Cobra Kai - S02E05 - All In

Let's Talk - Cobra Kai
Episode 16: Cobra Kai - S02E05 - All In

Jason Connell and Sal Rodriguez break down Season 02 - Episode 05 (All In) of the Cobra Kai series and much more.

Synopsis: Daniel struggles to help a new student learn. Miguel makes a new connection, while Johnny tries to repair a relationship. Tensions between the two dojos build to a breaking point.

Original Episode: S02E05

Recorded: 10-28-19
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

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Transcript

Episode 16: Cobra Kai - S02E05 - All In

[00:00:00] JC: Welcome to Just Curious Media. This is Let’s Talk - Cobra Kai. I’m Jason Connell.

[00:00:07] SR: And I’m Sal Rodriguez.

[0:00:06.6] JC: All right, Sal. Here we are. Season 2, episode 5.

[0:00:10.4] SR: Big time excited. How is it possible that a show keeps getting better and better?

[0:00:14.1] JC: It's unbelievable.

[0:00:14.8] SR: It's grabbing me more and more about the collar, squeezing my collar.

[0:00:18.1] JC: I go back and watch these a second time for now – to now it's been several months since I've seen these episodes and I'm loving them all over again.

[0:00:25.0] SR: Yeah, this is definitely the type of show and I'm not just saying this, because there are certain shows that I love so much. I'll watch them again.

[0:00:30.5] JC: Like the Love Boat?

[0:00:31.9] SR: Yeah, Love Boat three’s company. I'm not the guy that watches things over and over. I'm not one of these guys who I've seen that movie 20 times. No, I haven't. This is one of those shows where I could totally go through it again. I could watch this entire show all over again.

[0:00:45.1] JC: Then you'll go back and watch Karate Kid 1 again and Karate Kid Part 2. I guess, I shouldn't call it Karate Kid 1. It's just the original.

[0:00:51.4] SR: The Karate Kid. I just saw Karate Kid 2 recently. I'm looking forward to our special edition of Let's Talk Cobra Kai - Karate Kid 2. Looking forward to that when that happens.

[0:01:00.8] JC: Special episode.

[0:01:01.8] SR:

[0:01:02.9] JC: This episode is called All In. It’s a 9.0 rating on IMDB.

[0:01:08.2] SR: Is that the highest? It's been 9.0?

[0:01:10.3] JC: No. Some hanging around that a little bit more, but every episode is high eights, low nines, solid.

[0:01:16.4] SR: Okay. There haven't been any 10 episodes. Are there 10s?

[0:01:20.1] JC: You know what, when I look, these are the most recent ratings maybe when they first come out. It's hard to hold a 10 on IMDB.

[0:01:26.3] SR: Oh, ratings can go up and down.

[0:01:27.9] JC: Yes. It's a collective of X amount of users.

[0:01:31.6] SR: I see.

[0:01:32.7] JC: This show rates very well. We open at an unusual place, a place we've never been, which is Eli's house and he's still pre-Hawk in this opening. His mother is calling the school about him being bullied.

[0:01:48.1] SR: Yeah. See, in the beginning I thought this was an actual commercial for possibly Miyagi-do or even Cobra Kai. I thought it was going to be one of those, “My son gets bullied.” Then Daniel-son walks in like, “You need Miyagi-do Karate.”

[0:02:00.9] JC: Yeah, I could see that.

[0:02:01.5] SR: That’s what I thought it was. I really thought that. Until she walked over and we notice that it's Eli. Before that, I swear I was like, “Oh, who's doing this commercial?”

[0:02:10.3] JC: Yeah, Amanda is going to kill Daniel for –

[0:02:11.8] SR: Exactly. You’re blowing more of the budget, the quarterly budget.

[0:02:16.0] JC: Eli is upset and he's so freaked out that he's going to be known as the kid with the weird lip and that's it.

[0:02:22.1] SR: Yeah. So what? He was a born – do they still call it harelip, or is there a new –

[0:02:25.7] JC: There's probably a new term.

[0:02:27.0] SR: Okay. That was the old term. It was harelip. Kids are born with that little gap in their top lip and then they saw it together. There have been celebrities that have this. Joaquin Phoenix, I believe was born this way. Cheech Marin, I believe was born this way. There are probably others. In fact, I have a friend who was like this. They were born this way. They stitch it up and you get on with your life. Obviously, this has developed into a strong complex.

[0:02:48.4] JC: At this point in time for Eli, yes.

[0:02:50.6] SR: Yeah. He's getting picked on and taunted. Kids are horrible. Kids are cruel.

[0:02:54.8] JC: They’re the worst. He's upset, runs off to his room, falls face down on his bed. I like the way we just come out of that and we're at the tattoo bar, or parlor, I guess what you call it.

[0:03:07.2] SR: He's face down weeping on his bed.

[0:03:09.4] JC: Face down weeping. We pull out and we see that they're doing more to his Hawk tattoo, his impressive Hawk tattoo.

[0:03:16.4] SR: Maybe adding some more detail, or some more color. It made me want to get a tattoo.

[0:03:20.4] JC: Uh-oh.

[0:03:21.0] SR: I don't have any tattoos, but it made me want to get a tattoo.

[0:03:23.4] JC: This show got me back into martial arts. It's going to get you become a tatted man.

[0:03:28.0] SR: Do you have any tattoos?

[0:03:29.3] JC: No. Never.

[0:03:30.3] SR: Do you have any desire to get any tattoos?

[0:03:31.7] JC: No.

[0:03:32.2] SR: Never?

[0:03:32.8] JC: Never.

[0:03:34.4] SR: Okay. I want to, but the question is what would I get?

[0:03:37.2] JC: Cobra Kai.

[0:03:38.3] SR: Maybe I should get a Cobra Kai insignia.

[0:03:39.6] JC: They never die.

[0:03:40.9] SR: Would I pull in the chicks? Would I pull in the Moons, or the Yasmines?

[0:03:44.8] JC: Aren't you in a relationship?

[0:03:46.3] SR: She doesn't listen to the show. Oh, and then he shows moon the tattoo that he got of her –

[0:03:52.6] JC: The small one.

[0:03:53.3] SR: Which by the way, I got to say the tattoo on his back is so impressive. Yet this moon tattoo, rather unimpressive.

[0:04:00.5] JC: What's an early relationship?

[0:04:02.8] SR: Really? Okay.

[0:04:03.6] JC: I'm sure he could add to it, like a big moon, a crescent moon.

[0:04:07.7] SR: Okay. He could add to the tattoo, make it more impressive later. There's a little moon on his chest and she's loving it and she gives him a big kiss.

[0:04:15.4] JC: He has such self-confidence, it's not even funny. It just oozes out of him.

[0:04:19.7] SR: It's a whole different world Hawk is living in now compared to him crying in his living room with his mother on the phone with the principal.

[0:04:26.7] JC: He flipped the ultimate script.

[0:04:28.8] SR: He did. I love that. I believe in flipping the script. I really do and I'm glad to see it in Cobra Kai.

[0:04:33.2] JC: Well, when your tattoo start arriving, we’ll know.

[0:04:36.0] SR: I'm going to show you first.

[0:04:37.3] JC: All right. We're now at Miyagi-do dojo and Demetri is not pleased about painting the fence.

[0:04:44.4] SR: No. He doesn’t like this formula of having to do manual labor. I'm under the impression that not only has Demetri not done any martial arts of course, but nothing physical, whatsoever.

[0:04:55.6] JC: No. Sal, I thought this is pretty funny that he saw right through Daniel's plan. No one else has ever questioned it, but Demetri knows exactly what he's up to. Do some muscle memory. I'll figure this out. Only Demetri.

[0:05:09.0] SR: Demetri was science partners with Eli, right? They were nerds. They were smart nerds.

[0:05:13.1] JC: Demetri is still a nerd.

[0:05:15.5] SR: Eli. Well, we get into that and –

[0:05:17.1] JC: He's no longer Eli.

[0:05:18.3] SR: Okay. Meanwhile, we get into it later in the episode where Demetri looks deep into the soul of Eli.

[0:05:23.8] JC: Yeah. I love Demetri’s character. I've said that previously. I think he brings a lot of humor, sarcasm and such a unique character to the Cobra Kai universe. Anyway, pretty funny. Then we go on to this montage of him and Daniel training. You can just see that Daniel’s got his hands full with this guy.

