Nightmare Fuel / Cobra Kai

Sam: Is that the only way you know how to fight? DIRTY?!
Tory: This isn't a tournament. (Shifts her spiked bracelet from her wrist to her knuckles) There Are No Rules!
[Sam shudders.]

— Season 2, "No Mercy"

STRIKE FIRST! STRIKE HARD!! NO MERCY!!! The Badass Creed of Cobra Kai has now gone up to eleven and beyond. Fear may not exist in this dojo, but brutality definitely does. Are you ready for it?

All spoilers on this page are left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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General

• The series is a prime example of just how monstrous people can become when they go through certain levels of trauma that changes their outlook on life or their perception of others, followed by find an outlet that helps them "grow stronger" in a twisted way. Whether it's bullying (in Hawk's or Kenny's case), PTSD (in Kreese's and Silver's case), or other horrible situations (in Tory's or Shawn's case), it's a chilling example of the lengths some of the characters go through (i.e. assault, murder, sadism) when pushed too far due to unfortunate circumstances. Especially when one compares these characters to real-life juvenile delinquents or convicts.
• For a series called Cobra Kai, it's quite telling that the dojo's two founders are prime examples of walking Nightmare Fuel.
  • John Kreese. The man himself is nothing less than a demon. He is a master of Cobra Kai karate and has none of Johnny's scruples. Not only is his training more brutal, but he uses techniques that no actual drill sergeant would use besides being Drill Sergeant Nasty. He encourages the students to think of themselves as siblings and a unit. Not a bad idea in and of itself, but with Kreese calling their shots, it can (and does) lead only to tragedy.
    • In season 3, Daniel even refers to Kreese as a "demon" in one furious moment with Johnny. Considering how Kreese expresses devilish actions (brainwashing his students, betraying Johnny's trust, physically assaulting others) throughout the entire Karate Kid franchise, can anyone blame him?
  • As if Kreese isn't nightmare-ish enough to his audience, here comes his much more dangerous war buddy and business partner, Terry Silver.
    • Given his experience with business, he's a far more dangerous manipulator to his students that Kreese, using pragmatic techniques to have the Cobra Kais embrace more of the Cobra Kai creed, as well digging deep into finding their opponents' weakness, something Kreese doesn't even consider in his lessons. It's not just Silver training his students to become vicious brutes, but outright villains as well.
    • His combat skill, jeez. A mix of combat pragmatism with years of Tang Soo Do experience utilized in his Curb-Stomp Battle with Robby, Johnny, and his first bout with Daniel (not to mention, his immense height and build) is enough to give the audience the impression that he's arguably the most dangerous Cobra Kai fighter in the series. Abandon all hope ye who come face to face with this man.
    • His fragile psyche slipping as well. When all is said and done, he's basically a living embodiment of a Sealed Evil in a Can in which as soon as his PTSD-buttons are pushed, he sheds years worth of "therapy and clarity" to become just as psychotic as he was from the original Part III, if not worse (given his villainous actions extend beyond his feud with Daniel). By the time Kreese becomes appalled by his actions (which speaks volumes, given how much of a monster Kreese has been all these years), it's all too late as Silver completely embraces his return to villainy and betrays him.
    • And by Season 5, he's fully established himself as The Emperor of The Karate Kid franchise. Forget the fact that he's filthy-rich, he's taking over the entire valley which his chain of Cobra Kai dojos at their Thug Dojo peak. Unlike Kreese, this isn't a man who is just a threat to Johnny and Daniel, but also the entire San Fernando Valley, and it's only made much worse given how warmly the public receives him.
    • As a matter of fact, Seasons 5 displays Silver taking his villainy to unbelievable levels as he commits heinous actions never seen in any antagonist throughout the entire The Karate Kid franchise. He burns down Mike Barnes's furniture store (keep in mind, his former student and mercenary) just because the latter allied with Daniel and tipped off Silver's lawyer's contact info, he is that charming to drive a wedge between Daniel's marriage, his tutelage of Kenny has him committing actions that are perhaps life-threatening (a prime example being Kenny's bullying of Anthony and the use of the "Silver Bullet"), and his ultimate plan: taking Cobra Kai's dark influence to global levels. And that's not counting Silver gleefully wielding a katana during his fight with Chozen and giving him a deep, gory slash when the latter's back is turned.

