Review by Christian Garcia
After striking first and striking hard with season one, Cobra Kai continues with an action and drama packed season two.
Plot Summary
After leading his dojo to victory in the All-Valley Tournament, Johnny Lawrence’s life becomes more complicated with the reemergence of his sensei, John Kreese who wants back into Cobra Kai. Johnny’s rival Daniel LaRusso reopens Miyagi-Do Karate in hopes to combat Cobra Kai’s influence on the valley. The rivalry between the two former champs and their dojos creates divisions amongst their students and has major consequences.
Characters
Johnny Lawrence
After leading Cobra Kai to victory in the All-Valley, Johnny Lawrence is still learning and growing as a sensei. After seeing his top students win by fighting dirty, he realizes he is taking them down the wrong path and works to set them on the right path, especially his top student Miguel. While trying to change Cobra Kai for the better, a ghost from his past re-emerges in the form of his sensei, John Kreese who has his own vision for Cobra Kai.
Daniel LaRusso
After losing to Cobra Kai in the All-Valley, Daniel and his student, Robby Keene reopen Miyagi-Do Karate with the hopes of taking down Cobra Kai and to help the kids in the valley learn karate a better way. However, Daniel’s renewed interest in karate causes him to lose balance and focus in other aspects of life including his dealership and his marriage.
John Kreese
The founder and former owner of Cobra Kai, John Kreese has returned from the dead for a second chance. His time away brought him to his lowest of lows and now he sees the success of his former student, Johnny Lawrence and Cobra Kai as his chance to redeem himself. At first, he seems to be ready to change along with Cobra Kai, but as time passes his true colors slowly emerge and he begins to usurp control over his former dojo.
Miguel Diaz
After winning the All-Valley championship, Miguel begins going down a path of ruthless aggression. However, his sensei Johnny guides him back to the right path. The path of mercy. He also is still reeling from his breakup with Sam and tries to move on with a new girlfriend, Tory. Miguel comes to a crossroads in which path he will pursue mercy or ruthlessness. The choice he makes in the end ultimately costs him more than he could have ever predicted.
Robby Keene
After losing to Miguel in the All-Valley final, Robby encounters a lot of change in his life. His sensei, Daniel decides to reopen Miyagi-Do to combat Cobra Kai’s influence in the Valley. Robby also deals with ongoing absence of his mother, a change in living situation as he moves in with the LaRusso’s and his blossoming relationship with Sam. However, things are not to last as he makes another mistake that costs him everything.
Samantha LaRusso
Sam finds a renewed love for karate as she resumes her training and joins Miyagi-Do along with her father and Robby. She is still reeling from her breakup with Miguel and her unresolved feelings for him threaten her new blossoming relationship with Robby. She finds a new rival in new Cobra Kai recruit; Tory Nichols and their rivalry boils over and has disastrous consequences.
Tory Nichols
Tory Nichols comes from a poor lifestyle and has had to fight and claw for everything she has in her life. She is a tough and no-nonsense kind of girl and after taking some kickboxing lessons is ready to learn more in Cobra Kai. She finds more than she bargained for as she develops a relationship with Miguel Diaz and finds a new rival in his ex, Sam LaRusso.
Hawk
After Cobra Kai’s victory in the All-Valley Tournament, Hawk rides the high of popularity. His confidence soon turns into cockiness, and he becomes more of a bully as the season progresses. While Johnny tries to guide him and the other students back to the right path, new sensei John Kreese gets in his head, and he becomes more ruthless. His new attitude costs him his girlfriend and his best friend.
Demetri
After initially refusing to join Cobra Kai, Demetri decides to give it another chance but after a rough encounter with John Kreese, he runs again. Tensions increase as his best friend Hawk soon becomes his enemy, but he soon finds a new home joining Miyagi Do.
Story Arcs
Johnny vs. Daniel
Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry carries over into their students and new dojos. Daniel’s reopening of Miyagi-Do heightens things as first the rivalry between the dojos is playful with competing commercials. However, the bad blood between them drivels down to their students.
At first Daniel is focused on taking down Cobra Kai but after a talk with Sam, he gains insight that makes him refocus on what’s more important. He is reminded that Cobra Kai is not the enemy and that they are not bad people, they’ve just been taught the wrong way. He makes the goal of Miyagi-Do to teach the kids in the valley karate a different way and a better way. As Daniel tries to get more students, Cobra Kai’s popularity continues to grow and after a spectacular showing at Valley Fest, they are more popular than ever.