[0:05:42.1] SR: Well, because not only is he an uncooperative student, insubordinate in a way, but also zero dexterity, rhythm, balance, out of touch with his body. I know this, because I used to be a personal trainer. Some people have no connection to their body. It's like their body is just does its own thing. Some people are more connected and in-tune with their body. Demetri is completely out of touch with the physical. He's all mental. He's all cerebral. Nothing strength-wise. No bones and muscles happening.

[0:06:12.9] JC: I love when he asked Daniel if he could have a roller to paint with.

[0:06:17.1] SR: I did think that made sense.

[0:06:18.7] JC: I did, but it would go against the Miyagi way.

[0:06:21.3] SR: Well, because ancient Japan did not have rollers. I think rollers might have only been invented in the last maybe 100 years.

[0:06:27.3] JC: Roll on, roll off, roll on.

[0:06:30.4] SR: That would have changed the whole dynamic.

[0:06:32.3] JC: That would be a different move. It'd be a little crane move with your hand.

[0:06:35.4] SR: Roll on, roll off. Roll on, roll off.

[0:06:37.0] JC: I mean, yeah. Mr. Miyagi can make it work.

[0:06:38.8] SR: He could use that to his advantage. Daniel did say, “Left circle.” I was waiting for him to say it with the Miyagi accent, “Lefta circle. Righta circle.”

[0:06:49.5] JC: Very good. They're training and now we cut to the Cobra Kai dojo, where Johnny and Kreese are putting on a demonstration.

[0:06:56.7] SR: This was interesting to see, because we've never seen them spar, or demonstrate together. We saw Johnny get beaten up in the parking lot by Kreese many, many years ago.

[0:07:06.7] JC: Karate Kid 2.

[0:07:07.8] SR: Then we see the fight when Kreese arrives at the dojo for the first time, that night when the dojo nearly catches on fire, but we've never seen Kreese and Johnny cooperatively spar as partners.

[0:07:19.5] JC: Two adults in front of all these kids. It's pretty cool.

[0:07:22.3] SR: Very neat to see. Any Karate Kid fan has to appreciate. These are those moments that you can pause. You pause that video and you go, “Holy cow. Is this really happening?”

[0:07:32.7] JC: I like that you have video. Are you watching Cobra Kai on VHS?

[0:07:38.6] SR: Betamax. Betamax.

[0:07:40.4] JC: Betamax is a better format. The lesson is called you go all in. It really hits home with Miguel.

[0:07:47.8] SR: Yeah, you could tell that he's listening intensely, intensively.

[0:07:50.8] JC: He’s still focused on Sam and he doesn't know how to get her back. Yeah, this you go all in. That get really resonated with him.

[0:07:57.1] SR: Miguel is at that moment where all of us have been, or seen, where you're right at that point where it goes from love to desperation. It goes from something where you go, “Oh,” to something where you go, “Uh.” He's got it too bad. He's right at that point. It's a very crucial point. Now is where you got to make the move as we're going to find out, or you pull back. Something's got to happen. You cannot go on being this way, in this mode that Miguel is in.

[0:08:24.3] JC: He won’t.

[0:08:25.2] SR: He’s still not celebrated his victory in the All Valley.

[0:08:28.8] JC: That's right. You're right.

[0:08:30.0] SR: He’s just been in this funk, brokenhearted funk. It's really sad to see. I really want Miguel to make a comeback. I want him to become empowered again and not just be dragging around moping over Sam. That's nothing against Sam, but come on, Miguel.

[0:08:45.8] JC: Young love. Afterwards, Johnny and Kreese share beers. They compliment one another, which I found to be pretty funny.

[0:08:53.6] SR: Do they tink? Did they tink their bottle?

[0:08:55.5] JC: They cheered their Coors banquets. I love that Johnny says, “You still have a hell of a round house.” Kreese compliments him as well. I think Kreese says, “You almost got me with that hook,” which is pretty funny. Sal, in all of your fight viewing, if you will, have you seen many great round houses?

[0:09:16.4] SR: No.

[0:09:17.3] JC: Wow. How would you rate Kreese’s?

[0:09:20.0] SR: I'm a bad viewer, because I'm watching Kreese and Johnny and just sitting there going, “Oh, my God!” Yeah. I'm literally so enraptured by what's happening that I may miss dialogue, I may miss important things. I'm just sitting there going like — is this really happening?

[0:09:35.1] JC: When we interview them, I'll have to keep you out of the room.

[0:09:38.5] SR: I will get way too giddy. I'm going to bring – this is how pathetic I am. If we ever meet with Martin Kove, Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, I'm going to bring my friggin’ action figures. I will bring my action figures, which is so silly, but that's how excited I will be.

[0:09:54.7] JC: You’re a toy collector, so it's fitting.

[0:09:56.4] SR: I know. When I have these moments where I merge my worlds, I'll bring my toy collection of my Karate Kid action figures to a meeting really. I will probably just will die. I would die right there.

[0:10:08.3] JC: You did that in the past when we honored John Landis at the United Film Festival in Los Angeles and we played Animal House and we cemented his handprints out in front of the theatre. You brought some really cool figures.

[0:10:20.0] SR: I brought my flounder action figure Animal House.

[0:10:23.4] JC: Your Bluto. Well, right?

[0:10:24.4] SR: Well, I have Bluto and D-Day Animal House action figures by Mezco. These are probably about 15, 20-years-old now. Am I a nerd?

[0:10:32.6] JC: Yeah, but it’s acceptable. He thought it was really cool.

[0:10:34.7] SR: Okay. John Landis signed my flounder Animal House action figure, thanks to Jason Connell, of course.

[0:10:41.5] JC: You're welcome.

[0:10:42.9] SR: Believe me, if we ever meet The Karate Kid guys, the Cobra Kai guys, I'm bringing my stuff.

[0:10:49.2] JC: I can't wait. Kreese can't help, but push Johnny a little bit more on the guess who's missing from your class?

[0:10:58.5] SR: Yes. The most important student was absent, your boy. Oh, boy. He's doing a little dig there.

[0:11:03.8] JC: Referring to Robby, of course. Johnny was just like, “Hey, he doesn't want to be here.”

[0:11:09.0] SR: Then Kreese throws his words back at him, go all in.

[0:11:12.5] JC: Go all in.

[0:11:13.7] SR: Then he walks out and Kreese, oh boy. What is Johnny going to do with this information?

[0:11:18.2] JC: The puppet master has Johnny right where he wants him.

[0:11:21.5] SR: Okay. This is one of those turning points where you start to see – you don't know yet what Kreese has planned, but you do see him starting to exert power, start to manipulate, like you said. Yeah, you see, okay, Kreese has an agenda. What is it? We'll find out.

[0:11:36.8] JC: It's like that movie Being John Malkovich. You ever see that movie?

[0:11:39.6] SR: I did, but I have cinemanesia, I forgot it.

[0:11:41.9] JC: Cinemanesia. I like it.

[0:11:43.0] SR: Cinemanesia is where you forget.

[0:11:43.6] JC: That should be a snigglet. I like that.

[0:11:44.7] SR: You did. I forget certain movie stuff.

[0:11:46.5] JC: Well, it's about you can get in the mind of John Malkovich and then control him. Kreese is now back in the good graces of Johnny and the den of Cobra Kai and now he's starting to take over slowly, but surely.

[0:12:03.5] SR: He practically warned Johnny when he delivered the hole brumation, the snake goes into what is called hibernation in mammals, but with snakes and other reptiles, brumation sits, waits, doesn't sleep, eyes open, waiting for that moment. Right now, you see that's what Kreese is doing. He just foreshadowed it himself, if you paid attention in the cafe and now here's –

[0:12:25.4] JC: Betty's diner.

[0:12:26.6] SR: Yeah. Here he is doing exactly that. You got to hand it to him. He's pretty smooth.

[0:12:32.3] JC: He coined the phrase Cobra Kai. It's the most perfect name for him to run a dojo. He is a snake in the grass.

[0:12:41.5] SR: He is. I just don't know yet what is his overall plan, like just to take over a dojo? There's got to be more to it.

[0:12:48.2] JC: Yeah. Well, we'll soon find out. Now we're back at Applebee's, which is becoming a Cobra Kai students’ hangout.