Season 1

• Even though we only see it rarely and not without good reason, Johnny himself is terrifying when he gets violent. After all, he is a master of Cobra Kai karate, a method of fighting designed to do maximum damage, and he never holds back when he fights. Just ask Kyler and his friends, or Louie and his biker goons what happens when you make Johnny truly angry. Hint: Unless you are an exceptionally skilled martial artist, you're going to get a No Holds Barred Beat Down even if you outnumber him several to one.
• A drunk - and raging - Johnny slamming on Yasmine's car is quite frightening, even before considering how scary it is to crash your car in the first place. Given how Johnny looked, his tone, and what he was saying, the girls had every reason to think he could have been a sexual predator or a serial killer. Yasmine even alludes to this during her Skype conversation with Sam and Moon, referring to Johnny as a "meth-head zombie" and saying that if she hadn't "gunned it," they would all be "chained up in his basement right now." Though Sam later gets busted for how the girls fled the scene of the accident, can you really blame them?
• A very chilling moment is when he first instructs Miguel on how to punch. He instructs him to hit his opponent as if he actually wanted to hit someone behind him, demonstrates by hitting a mannequin between the eyes, and then calmly explains "Strike here, you bloody his nose. Strike here, you break his teeth. Strike here, you could severely damage his trachea". While he quickly adds "Obviously, that's only for extreme situations", he just taught a kid how to potentially kill someone with one hit. Even more disturbing, Johnny's tone implies he was in a situation once where he had to do that and killed the guy.
• Miguel being on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Kyler and his gang is not just hard to watch but quite scary as well. This scene is a reminder of just how vicious bullies can be.
  • Carmen discovering her son beaten unconscious being carried by a stranger (Johnny Lawrence) to her home. Her rage directed at Johnny in many ways epitomizes what a parent fears most happening to their child.
• Daniel seeing Miguel's Halloween costume at the dance: a skeleton with face paint that resembles a skull. The moment Daniel sees Miguel, it's obvious that he was remembering the Halloween dance in 1984 where the Cobra Kai students chased him down and beat him up for the prank he pulled on Johnny.
• Several of Johnny's Training from Hell methods count. Imagine being someone out of shape and tossed into a pool with your hands bound and only able to use your legs to not drown, being chased by angry dogs that could tear you apart (even Hawk was terrified of the dogs), and having to balance across a beam right above lethal sharp metal. Though it was Played for Laughs, these methods could have killed, let alone seriously injured, the students. Special mention goes to the dog bite Hawk receives, which forces him to get a rabies vaccine for the sake of his own life.
  • Same goes for the cement mixer training in season 2 - it's played off as a Moment of Awesome for the Cobra Kai kids and for Johnny, but in reality, cement is caustic and can cause serious burns to exposed skin, eyes, and even lungs. That light hosing off afterwards would not have been enough. They're all extremely lucky that they're in a fictional show.
• No matter how funny or awesome a moment it was, imagine someone like Aisha casually yanking on your underwear and lifting you a good foot into the air. Yasmine's earsplitting scream cemented just how brutal that wedgie was.
• The Cobra Kai dojo proves to be this during the All Valley Tournament.
  • Though a Moment of Awesome, the Cobra Kai entrance was chilling. They gave the impression of a dojo just waiting to tear apart their opponents during the tournament, and most frightening of all, Miguel does tear apart his opponents, winning the tournament for Cobra Kai. "No Mercy" indeed.
  • Special mention goes to Hawk. Put yourself in the gi of an opponent not only going up against someone who not only looks like a vicious and bloodthirsty maniac, but fights like one too.
  • Miguel's performance during the All-Valley Tournament, though impressive, was arguably the most terrifying. Imagine going up against a No-Nonsense Nemesis who will do anything to win and is exceptionally skilled at their craft. That is Miguel as a martial artist. Crosses over into Tear Jerker as well, when you consider how this kind boy who won Sam's heart is now driving her away with what a monster he has become.
    • Miguel's comment to Sam - "Watch what I do to Robby in the finals" - cements just how scary Miguel can be when he perceives you as his "enemy".
  • Johnny's students aren't as bad as Johnny and his own friends were - they're worse. When Bobby injured Daniel's leg, he didn't want to fight dirty. Kreese had to intimidate him into making the illegal attack, and he apologized profusely to Daniel before they were even off the mat. Kreese is also the one who ordered Johnny to sweep Daniel's leg - Johnny, too, clearly didn't like the idea, and accepted his defeat gracefully when Daniel managed to win anyway. Flash forward to Cobra Kai - aside from the Crane Kick and kicking Xander Stone in the face, every unsportsmanlike action of the Cobras in the tournament is their own idea, in spite of Johnny's objections, and neither Hawk (the one who illegally injures Robby) nor Miguel (who updates the "sweep the leg" part to "pound the shoulder repeatedly") is the least bit sorry about it.
• In the final scene of the season, Kreese's advancing silhouette against the flame-orange LA sunset, like a devil emerging from the gates of hell (indeed, no less than Martin Kove himself has described this scene as "...and then I drop in as Lucifer"). It doesn't help in the least that the man (1) epitomizes everything that Johnny loathes about what his students have become and (2) was thrilled at those same results.
  • In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, Johnny is shown swallowing as his eyes are wide open with fear. You can almost see him think back to the moment when Kreese almost choked him to death after he lost to Daniel; even after all this time, and with Kreese being much older now, Johnny still fears him.

Season 2

• The entirety of Johnny's fight with Kreese gives off quite the eerie vibe. It's fought mostly in the dark, with the one source of light coming from the flame-orange suns hue outside. And Kreese himself is as dangerous as he was in his prime, able to counter most of Johnny's attacks before kicking him into the mirror. And while Johnny does overpower him, he is literally put in crossroads whether or not he should choke him to death or release him — the latter of which is the better option, but it doesn't go unpunished as Kreese uses Johnny's mercy at his advantage to pin him down further.
• Demetri getting an off-screen beating from Kreese is definitely not a pretty sight, even if the former had it coming by requesting unnecessary boundaries, criticizing his tattoo, and uncomfortably touching him. Goes to show how unlike Johnny (who is an insensitive Drill Sergeant Nasty at worst), Kreese is a psycho who is willing to hurt ''anyone'' who he sees as his enemy, including Demetri.
• Robby's once-again encounter with Trey and Cruz becomes anxiety-inducing when the latter two's imposing third man overpowers the karateka as Cruz threatens to finish him off with a knife. Luckily, Daniel comes in to save the day, otherwise Robby would have been as good as dead.
• Even if they're just edgy teens, both Hawk and Tory have shown throughout the season as to why they are the most violent and vicious students in the Cobra Kai dojo. Hawk wastes no time trying to beat Demetri up (over something as petty as a bad review), even if they used to be VERY close childhood friends, in addition to being the one who trashed Miyagi-Do and escalated the high school brawl, the latter just for his own entertainment. Tory on the other hand goes as far as to announce her desire to beat the hell out of Sam over the loudspeaker and brutally lacerate her flesh because the latter kissed Miguel (when all she could do is just verbally reason OR break up with him). The fact that both have rough backstories prior to joining Cobra Kai (Hawk being mercilessly bullied for the scar on his lip, Tory living under a low-income household with a sleazy landlord) is a scary example of people in real-life who are willing to vent out their anger in the worst way possible, after everything they have experienced in the past. It only gets much worse when they have a mentally-deranged mentor like Kreese to further corrupt them into embracing their worst tendencies.
  • It should also be noted that both Hawk and Tory have an ambiguous disorder that could contribute to their violent tendencies. Eli (before becoming Hawk) admitted to Johnny that he could be on the autism spectrum, and does show signs of it (i.e. intense interests, poor emotional control, insecurity), whereas Tory does express symptoms of borderline personality disorder, given her disproportionate response to minor slights, possessive nature, and dependence on the relationships with those she has. Again, this is all too true to teenagers in real-life suffering from mental illness that eventually succumb to violent behavior when triggered enough.
• Demetri just casually goes to the comic book store quipping about discontinuity in a Dungeon Lord comic issue, when all hell breaks lose as Hawk and two of his goons shows up. This get quite a bit more frightening as Demetri is about to leave when two more of Hawk's goons corner him. Imagine if Demetri didn't use his speed to his advantage or if Sam and Robby never showed up to defend him.
• Tommy's poor condition from cancer when he is reintroduced is a grim reminder of how absolutely eerie and devastating terminal illness can happen, even at any age (considering the fact that he's much younger than the more physically-imposing John Kreese and Terry Silver). By the time he makes his on-screen appearance in the series, he's in hospice care, points out that his cancer reached his brain and he's resigned to his incoming fate despite Bobby's off-screen prayers and Johnny's denials. And he just so happens to die at the end of the episode after having one last ride with his Cobra Kai gang.
• While it's very satisfying to see Johnny forcefully pull the earring off of the Jerkass that went as far as to mock Tommy's dying condition, it's still absolutely brutal — as you could clearly see plenty of blood coming out of the man's ear.
• At Coyote Creek, Miguel confronts Hawk for stealing Miyagi's Medal of Honor. He gives Hawk a rage-filled beatdown, and seeing him, Kreese callously tells Miguel to Finish Him!.
  • Rather ominously, instead of fiercely barking or shouting that order like in the original film, Kreese delivers it in a more subdued tone.
  • And yes, even if is all for comedy, Stingray's sneak attack on Miguel can come off as a jumpscare.
• Just the entire final fight in general. A No-Holds-Barred Beatdown between two dojos in the middle of a crowded school is a "pussy" way of describing the fight. Any catharsis and excitement that may come from it is quickly washed away by the true realization of what happens when you get a bunch of pissed off teenagers who hate each other in enclosed quarters when they all have legitimate karate training. It's brutal and simply unrelenting, with no one able to stop it. Forget about a simple rivalry between two senseis and their fighting philosophies, the conflict has become a gang war. Even from the Miyagi-Do side, the violence and lack of restraint were so bad that Mr. Miyagi must have turned in his grave. And when the dust has settled, almost everyone is worse off - Johnny and Daniel abandon their respective schools, one fighter from each side is in the hospital, and the rest are injured, traumatized, on the run from the law, expelled or have vengefully succumbed to Thug Dojo thinking of the only true victor here... Kreese.
  • During the brawl, a teacher actually tries to intervene and is immediately knocked out cold. This particular moment of violence was so brutal that for a couple of seconds, even Hawk was shocked.
  • Speaking of Hawk, there's also the sequence where he chases and stalks Demetri in the school hallways, all with a terrifying Slasher Smile on his face as Demetri (vainly) tries to hide.
  Hawk: DEMETRI!!! I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE!!! Figured you be hiding in the computer lab you DAMN NERD!!!
  • Tory pulling Sam By the Hair onto the stairway and slicing her arm with her spiked knuckles? Not a Cat Fight. And the only reason those spikes catch her arm is because of Sam's prodigious karate training. Tory was aiming for Sam's face. If those spikes had sliced an artery or vein in Sam's arm or face, Sam could've been disfigured or even killed, especially with someone as trained, strong, and psycho as Tory behind them.
• The last few minutes after the fight, first when Miguel goes over the railing, then his hits against the lower railing and stairs, and the shots of his broken body, first on the stairs and then on the table. Every parent's nightmare.
  • Even worse, since Carmen is an X-ray technician and regularly deals with shots of bones, as the doctor on Miguel's case points out.

