Cobra Kai – Then Learn Fly

Thanks to the students banding together in “Let’s Begin,” there is now a brand-new sparring deck for the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students to train on. Johnny (William Zabka) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) get right to using the deck and training. Still realizing that while they may have shared their respective styles with one another, the students have not had the same opportunity. In order to prepare both dojos for the tournament, Daniel and Johnny have their karate students study with the other dojo for the day.  

Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), Eli (Jacob Bertrand), and the Eagle Fang students start their training with Daniel by needing to accomplish one simple task: catch a fish in the koi pond. Feeling the need to impress Sam’s (Mary Mouser) father to win him over, Miguel attempts to do so and ends up falling in the pond—he has failed at his first attempt. Dejected by a disastrous lesson, Miguel waits for his mom to pick him up from practice and learns that her car has broken down. Daniel hears this and has Miguel get in his car so they can have Carmen’s (Vanessa Rubio) car towed to LaRusso Auto.  

Daniel figures out the problem but decides to have Miguel learn how to fix the problem. It is over fixing the car that Miguel learns about Daniel’s upbringing: how he never went to college because he used his initial college fund to go to Okinawa (The Karate Kid: Part II) and then used the money that Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) helped him win in Okinawa to open a failed bonsai shop. While in Daniel’s words his path “wasn’t a straight line,” he reminds Miguel that he still has time to figure things out. Encouraged by Daniel’s words, Miguel finally figures out at the next lesson how to catch the fish and has his Eagle Fang gang join him in the koi pond where they circle the fish under the board—and make it easy to capture one. 

At Eagle Fang Johnny has taken a much different approach with the Cobra Kai students—by leading them to the top of a building and telling them that they need to jump from one building to the next building over. Sam, Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo), and the rest of the Miyagi-Do students express disbelief and outrage over this task—and refuse to attempt the task at hand. During their stand-down, Johnny approaches Sam and she verbally lashes out at Johnny for failing at life. Johnny reminds her of what she did when her friends crashed into his car and ran, but also knows that if it wasn’t for the path he had taken—he wouldn’t be doing what he loves now. Instead of lashing out, Johnny encourages her to step out of the box and for once do something crazy—something that her parents wouldn’t do. When Sam gets a text from her father and he advises her to not do anything he wouldn’t do, she snaps and decides to try Johnny’s task—and succeeds making it to the other building.  

Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) is currently in a crisis of his own, having flashbacks to his time in Vietnam with John Kreese (Martin Kove). Angered by Kreese’s reemergence back in his life, Silver goes to confront Kreese after a Cobra Kai class and lashes out for dredging up old memories. Later at home, Silver pulls up his shirt to show a removed tattoo scar. In a flashback to their post-Vietnam days, a younger Silver (Nick Marini) and Kreese (Barrett Carnahan) are getting their Cobra Kai tattoos. They agreed after the war to be there for one another and open up Cobra Kai to teach their style of fighting to counteract the counterculture of the time. After the flashback ends, Silver reaches into his drawer and pulls out a hair tie—the original Terry Silver has returned. 

Heeding the words of his brother, Kenny (Dallas Young) heads to Cobra Kai to seek out Robby (Tanner Buchanan). While Kreese is reluctant to let Kenny in during the training for the tournament, Robby vouches for Kenny and persuades Kreese to let Kenny try out. Being set up against Kyler (Joe Seo), Kenny cowers back and is initially rejected by Cobra Kai. Later on that day, Robby pays Kenny a visit and after seeing what the kids at school are doing to Kenny—he agrees to help teach him some moves. While at first Kenny still cowers, Robby encourages him to use his speed and agility to run towards his opponents, not away. The next day in class, Kenny returns for a rematch to earn his spot. He cowers initially at Kyler coming at him, but then lands a punch when Kyler is not looking. Kreese decides that Kenny has earned his spot and tells him to take his spot around the mat. 

With both Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang lessons ending, the students all convene back at Miyagi-Do. Sam now views Johnny as a good teacher, seeing that coming out of her bubble has given her the confidence to strengthen her skills. But when Johnny walks to the back of Miyagi-Do he sees that Miguel and Daniel have also gotten closer. Instead of feeling proud that the lesson has been effectively taught, Johnny only feels jealousy.