats about how easy it was to disrupt Daniel's marriage. When he suggests wooing Anthony and Sam into Cobra Kai, Daniel snaps and attacks him. As the two men battle, Daniel strikes the wall behind Silver, bloodying his knuckles much like Silver forced him to do as a teenager. Using Daniel's rage against him, Silver defeats Daniel and leaves him out cold on the floor, but not before warning him that the real pain is about to begin.
46
47	As Daniel convalesces at home with Johnny, Chozen, and his family watching over him, it is revealed that Tory has been acting as an informant for Kreese. Meeting with him at the prison, she complains that Cobra Kai is turning her into someone she doesn't want to be, alienating her from Robby and forcing her into a web of lies to maintain Silver's trust. When she asks Kreese if he has an endgame, he assures her that Silver is going down - he just doesn't know it yet.
48
49	----
50	!!Tropes:
51
52	* AesopAmnesia: While Amanda has good reasons for leaving Daniel, she ignores his warnings about what kind of person Silver is until she hears the details from [[Film/TheKarateKidPartIII Jessica Andrews]] herself. This despite the fact that she previously ignored Daniel’s similar warning about John Kreese, only to find out Daniel was not lying or exaggerating in the least about how dangerous Kreese is. As it turns out, [[HistoryRepeats she again finds out Daniel has every reason to fear Silver]]. Granted, the first old enemies Daniel showed paranoia about were Johnny (who pulled a few antics against Daniel before Amanda got to know him) and Kreese (who reveals his sociopathy with little provocation), while Silver is a ''master'' at hiding his true self through deception and manipulation.
53	* AndYourLittleDogToo: When Silver is taunting Daniel about how easy it was to disrupt his marriage, he muses about getting his kids into Cobra Kai as well. This proves to be Daniel's [[RageBreakingPoint last straw]], compelling him to attack Silver.
54	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Johnny just has to ask Daniel "What's going on with you, man?", and the sight of [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Johnny being the reasonable one]] instead of getting baited into a fight makes Daniel realize he's lost control.
55	* BaitAndSwitch:
56	** A subtle one when Daniel irately calls Johnny a "pussy". The show's soundtrack turns tense for a moment, as though Johnny is about to retaliate violently (as he has to so many ''other'' provocations before this). Instead, the tenseness passes as Johnny reasonably asks Daniel what's gotten into him.
57	** The ending reveals that Tory is now TheMole working against Silver, and it sounds like she's talking to her therapist, discussing how awful everything has become since the tournament. Then the camera swings around and reveals that she's actually visiting Kreese in prison.
58	* BarBrawl: This time, Amanda starts one off, having enough of an old bully bringing up her past, and nearly gets her butt kicked over it, if not for Sam coming to her rescue.
59	* BigSisterWorship: After he sees Sam save Amanda from her attackers in the bar, Anthony remarks how awesome she is, dubbing her [[Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme Jean Claude Van "Sam"]].
60	* BittersweetEnding: Daniel failed to sway Stingray to their side and ultimately gets a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Silver. However, Amanda and their children eventually came back to him, Johnny ''finally'' succeeded in making Miguel and Robby squash their beef, and now all of them -- Amanda, Sam, Anthony, Johnny, Robby, and Miguel -- are ready to reignite the fight against Cobra Kai. As a bonus, Kreese and Tory are also plotting against Silver -- not alongside Daniel and crew, of course, but it remains that ''both'' sides have Silver in their crosshairs.
61	* BlatantLies: Silver describes FatIdiot ManChild Stingray as "an exemplar of everything Cobra Kai stands for. Loyalty. Discipline. Inner strength."
62	* BloodKnight: As when Silver beat up Johnny last season, we again see the old bastard enjoying himself a bit too much when he's issuing Daniel's beatdown. And this time Kreese isn't present to cut his fun short.
63	* TheBusCameBack: Everyone, give a warm welcome to Jessica Andrews, last seen in ''Film/TheKarateKidPartIII''.
64	* CallBack: The second Daniel sees blood in his knuckles during his fight with Silver, we get a ''Part III'' flashback of his torturous training with the ponytailed bastard. Except this time, Daniel’s target isn’t Barnes, but Silver himself.
65	-->'''Silver:''' It's blood. So what? Make believe it's his. This guy wants to break you. Humiliate you! Stomp you into the ground! Now what are you gonna do about it?
66	* CastingGag: Courtney Henggeler (Amanda) and Sunny Mabrey (Elizabeth-Anne) both appeared in the TV movie ''{{Film/Escaping Dad}}'' in which they play characters who are best friends instead of enemies.
67	* CharacterDevelopment: It's a hallmark of Johnny's development over the series that Daniel tries to pick a fight with him, calling him a "pussy", and he's more concerned with Daniel's deteriorating emotional state than he is with the insult.
68	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Johnny again, as usual. Apparently, he has never heard of "Pandora's box" and has no idea what that means. He also thinks "Google" is "Goggle."
69	* ConnectedAllAlong: Turns out Jessica is Amanda's cousin and was the one who introduced her to Daniel.