Season 3

• Want to know just how scary Johnny is when he's angry? The aftermath of the chop shop fight, when he's royally bad-copping one of the thugs for information on Robby, and proceeds to attack Daniel when the latter intervenes. If Daniel had somehow forgotten (from the first Karate Kid) just how dangerous Johnny was in that state, the reminder came through here loud and clear.
• Kreese feeding Clarence the hamster to the snake. What starts out as a cute little show-and-tell from the karate sensei turns into an animal lovers' worst nightmare as Kreese reveals the snake to the rest of the class. One can only imagine what the poor hamster's last moments were as he inevitably meets his demise.
  • Kreese's sudden tone of voice in response to Bert's and some of his students' objections of having Clarence fed also serves as this. Reminder that this is a guy who doesn't give a shit about compassionate morals, only caring about keeping the strongest so that he can use them as weapons for his own agenda. He even lampshades this to Hawk, after kicking out the bunch that sympathized with Clarence.
  Kreese: This is addition by subtraction...a true Cobra feels no sympathy for its meals. Do you have a problem with that?
• Tory's landlord. Rodney is not only unsympathetic to her mother's terminal illness but is trying to take advantage of her poverty for sexual favors to pay rent. Not helped from hints of this not being the first time she has had to deal with this. From Tory counting her money with a desperate look, she seems to seriously consider going along — and even her status as a near-Ax-Crazy Action Girl can't help in the face of her legal problems. If it weren't for Kreese threatening Rodney, she might have given into this son of a bitch. Yet the irony is that Kreese did this for nearly the exact reason as her landlord — to have control over her.
  • While it's hard to sympathize with Tory's landlord, the scene where Kreese threatens to cut off his finger with a cigar cutter is chilling. Rodney is clearly terrified and begs Kreese to let him go while the latter casually makes his demands to leave Tory alone. And, as mentioned above, it's all too easy to believe that Kreese wasn't doing this to be a "white knight" for Tory or even because he was outraged on her behalf.
• Robby's time in juvie is a chillingly realistic take on an environment where fellow inmates can be absolutely cruel, especially to newcomers. He is relentlessly tormented by one in particular (Shawn Payne), which would have continued right up to his release had Kreese not suggested him to "strike first."
  • Speaking of Shawn Payne, the bastard is nothing short of intimidating. He establishes his character moment by slamming a fellow inmate's face onto the table and then accosting Robby. Robby tries to stand up to him, only to get a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown as a prelude to Shawn making his time in juvie miserable. Even when Robby takes Kreese's strike-first method to heart (knocking out both of Shawn's buddies so that he can fight Shawn one-on-one), Shawn still proves to be a tough opponent, with his size and sheer viciousness more than compensating for his lack of formal martial arts training.
• Hawk breaking Demetri's arm. Seeing Demetri beg for him not to do it and then hearing him scream in absolute agony when it happens, capped with Sam's heartbroken expression — and it doesn't help at all knowing that even if Sam hadn't been forced to withdraw due to having a panic attack at the sound of Tory's voice, the remaining Cobra Kais would have outnumbered her by enough to likely beat her down anyway. The moment is so awful, even Hawk himself seems uncertain about what he did.
• Hawk versus Brucks in episode 6. While the initiation sparring session was going as smoothly (and brutally) as you'd expect by Cobra Kai standards while Kyler was having his with Mitch and while Sarah was having hers with Tory, the situation escalates when Brucks is up, and Hawk, one of his former bully victims, chooses to fight him. An overconfident Brucks starts ready to land an easy win against this insecure kid with a scarred lip, and quickly becomes an unnerved deer thrown off by his opponent's ominous tattoos. Brucks fails to land even one hit as Hawk delivers a one-sided beatdown on him, and eventually begs for the match to stop. It ends with Hawk pulverizing the downed Brucks relentlessly, spitting on him afterward for good measure. It comes to no surprise that Hawk's other former bully, Kyler, is now too frightened to look him in the eye, because this wasn't a kid he can pick on anymore; this is a psycho who dares Kyler to give him an excuse to punish him next. Hell, even Tory, who chipped her opponent's tooth, is disturbed by this.
  • On that note, while Kreese frequently reminds his students to "finish" their opponent, he doesn't even get to finish his sentence before Hawk starts caving in Brucks's face; you really get a feeling of how badly Hawk wanted to unload on his former bully.
  • What makes this even more horrifying is that Kreese gestures to Dieter to put the flags away so Hawk can beat up Brucks until he is finally satisfied. No Real Life martial arts instructor with an eye on staying in business would let a rage-filled student anywhere near the entrance, let alone on the mat. But this is Kreese, who is perfectly willing to let Hawk possibly kill Brucks just to allow his anger to drag him further down a dark path. While most of the students couldn't look at the beatdown, even someone as hardened as Tory, Kreese has a very smug smirk as he watches this. Afterwards, Kreese casually asks for someone to pick the curb-stomped body up. Adding a final note to the horror, there's a lot of blood spilled, based on Hawk's bloodied fists and the "blood on the mat" that Kreese cleaned up upon encountering Amrand's nephews.
• Sam's panic attacks are genuinely scary in the nature of how they unfold.
  • On her first day back to school, Sam freezes up entering the stairwell where Miguel fell and has a full-on panic attack remembering the events in vivid detail. She visibly flinches when a concerned Demetri touches her to say, "Whoa, easy there, Captain Marvel! Same team, remember?" and has to flee to the solace of the Miyagi-Do dojo.
  • Sam returns to school, hearing some girls snickering about her situation. In a completely Out-of-Character Moment, she marches up to them and snaps at them in a tone that wouldn't be out of place for Johnny or Tory, and with her showing a look of rage that makes you worry she was about to beat the girls to a bloody pulp.
  Samantha LaRusso: You wanna say something? Say it to my face! [all three girls are stunned into awkward silence] That's what I thought.
  • In the arcade fight in "Miyagi-Do", Sam is fighting Hawk's gang, has managed to do in some opponents and is about to strike a finishing blow to her next one when she hears the voice of Tory, who may or may not have been trying to kill her in the school brawl. As soon as she hears Tory's voice, her body just completely stops and her fighting instincts shut down mid-punch. She just freezes like a statue, unable to think or do anything to help in the moment while the Cobra Kais turn the tide of the battle and break Demetri's arm.
  • Sam's nightmare of fighting Tory at the Miyagi-Do dojo, which ends with Tory outright drowning her in the pond, evoking shades of when Mike Barnes trespassed onto Miyagi-Do to confront Daniel in The Karate Kid Part III and Silver "fought" Barnes off, as part of his gambit to manipulate Daniel into coming to train with him. It's also implied that this isn't the first time that this has happened, judging from how Amanda has noticed Sam isn't sleeping well, but still, her fear of Tory is such that she believes Tory wants her dead and will intrude on somewhere Sam feels safe to do it.
  • Imagine how the home invasion is from Sam's POV. Her home is the one place where she feels safe, and now even there, she's not safe from Tory. It makes Hawk's taunt to Sam and Demetri in the cafeteria in episode 4 of "For you pansies, there is no safe space" take on a whole different light. While Sam does win the fight with Tory, her opponent isn't really Tory so much as her fear of Tory. Sam may have overcome her panic attacks and PTSD, but it is safe to say she is still as paranoid as ever about the personal safety of her friends, family, and herself.
