Cobra Kai – Matchpoint

By: Jennifer Vinzileos

Starting off where the last episode ended, Kreese (Martin Kove) and Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) have entered Miyagi-Do to talk about a moratorium on fighting until the tournament. Still spooked by the presence of Silver, Daniel (Ralph Macchio) angrily tells both Kreese and Silver to leave the premises. When they do get ready to leave, Silver is now ready to get to work on defeating Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang. Where Kreese teaches how to strike first, Silver’s methods reach a little more into the students using their anger to defeat their opponent.

After Kreese and Silver leave, Daniel takes Johnny (William Zabka) out for a drink and tells him all about Terry Silver and his ability to manipulate. And because Silver is now back in the picture, Daniel intends to train the students strictly in Miyagi-Do karate—upsetting Johnny as he thought they were a team. The alcohol fuels the anger and both Daniel and Johnny agree to settle their differences for who is the better sensei on their sparring mat—tomorrow night at sundown. 

At West Valley High School, Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) shows up with a new color on his mohawk—this time a dark purple. Moon (Hannah Kepple) likes the fresh look, and their conversation appears to have bridged the broken gap between Hawk and Moon’s past relationship. Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) finds out from Yasmine (Annalisa Cochrane) that her father’s wedding will be in Australia—just in time to miss prom and the tournament. As Moon and Yasmine head off to class, Demetri tells a downtrodden Hawk that there’s hope for him and Moon: her and Piper (Selah Austria) have broken up. Hawk may be on cloud nine with that news, but Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) and Sam (Mary Mouser) inform their friends that Johnny and Daniel are planning to have a fight that night—courtesy of Johnny’s drunken tweets.  

At LaRusso Auto Group, a hungover Daniel tells Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) about the upcoming fight. While Daniel thinks he may be able to smooth things over with Johnny, Johnny is prepping to train and warm up before the big fight. Johnny trains and he has flashbacks to all the times that Daniel provoked him back in their high school days up until now. He is ready to prove to Daniel that he is worthy of being considered a good teacher. Miguel tries to convince Johnny that fighting is not worth it but is unable. However, Miguel does manage to get Johnny thinking about what would be best for the students.  

Daniel prepares to call Johnny to smooth things over—until Sam comes home from school during a study period. Unable to side with her father this time, Sam tries to convince Daniel that having both styles will allow her to have twice the skills to draw from when she enters the tournament. However, her new attitude upsets Daniel and now he is more than eager to take Johnny down—for the sake of the students.  

Cobra Kai continues under the tutelage of Terry Silver where he instructs the students about the three D’s: desire, devotion, and discipline. His methods bother Kreese enough to remind him that he needs to stay in line with Cobra Kai, Silver assuring him that he has everything under control. Meanwhile, the Cobra Kai students decide to retaliate on Hawk not with fists but where it hurts him the most. Confronting him at the tattoo parlor, the Cobra Kais hold Hawk down while Robby (Tanner Buchanan) prepares to do deal out a fitting punishment. 

And now the fight that everyone has been waiting for is ready to commence: Daniel versus Johnny. Daniel is ready to prove that he is the superior teacher, but Johnny looks a little more resigned to their rumble and only wants what is best for the students. Since Daniel refuses to back down, the fight must go on. As they both know one another’s styles, Daniel and Johnny manage to each get two points and it comes down to match point—resulting in both knocking one another out at the same time for a tie.  

When the replay shows the tie, the respective dojos are in chaos—until Hawk comes in donning a black hoodie before revealing the damage to his mohawk, courtesy of Cobra Kai. Daniel does not want to see the students acting like Johnny, which hurts Johnny’s feeling. This causes Johnny to take his Eagle Fang karate students away from Miyagi-Do and split the classes and their relationship up for good.