[0:12:55.3] SR: I didn't know that it was Applebee's. That's Applebee's where they're at again?

[0:12:58.8] JC: It looks the same. I'm going to say it's Applebee's.

[0:13:01.4] SR: Do teenagers hang out at Applebee's?

[0:13:03.0] JC: They do in this world.

[0:13:04.2] SR: That's so great.

[0:13:04.9] JC: I love how they just take over the joint. They’re at various different tables. Miguel is always at his little to-top working on his laptop, you got the new recruits at their table and then the core. They’re spread wide and far. Hawk comes over and hazes the newbies, takes one of their last mozzarella sticks, or takes the last mozzarella stick. What's he discover, Sal?

[0:13:28.3] SR: One of these new kids shows Hawk a Yelp review on his phone and he starts reading all these horrible things about Cobra Kai.

[0:13:35.7] JC: One-star rating.

[0:13:37.2] SR: Well, yeah. I'm surprised it even got that. Then he's like, “Who's this idiot?” Then he flips up to see the profile and he sees that it's Demetri.

[0:13:44.9] JC: Oh, my gosh. He is pissed.

[0:13:47.7] SR: Eli sees a horrible Yelp review on Cobra Kai by Demetri.

[0:13:52.6] JC: Which his Yelp name is DMan2002.

[0:13:55.6] SR: I didn't see that. 2002 would be his birth year, I guess?

[0:13:58.2] JC: Yeah. Okay. He's upset, fuming, because one negative Yelp review will bring you down.

[0:14:07.3] SR: Yeah. Are you a Yelper? Do you Yelp?

[0:14:09.1] JC: I have switched over to Google for looking at places and looking at their ratings, but I'm not one to leave reviews. I know.

[0:14:17.7] SR: Even a positive one, like a quick one?

[0:14:19.5] JC: If it's a small business and I know I can help them, I've done it. Bigger establishments, I don’t.

[0:14:25.8] SR: Sure. Or if they already have 500 reviews, what's the point?

[0:14:29.4] JC: Right. I'm not a hater. If I had a problem with an establishment, I wouldn't rush to those outlets and write that. I would rush to the management and have the conversation, which I have done on many of occasions. They always make it right. Just do that. Don't be a hater.

[0:14:44.2] SR: I think some people just like – I think there's a lot of frustrated writers out there. I've noticed a lot of Yelp reviews when I've skimmed through Yelp occasionally, I notice a lot of people are I think I frustrated novelists.

[0:14:54.7] JC: Much like Demetri here.

[0:14:56.1] SR: Yeah.

[0:14:57.6] JC: He wrote like a textbook about his experience at Cobra Kai, when he could’ve just let it be sure and moved on like he did.

[0:15:04.2] SR: Then he wouldn't be getting into the troubles that he's –

[0:15:07.2] JC: He’s poking the bear.

[0:15:08.2] SR: He is. Why did he do that?

[0:15:10.4] JC: Because that’s who he is.

[0:15:11.6] SR: This was after he had his incident with Kreese. This was after Hawk told him to leave it alone, right?

[0:15:16.9] JC: Yup.

[0:15:17.7] SR: When Demetri was like, “Oh, that's what? A $10,000 fine and when you're in jail for assaulting a minor.” Hawk is like, “Leave it alone.” That's what Demetri should have done. Instead, he leaves this Yelp review and Hawk is pissed.

[0:15:28.6] JC: It's a great storyline. Okay, so now we're back at Miyagi-do dojo and Sam and Robby are training on the wooden raft and Daniel summons Demetri, who this time has a note from his mother.

[0:15:41.5] SR: Oh, he had his note from his mother about going easy on his arms and legs?

[0:15:45.1] JC: Exactly. He can't do extraneous activities.

[0:15:47.7] SR: I thought that was funny that he brings a note from his mother, like he's at school. I mean, Daniel doesn't need to see a parental note.

[0:15:55.5] JC: Then Daniel attempts to have that moment of enlightenment, if you will, with all the hard work has led to this, i.e. what I like to call in earlier episodes the Keyser Soze moment when all of it crystallizes and you can do the moves. We've seen Daniel do it in the Karate Kid with Mr. Miyagi, we saw Robby do it with Daniel. Here we are, we're going to see it again, but no, it's total fail.

[0:16:21.8] SR: Well actually, I got to hand it to the creators of the show then to reveal that you may have a method, the Miyagi-do method, but it's not cookie-cutter now and it's not necessarily going to get through to everybody. It's the old – when the student is ready, the teacher appears, while you have some students that just aren't ready.

[0:16:40.4] JC: That's exactly right. I know in sports analogy is sometimes, you have to curtail the game plan to your players. They don't necessarily fit inside a gameplan to look at their strengths and weaknesses and adjust to that and Daniel's realizing that. He was dealing with Robby. Robby is protégé. He's like Miguel. Demetri is it a very different baby step level. I think Daniel is being tested. Even Sam, Samantha is probably picks up karate very quickly. Her DNA and being around at a young age. Yeah, so here we are. Daniel even wants to know, “Demetri, do you even want to be here?” It’s a fair question.

[0:17:20.4] SR: It's a very fair question and the answer was not really. A fair question, a fair answer.

[0:17:25.3] JC: Now we see Johnny going to visit Robby and he's got his skateboard with him. I couldn't tell if he left it somewhere, or this is a gift for Robby, but what happens Sal?

[0:17:35.5] SR: Well, he sees an eviction notice on the door. That's what they do, by the way. I've never been evicted. I do know they put a big embarrassing notice on your door. It usually says three days to quit, which means you have three days to pay us or get out, or you will have in some areas these giant red signs, eviction. Then a lady walks out of the apartment he's like, “Hey.” He’s trying to get her attention, trying to flag her down. She ignores him. She moves on. Yeah. Johnny's standing outside of this door. He knocks, nobody answers any calls. Who does he call? His ex? He calls Robby's mother? Is that who that was?

[0:18:07.3] JC: Yeah.

[0:18:07.9] SR: The machine comes on.

[0:18:08.8] JC: Of course.

[0:18:09.5] SR: He just hangs up.

[0:18:10.9] JC: He's still on Cabo adjacent, as far as we know.

[0:18:14.6] SR: She's still on that trip with the Cabo guy.

[0:18:16.6] JC: Totally.

[0:18:17.2] SR: Who was supposed to pay the rent and apparently, didn’t.

[0:18:19.3] JC: Nice job, Rick.

[0:18:20.4] SR: Robby's mother is possibly Cabo adjacent with a guy who said he was going to pay your rent. Meanwhile, there's an eviction notice on your door and your son is living with his sensei. That's the scenario right now.

[0:18:32.0] JC: Who's worse? Robby's mother, or Yasmine?

[0:18:37.6] SR: I'm going to say Robby's mother, because I give Yasmine some percentage credit for just being young and stupid. I give young people a lot of slack. I cut young people a lot of slack for being stupid. Once people are over 30, over 40, I cut less slack for that.

[0:18:52.6] JC: There's no hope for Robby's mother.

[0:18:54.5] SR: By her age, I doubt it. She'd have to attend some Tony Robbins seminars possibly.

[0:18:59.6] JC: Quickly.

[0:19:00.7] SR: Yeah. Or go on Dr. Phil.

[0:19:02.0] JC: Yeah. Catch me outside. We're now at a food court and Sam is making fun of Robby's man bun in his ID.

[0:19:10.9] SR: This is where we learned that his middle name is Swayze.

[0:19:13.4] JC: What an amazing 80s middle name.

[0:19:16.1] SR: He just assumes that Sam doesn't know the movie, because he's like, “Oh, he was an actor in the 80s.” Sam’s like, “Hello. I've seen Dirty Dancing a 100 times.”

[0:19:24.1] JC: Robby loves it as well.

[0:19:25.5] SR: Yeah, so this is a little bit of their getting to know you moment.

[0:19:30.6] JC: I was hoping they would talk about Roadhouse Karate at the core of that, or even The Outsiders, which had Ralph Macchio in it, just any little reference there, but no. Not to be.

[0:19:42.8] SR: Yeah. There was a little opportunity there.

[0:19:44.6] JC: Outsiders also filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, my hometown. I digress.