• So Daniel and Amanda attempt to have Kreese evicted from his dojo by making a deal with Armand Zarkarian; Kreese finds out about it after Armand reveals the papers to him. How does Kreese respond? Not only beating the shit out of Armand's seemingly-intimidating nephews (keep in mind, that man is in his 70s), but declares "open season" on Daniel and the rest of his Miyagi-Do students (in stark contrast to 1984 where he only declared it if Mr. Miyagi and Daniel did not show up to the tournament), proving further his point by placing a live cobra in his dealership.
  • Speaking of Kreese, this season displays more of his cunning and manipulative side. This is shown when he is able to use Amanda's rage toward him against her by filing a restraining order after she slaps him in the face. If that's not all, he manages to get into the Los Angeles city council's good graces by painting Cobra Kai in a more "sympathetic" light and slandering Miyagi-Do (not to mention feigning being politically correct with one of the councilpeople). It's not just his vicious combat skill that Daniel and Johnny have to worry about, but his intelligence as well.
• Robby showing up out of nowhere, at the worst possible moment to catch Sam and Miguel having a sparring session with each other. Keep in mind Robby is already filled with rage—especially towards Miguel, after everything he went through throughout the vast majority of the season, and now he's come to realize the girl that he loved is back in the arms of his worst enemy (as warned by Shawn and Tory). How does he react? He attempts to beat up Miguel again, despite the latter coming off of a devastating injury—from Robby himself. Had Sam not been there to defend him, Miguel would have likely ended up back in the hospital, permanently crippled this time. One might get the impression that Robby's just so consumed by anger and by Kreese's teachings that he doesn't even regret about what he did to Miguel at the school brawl, even if the effect was nearly fatal.
• After burning his bridges with Sam, Robby goes to Cobra Kai, where Kreese is hanging up a poster for the next All-Valley tournament on the wall. When Robby says, "Sensei Kreese?" the camera shifts focus to Kreese, whose face contorts into a smirk.
  • Moreso when you notice... Kreese heard the door open and close, and yet he never turned his head. There is a eight second lapse between the time Kreese hears the door open and the time Robby speaks. He already knew it was Robby coming through the door.
• The LaRusso house fight has its moments.
  • The brawl begins with Bert casually walking out the LaRussos' front door to investigate a cat noise, only to suddenly return crashing through the kitchen window, revealing that the "cat" was the Cobra Kais, who are now emerging through every opening to assault all the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students. That's something straight out of an invasion horror movie.
  • During the home invasion, Tory has completely lost it in her vendetta with Sam. It was bad enough when she tried to maim the poor girl, but now she has murder in her eyes. She’s gone full predator, and doesn’t seem to care about the consequences it may have on her family or even herself. Even her lines before the fight are dripping with crazed fury.
    Miguel: Tory, you don't have to do this!
    Tory: It’s too late! This ends tonight! NO MERCY!
  • It's a relief that Miguel eventually gets the upper hand because Kyler is basically torturing him throughout the fight. At one point he can be seen in the background dragging Miguel across the floor by the neck. He tosses him across the house before slamming him into a wall and repeatedly punching him in the back. Even Tory and Hawk don’t revel in causing pain, more acting out of rage — Kyler is easily the most sadistic of the Cobra Kai students and who knows what he would have done if Miguel hadn’t turned the tables.
  • It's also a relief that Hawk comes to a Heel Realization regarding his loyalty towards Cobra Kai and defects from the dojo entirely by beating the hell out of Doug Rickenberger (as well as another unnamed Cobra Kai member) and saving Demetri in the process. Even if Demetri has vastly improved in his fighting skill, there's no way he would have escaped from a two-man deadlock, and had Hawk not Took a Level in Kindness, the injury toward Demetri's arm would have been much more severe—to the point where the latter could be permanently disabled.
    • Speaking of Doug, he's perhaps just as sadistic (and irredeemable) as Kyler — going as far as to encourage Hawk to take a free shot on Demetri's arm, and (in Season 2) physically assault a teacher during the school brawl. It doesn't help that he remains loyal to Kreese's Cobra Kai, despite being a (former) henchman of Hawk.
  • Much like the training for the cement-mixer, all of the combatants in the fight are extremely lucky to be in a fictional show. Otherwise, Doug would have been knocked out cold (and suffer brain damage) from Chris hitting him with a frying pan, the same goes for the Miyagi-Do student, Stiven, having glass smashed in his face by Hawk.
• The North Vietnamese soldiers' treatment of their POWs: the blood sport entertainment of having pairs of POWs fight each other along a narrow bamboo bridge above a deep pit full of snakes (as featured in the page image).
  • Followed by Captain Turner's Social Darwinist attitude in which he abandons his duty as a Father to His Men to his comrades and goes for the "killed or be killed" route, particularly on Kreese when he volunteers to take Silver's place on the battlefield. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing indeed.
  • Which ultimately leads to Kreese completely shedding every last of his heroism and fully embracing the no-mercy mindset, by kicking his captain down a pit of snakes when he had the chance to actually save him. Sure, it's cathartic, but one can shudder at the fact that Kreese is the only major character in the series that has actually committed murder. And that's just the start of his violent behavior, all under his mantra of "strike-first, strike-hard, no-mercy."
• Kreese outright attempts to murder both Johnny and Daniel in the season finale. He comes close to killing Johnny by nearly choking him to death before he's saved by Daniel. If there was any doubt in his intentions, Kreese remarking "it's time for you and Miyagi to reunite!" to Daniel right before attempting to stab him with broken glass gets the message across loud and clear. Kreese is such a psychopath he was willing to kill these two men for daring to defy him.
  • Even more horrifying, thanks to the music in the scene and the look on Daniel's face, he was about to give in to revenge. He looks to Johnny, who nods to him. If it hadn't been for Sam and Miguel showing up when they did, there's a good chance Daniel would have killed Kreese. Daniel came within seconds of falling right into "If you go looking for revenge, you can start by digging two graves". Yes, in the heat of the moment, maybe Daniel could have told himself that it was justified, but as Chozen would attest, Daniel is no killer, so you can only imagine the grief he would have carried the rest of his days had he actually ended Kreese.
  • And from the look on Kreese's face, it looks as though he's having flashbacks as he remembers when he was in this exact same position 34 years ago at Mr. Miyagi's mercy. But while Miyagi was bluffing and honked his nose, Daniel isn't.
  • To make it even worse, Kreese nearly kills Johnny in front of his own son. Sure, Robby was unconscious at the time and wouldn't see Johnny's death, but that only makes it more terrifying because Robby would have been completely helpless to stop it. Crossing over with Tear Jerker, imagine the crippling guilt you'd feel if your parent was murdered because they were distracted by worrying about you after they accidentally knocked you out because you were attacking them.

