Fire and Ice
Directed by Michael Grossman
Johnny, despite being utterly Hopeless with Tech, manages to get onto the Internet, where he runs across Daniel's new ad for Miyagi-Do offering free lessons to students. The ad features a subtle Take That! at Cobra Kai, which incenses Johnny. Meanwhile, Amanda is upset that Daniel purchased the expensive ad without telling her. Daniel is further dismayed to learn that the online feedback accuses him of cultural appropriation, but his employee Anoush assures him it is nothing to worry about.
While at the beach, Demetri and Hawk discuss how Cobra Kai makes them more popular with girls. Hawk criticizes Demetri about not joining the dojo, despite constantly tagging along with them and piggybacking on their success. Miguel confronts Johnny after finding out Robby is his son. Johnny finally admits the truth but scolds Miguel anyway, telling him it is none of his business. After being cautioned by Kreese that he could potentially lose Miguel to Miyagi-Do, Johnny makes amends with his star pupil over dinner by telling him the story of Robby’s birth and how he was never there for him. He promises to do better by Miguel than he did with Robby.
Daniel is having a hard time finding new students, who are put off by his chore-based training methods. To help get exposure, he decides to hold a solemn karate demonstration with Sam and Robby at the upcoming Valley Fest fair. When Johnny hears about this, however, he and the Cobra Kai interrupt them with a much more flashy demonstration of their own set to "Back in the Game" by Airbourne, winning over the crowd and stealing the spotlight from Miyagi-Do as Daniel and his students look on with contempt.
Tropes:
- Brick Break: Ice, in Daniel's case, as well as a blind-folded Aisha breaking boards, and a stack of flaming concrete slabs as Johnny's big finish.
- Call-Back:
- Daniel's finale for his Valleyfest demonstration was going to be him breaking the same sheets of ice he broke in The Karate Kid Part II. That same scene is even replayed to show how it should have looked.
- Daniel's comment on Kreese having faked his death twice is one to The Karate Kid Part III, when Daniel was first tricked into thinking Kreese had died.
- Like Johnny in season 1, Daniel's initial attempts to attract students are met with skepticism and ridicule. Even if you're a legitimate martial arts master, marketing and running a dojo as a business is a completely different art.
- Comically Missing the Point: Johnny wants to play "Thunderstruck" for his online commercial, but Aisha points out it'd be too expensive to get the rights to that song. The Cobra Kai instructor isn't fazed.Johnny: I already own the song. The cassette's in my car.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Johnny is apparently one, as when he finds a website about how "dinosaurs built the pyramids", he comments "I knew it".
- Hopeless with Tech: Johnny has apparently never used a computer before and has no idea how the internet works, let alone social media. In 2019. The worst side of this is the fact that a basic Windows XP installation would not natively be capable of getting on the web that smoothly.
- Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis: Amanda asks if Daniel is having a mid-life crisis, like the time an acquaintance shacked up with a Pilates instructor.
- Incendiary Exponent: Not content with a demostration by breaking blocks of concrete, Johnny has them set on fire.
- Insistent Terminology:
- It's a Dell, not an Apple. And the "Apple" is not a lemon.
- Miguel's an Ecuadorian, not a Mexican.
- Internal Reveal: Miguel tells Hawk that Robby is Johnny's son, which he confirms for himself online.
- The Internet Is for Porn: Subverted. The first time Johnny ever uses the internet (at age 52), the first thing he searches for is "hot babes". But after spending some time on porn, he discovers it can also be used for 80's nostalgia and karate videos. All of which clearly delights him.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Hawk may be a jerkass, but it is wrong for Demetri to use Cobra Kai's reputation to score points with girls, given that he's not even a member of the dojo and contributed nothing to their victory at the tournament."It'd be nice if you actually earned the Cobra Kai cred you're so happy to take. When are you ever gonna sign up?"
- The pawn shop owner is quite rude and obnoxious, but he's right that explaining to Johnny how to use a computer has nothing to do with his job and that Johnny needs to figure it out for himself.
- Hawk may be a jerkass, but it is wrong for Demetri to use Cobra Kai's reputation to score points with girls, given that he's not even a member of the dojo and contributed nothing to their victory at the tournament.
- Mighty Whitey: Anoush shows Daniel how much criticism he's gotten for the ad's cultural appropriation.
- My Greatest Failure: In a Call-Back to Season 1's "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Shannon, Johnny reveals to Miguel how he gave up on Robby from the start. He then promises to do better with Miguel.
- Non-Answer: Hawk questions Demetri when he'll join Cobra Kai proper. Demetri dodges the question, shamelessly admitting that he enjoys piggybacking off of Cobra Kai's credibility without contributing to it.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Miyagi-Do's presentation is blown away when the Cobra Kais upstage them with much flashier moves.
- Parodies for Dummies: Early on the episode, Johnny is seen with a book titled "The Internet For Dummies".
- Political Overcorrectness: Daniel's Miyagi-Do advertisement is lambasted for supposed cultural appropriation on the grounds of Asian whitewashing and stereotypical music.Daniel: "Stereotypical music"? That was Mr. Miyagi's favorite song!
- Product Placement: Johnny's computer is a Dell.
- Race-Name Basis: Kreese refers to Miguel as "That Mexican."
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Daniel's first few prospective students are quick to leave when they realize that Miyagi-Do training begins with menial chores.
- Shout-Out: Raymond knows what a bo-staff is, because Donatello used one.
- Stealing the Credit: To Hawk's annoyance, Demetri piggybacks off of Cobra Kai's victory at the All-Valley Tournament when two girls pass by him and ask him about Cobra Kai after noticing his towel bearing the logo of the dojo.
- Technician Versus Performer: Daniel develops a demonstration at the fair to promote Miyagi-Do Karate, using Sam and Robby they start slow just doing some kata and gradually ramp up with more impressive choreographed fighting, which earns modest applause and Daniel plans to end the demo with breaking sheets of ice. They get interrupted with Cobra Kai students running into the crowd chanting and running onto the main stage, doing some more visually impressive moves from the start and ends with Johnny breaking a stack of bricks that are on fire, which makes the crowd cheer enthusiastically.
- This Means War!: Kreese's response to the Miyagi-Do ad.Kreese: This is an act of war. It demands an immediate response!
Johnny: No, we did it.