[0:19:49.0] SR: Just a little bit of trivia, they were going to remake Roadhouse with Ronda Rousey in the lead, but then she lost her title in the UFC. She was champ when they were in talks about redoing Roadhouse with Ronda Rousey in the lead. She loses the title, they're like, “Sorry, Ronda.” Now Ronda I think is doing commercials for World of Warcraft, I believe.

[0:20:05.8] JC: How about that?

[0:20:06.2] SR: She's on WWE.

[0:20:08.6] JC: Well, I got to tell you, I went back and watched Roadhouse about I don't know, six, seven months ago. Just it was on. I saw it in the theater. I loved it for what it is.

[0:20:18.5] SR: Yeah, I liked it.

[0:20:19.1] JC: I tell you, Swayze is great, Sam Elliot is great, Ben Gazzara is great. It’s a fun little movie.

[0:20:25.0] SR: Are they doing their own martial arts?

[0:20:26.0] JC: Oh, and then what’s the – Kelly Lynch, also great. Yeah, Swayze looks legit. There is Ben Gazzara's son is also like a martial arts guy. I don't recognize him from anything, but there's some really good fight sequences in that film. Yes, it's cheesy. Yes, we get that. He works the Double Deuce and he's the best cooler in town. It's a fun movie and I enjoyed it.

[0:20:48.2] SR: No, I did. I remember liking Roadhouse. We were talking about Robby and Sam at the food court eating, we learned his name is Swayze. I just wanted to mention that Demetri runs off, because he realizes it's Wednesday. He runs off to the comic book store. For you nerds out there, Wednesday is when the new comic books come out. Demetri being the wonderful nerd that he is, runs away from the food court.

[0:21:10.6] JC: He does ask them if they need anything from the comic book store.

[0:21:13.4] SR: Yeah, and they're like, “Uh, no.”

[0:21:14.9] JC: No.

[0:21:15.7] SR: Then he says, “Oh, don't let anybody take my chicken,” right? He leaves this chicken with them.

[0:21:19.4] JC: Now we're back at Applebee's and Tory gets Miguel to open up. What do we learn?

[0:21:24.5] SR: Well, Miguel is sitting there on his computer in the middle of Applebee's and he's doing some Photoshop project.

[0:21:31.2] JC: Yeah, like flash, whatever he’s making.

[0:21:33.7] SR: You remembered, Miguel designed the Cobra Kai website, so he has skills. He probably has a good-looking future in IT, or web design, or whatever, computers.

[0:21:43.8] JC: Plus, he's won the All Valley, so he's golden.

[0:21:46.6] SR: He's going to have a chain of IT companies. He says to Tory, he goes, “Okay, fine. I could use a girl's opinion.” Miguel shows Tory this video that he made for Sam. It has a red heart, has an octopus, because him and Sam both like octopuses. I know a lot of people who like octopuses.

[0:22:02.3] JC: Well, it’s their relationship mascot.

[0:22:04.9] SR: It is.

[0:22:05.0] JC: Which I thought that was a cool phrase.

[0:22:06.4] SR: I like that. He shares that with Tory and Tory’s like, “Delete this now.”

[0:22:13.5] JC: Well, she says that, but there's a beat where you could tell that she was a little bit touched by it. It's got Roxette’s Listen to Your Heart playing. Listen to your heart. Yeah, that's right. I think –

[0:22:24.2] SR: Which is 80s.

[0:22:25.0] JC: I think she's touched, but then she's like, “Nah, dump it.” Tory's too tough to show emotion right now.

[0:22:31.6] SR: I still am cautious, skeptical about Tory.

[0:22:36.6] JC: We all are.

[0:22:36.9] SR: We don't know anything about this girl. She appears out of nowhere. She stole the bottle of vodka. Her and Samantha get into a fight.

[0:22:43.0] JC: Yeah. She sees Samantha in this video and realizes, “That’s your ex? The girl that I shove down?” She's got ulterior motives going on here. I'm telling you, she was touched in a way. It's like, oh, this is the guy that maybe a girl could trust.

[0:22:57.3] SR: Yeah. She was touched until she saw Samantha’s face.

[0:22:59.4] JC: Then she’s like, “I'm going to drive a bigger wedge between him and her.” That's my opinion. I could be wrong.

[0:23:04.3] SR: No, no. I think you're right, because she did do a switch when she – it went from just the heart and Miguel's face, to then the heart, Miguel's face and Sam's face, she did switch then.

[0:23:15.3] JC: She tells him, “Don't be desperate.” That's good advice. We've talked about this before. No one, except for you, Sal Rodriguez, wants to be chased by someone desperate.

[0:23:26.0] SR: Okay. Yeah, everybody knows especially for a guy, do not be desperate, do not act desperate. If you remember when Miguel and Johnny were riding in the car at the stop sign and they’re next to those two ladies.

[0:23:39.3] JC: I think it was a mother-daughter, but I could be wrong.

[0:23:41.8] SR: Okay. Mother-daughter and Johnny's like, “Play it cool.” So cool that they don't even say anything. They just drive –

[0:23:47.2] JC: So cool. They’ll find us someday.

[0:23:49.5] SR: Yeah. Tory's reminding Miguel, or schooling Miguel, “Hey, ease up. Stop looking desperate and delete this video.” She tells him to get over Sam by having some fun and she says, “And I know just the right place.”

[0:24:03.9] JC: There you go. A new door opens. Now Johnny is at the NoHo LaRusso Auto and attacks Anoush.

[0:24:12.2] SR: Yeah. Johnny arrives at LaRusso Auto looking for Robby, because he just came from his eviction notice on his door, bumps into Anoush who’s helping the customers. “Where's Robby?” Puts Anoush in an arm lock.

[0:24:24.2] JC: Anoush is lipping off a little bit.

[0:24:25.8] SR: Yes. Well, he puts him in an arm lock and pushes Anoush against a car and that's when Anoush says, “Okay, He's probably at Daniel’s. He moved in.” This is where Johnny Lawrence learns that his son, Robby, moved in with Daniel LaRusso. I just imagine that dagger going deep into Johnny's heart. Your son literally living with your enemy.

[0:24:49.4] JC: Well, it can't be too crazy for Johnny, because he did run into Robby at LaRusso's home and dojo.

[0:24:56.8] SR: Yes. There's different levels. He's living with him now.

[0:24:58.4] JC: Of course. Of course.

[0:24:59.4] SR: He is becoming family now.

[0:25:00.9] JC: He also punches Anoush before he tells him that.

[0:25:04.5] SR: Oh, he gives him a punch in the ribs.

[0:25:05.3] JC: Punch him right in the ribs. Anoush actually took that punch pretty well, I thought.

[0:25:09.2] SR: Well, he might have had a little bit of martial arts training. Who knows?

[0:25:11.6] JC: I like how there's no consequences in this world.

[0:25:14.4] SR: I thought about the too. No police involved.

[0:25:16.7] JC: If someone shows up at someone’s work, puts him on an arm bar, punches them, assaults them, they're going to jail.

[0:25:23.4] SR: That's true. For those of you who live in the San Fernando Valley, you will know that you may call the police and they might not show up, or might not show up for 45 minutes. That can happen.

[0:25:33.8] JC: It's not Beverly Hills.

[0:25:34.2] SR: No. It’s entirely possible that he had time to get away and then maybe Anoush didn't want to press charges. Sometimes, you may want to call the police on someone, but then you may think, but what would the ramifications be of calling the police on this person? Things may get worse. Maybe I should just drop it.

[0:25:51.1] JC: Then if there's ever talk about what Louie did to Johnny's car, Anoush is probably a little freaked out.

[0:25:58.1] SR: Yeah. They don't show this, but we just imagine that Anoush decided to forget about it and move on.

[0:26:03.1] JC: He's no rat.

[0:26:03.6] SR: Which is smart, because look what happens to Demetri who should have moved on and not kept that Yelp review up?

[0:26:11.4] JC: I just hope Anoush does not do a bad Yelp review. It's all I hope.

[0:26:14.6] SR: Was Anoush the one that says he used to be on the Asian-Pacific dating or something like that?

[0:26:19.3] JC: Yes. When you say used to, you mean currently.

[0:26:22.5] SR: Okay. Yeah. Louie’s gone, right? He's gone.