Season 4

Promotional Material

• In case anyone thought the ending of Season 3 was a Bait-and-Switch, it has been confirmed that Terry Silver is indeed back.
  • The first teaser shows a chilling, shadowy look at Silver himself from behind, with his ominous theme from The Karate Kid Part III playing as the mantra he taught Daniel echoes: "A man can't stand, he can't fight... a man can't breathe, he can't fight... a man can't see, he can't fight..." Now the real pain begins, indeed.
  • Not to mention his Wham Line: "Extreme situations require extreme measures." Not only does it reek of sadism, but God knows what the hell he has planned for Cobra Kai against the Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang alliance, especially when you consider his actions 34 years ago against Daniel and Mr. Miyagi.
• The second teaser promoting the All-Valley Tournament has its moments, including...
  • Hawk's war face shot close-up from the camera. Even though he's now on the heroes' side, that alone gives the impression that he's still the vicious brute from his time in Cobra Kai.
  • Robby Keene. Sporting a new hairstyle reminiscent of Mike Barnes and presenting himself on camera with a neck crack, no longer is the Internal Reformist trying to do what's right under Daniel LaRusso, now Cobra Kai's #1 student who is ready to show no mercy to anyone who stands in his way — including his former Miyagi-Do teammates.

Episodes 1-10

• Kenny being lured into a trap by Anthony LaRusso and his gang posing as "Lia Caberra" on Dungeon Lord. For bully victims out there, one can only shudder at the fact that Kenny is about to receive one hell of a traumatic experience.
  • And sure enough, Kenny does — being lured to the park at night, only for Anthony and his gang to come and antagonize him, posting a video of him in his cosplay for the entire school to witness and attempt to brutally beat him when Kenny tries to fight back. And when Kenny does get physical with his tormentors, they go all the way to chase him down.
  • It doesn't help that this becomes the turning point for Kenny to come to Shawn Payne about his problems, in which the latter leads him to Cobra Kai, setting the stage for Kenny's Start of Darkness.
• Johnny's Training from Hell method of having the Miyagi-Dos jump from one building to another. The Miyagi-Dos back out over the fact that one mistake could potentially lead to either a life-threatening injury, or certain death. It doesn't even help that there are only two mattresses in one specific location. In the end, only Sam, Miyagi-Do's star student, dares to make the leap.
• Terry Silver pulling his hair back to his familiar Karate Kid Part III ponytail is no doubt spine-tingling, given how the moment that he was making a deal with someone who would become a devil (Kreese), that devil will inevitably inspire an even worse devil in him. Case in point, this scene also reveals that Silver has had Kreese in his head so much that he's been ignoring messages from Cheyenne, his companion in a thoughtful life where he wasn't hurting anyone anymore. Already, Silver's Slowly Slipping (Back) Into Evil has begun, and it's only going to get much worse down the road.
• Terry’s sparring session with Robby should give a first impression of how much of a walking nightmare he is.
  • It’s not just the fact that his fighting style shows how leagues ahead Terry is to Robby, but how the former does it in quite a brutal fashion. For one, the fact that when Robby throws a punch at him, he instantly grabs it and berates Robby for taking it easy, goading him to give his 100% knowing full well he’ll demolish him. Secondly, he doesn’t just beat him; he throws him around like a rag-doll and goes right into his lungs to the point where Robby is actually struggling to breathe. All the while, keeping up a smile that oozes a chilling similarity to how Silver tortured Daniel in the events of Part III. A man can’t breathe, he can’t fight indeed... and worst of all, Silver's lecture to Robby afterwards reveals that unlike with Daniel, Silver isn't trying to utterly wreck him, but groom him as Cobra Kai's champion.
  Terry: (Grabs Robby's fist) Did I say take it easy? C'mon! No mercy! (Does a Bring It gesture to Robby)
• While it overlaps with Awesome due to its effective visual flare, Terry's entrance into the Miyagi-Do Dojo is laced with horrific undertones, from the chilling rendition of his Leitmotif to Daniel's horrified expression when he sees the man who tormented him decades ago is back once again. Daniel is so badly thrown off by Terry's return he destroys his recent alliance with Johnny out of sheer panic at what's to come. That's how you do a great villainous He's Back! moment.
• Hawk is at the tattoo shop, texting Moon when he hears the door open. He looks up expecting it to be Rico (the tattoo artist), but instead he sees Tory, Robby, Kyler and other Cobra Kais. They immediately jump him, with Kyler going as far as to wrap a karate belt around Hawk's throat, choking him into submission. After pinning him to the table, Robby picks up a blade and unfolds it in front of Hawk. Then the scene cuts away. While it's later revealed Robby merely used it on his hair, one could be forgiven for thinking Robby was about to cut him, but it doesn't change the fact that it was enough to break Hawk and put him in a Heroic BSoD.
  • Similar to Kyler’s gang beating Miguel in Season 1, the way the Cobra Kai students gang up on Hawk in a secluded location where no help is available feels like a scene straight out of Oz.
• Silver's confrontation with Daniel in the convenience store; specifically, the part where he taunts Daniel about his Cobra Kai training in 1985 with "You know you liked it" is positively shudder-inducing. There's no mitigation over the fact that Silver actually had a point, since Daniel was the one that came to Silver and embraced his methods, no matter how torturous it was, making Silver a type of Manipulative Bastard that could easily bring out the insecurity and guilt of others.
• Piper Elswith joining Cobra Kai isn't just a massive downer to Johnny Lawrence, Miguel Diaz, and the other Eagle Fangs despite Johnny's attempt to persuade her by presenting himself as a social justice advocate. It's also the fact that Cobra Kai (with massive help from Terry Silver's distribution of new equipment) has another formidable female opponent that gives them an even bigger advantage in the tournament (as if fielding Tory as their female champion wasn't bad enough). All summed up by Miguel's reaction upon seeing Piper's Instagram live feed.