While Daniel tries to grow Miyagi-Do, Johnny focuses on getting his students back on the right path. He realizes after their performance in the All-Valley that they are becoming just like he was as a student. The first day after the tournament he has the students retrain to fight more honorably. Their first encounter of the season is when Johnny runs into Daniel and Robby at the hardware store. Their encounter is awkward as Robby still holds resentment towards his father. He tells his father that Daniel is a better man than he ever will be which hurts Johnny and creates more resentment towards Daniel.
As the season progresses, the rivalry heats up after the emergence of John Kreese. Kreese constantly taunts Daniel and even shows up at Daniel’s dojo and tells him to prepare for war. Kreese does all of this without Johnny’s knowledge but given that Daniel can’t distinguish Johnny from Kreese and Cobra Kai, he assumes Johnny is part of the conflict. Kreese’s war hits when Hawk and some of Johnny’s students, trash the Miyagi dojo and steal Mr. Miyagi’s Medal of Honor. An angry Daniel goes to Cobra Kai and confronts Johnny. Johnny, not having been involved, is confused by his accusations. Daniel criticizes Johnny as a sensei and encourages some of his students to leave Cobra Kai which some end up doing.
After Johnny bans Kreese from Cobra Kai, there’s a moment of hope for him and Daniel’s rivalry to be settled. They end up on an unintentional double date and are at odds. They first try to one-up each other over their dojos but as the date progresses, they once again show they are more alike than they like to admit. At the end of the night, Daniel admits that although they are different, it doesn’t mean that they must be at war. Johnny agrees, says Kreese is about wars not him and even shakes Daniel’s hand.
However, their peace once again does not last long. Robby brings a drunk Sam to Johnny’s apartment to avoid her getting caught by her parents. A worried and enraged Daniel shows up at Johnny’s and breaks his way into his apartment. The two come to blows only to be broken up by Robby. Daniel chastises Robby and Sam and disowns him again and leaves with Sam.
After the fight at the school results in Miguel and Sam being injured and Robby going on the run, Johnny and Daniel share a moment in the elevator where they don’t say anything to each other. They stand there and sulk in their guilt as they blame themselves for what happened. They acknowledge each other but don’t say anything, most likely acknowledging that they both failed their students. It’s a subtle yet powerful moment that shows that their rivalry has reached dangerous levels and now their students are paying the price.
Cobra Kai vs. Miyagi-Do
After Cobra Kai’s victory in the All-Valley Tournament, Daniel LaRusso reopens Miyagi-Do Karate to prevent Cobra Kai’s influence from spreading across the Valley. At first, Daniel only has two students, his daughter Samantha and Robby Keene. As the season progresses, they recruit more students including Demetri and even a few Cobra Kai students.
Cobra Kai feels the threat of Miyagi-Do and goes to great lengths to stop them. They ruin their presentation at Valley Fest with a showcase of Cobra Kai and steal their thunder. As John Kreese’s influence begins to grow in Cobra Kai, the students become more aggressive and turn into bullies, especially Hawk. This leads to major tension amongst the two rival dojos. The romantic history between Sam and Miguel also causes tensions between them and affects their new relationships as well.
The rivalry between Sam and Cobra Kai newcomer, Tory Nichols is established in this season and is one of the major rivalries that carries on throughout the rest of the series. They live opposite lives as Sam comes from a wealthy family while Tory lives a poor lifestyle. In their first encounter, Sam immediately judges Tory as a bad influence given her more rebellious nature and even goes as far as falsely accusing her of stealing her mom’s wallet. The encounter results in Sam getting pushed into a food table. The hatred between them only intensifies after Sam discovers that Tory is dating her ex, Miguel.
Things take a turn for the worst after Miguel and Sam share a drunken kiss at a party. Tory witnesses the kiss and spirals. The tension boils over on the first day of school, when Tory challenges Sam to fight her. Their fight brings in Miguel and Robby and soon all students of Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai duke it out in the hallways. Tory seriously injures Sam during their fight and the fight comes to a halt when Robby kicks Miguel off the balcony which results in him breaking his back and being seriously injured.
The fight in the school has major consequences that affect the rest of the series. It is a crucial example of what happens when everyone falls out of balance and shows the tragic results it can have.
Johnny and Kreese's Relationship
After Cobra Kai wins the All-Valley Championship, a ghost from Johnny’s past returns in the form of his former sensei, John Kreese. Following Johnny’s loss to Daniel in Karate Kid, Sensei Kreese lost his temper with his student and attacked him nearly killing him until he was saved by Mr. Miyagi. Since then, Johnny has not seen his former sensei. Kreese returns wanting back into Cobra Kai. At first, Johnny wants nothing to do with his former sensei. However, Kreese shows up again revealing that he fixed his Johnny’s second place trophy and apologizes for his actions. Afterwards, Johnny agrees to let him observe his classes. Kreese gets into Johnny’s good graces by supporting him in his lessons and standing up for him when his students question his methods.