[0:26:26.2] JC: I don't think Louie works for LaRusso Auto anymore.

[0:26:29.9] SR: Okay. I just imagined that in this world, if you can forgive Kreese and bring him back into the fold, I would imagine Louie can come back at some point and work for LaRusso Auto again.

[0:26:40.7] JC: It would take Daniel's mother to bring him back.

[0:26:43.2] SR: We may see that.

[0:26:44.3] JC: Now we're at the comic book store and Demetri is talking to himself, looking at comics, until –

[0:26:51.0] SR: You don't see it at first. All you see is Demetri in the foreground, you see a shelf of comic books behind him. You see the tips, the tips of Hawk’s Mohawk.

[0:26:59.7] JC: The spike.

[0:27:00.4] SR: Yeah, the spikes of his Mohawk above the shelving walking behind him and that's when you're going, “Oh, no.”

[0:27:07.4] JC: Here he comes.

[0:27:08.8] JC: Yeah. Hawk is pissed.

[0:27:10.8] JC: He’s not alone.

[0:27:12.0] SR: No. He's got these two new recruits. Chris and I forgot the other guy's name.

[0:27:15.7] JC: Rocksteady and Bebop.

[0:27:17.4] SR: Yeah, as Demetri calls them.

[0:27:18.6] JC: From?

[0:27:19.3] SR: From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Heroes in a half shell. Turtle power.

[0:27:28.9] JC: Wow. I actually love the cartoon, but you obviously loved it more.

[0:27:32.6] SR: Well, I remember the song.

[0:27:34.5] JC: Anyway, he comes in, there's even more Cobra Kais in the background, some —

[0:27:39.0] SR: Yeah, all of a sudden three guys pop-up behind Demetri. I've never seen these kids before.

[0:27:42.4] JC: No. There’s always more Cobra Kais around.

[0:27:44.3] SR: There is. They slither in. You have two or three behind Demetri, you got three in front of Demetri. You got five, six guys surrounding Demetri.

[0:27:53.4] JC: What does he do at first?

[0:27:55.1] SR: Well at first, Demetri tries to get into Hawk’s head.

[0:27:58.8] JC: He does a little bit.

[0:27:59.2] SR: Yeah, because they're old friends. They're old science nerd buddies.

[0:28:02.4] JC: Yeah, they're super good friends, until recently.

[0:28:04.1] SR: Yeah. They were best friends. Demetri looks at Hawk in the eyes and says, “I know who you are, Eli.” You see a little bit of wilt – a little bit –

[0:28:14.1] JC: Doubt.

[0:28:14.3] SR: Yeah. You see that self-doubt appearing in Hawk’s eyes, but then he quickly comes to and he realizes he's going to kick Demetri's ass.

[0:28:22.8] JC: It reminds me of Darth Vader shedding Anakin Skywalker from his memory banks.

[0:28:27.7] SR: Yeah. Some people call it a dead name.

[0:28:30.6] JC: Demetri also says, “I've been training in karate at Miyagi-do.” Hawk says, “Let's see your moves.” Then Hawk proceeds to kick and sweep Demetri on the ground in a matter of seconds.

[0:28:42.2] SR: Yeah. I mean, we all saw that coming. I mean, I got to hand it to Demetri. He was going to go toe-to-toe at lost cause. Yeah, he's quickly put down.

[0:28:52.9] JC: Then what happens?

[0:28:53.9] SR: Then he gets back up, he starts running.

[0:28:55.5] JC: He makes a run for it. I don't know if you knew this or not, but the track plane, the broken edge track, No Shelter, is the exact same song playing in the original Karate Kid during the Halloween chasing.

[0:29:11.1] SR: See, these are all these little nuggets, that unless you've seen the Karate Kid. Even I've seen the Karate Kid, but I didn't notice. These are the things Jason notices; background music, phone numbers having meaning, security codes you referencing them somewhere. I did not know that. The same song used in the skeleton chase scene from the original Karate Kid. Pretty cool.

[0:29:31.5] JC: Well, these creators know it. I got to give them total props for it, because I was sitting there enjoying the scene I thought, “Wait a second. This song is so familiar.”

[0:29:41.7] SR: Well, that's what I thought too. I thought it was just a familiar 80s song, but I didn’t think it was –

[0:29:45.8] JC: Everything that these creators do has a reason. Why not have a similar chase scene in this world as you did in Karate Kid?

[0:29:53.8] SR: Well, also an example of history repeats itself.

[0:29:56.4] JC: Completely.

[0:29:57.5] SR: Yeah. Demetri runs back to the food court, back to the table he was sharing with Sam and Robby. They're gone. He says, “Of course.” All of a sudden, he gets surrounded –

[0:30:07.6] JC: They got his arms back.

[0:30:08.8] SR: Yeah. One of them holds his arms back. Hawk is about to go in for the kill and then out of nowhere flying in Samantha and Robby.

[0:30:17.7] JC: Well, Samantha comes in first.

[0:30:19.6] SR: Wow.

[0:30:20.0] JC: Sweet move. She comes flying out of nowhere.

[0:30:23.1] SR: Wait. Are you saying that Samantha struck first?

[0:30:25.8] JC: Well, defensively. Defensively struck first.

[0:30:29.1] SR: Yeah, but in that moment no official punches have been thrown yet in that food court.

[0:30:33.4] JC: I don’t know if Miyagi-do has to take the first punch. The first punch or kick, whatever Hawk was doing was on its way to being delivered.

[0:30:41.5] SR: I was so damn impressed.

[0:30:43.0] JC: Then an incredible fight sequence breaks out.

[0:30:45.1] SR: Yeah. They get into an awesome mega fight in the middle of the food court at the mall. I wonder which mall this was, by the way. Could have been Topanga. I think it was probably Topanga –

[0:30:54.4] JC: It’s probably in Atlanta.

[0:30:55.9] SR: Well, okay the real mall is in Atlanta, but they're in the valley officially.

[0:30:59.6] JC: Yeah, it's got to be Topanga’s mall.

[0:31:00.9] SR: It’s got to be Topanga, or maybe North Ridge Fashion Center.

[0:31:03.0] JC: Is somebody filming this thing? Someone has to have footage of this incredible fight.

[0:31:08.6] SR: Yeah, I thought that too. Because you have a crowd of people, these are all extras –

[0:31:11.2] JC: A lot of people.

[0:31:12.2] SR: Surely in today's age if you see a fight at the mall, someone's going to break out their phone.

[0:31:16.5] JC: This is going to be on the local news.

[0:31:18.5] SR: Yeah. I don't remember seeing if any – I saw the reactions of the extras. I always look at extras. As a former extra, I look at extras. I like to see their reactions. I like to see sometimes a little extras bloopers where you'll see extras doing things they shouldn't be doing. Yeah, I thought that too. Someone would have been filming this. This would have been on YouTube quick. This would have been on Instagram quick. Yeah, this was a spectacle.

[0:31:39.2] JC: What happens?

[0:31:40.2] SR: Well, they go back and forth. Then finally gets down to where Hawk is about to deliver a Superman punch –

[0:31:47.0] JC: Yup, to Robby.

[0:31:48.3] SR: For you fight fans, that's Hawk delivering a Superman punch to Robby to end it, right? Or to try to knock him out. Then what happens?

[0:31:57.0] JC: He kicks him.

[0:31:57.6] SR: Yes. Robby kicks Hawk as Hawk is going in for the Superman punch. That was fantastic.

[0:32:02.8] JC: Because the Superman punch, it's very telegraphed –

[0:32:05.9] SR: Yeah, very showy.

[0:32:06.4] JC: You're in the air, you're playing your hand and Robby had enough time to react and kick him.

[0:32:13.4] SR: It was fantastic.

[0:32:14.1] JC: Not only kick him, knocked him out.

[0:32:15.8] SR: It was great. That would have been knockout of the night if that was UFC. This fight would have been fight of the night, if it were UFC.

[0:32:23.0] JC: What was also going on was the wheel technique was at work.

[0:32:27.0] SR: Yes. All the training that Sam and Robby did where they were synchronized, mimicking each other, mirroring each other, all coming to fruition.

[0:32:36.7] JC: They're both doing the same thing simultaneously on opposite sides. They also protected Dmitri throughout this whole fight, because he wasn't fighting.