70	* ConspicuousConsumption: Daniel is at first skeptical about someone leaving a message that Stingray lied about Kreese attacking him. But one look at Stingray not only driving Johnny's former car but his new fancy place with a video game system and other items the guy shouldn't be able to afford is enough to convince him.
71	* CruelMercy: After Terry's beatdown, he lets Daniel go without any permanent injuries. He's quite explicit that his motive is to force Daniel to watch as he continues to take over, unable to do anything about it.
72	* CurbStompCushion: Daniel actually does pretty well against Silver, just not good enough.
73	* DefeatMeansFriendship: The whole point of Johnny telling Robby and Miguel to fight. And it works, sort of. Miguel "wins" in the sense of having the chance to kick Robby off a balcony (as Robby had done to him), but chooses not to. This both earns Robby's respect, and causes him to open up and apologize for what he did. At the same time, Miguel realizes that he doesn't want to fight anymore, because he's tired of people getting hurt.
74	* DisproportionateRetribution: One of Elizabeth-Anne's friends retaliates against Amanda with a shove, all for referring to the former as "tramp stamp" (in response to Elizabeth continuously mocking her and Jessica, by the way).
75	* DrowningMySorrows: Affected by his confrontation with Amanda in the previous episode, a despondent Daniel can do little but drink away his problems.
76	* EmbarrassingNickname: Of a dark variety. One of the women at the bar (who also went to school with Amanda) called Amanda "Babe Ruthless" for using a baseball bat to smash up her teacher's car as a teenager. Amanda was not keen on being reminded of something very violent she did back then.
77	* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Terry Silver usually wears a watch, a bracelet and a pinkie ring when he's not in a dojo wearing a gi, since jewelery is dangerous in a fight. He's not wearing any of those when he shows up at Stingray's apartment, showing he was ready for a fight.
78	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Tory is the only person who doesn't applaud for Stingray when he visits the flaghsip dojo. The ending reveals that Tory is working with Kreese, and therefore knows that Stingray is lying about Kreese assaulting him.
79	* GenderedInsult: In an out-of-character moment, Daniel irately calls Johnny a "pussy" for not addressing the threat posed by Silver's Cobra Kai.
80	* GroupHug: Johnny, Miguel, and Robby share a joyous hug when Johnny reveals Carmen's pregnancy.
81	* HateSink: While we don't get much time to know Elizabeth-Anne before Team [=LaRusso=] (and cousin) have gotten one over her posse and fled, she spends those few minutes being a deeply unpleasant woman.
82	* HiddenDepths: Chozen, a man in his 50s who is also a decades-long karate master with a traditionalist view of life, apparently knows who Ninja is and the gaming station that he possesses.
83	* HistoryRepeats: Defied. The school brawl ended with Robby kicking Miguel off a balcony and leaving him critically injured. This time, Robby is at the mercy of Miguel, who has the chance to kick his opponent off a balcony as well, but he restrains himself.
84	* HourglassPlot: Johnny and Daniel's heart-to-heart illustrates how their roles have reversed from the start of the series, with Johnny now being a responsible family man while Daniel is a drunken mess.
85	* InternalReveal:
86	** Miguel and Robby learn that they're going to have a shared younger half-sibling.
87	** Amanda finally learns [[Film/TheKarateKidPartIII Daniel and Silver's history]].
88	* ItsAllMyFault: After Anthony is beaten up by Kenny, he shows an impressive willingness to accept responsibility, pointing out that he probably deserved it for the way he'd been treating Kenny when they first met.
89	* KarmicJackpot: Daniel hit this apparently for his kindness to Jessica Andrews. She introduced her cousin to Daniel who later became his wife, Amanda. She later saves their marriage by warning Amanda that Silver is every bit as dangerous as Daniel made him out to be.
90	* KickTheDog: Almost literally. When Daniel informs Silver that he's done with their rivalry and Cobra Kai can keep the Valley, Silver ''could'' have just accepted his win and let their past be water under the bridge (as he claimed to want when he and Daniel met again in season 4). Instead, Silver opts to taunt Daniel as a prelude to a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.
91	* KnowWhenToFoldThem:
92	** Johnny is uninterested in helping Daniel take down Cobra Kai. He finally got both Miguel ''and'' Robby out of the dojo, Kreese is in prison, and he has a baby on the way. He's content to take the win rather than try to shake things up further.
93	** Elizabeth-Anne's GirlPosse quickly stops their scuffle with Jessica and Amanda after Sam kicks Elizabeth away from her mother.
94	* LetsYouAndHimFight: Fed up with Miguel and Robby's refusal to try to hash things out, Johnny forces them to fight each other so they can get it all out of their system.
95	* MsExposition: Jessica gives Amanda the abridged recap of ''Film/TheKarateKidPartIII'' just to point how evil Silver really is.
96	* MustMakeAmends: Daniel feels bad about roughing up Stingray and destroying his [=PS4=]. He decides to apologize and buy him a new one. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Unfortunately, Silver is waiting for Daniel there]].