However, Miguel begins to worry about the stories that Kreese is telling and how they don’t add up and mentions it to Johnny. Johnny follows Kreese around and discovers that he has been living in a homeless shelter. After Kreese reveals his years of struggling to find work and showing signs of humanity, Johnny puts his trust into Kreese and makes him a sensei at Cobra Kai.
As time goes on, Kreese begins to have more influence over the students, particularly Hawk. When Johnny leaves to deal with his dying friend Tommy, Kreese begins to take control of Cobra Kai. He starts influencing the students into becoming more aggressive and to show no restraint. Things comes to a head at Cayote Creek where Johnny sees the full effect that Kreese is having on his students and afterwards Johnny cuts his ties with Kreese and bans him from the dojo. Johnny then gives his students a speech on when to show mercy and tries to get them back on the right path.
After Miguel is injured in the fight at school, a distraught Johnny is shocked to see Kreese back in Cobra Kai teaching his students. Kreese reveals that he has now become the full owner of the dojo with students Hawk, Tory, and others pledging their loyalty to Kreese. Seeing what has become of his dojo and realizing the mistake he made in trusting Kreese and bringing back Cobra Kai, Johnny tells Kreese that if he wants Cobra Kai, he can have it.
Johnny’s changing views on life made him believe that people can change which is what made him put his trust into Kreese. In the beginning of the season, he sensed the path that his students were going and worked to get them back on the right path. Once he saw that Kreese was setting them back on the same path he went on, he tried to get them back on track by getting rid of Kreese. However, the master manipulator that is Kreese was playing Johnny from the beginning. After giving Johnny the fixed trophy, Kreese stops sensing Johnny was going to come after him and had a smirk on his face showing he was up to no good. He kept Johnny comfortable by praising him and treating him like a superior but once Johnny took off to deal with his dying friend, Kreese took the opportunity to strike first, dig his claws into the students, and seize full control.
Robby and Sam's Relationship
Robby and Sam’s relationship grows as their training progresses. Their chemistry as fighting partners brings them closer. Sam is still reeling from her breakup with Miguel and as well as the friction between her and her friends because of the dojo rivalry.
Robby confides in Sam about his mom taking off and then his power in his apartment being cut off. After she tells her dad, Robby moves in with the LaRusso’s. Once he moves in, they are around each other more and grow closer. Their time as fighting partners made them better fighters as they acted as extensions of one another. They almost share a kiss, but Robby is reluctant to as he does not want to compromise his situation with Daniel. However, their feelings for each other grow too strong and they finally kiss and become a couple, in secret. Robby wants to tell Daniel, but Sam is not ready, and he respects her boundaries. The night that they first kiss, Miguel shows up to return Mr. Miyagi’s stolen Medal of Honor. Feeling insecure, Robby does not tell Sam and instead places the medal in the backyard so someone else would find it.
Although things seem great at first, Sam still has leftover feelings for Miguel. Upon discovering that Miguel is dating her rival, Tory, Sam becomes more conflicted. When Miguel tries to make peace with her, she calls him out for being with Tory to which he retorts by calling her out for being with Robby. She makes the comment that it’s not a date, confirming that she is conflicted. The tension continues when she and Robby attend Moon’s party where they once again see Miguel and Tory. After a heavy night of drinking, Sam ends up kissing Miguel, unbeknownst to her in front of Tory. The cops arrive and Robby takes a drunk Sam to his father Johnny Lawrence’s apartment. A concerned and angry Daniel shows up and lashes out at both Sam and Robby.
The next day at school, Robby confesses to hiding what Miguel did while Sam still hides her kiss with Miguel from him. Things escalate when Tory calls out Sam for what she did and reveals to Robby and the whole school about Sam and Miguel’s kiss. Things break out into a fight that results in Robby kicking Miguel off the balcony and severely injuring him. Robby flees in fear and Sam is left agonizing over the harm her actions caused.
Johnny and Miguel's Relationship
Johnny’s goal is to keep Miguel on the right and honorable path.
After fighting dirty to defeat Robby Keene in the All-Valley finals, Miguel is heading down the path of ruthless aggression. Miguel’s mom, Carmen, brings up her concerns over the changes in Miguel’s attitude and Johnny assures her that he won’t let Miguel go astray.