[0:32:44.5] SR: They guarded him.

[0:32:45.2] JC: He didn't know what to do. He's out of his element, so they knew how to work together and cover him up. It was really cool, man.

[0:32:52.1] SR: They even at one point, Demetri's stooped over and then they roll over his back.

[0:32:57.2] JC: Yeah, used him. Yes.

[0:32:58.2] SR: This was a fantastic scene. One thing that the Karate Kid and Cobra Kai universe is so great about is when you see the training come to fruition, when you see these almost silly methods of training, whether it be sanding, or painting, or standing on a raft in a pond and you see it all come to fruition and you go, it's one of those aha. “Ah! That's what it's about.” This was a fantastic scene. I have an affinity and an affection for malls. I love malls. Malls are disappearing in our nation. I love a good fight scene in the mall. This was really great.

[0:33:35.7] JC: I love the mall as a high schooler as well and middle schooler. Again, they finish the fight, they bested the Cobra Kais, they get their chicken for Demetri, or Demetri gets his chicken and they walk away. No security. No cops. A little far-fetched.

[0:33:52.0] SR: Did they run?

[0:33:53.8] JC: No. They just casually walked away.

[0:33:56.3] SR: Well okay, if you’re mall security and you see these martial artists, you're probably not going to try to step in if you're smart.

[0:34:02.9] JC: They weren't the aggressors. Self defense, but they still don't have to answer any questions, which I found to be funny. Cut to Johnny who's driving home and he’s smashed.

[0:34:14.2] SR: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He is driving drunk.

[0:34:16.5] JC: Not good. Carmen sees him. Takes mercy on him and invites him in, because he's just – he's gone.

[0:34:24.6] SR: Yeah. Carmen is walking by with her laundry going to the laundry room and yeah, he's wasted. This guy's way too drunk to be driving.

[0:34:31.7] JC: She's going to sober him up.

[0:34:33.0] SR: Yeah. She's going to bring him in and she ends up giving him coffee.

[0:34:35.7] JC: Now we're back at LaRusso's and Sam and Robby talk with Daniel about the fight and he's checking in on them, making sure they're okay. It's like after a big sporting event, their adrenaline is pumping, they're excited for what has happened. They could use their training for good. They could use their training for good. They didn't go out and look for a fight. They protected Demetri, a new fellow student. Then Daniel tells Robby that he's so happy as part of the family. Touching little moment there.

[0:35:08.4] SR: Yes. As you see Robby drawing closer to Daniel, at the same time by default, you see Robby drawing further from his father, Johnny. It's bittersweet. Johnny's losing his son to Daniel, Daniel's gaining a son, to speak. Robby's gaining a father, so to speak.

[0:35:25.4] JC: Very true. Then Daniel goes to cheer up Demetri. You can see Demetri's pretty sad about the whole fight and his inability to take part in it.

[0:35:34.6] SR: Yeah, he thought power is –

[0:35:35.1] JC: Having to be saved.

[0:35:36.7] SR: Yeah. Well, not only feeling powerless, but also I think he started the whole thing really. He left the bad review. Hawk told him to take it down. Demetri could have said, “Fine.” He could have got on his phone and taken it down immediately. Instead, he refused then he ran and then he got Sam and Robby involved. Meanwhile though, he didn't help really. He had to be protected.

[0:35:58.7] JC: He probably realizes that his relationship with Eli, i.e. Hawk, is just no more.

[0:36:04.7] SR: That's a whole another thing. He's lost his best friend. Yeah, they are on the outs. Yeah, Demetri's in the dumps. I liked when he said though, he says, “I can't wax on. I can barely wax off.” You know that was a play on words, pun.

[0:36:19.3] JC: It was really good.

[0:36:20.2] SR: It was hilarious.

[0:36:21.2] JC: Then he says, “You got Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen in there and I'm just Sam Tarly.”

[0:36:27.7] SR: Yeah, that's a Game of Thrones reference. Do you watch Game of Thrones?

[0:36:29.7] JC: Of course.

[0:36:30.0] SR: You do. Okay, so I don't Watch Game of Thrones. I know about the show. I have the action figures.

[0:36:34.3] JC: It's a great reference. I love that Daniel got it without missing a beat and says that Sam Tarly killed a white walker. Demetri like, “Wow. A, you watched it. B, good point.

[0:36:47.4] SR: Yeah. Meaning, there's hope for you.

[0:36:49.2] JC: Even someone who’s mind over brawn, like Sam Tarly. He was smart more than he is a warrior, but he even stepped up one episode and did something heroic and Demetri is capable of that. That was nice.

[0:37:01.2] SR: Yeah. Well, Daniel is good with the pep talks. Daniel and Johnny are both good with the pep talks. They're very good. Where were these guys when I was a kid? That's what I want to – where were the Johnnys and Daniels when I was a teenager?

[0:37:12.4] JC: They were fighting in the All Valley ’84 tournament.

[0:37:16.2] SR: They were literally.

[0:37:19.2] JC: They end the sequence with Daniel and Demetri running through the lesson recap scene again, but this time much slower.

[0:37:26.9] SR: Yes. We see Daniel throwing some kicks, Demetri blocking. Daniel says, “Switch,” switches stances to southpaw. Really nice. Yeah. Daniel is becoming a better sensei.

[0:37:37.5] JC: Absolutely.

[0:37:38.2] SR: That's what's happening.

[0:37:39.2] JC: Now we're outside the Cobra Kai dojo and Moon is upset with Hawk about beating up Demetri.

[0:37:45.5] SR: Yeah. She says, “You're fighting over a Yelp review,” which is yeah, that's what it boiled down to.

[0:37:50.4] JC: You’re fighting your friend over a Yelp review.

[0:37:53.8] SR: Now I did not anticipate this. While this scene is happening, we're seeing that she's upset. I figured she would maybe, “Oh, I don’t want to see you for a while or whatever.” She breaks up with Hawk in front of the Cobra Kai dojo. Breaks up with him and says, “I don't want to date a bully.” Wow. She's out of there.

[0:38:11.1] JC: He had a chance to change his tune, but he didn't.

[0:38:13.8] SR: Hawk is very stubborn. Obviously, we've learned he carries some pain with him, a lot of bad memories, a lot of being picked on, the hair lip stuff feeling like a freak, feeling like a loser like he told his mother. We all have pain and anger. Don't let it dominate you and dominate your character and that's what's happening. Hawk as you said before, going to the dark side.

[0:38:36.6] JC: Oh, yes. He storms into the dojo and attacks the bag. Then Kreese enters and says, “The fight is not over until you say it is.”

[0:38:47.1] SR: Yeah, there's Kreese capitalizing on a young man's moment of vulnerability. Hawk is there struggling, suffering, obviously in pain, pounding this bag out of anger and Kreese sees that perfect opportunity to put that little piece of something inside of Hawk’s head.

[0:39:04.2] JC: Yeah. He is absolutely turned to the dark side, if he hadn't already.

[0:39:09.1] SR: Yeah, the fight is over when you say it is. Pretty powerful. If you're in a moment of vulnerability and pain, you're going to be like, “That's right.”

[0:39:16.3] JC: We just lost a fight. You're embarrassed and you literally just lost your girlfriend.

[0:39:21.4] SR: Yeah, and your best friend is gone. Yeah. Lost, lost, lost, lost.

[0:39:24.1] JC: He's running towards rage and strength. He's burying his emotions in that.

[0:39:30.1] SR: The good news is for me as a fan and viewer, when I see Kreese doing this is when I go, “Aha!” Before for a long time I was like, “Well, I don't know what to make of Kreese. I don't know what he's planning.” Well, now I know he's underhanded. There's no like, “Oh, well. I'll give him a chance.” No. Kreese has an agenda now and we're seeing it starting to manifest.

[0:39:50.2] JC: I learned enough about Kreese in The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part 2 and The Karate Kid Part 3. I do not trust that guy. Do I like him as a character? Absolutely. Do I trust him? No way.

[0:40:04.5] SR: Well okay, so now I'm onboard for mistrusting Kreese. Stupid me willing to give him an opportunity for a few episodes. Kreese is getting into Hawk’s head. Yeah, pulling him more into the darkness. That's what he's doing.

[0:40:16.4] JC: Now we're back in Miguel’s and Carmen and Johnny continue to talk and we get a brief Karate Kid flashback.