  Piper: Nothing but the best, for the best. Can't wait to kick ass with team Cobra Kai!
• The scene of Kenny hunting down his bullies in the library, while cathartic, did play out like a horror movie. As shown when Kenny turns off the lights, does a sneak attack on Anthony's friends to pin them down, and whispers Anthony's Embarrassing Nickname ("LaPusso") for Anthony to hear, demoralizing him before finally rushing him in-person.
• The series of events leading to Johnny's bout with Silver gets more and more terrifying as it progresses.
  • First, Johnny breaks into the Cobra Kai dojo to confront Kreese and Silver after Shannon tells Johnny of what Silver is doing to Robby. Except Silver knows that Johnny would break in, giving him a call via the dojo's phone and watching him via security camera that's clearly reminiscent of a horror scene.
  • And when Johnny arrives at the old Cobra Kai dojo, Silver, as pragmatic as ever, executes a vicious sneak attack that nearly knocks Johnny unconscious. It doesn't help that unlike Johnny's bouts with Kreese (in which Johnny can usually fight at least to a draw), Silver outclasses him in every way. And the worst part about it, Silver is clearly having fun while beating Johnny to a pulp, cementing just how morally worse he is compared to Kreese, especially when considering that Kreese himself is appalled by what Silver is doing and draws the line when Silver attempts to beat Johnny even after he can no longer stand.
    Terry: WOOHOO! You see this? Looks like LaRusso taught him some defense! Okay, pretty boy. Let's go!
  • As a matter of fact, the whole vibe of the fight looks like something out of a nightmare. Not only does the original dojo now being an abandoned building give off a chilling atmosphere, but the entire plan operated by Silver himself just show how much worse he is than Kreese, taking his loyalty to him way too far, to the point where Kreese actually has a moment of empathy when he sees Johnny on the ground, beaten senseless.
• If Kreese giving Demetri a bloody nose in Season 2 wasn't scary enough, get ready to witness Terry's drunken breakdown to Raymond after Kreese expressed disgust and rebuked him for baiting Johnny so he could beat him to a pulp to demoralize Miguel for the upcoming tournament (which Terry had intended to be a definitive display of his loyalty to Cobra Kai and to Kreese). Raymond walks in for another shot at rejoining Cobra Kai and after he all but begs Silver for a chance to prove himself, Silver starts giving an unnerved cackle before he proceeds to utterly thrash on Stingray while maddeningly repeating "You want to be Cobra Kai?" The haunting rendition of Franz Liszt's "La Campanella" (the same piece performed by Silver in the season's opening scene) that plays throughout the scene just compounds the dark and even crazed atmosphere.
  • The end of the season reveals that Silver made a deal with Raymond, letting him back into Cobra Kai if he frames Kreese for the beatdown he had just given him. Given the fear (and shame) evident on Raymond's face after he lies to the detective, one wonders if he was just as much threatened as he was promised.
• Much like the first season, the All-Valley has its moments.
  • The Cobra Kais are finally using Miyagi-Do moves learned from Robby in their fights. The fact that they are combining both styles makes each and every single student (Robby, Tory, Kyler, Kenny, Piper, even the background students) all the more formidable.
  • There's a very good reason why Robby always tries to take it easy with Kenny during their bouts. As soon as Kreese successfully convinces Robby to see Kenny as "the opponent," Robby, fully-emotionless, goes absolutely brutal on the poor guy. Enough to give him a bloody nose.
  • Miguel's back acting up again at the tournament. Everybody is horrified and his screams only make it worse.
  "SENSEI!"
  • Kenny's retribution against Anthony, who came to him in order to make amends with him for how he treated him before. Not only is Kenny chillingly brutal, but the Slasher Smile he gives when he taunts Anthony about what's in store for him is so unnerving, it gives Robby (who arrived just in time to stop it from getting any worse) genuine pause at how far he's gone (and by extension the damage Cobra Kai has done to its students).
    • What's even worse for Robby is that Kenny's Slasher Smile and taunt are almost a perfect replica of how Shawn used to treat him. He knows exactly what kind of monster he has just created here. And not half an hour before, Robby complimented Kenny (for getting to the quarterfinals) by saying "Your brother would be proud of you" — already, that line takes on a much darker meaning. No wonder Robby is so distraught.
  • And to top it all off, Cobra Kai won. No, not the Ragtag Band of Misfits turned Anti-Hero Team led by Johnny Lawrence, but the Thug Dojo led by Kreese and Silver, with Silver officially capping it off by making a statement on a chain of Cobra Kai dojos that will now soon be spreading all over the valley. And unlike in Part III, the tournament audience were cheering for Cobra Kai at the end — Silver's takeover is starting with a leg up! Looks like Daniel's (as well as viewers of Part III) worst nightmare has officially come true.
    • And who's the ultimate victor in this? Terry Silver. And his betrayal of Kreese is downright terrifying as he reveals just how much he hated being used as a pawn against Johnny Lawrence, using his wit and grander ambition to take over Cobra Kai to himself. Sure, it's a cathartic moment of having Kreese arrested after everything the latter has done throughout the entire The Karate Kid franchise. And yet, he gives a chilling reminder to Kreese and to the audience that Evil Is Not a Toy, and that despite claiming just how loyal they are to a friend, will stab that friend in the back when they outlive that person's usefulness, in Terry's case, John Kreese himself.
    Terry: I'm shedding my weakness... captain.
• Also coming off as Tearjerker, but Miguel leaving off to Mexico City to find his father could only spell horror for Johnny, Carmen, and the audience, especially when Carmen mentions earlier in the series that her ex-husband is a bad man. Made even worse when Carmen also confirms to Johnny that said ex-husband doesn't know that Miguel exists.

