Lull
Directed by Jennifer Celotta
Amanda wakes up alone to find Daniel has left early for the dojo, despite being needed at the dealership. When Daniel arrives at the Miyagi-Do dojo, he is shocked to find Kreese waiting for him. The two men exchange tense words, but before Kreese leaves, he warns Daniel to prepare his students for war against Cobra Kai. Sam and Moon share "girl talk" over hemp smoothies, with Moon rooting for Sam to date Robby. Johnny returns to the Cobra Kai dojo and is dismayed to find Kreese has taken over in the office.
Both dojos have a tough training session. The Cobra Kai fighters divide into teams for a brutal competition at Coyote Creek, which is ultimately won by Raymond (having reinvented himself as "Stingray" to emulate Hawk). During the melee, Miguel learns (to his disgust) that Hawk is the one who stole Mr. Miyagi's Medal of Honor. Beating Hawk down, Miguel takes the medal and returns it to Robby at Daniel’s home, but not before appalling Johnny with his ruthlessness (which Johnny realizes is a result of Kreese's teaching).
Meanwhile, influenced by Kreese’s earlier threat, Daniel forces the Miyagi-Do fighters to train in extremes of hot and cold to toughen them up. At last, he starts to get through to Demetri by getting the boy to use his extreme cynicism to anticipate attacks. With this new guidance, Demetri finally manages to block an attack, but it is clear that he still has a long way to go towards becoming a competent fighter. Despite the cold temperatures, Sam and Robby’s relationship heats up and they kiss for the first time.
Even as Daniel's students are improving, his focus on them has led him to severely neglect his business. Anoush defects to Tom Cole over his increased workload (not to mention the violent melodrama with Johnny), and Amanda has also become extremely disappointed in Daniel's inability to balance his priorities. Likewise, having seen the negative impact Kreese has had on his students, Johnny decides he was wrong to trust his old sensei and dismisses him from the dojo.
Tropes:
- Accentuate the Negative: Demetri keeps getting hit during training and complains once again, but Daniel points out that his negativity can be useful, because it means he's always prepared for the worst. He encourages him to use that to his advantage.
- Animal Motif: Raymond now calls himself Stingray, together with a beard shaped like the animal. He pushes this even further when he relates his sneak attack of victory to a stingray hunting its prey."You know what they say about stingrays... they lie in wait for the perfect opportunity... to strike!"
- Battle Couple: Miguel and Tory team up during training, and Miguel even offers the Finishing Move to her with a cordial "Ladies first."
- Bring It: How Hawk ends his argument with Miguel about trashing Miyagi-Do — and begins their fight outright."You want the medal so bad? Come and take it!"
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Raymond shows up and tries to "flip the script" (ala Hawk), but even the soundtrack doesn't take him seriously. Yet he gets the drop on Miguel to win the competition for his team.
- Earned Stripes: Despite wanting to be called Stingray due to his change of style, Raymond is still called Chubbs by the senseis (Johnny in the official footage, Kreese in a deleted scene) until he wins the challenge with a smart maneuver. Bonus points for Kreese being the first one to call him by his desired alias.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Miguel is disgusted when he discovers that Hawk not only trashed Miyagi-Do but also took Mr. Miyagi's Medal of Honor and has been wearing it around as a trophy. After beating him in the woods, Miguel takes it so he can return it to Daniel.
- The trope happens again seconds later, as Miguel is so pissed at Hawk that he actually obeys Kreese's command to "Finish Him!", turning to kick Hawk one more time while he's down. This in turn appalls Johnny.
- Good Is Not Soft: Hawk makes fun of Miguel for "going soft" because Miguel calls him out for stealing Miyagi's Medal of Honor. Miguel insists that he's not soft, and then proceeds to beat Hawk senseless.
- Hope Spot: Two episodes ago, it appeared Hawk felt some remorse about stealing the Medal of Honor from Miyagi-Do upon learning of its significance. Then it's shown here that he's taken to wearing to medal underneath his clothes as a trophy and boasts about the deed when Miguel confronts him.
- Internal Reveal: Miguel learns Hawk is the one behind the vandalization of the Miyagi-Do dojo and stole Mr. Miyagi's Medal of Honor.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: During the circular sparring training, Sam and Robby fight each other to a draw and the way it's framed highly exaggerates the romantic sparks, particularly how their breath can be seen in the cold air. Daniel, on the other hand, is oblivious to it.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: Daniel teaches Demetri to use his neuroticism to his advantage, and he finally manages to block several attacks and score a hit... only to be swiftly put down by the next opponent. Winning a single match is good progress, but it doesn't instantly turn you into a champion.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Apparently, Hawk captured Tory's band at some point before he and Miguel fought, but the viewer never gets to see it. Given that both Hawk and Tory are skilled combatants, it likely would have been a great fight — or, considering that Hawk defeated Tory with enough gas left to still give Miguel a good challenge, a great ambush. Similarly, Aisha's dialogue indicates that only Miguel and Hawk are left after she got eliminated, meaning that not only she lasted longer than Tory and the rest of her team (sans Hawk) but that it also took Miguel to eliminate her out of everyone on the black team.
- Oh, Crap!: Johnny's reaction when he learns Kreese was planning on taking the students to Coyote Creek, clearly having been through that during his own training and remembering how brutal it was... and also possibly because he's less than happy that Kreese has started making decisions like this behind his back.
- Pet the Dog: Miguel returns Miyagi's Medal of Honor to Robby after retrieving it from Hawk, who previously stole it while he and his gang vandalized the Miyagi-Do dojo.
- Relationship Upgrade: After turning down Sam last episode, Robby makes a move to kiss Sam after training... and scores.
- Shirtless Scene: Robby during the Shochu-Geiko training session.
- Sudden Soundtrack Stop:
- Raymond introduces himself as "Stingray", complete with a rock tune in the background. Johnny calls him Chubbs again and the song goes flat.
- When Demetri manages to defend himself for the first time during training, the music swells up as he excitedly celebrates — and it cuts off when he immediately gets hit afterwards.
- Took a Level in Badass: Raymond (now Stingray) was nothing but a comic relief Manchild before this episode, and no one takes his "transformation" seriously. Yet as noted above, he manages to spring out of nowhere to win the Coyote Creek competition for his team.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Johnny approved of the unorthodox training in the woods and was ready to congratulate Miguel after defeating Hawk to win the game, but when Kreese orders "Finish Him!" and Miguel instantly kicks an already downed Hawk, Johnny immediately realized what Kreese had been teaching the students while he was away.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Johnny is less than impressed with how Miguel ended his duel with Hawk.Johnny: What was that? That's not how I taught you to fight.
Miguel: That's what Sensei Kreese taught us. This isn't a tournament, this is real life.
Johnny: Is that how you want to live your life? - After Anoush resigns from the car dealership, Amanda calls out Daniel on being so fixated with Miyagi-do that he's neglected everything else in his life, including her.
- Johnny is less than impressed with how Miguel ended his duel with Hawk.
- Worthy Opponent: During the Coyote Canyon exercise, Hawk literally addresses Miguel as this."Finally, a worthy opponent."