[0:40:22.7] SR: Yeah. Well, because he says Carmen asks about Daniel. Well, tell me about Daniel. Then we have the flashback of Johnny getting kicked by Daniel, punched by Daniel on the beach and the tournament.

[0:40:33.6] JC: This guy has been driving me crazy since high school.

[0:40:35.5] SR: Yeah. He says, “He’s been a thorn in my side since high school.” The funny thing is though, that montage was in Johnny's head. That's how he remembers Daniel LaRusso.

[0:40:46.1] JC: Yeah. Not me chasing you with my skeleton costume on, not me pushing you down with the stereo at the beach.

[0:40:54.1] SR: Not and my buddies on motorcycles knocking you off your bicycle.

[0:40:57.4] JC: Not that. That didn’t happen.

[0:40:58.5] SR: No.

[0:40:59.3] JC: Selective memory.

[0:41:00.4] SR: No. Johnny sees himself as the victim in this relationship all these years.

[0:41:07.7] JC: Then Carmen gives him some good advice about how to end a rivalry.

[0:41:12.2] SR: She says, “You have to be the bigger man.” All these wonderful women. Carmen –

[0:41:16.1] JC: Wonderful.

[0:41:17.2] SR: Amanda. Samantha too. You could tell she's very warm-hearted.

[0:41:20.1] JC: Absolutely.

[0:41:21.1] SR: The women hold this thing together. The guys are out to lunch on Cobra Kai.

[0:41:25.2] JC: I think this goes beyond this Cobra Kai world.

[0:41:28.2] SR: It's true. Yeah. Carmen says – gives him advice, because she has experience. Miguel’s dad –

[0:41:33.3] JC: Her ex-husband.

[0:41:34.6] SR: Yeah, her ex-husband Miguel's dad was involved in some high-level crime, I believe, had a lot of enemies as she said. Yeah, you got to rise above it. You got to be the bigger man. By this time, Johnny's a little sobered up, Johnny has been drinking coffee or café, as my people say. Now I am curious where Miguel's grandmother is at this moment in time.

[0:41:53.5] JC: Yeah, we haven’t seen her recently, have we?

[0:41:55.0] SR: We haven’t seen her since the tournament.

[0:41:57.4] JC: I hope she wasn't written off the show. Come on, grandma.

[0:42:01.0] SR: Abuelita. Donde esta Abuelita.

[0:42:04.1] JC: Maybe she went back to Ecuador to take care of some business. Should be back.

[0:42:07.2] SR: Taking care of Miguel's father's business while he's not around.

[0:42:12.2] JC: Now we're at a playground and Tory and Miguel are connecting.

[0:42:16.0] SR: Watching this show brings back so many fond memories. I actually had a really good teenagehood. I had a great time. In fact, I had too great of a time as a teenager. This show has given me a lot of fond memories. Believe me, making out at the park in a playground at night, one of the highlights.

[0:42:33.1] JC: Then at 10:36, a plane flies right overhead and it's the last plane out of Burbank Airport. It’s an impressive scene.

[0:42:41.6] SR: Now I'm thinking where would this park be. I know exactly the flight path out of Burbank Airport. As a matter of fact, I was just at Burbank Airport today. Yeah, I know where they would be.

[0:42:52.2] JC: This could be Van Nuys. It could be –

[0:42:54.7] SR: You know what? There is a park in Van Nuys, on Van Nuys Boulevard near Magnolia, where this could be the park where that plane flies over. There's also a nice soccer field there.

[0:43:04.8] JC: Then Tory does a little script flip of her own and instructs Miguel to make a move.

[0:43:12.3] SR: Yeah. She has her motives. She has her personal agenda and it seems to be hook up with Miguel. She is definitely assertive and puts herself in that right situation where she goes, “Yeah.” Because Miguel mentions Sam and Tory's like, “You almost went one whole hour without mentioning Sam.” Then Miguel says, “Well, my sensei told me to go all in. Make a move.” That's when Tory says, “He's right.” Miguel's like, “Huh?”

[0:43:40.9] JC: Make a move.

[0:43:42.4] SR: Miguel, then the light bulb goes, “Oh.” Yeah, she's pretty assertive.

[0:43:47.7] JC: This might not be a bad thing for Miguel, at least in the short-term.

[0:43:51.9] SR: These are two young available teenagers. I say no mercy.

[0:43:57.5] JC: Fair game. Now we're back at LaRusso's and Sam and Robby make s’mores. Is that what Sam called them? They're s'mores, but they have peanut butter cups?

[0:44:07.3] SR: Yeah. She called them something different. They're like s'mores.

[0:44:09.9] JC: Sam mores.

[0:44:10.8] SR: They’re s’mores-ish.

[0:44:13.0] JC: Yeah. It’s her name in there. As they blow out flaming marshmallow, what happens?

[0:44:20.3] SR: They're really close. Their heads are close. They both blew out the marshmallow, their lips are in a pucker position, we're coming right off the scene with Miguel and Tory at the park, so we go, “Oh, here's this parallel now. Miguel and Sam are finally going to hook up and at least make out.” Right before they do, Robby pulls back. He stops.

[0:44:42.3] JC: He shows good judgment and restraint there.

[0:44:45.4] SR: Well, Robby has a really good thing right now. He has a home, a nice home, he's staying in a nice place, eating good food, Amanda's there, a great woman, great mom, your sensei owns the place.

[0:45:00.2] JC: /father figure.

[0:45:01.4] SR: Sensei/father figure. This girl you have a crush on who's becoming one of your best friends, in other words, everything is great, don't screw this up. He knows getting involved with Sam could be a bad idea.

[0:45:16.1] JC: Yeah. If it's meant to be, slow roll it. If they're meant to be together, because they do develop this great connection, there's no rush, because he does have a good thing going. Sam showed no restraint.

[0:45:28.0] SR: Sam was going to go for it.

[0:45:29.4] JC: She got caught up in the moment and she probably really cares for Robby.

[0:45:32.8] SR: Let me tell you something. I totally get Robby's restraint. I totally support that, because I would think similar. I would think this may screw things up. I don't want to screw things up. Robby wants to be on a straight and narrow now it seems. Robby has flipped his own script.

[0:45:49.9] JC: He has screwed up enough in his life to know there's consequences that come with that.

[0:45:53.0] SR: Yeah. I totally support his decision to back off. Sam did seem a little disappointed. She did seem disappointed.

[0:45:59.2] JC: That they'll come, if it's meant to be.

[0:46:01.5] SR: Yeah. I think he was trying to explain to her, like it's not you, you're great. It's just that I don't want to ruin – I think he was trying to explain that to her, but I don't think he did a great job of explaining that, so I think she felt personally rejected.

[0:46:13.0] JC: If they go too far down this path, it'll be too platonic. That's what it's meant to be then.

[0:46:17.6] SR: You may just be in the friend zone and that's maybe the way it should be. There's one thing I definitely have learned in life; young dating, is just because you're attracted to someone doesn't mean you need to hook up with them. When I was young, oh, well, we got the hots for each other, we need to hook up.

[0:46:33.1] JC: Yeah. You burn every bridge in town. Now we cut to Miyagi-do dojo at night and we see Hawk and company arrive and they're vandalizing it.

[0:46:44.0] SR: Oh, my God.

[0:46:45.3] JC: This is disgusting.

[0:46:46.8] SR: They spray paint on the sign. It's Hawk and I think the same guys from the mall, is it?

[0:46:51.9] JC: Some, but it's not the big guy. It’s some other people we don’t know very well.

[0:46:55.0] SR: It’s not Chris. Okay, so more ancillary characters.

[0:46:58.4] JC: Correct.

[0:46:59.1] SR: In fact, we don't even see until a few scenes later –

[0:47:01.8] JC: The morning, the very next scene.

[0:47:03.5] SR: They start to vandalize Miyagi-do and it is very hard to watch. It was very hard to watch. I'm just thinking, “No Hawk.” I wish I could reach through the screen like, “No, Hawk. Why are you doing this?”

[0:47:15.1] JC: They didn't even try to be discreet about it. They wrote Cobra Kai, but we'll get to that. Now we’re at Miyagi-do, it's the morning and we’re able to see the aftermath of the vandalism.