Season 5

In General

• Let's talk about Kenny. He effectively becomes the perfect Cobra Kai soldier under Silver's tutelage. Psychotic and filled with Unstoppable Rage, a terrifying and threatening aura despite the fact that he's younger than most of the cast, extreme precision that can target an enemy's weakpoints almost instantly, and the ability to learn at a speed completely unrivaled by the entire cast. He learned Silver's "Silver Bullet" technique in less than a day! Silver was not blowing smoke up Kenny's ass when he said that his potential greatly exceeds anyone else he has come across. He easily annihilated Hawk in a Curb-Stomp Battle, despite Hawk being the reigning All-Valley Boys' champion and being older and bigger than Kenny. If Cobra Kai wasn't cut off at the knees at the Season Finale and Kenny getting a Heel Realization there is no telling how much of a terror Kenny would've become with even more training.
• There's Terry's new partner, Kim Da-Eun, who not only manages to match Terry's level of sociopathy, but unlike Terry, who hides his intentions through manipulation and charisma, Da-Eun wears her cruelty like a uniform, having no qualms about bullying and even torturing the teenage members of the cast, culminating in subjecting Tory to her brutally revised Quicksilver method. And also unlike Terry, we never see her get any comeuppance, meaning she is very likely still free to continue her ambition of spreading Cobra Kai's teachings.
• The bullying Anthony undergoes. It's no longer Laser-Guided Karma for bullying Kenny, Kenny has become even worse than him. While Anthony’s crew bullying Kenny was tragic and horrible, they were all his size and their antics rarely crossed the line into physical harm. The crew that helps Kenny bully Anthony, by contrast, are high school students who are much bigger than him and are part of a Thug Dojo. Worse yet, their tactics are violent and incredibly dangerous. At one point, they kick Anthony into a pool after pinning him with inner tubes, which could have possibly drowned him. At another point, they jump him at a mall and give him a swirly in a toilet full of shit (that, from the brief glimpse we get of it, appears to have been used by someone who had diarrhea). Not just utterly disgusting, but Anthony could have gotten seriously ill from that.
• After name-drops and hints dating all the way back to The Karate Kid Part III, we finally get to see Master Kim Sun-Yung in the flesh, as well as the lore behind him and legacy of his teachings passed down to generations. And it is nothing short of unsettling. Picture this: this is the man that started the Way of the Fist. Which means, everything regarding Cobra Kai, John Kreese, Terry Silver, and even Captain Turner, Kim Da-Eun, and the latter's elite mooks can be traced back to him, and his controversial teachings of "no honor" and "no mercy." Who's to blame for everything Daniel had to go through for decades now, followed by the Valley all of a sudden becoming a karate war battleground with more and more of the younger generation embracing the dark side of his teachings? The scariest part about Kim Sun-Yung is what sets him apart from the other practitioners of The Fist (except for Kim Da-Eun as of Season 5). Think that Miyagi-Do and balance will prevail because it defeated Kim Sun-Yung's students Kreese and Silver? No, it will not. Kim Sun-Yung is actually on the same level of Mr. Miyagi himself. One can only imagine how fearsome Kim Sun-Yung in battle really is if fighting him means fighting a brutal, merciless version of Mr. Miyagi, making Sato's grudge against Kim Sun-Yung justified.

"Long Long Way From Home" (5x01)

• As the commercial portrays in the season's opening, Terry Silver makes good on his promise by opening up Cobra Kai franchises all over the valley. Which means more and more bullies will flood out of their Thug Dojos and terrorize the valley's kids. Worse yet, Silver is now riding the Villain with Good Publicity trope for all it's worth, as the community sees him as a karate-revolutionary and philanthropist.
  • Speaking of karate-revolutionary, the dojo itself (while visually awesome in its own right) looks to have the latest cutting edge technology and resources unlike any dojo seen. With a combination of a Thug Dojo mindset added on with the latest technology to enhance physical performance, Terry Silver is now bringing out the worst in his students to the absolute best of their ability, which could only increase more and more with more dojos opening. Be warned, valley...
• Even if Miguel is able to use his karate to fend off a gang member in the wrong Hector Salazar's bar, there's something eerie about a young person (who hasn't completed high school yet) walking into a place full of gang members in another country. Imagine if Miguel never learned how to fight or stayed to be overmatched by grown men who tell him to "fuck off" multiple times and threatened a beatdown if he did not leave.
• There's something dreaded about how Chozen witnesses Silver beating the heck out of two sparring partners as something he saw from Master Kim Sun-Yung, followed by describing the old master's teachings as "controversial" and making a point with a brutal choke demonstration on Daniel (see in General above).

"Molé" (5x02)

• Miguel's biological father Hector Salazar becomes more and more chilling as he slowly reveals his true colors, becoming exactly how Carmen describes as the bad man he is. Let's wind back to when Miguel first meets him. Hector portrays himself as a charming, down-to-earth man who cares for his family and lovingly treats Miguel as if he was another son. Then, when Hector finds out about the "FBI" (actually Johnny and Robby in Female Body Inspector shirts) looking for him, he grows more and more vicious as he becomes increasingly paranoid — going as far as to grab Miguel by the shirt (as if he were about to assault him) and demands to see his phone if he were really connected with Carmen. Then when Hector takes Miguel into hiding, he then discloses just how much of a corrupt, sleazy man he really is, outright stating that he shows no regret for his illegal actions no matter how much Miguel's family, and the people of Ecuador rightfully disapprove of them. Even worse, he casually puts a gun on the counter (which comes across as a very shady gesture), meaning he could have willingly murdered Miguel right there and then if he assumed the latter disapproved and was a threat to his activities. Which leads to a sigh of relief when Miguel rightfully leaves Hector where he is, and is found by Johnny, the father-figure that really does care for him.
• Just how pissed Silver appears to discover that Chozen had been lying to him about his true identity, even without necessarily initially knowing his connection to Daniel. He goes from Tranquil Fury as he describes how he deduced that Chozen was not what he seemed (Spotting the Thread when Chozen toasted him earlier with the Okinawan "karii" instead of the Japanese "kanpai"), to Suddenly Shouting when he announces that he will "pay TRIPLE!" to any of the other senseis who can take Chozen down.
  • Despite now being an unambiguously heroic character that already went through a Heel–Face Turn, Chozen himself flashes a pretty terrifying Slasher Smile to a bemused if dissonantly serene Silver while he appears to slowly choke out the last remaining sensei that Silver had sicced on him with a well-placed neck strike.

