(WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 EPISODE 4 OF COBRA KAI!)
New recruits don’t last very long at Cobra Kai. So when one of them steps up to face the champion, it demands attention. It’s time to face, “The Moment of Truth”.
Johnny has some new students, but one stands out more than the others. Tori gives Robbie a pretty good fight, you could say it was a bit of a draw. As it turns out, she tells Aisha that she used to box as well. The two don’t necessarily become friends, but they do end up going to a beach club together. They would end up bumping into someone very familiar while they were there.
Daniel decides to go to the beach club as well to try and convince parents why their kids should join Miyagi Do. How could that possibly backfire? Well Sam sees Aisha and tries to resolve their differences. Just then, Tori shows up with a freshly stolen bottle of vodka from the bar. Sam says she should put it back. Tori responds badly of course, but what about Aisha? She goes with Tori, and a rivalry is born. Something worse happens later, but I’ll get back to that.
I should mention that this is the same club that Robbie worked at in Season 1. When they try to throw him out, Amanda Larusso stands up for him and says Robbie is their guest. Robbie isn’t used to a mother figure sticking up for him. Daniel wasn’t there, because he once again lost out to the cool factor of Cobra Kai with the parents. He would get his chance to help Robbie very shortly.
This is when a lot happens in a short amount of time. Amanda can’t find her wallet, and Sam thinks Tori took it. When she goes to confront Tori, she ends up pushed into a table and covered in food. Classic Karate Kid easter egg! Robbie has another idea of who took it. Remember his old crew that he ran with? Yep, he finds their stash on the beach and tries to take them on. He also tries to get it on video to promote Miyagi Do. In another classic Karate Kid easter egg, Daniel drops in to save the day when Robbie gets outnumbered. When Robbie shows Daniel the video, he doesn’t want to use it. He says that’s not the way of Miyagi Do.
As for Cobra Kai, Johnny has finally wised up that Kreese may not be telling the whole truth. He finds out that Kreese has been lying about where he is staying, all while he is following his former sensei. He goes into a building where he hears Kreese fighting with another man. That’s when Johnny finds out that Kreese is staying in some sort of a shelter. Kreese gives Johnny a down on his luck story and Johnny buys it. So now it looks like Kreese will stick around with an even bigger role in Cobra Kai.
Watching Daniel struggle so much with Miyagi Do is interesting. What’s even more interesting is, it doesn’t make him more of a sympathetic figure. I don’t feel bad for him, but I feel like I should. Is that more about his status or Johnny’s? That continues to be an interesting narrative for me. I also love the addition of Peyton List’s Tori, who finally gives Sam a true rival. I think if I feel sorry for anyone right now, it’s Sam. She’s lost quite a bit more than I realized, until I started thinking about it in this episode. Can Tori take even more from her? Is the dojo rivalry about to hit a fever pitch? Keep binging to find out!