On the first class after the tournament, Johnny chastises Miguel and Hawk for how they fought in the tournament and reassured his students that there would be no more fighting dirty. Miguel goes to Johnny after practice and asks about his lesson. Johnny tells Miguel that he wants him to be better than he ever was and that he only wants what is best for him.
As John Kreese begins to influence the rest of the Cobra Kai students, Miguel is at first resistant to his teachings. However, as he gets closer to Tory Nichols, Miguel begins embracing Kreese’s lessons of no restraint, no mercy. When the students go to Cayote Creek, their game of "Capture the Headband” comes down to Hawk and Miguel. After Miguel beats Hawk, he finishes him off at the encouragement of Kreese. Johnny warns Miguel not to take the dark path with Kreese. Seeing the negative influence Kreese is having, Johnny expels him from the dojo.
However, Johnny’s advice to Miguel of showing mercy severely backfires in the finale. During the fight at school, Miguel has Robby beat but then remembers his sensei’s advice and shows him mercy which leads to Robby kicking him off the railing and Miguel gets seriously injured. He severely injures his back and is put in a coma. At the hospital, Johnny listens to a voicemail Miguel left him earlier and breaks down seeing his student unconscious.
Johnny’s quest to lead Miguel down the right path ultimately sends him down a worse path that puts his future and life in jeopardy. After promising to not let him go astray and to not fail him again, Miguel’s injury leaves Johnny feeling like he failed Miguel once again and in a more severe manner.
Daniel and Robby's Relationship
Robby tries to earn and maintain Daniel’s trust throughout the season. After lying to him in the previous season about his identity, Robby tries harder to maintain his sensei’s trust.
At the beginning of the season, he is still living alone in his and his mother’s apartment after she takes off with a guy. However, as time goes on his power gets cut out and he is in a desperate situation. He confides his situation to Sam who tells Daniel and Daniel makes the offer to Robby for him to come and live with the LaRusso’s. Robby happily accepts and is welcomed into the family. For once Robby has a family and a place where he feels at home.
Robby and Daniel grow closer as they train and grow Miyagi-Do. Robby also starts getting closer with Sam and he becomes conflicted about keeping their romance a secret from Daniel. At first, he chooses not to pursue a relationship with Sam out of respect for Daniel, but they cannot hold back their feelings and do get together. After a night out at a party, Robby brings a drunk Sam to Johnny’s apartment as she does not want her parents to see her drunk. The next morning, an angry Daniel shows up and rebukes Robby and tells him that he lost his trust, leaving Robby upset.
The next day during the fight at school, an enraged Robby kicks Miguel off the railing and severely injures him. Robby runs off in shame and Daniel is distraught over what his student has done. Robby who has been trying to do the right thing makes a mistake that costs him everything. He loses his girlfriend, the trust of his sensei and his sense of honor as his actions resulted in Miguel getting hurt.
Hawk and Demetri's Relationship
Hawk is riding the high from Cobra Kai’s victory in the All-Valley and is enjoying the newfound popularity that comes with it. Demetri also tries to ride the wave of popularity despite not being a member of Cobra Kai which annoys Hawk.
Their friendship becomes more strained after Hawk begins learning under John Kreese. Hawk begins to insult and berate Demetri more seeing him as what he is trained to hate, a weak nerd. Hawk sees Demetri as a rival after he joins Miyagi-Do.
After an encounter with Kreese, Demetri writes a bad review of Cobra Kai on Yelp. An angry Hawk threatens to hurt him unless he takes it down. Demetri is shocked by his friend’s behavior even asking him if he would really hurt him. The encounter results in a brawl where Miyagi-Do students Robby and Sam best Cobra Kai in front of everyone. Hawk’s girlfriend Moon is appalled by his new bully behavior and dumps him. This causes Hawk to become even angrier and even blame Demetri for his breakup.
At Moon’s end of summer party, Hawk tries to make her jealous only to be embarrassed after hitting on Moon’s new girlfriend. He is upset by this, and Demetri feels the wrath of it. At first, they bond over Doctor Who but after Demetri tells Hawk to find inner peace, Hawk dumps a beer on Demetri’s head. This causes Demetri to tell a large group of people at the party embarrassing stories about Hawk. An enraged Hawk is ready to attack him, but the arrival of the police stalls their fight.
When the fight breaks out at school, Hawk goes after Demetri. Demetri uses his teachings from Miyagi-Do to defend himself and sends Hawk crashing into a trophy case, humiliating him once again. Once binary brothers are now turned into bitter rivals, although Demetri does still hold out hope for his former friend. Hawk has fully transformed from the bullied into the bully.