[0:47:27.2] SR: We first see Robby's reaction to the vandalism. Dojo is trashed and then Daniel, this was way sad. Daniel’s crouched on the ground picking up what was the framed Medal of Honor. Miyagi's Medal of Honor.

[0:47:43.6] JC: Which Daniel framed.

[0:47:45.0] SR: Yes. Daniel had that framed in Karate Kid 2.

[0:47:48.5] JC: They stole the Medal of Honor.

[0:47:51.8] SR: Then Sam screams from outside, “Dad.” Robby and Daniel run outside to the 1948 Super Deluxe yellow convertible –

[0:48:00.5] JC: You already knew it was going to be bad.

[0:48:02.3] SR: On the side written in spray can graffiti, “Cobra Kai never dies.”

[0:48:08.6] JC: Oh, Daniel is so mad.

[0:48:11.7] SR: Daniel is experiencing every emotion right now. He's experiencing anger, rage, fury, sadness, mourning. This was Miyagi's gift to him.

[0:48:21.7] JC: Yeah, we're flashing back to the scene. Banzai scene.

[0:48:23.3] SR: Yes, when he gives it to him. Oh, it was so heart-wrenching to see this. Daniel jumps in that very car and Robby and Sam are like, “What are you doing?” Daniel takes off. I don't know where he's going. He's going somewhere.

[0:48:36.1] JC: I knew where he was going.

[0:48:37.0] SR: Did you know where he was going?

[0:48:38.1] JC: Oh, yes. I knew he was headed to one place and one place only. Speaking of which, cut to Cobra Kai dojo, Miguel and Hawk are training and enters Daniel.

[0:48:51.3] SR: Okay. This is where he was going. This is where he drove off to the Reseda Flats, barges into the Cobra Kai dojo in the middle of the action.

[0:49:00.9] JC: It's a great showdown, Sal. Again, they don't take that extra time to fully explain the situation, a lot of assumptions. He assumes that Johnny instructed them to do this. Then he's like, “Like you didn't punch one of my employees.” Well Johnny, yes, that happened. There's always a good explanation that never gets revealed.

[0:49:21.9] SR: Well, I knew that it wasn't going to go well when Johnny tells him to take his shoes off and Daniel doesn't.

[0:49:28.3] JC: Show respect in my dojo.

[0:49:30.3] SR: He didn’t.

[0:49:31.1] JC: Like you showed my dojo respect?

[0:49:33.4] SR: Uh, this was bad.

[0:49:35.7] JC: What does Johnny do? He takes Carmen's advice. He takes the high road to potentially end this longtime rivalry.

[0:49:45.7] SR: Well, because they are standing there ready to face off.

[0:49:48.5] JC: Absolutely. Daniel says, “You know I'm not going to strike first,” almost mocking the strike first, strike hard, no mercy slogan.

[0:49:57.6] JC: Johnny's not mad. He's not hot under the collar. He didn't have his place vandalized. He doesn't even understand what happened. If anything, he's more concerned about Kreese is staring him down.

[0:50:09.5] SR: His students.

[0:50:09.9] JC: His students watching this happen. If Johnny had been there alone like they had had at previous encounter, he would have been even more chill, because he said, “What's going on? Let's get to the bottom of this.”

[0:50:21.7] SR: Yeah, but you have an audience now. This is an audience of people whose respect and admiration you need or want.

[0:50:28.7] JC: Daniel takes this opportunity to steer some of the Cobra Kai students away, if you will.

[0:50:35.9] SR: Yeah. Johnny says, “Oh, you're going to come in here try to poach my students?” This is a really bad scene. By bad, I mean, intense.

[0:50:41.8] JC: Very intense.

[0:50:42.7] SR: Oh, boy. Yeah. Johnny decides to take the higher road, right?

[0:50:46.9] JC: Not fight him.

[0:50:48.1] SR: Rise above it.

[0:50:49.1] JC: Rise above it. To his credit, he had nothing to do with this incident.

[0:50:52.9] SR: No. No, he did not instruct Hawk to do this. No.

[0:50:56.0] JC: Daniel leaves. Soon after he leaves, what happens?

[0:51:00.0] SR: That was extra painful to watch. Half the students walk out.

[0:51:04.8] JC: Not the core students that we know. Some of these ancillary students who we don't really know, except for Chris so we've seen in various episodes.

[0:51:13.0] SR: In that scene, to some people, particularly to some students of Johnny, your sensei just got punked and he’s weak. That's how that looked to some people. Remember, there's a reason why people join Miyagi-do and there's a reason why people join Cobra Kai. For the most part, people join Cobra Kai because they want to kick ass, right? They're not necessarily looking for the spiritual aspect. This guy comes in and disses your sensei in his dojo on his mat, wearing tennis shoes on the mat, totally disrespectful and your sensei does not kick his ass.

[0:51:46.2] JC: Well, it wasn’t even is the ass-kicking, it's what Daniel was saying. “You want to be this way. Think about it long and hard.” He was dissing the core values of Cobra Kai. I don't think it was like, “My sensei backed down from this guy.” It was maybe there's a different way.

[0:52:00.7] SR: Oh, so you think the students left not because they thought their sensei was just made a punk in public, but because they want to go follow –

[0:52:07.6] JC: Different philosophy.

[0:52:08.8] SR: Really? Okay, so they were going to go follow Miyagi-do.

[0:52:11.7] JC: That's what I thought. I don’t know one-for-one goes to Miyagi-do. Some might’ve said, “Hey, this is just too intense for me. I'm only half in on this. I’m out.” I think the other ones, absolutely.

[0:52:25.3] SR: It was painful to watch.

[0:52:26.9] JC: It was.

[0:52:27.7] SR: I guess Johnny did the right thing. I mean, I wouldn't have blamed him whatsoever, for striking first.

[0:52:32.0] JC: No. I think Johnny did do the right thing.

[0:52:33.8] SR: You're saying that if Johnny would have punched Daniel, you would not have been okay with that?

[0:52:38.1] JC: Well, it's different. When someone comes at you and they're accusing you of something, you're more defensive. You don't have the rage. If you've done nothing wrong, then you don't really have the fight in you at that moment. Now their history is long, as we both know, but I don't think he was going to fight him then and now about this Daniel was hurting. I think he saw that and just now wasn't not the time.

[0:53:03.1] SR: Yeah. Then he mentioned the Medal of Honor. Okay.

[0:53:07.1] JC: Johnny does not particularly care for Daniel. Like I always said, I think they're more alike than not alike. I think that he felt for him a little bit and was like, “I'll get to the bottom of this,” but obviously, I didn't do it. You're being accused of something, you're not going to cower down either. He just backed him away.

[0:53:27.1] SR: Okay. He has to set an example then in front of the student body.

[0:53:30.5] SR: Then Kreese. He didn't want to show Kreese, “I'm just like you still.”

[0:53:34.4] JC: Totally. Yeah. I mean, it could have got more heated had Kreese stepped in.

[0:53:38.2] SR: Oh, sure. Well, Kreese adds fuel to the fire.

[0:53:40.8] JC: That's it. What an ending.

[0:53:43.1] SR: Yeah, this episode, holy cow. This episode was intense.

[0:53:46.6] JC: Dude, this episode was all in.

[0:53:48.8] SR: Yeah, it really was. It really was. It really did grab me and shake me up.

[0:53:52.9] JC: We are five down, five to go for season 2. I'm super excited.

[0:53:58.0] SR: Man, I get worn out watching the show and talking about it. I'm emotionally invested.

[0:54:03.8] JC: It's mentally and physically taxing in all the right ways.

[0:54:06.9] SR: I feel like I’ve been training.

[0:54:08.2] JC: You have been. All right, thank you so much for listening and we greatly appreciate it if you could subscribe and rate us on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast. Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. If you have the time to leave us a short review, it would truly help us as well.

[0:54:25.2] SR: We also encourage our listeners to follow us on social media at Let's Talk Cobra Kai for Facebook and Instagram and @TalkCobraKai on Twitter. If you have any questions, that's a great place to message us.

[0:54:37.3] JC: Lastly, you can now become an official supporter of Let's Talk Cobra Kai on Patreon. You can stream every episode, as well as our other shows from our website which is justcuriousmedia.com. Thanks so much.

[0:54:50.6] SR: No mercy.