97	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: When Amanda realizes that Daniel was telling her the truth about Silver after Jessica about how her and Daniel were harassed by Silver’s goons in 1985. The look on her face when she’s tending to Daniel after returning home even shows shock at how bad her husband was beaten.
98	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Silver gives Daniel the worst beating he's suffered since the Halloween incident in the first ''[[Film/TheKarateKid1984 Karate Kid]]''.
99	* NotSoDifferentRemark: After the BarBrawl, Jessica points out to Amanda that they just got into a fight over drama that happened in high school, just like Daniel has been, so she should cut him some slack.
100	* OhCrap: Jessica's reaction when Amanda casually mentions that Terry Silver has been involved with the recent events in her and Daniel's lives.
101	* OhNoNotAgain: Johnny's reaction when Miguel and Robby's fight [[Recap/CobraKaiS2E10NoMercy lands them on a balcony once again]].
102	* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: When [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp Elizabeth]] recognizes Amanda, she immediately brings up the time Amanda had tried to attack her math tutor in her car with a baseball bat to her GirlPosse, and takes some time to remember Amanda's EmbarrassingNickname (Babe Ruthless).
103	--> '''Amanda''': [[LampshadeHanging I commit one act of vehicular violence]].
104	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Simultaneously for Daniel and Johnny. Daniel rages at Johnny for refusing to help fight Silver, to the point of trying to pick a fight. Instead of being provoked however, Johnny is completely stunned by Daniel's behavior and sincerely asks what on Earth has gotten into him. Daniel himself is shocked that Johnny was being reasonable for once, which finally gets him to realize just how far off the deep end he's gone. Notably, Daniel is also unshaven and untidied throughout most of this episode, when he's almost always clean-shaven and well-dressed (Johnny even makes the observation that Daniel didn't tuck his shirt in). [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Daniel even does Johnny's signature bottle cap flip when he's given a pick-me-up cold one.]]
105	-->'''Daniel:''' What happened to the "strike first badass", huh? Do I need to kick his ass to wake him up, or was just one tournament loss all it took to turn ''you'' into a [[GenderedInsult pussy]]?\
106	'''Johnny:''' [{{Beat}}] ''[[WhatTheHellHero What are you doing?]]'' You show up out of the blue, raving like a lunatic, you reek of booze, and now you want to fight me because I don't want to get pulled back into this rivalry with Silver? What's going on with you, man?\
107	'''Daniel:''' [{{Beat}}] ''What the hell am I doing?'' [collapses into Johnny's new club chair] If ''you'' think I'm off the rails...\
108	'''Johnny:''' [[BrutalHonesty Way off.]] [hands Daniel a Coors Banquet]
109	* ParentsInDistress: When Amanda is being attacked by her old high school bully during a BarBrawl, it's Sam who comes to her rescue and kicks the bully's ass.
110	* TheReveal: Turns out ''Tory'' was the one who left Daniel the note about Kreese not beating up Stingray and she did it under Kreese's instructions.
111	* ShadowArchetype: Amanda's mother, Joanne, is this to her daughter. She goes on a diatribe calling marriage obsolete, clearly speaking from her own resentment towards her ex-husband. This shows what Amanda, and essentially her and Daniel's relationship, would've become if they hadn't worked through their own issues.
112	* ShoutOut: Stingray is seen jamming to "Judas" by Music/{{Fozzy}}.
113	* SpitTake: Jessica nearly does one when Amanda mentions Terry Silver before she brings her cousin up to speed on how bad the guy was.
114	* SwappedRoles:
115	** Thanks to recent events, Daniel is now the drunken mess who tries to solve his problems with his fists, while Johnny is the responsible family man who opts to be more diplomatic.
116	** This time Miguel has Robby at his mercy on the balcony, but he manages to get control of himself and stop before anything happens.
117	* {{Understatement}}: {{Discussed\|Trope}} when Amanda brings up the stories Daniel told her about Terry to Jessica, who bluntly tells her that Terry is ''worse'' than those stories made him out to be - he didn't just get into a rivalry with Daniel, but actively tried to destroy his bond with Miyagi and even had Cobra Kai assault ''her'' for being in their way.
118	* UnseenNoMore:
119	** Lizzie-Anne was mentioned by Jessica in the ''Film/TheKarateKidPartIII'' as the "traitor" who stole her boyfriend. And boy, does Jessica have every right to hate her guts.
120	** Amanda’s mother Joanne was mentioned in the previous season’s ''Kicks Get Chicks‘’ and now made her first appearance in this episode.
121	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Invoked by Daniel in his argument with Johnny that if Johnny had never started Cobra Kai in the first place, none of this would be happening.
122	* WhamEpisode: Miguel and Robby finally hash things out and achieve peace, Sam decides to teach Anthony karate, Silver gives Daniel a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, Johnny decides to get back into the conflict and help Daniel and Chozen, and Tory and Kreese are revealed to be secretly working together to bring Silver down.
123	----

Context Recap / CobraKaiS5E5ExtremeMeasures