Season Highlights
The School Fight
After tensions boiled over the summer between the students of Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do, they finally hit their breaking point on the first day of school. After witnessing Sam and Miguel kiss at Moon’s party, Tory calls out Sam to fight her in front of the entire school. Miguel and Robby rush to save their respective girlfriends. Robby tries to break up the fight between Sam and Tory, but Miguel intervenes and attacks Robby leading to a huge brawl breaking out in the entire school. This fight has heavy implications that affects everyone involved and sets the stage for the next season.
The fight ends after Robby kicks Miguel off the railing causing him to land back first on a rail and severely injuring him. This results in both Sam and Miguel ending up in the hospital with Sam suffering from gash wounds from Tory as well as broken ribs while Miguel is in critical condition with a broken back. Both Robby and Tory end up expelled from West Valley High School and Robby goes on the run after what he did to Miguel.
The fight at West Valley is a major turning point in the show and shows just how out of control the feud between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai has become. The fight has severe consequences that effect the show and journeys of the characters in the seasons to follow.
Old School Cobra Kai Reunion
Johnny’s journey takes a brief detour in the season when he learns about his former Cobra Kai teammate and friend, Tommy’s failing health. He reunites with Tommy and his other friends, Bobby, and Jimmy. Having just watched the original Karate Kid, it was touching to see the old Cobra Kai gang back together and this time as matured adults rather than high school bullies. Knowing that Tommy does not have much time left, the friends all spend the day together reminiscing about old times and reflecting on their life choices. Their reunion caps off with one final fight all together as they team up to beat up some rude bar patrons. It was fun to see the original Cobra Kai gang fight together one last time.
That night Johnny and Tommy talk about old times and Tommy admits to Johnny that he was in love with Ali. He also encourages Johnny not to give up and to believe that he can change the course of his life. He tells him he has time, and they have one last toast to it. Johnny and his friends wake up the next morning to find that Tommy has passed away in his sleep and the episode ends with the dark and ironic image of Tommy being put in a body bag, a callback to his classic line from the original Karate Kid.
Daniel and Johnny's Double Date
We get another moment of hope where it seems that Danny and Johnny's rivalry may finally come to an end. While out on his first date with Carmen, Johnny's date gets rocked by the arrival of Daniel and Amanda LaRusso. Both men are not happy at the seating arrangement but set their differences aside for the sake of their partners.
At first, they are at each other again bragging about their respective dojos. However, after a waitress makes a mistake with one of the orders, the two begin to bond over after agreeing that she should have written their orders down. Soon they start trading stories and getting along like long lost friends. The date culminates when the two couples go dancing and Carmen teaches Johnny to dance. It's one of the few instances where we see Johnny having fun and it's nice to see.
At the end of the night, Daniel and Johnny acknowledge that they're not so different and that even though they are different, it doesn't mean they need to be at war. Johnny agrees and shakes his hand, and they leave on good terms. It is a nice moment seeing them come together and although it does not last long, it is nice to see that there is hope yet for these two rivals.
Teasing the Return of Ali Mills
While a big part of the appeal of Cobra Kai is the nostalgia value, season two for the most part focused more on the new stuff rather than relying on nostalgia. However, it is still nice when the show does give us callbacks to the original Karate Kid films. After being mentioned a handful of times throughout the show, the last image at the end of season two shows Johnny receiving a friend request on Facebook from former girlfriend, Ali Mills.
This got fans excited for the next season as it promised that fan favorite, Ali would return in some form. Having played a major role in Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry, Ali’s return seemed inevitable and this small teaser was just what audiences needed to want to tune in to season three.
Final Thoughts
Cobra Kai’s second season is great follow-up season that raises the stakes and ups the conflict and drama. The rivalry between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do grows beyond Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry and leads to interesting conflict amongst the new generation of karate kids. The return of John Kreese is a welcome addition as his presences increases the drama and conflict and creates the war between the two rival dojos. It has great moments that highlight the strengths that each dojo teaches to their students and captures the spirit of the original films by showing the values instilled in karate and in real life.
The season finale upped the ante compared to the last season and changed the status quo and left a lot of questions in the air that got fans excited for the next season. While the first season gets you hooked, the second season keeps you invested and wanting more not just out of nostalgic value but because they further develop the newer generation of characters and give them interesting stories and conflicts that make them just as appealing to watch as the old school characters. It is is an excellent sequel season that will keep you coming back for more.
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