"Playing With Fire" (5x03)

• During Sam's visit to Moon's and Yasmine's spa, Sam has a vision where she is in the darkness, seeing people in her life calling her out on all four fronts, before she is forced into battle with a dark version of herself, seemingly wearing a Cobra Kai gi, wielding two sais. Although the scene is not exactly nightmarish (it's not like Sam could die here), it's very anxiety-inducing.
• Everything about Daniel's encounter with Silver in the sauna. What starts out as a pleasant morning for Daniel trying to start the day off right with a trip to the sauna becomes an absolute nightmare when he hears his own voicemail to Silver's lawyer as the door opens. Then (with his dreaded theme playing), Silver comes in with said voicemail, knowing full well of the plan he made with Mike Barnes, and gives Daniel the "I told you so" gesture before making not-so-subtle threats on both Daniel and Barnes. Daniel can do only nothing but remain in the sauna with dread, knowing how absolutely screwed he is when threatened by a man he knows full-well how menacing he is.
  Daniel: Morning! Nothing like a good steam to start the day off right.
  [Daniel's Voicemail]: [Beep] Hi, I'm calling in regard to a former client of yours, Terry Silver. [Door Closes] This is very urgent. Please give me a call back ASAP when you get this message. Thank you. [Beep]
  Terry: [Terry reveals himself] I warned you.
  Daniel: What are you doing here?
  Terry: Oh. You and I are gonna be seeing a lot more of each other. First, I'm gonna deal with my old friend. And then I'll deal with you. [Moves a little bit closer] I told you not to play with fire.
  • And just how does he follow-up on that threat? By burning down Mike Barnes' furniture store. Yes, this man is that menacing enough to commit bribery, attempted murder, and arson. Moral Event Horizon couldn't get any more worse.

"Downward Spiral" (5x04)

• Kenny's first bully act towards Anthony since his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of him in the All-Valley Sports Arena locker room is by having him and his gang wrap him up in tubes and kicking him in the pool (see in General above). Before that, you can see Kenny projecting a chummy and playful demeanor when he speaks to Anthony, then quickly drops the facade to lure the latter into a false sense of security is downright jarring.
  • Kyler’s response to Anthony calling him out for dating his sister is also quite shuddering, even if it may seem like a Funny moment at first. Not only does he give absolutely no fucks to his attempted sexual abuse on Sam, but the line shows he’s done it to others, especially when one may recall as early as Season 1 with Kyler proudly mentioning the “Grandma’s Bracelet” tactic he did on “that East Valley slut.”
• Also counts as Tear Jerker, but the great lengths Silver goes through to ruin Daniel's marriage just to mess with the latter's mind is quite terrifying. A grim reminder of what Terry Silver is psychologically capable of on a personal level, especially when you consider what he did to Daniel's relationship with Mr. Miyagi back in '85.
  • And how does he do it? At one point, he uses his vast wealth to outbid everyone at his auction for Daniel’s bonsai trees to Daniel’s horror that there’s nothing he can do about it — considering Silver wanting to push his former student’s buttons by abusing the trees.

"Extreme Measures" (5x05)

• Silver congratulating Stingray as "an exemplar of everything Cobra Kai stands for." You could see the nervousness on the poor man's face as he comes face to face with the deranged sensei who not only beat him half to death, but manipulated him into lying all so that the ponytailed bastard would come out on top. One can only shudder at the amount of leverage Silver has over Stingray, followed by the lavish lifestyle he provides for him as an act of grooming towards his pawn.
• Robby's fight against Miguel in Johnny and Miguel's apartment complex leading up to the balcony can come off as a grim Call-Back to their fight at West Valley High that resulted in Miguel's fall. Thankfully, Robby is truly at Miguel's mercy and backs down when the latter refuses to succumb to his anger and provided another repeat of that dreaded scene.
• The Freeze-Frame Bonus revelation that Piper of all possible Cobra Kai students was the one who made a humiliating Instagram post sharing the footage of Anthony being forcibly covered in inner-tubes and shoved into the lazy river by Kenny, Kyler, and other Cobra Kais (as shown in the previous episode), while openly justifying their tactics as rightful retribution against Anthony for his own past bullying ways. It serves as yet another reminder of how Cobra Kai's influence turns even the most sensitive, kind people into vengeance-driven Always Chaotic Evil bullies that Took a Level in Jerkass.
• Silver's Curb-Stomp Battle of Daniel at Stingray's apartment. The two finally go head-to-head after years of fierce personal conflict dating back into 1985, but for all Daniel's rage and skill, Terry still makes short work of him. And not only is it terrifying to see just how dangerous Silver really is (again, this is the same man that gave Johnny Lawrence perhaps the worst beating of his life), it hits home just how in over his head Daniel has been up until this point, fighting an opponent with years more experience, resources and cunning. The whole nightmare leaves Daniel physically broken and shaken to his core.
  • Just the moves Silver uses against Daniel. The bonecrack effects make it so much worse, whether it's by Silver's headbutt or Silver straight up smashing Daniel's arm. By the conclusion of the fight, Daniel hasn't been beaten and broken this badly since his first encounter with Johnny Lawrence, as seen with his black eye at the next episode. "No mercy" couldn't have been this brutal.
  • And speaking of "no mercy," that's exactly what Silver shows to Daniel himself. First, psychologically tormenting Daniel at his worst when he mentions "putting Cobra Kai gis on his children." Then, proclaiming to Daniel that it doesn't matter if the latter's going to surrender — he's still going to bring pain to his life. And finally, when he does pin Daniel down, he desires for him to be "alive and well for what's about to happen" with the "alive at least" follow-up. It's just downright terrifying to see the man going through great lengths to torture and kill someone, the latter of which he could if he really wanted to.
  • How about Daniel seeing blood on his knuckles after punching the wall? We get another grim flashback of Terry's torturous training toward Daniel in Part III as Daniel reflects on Terry forcing him to believe his own blood is the enemy's.
  • It's particularly humiliating given that this isn't like the beatdown Silver gave to Stingray (which was bad enough as it was). Daniel is a karate master in his own right, and one of the most skilled fighters in the show full-stop. Being that good and still effectively helpless, especially before the man who left him with psychological scars decades ago, is utterly heartbreaking and terrifying.

"Ouroboros" (5x06)

• Terry's continuous expansion of Cobra Kai extending to buying out Topanga Karate comes off as a growing empire brutally taking over land as their own. And considering Topanga's emphasis on pacifism outclassing even Miyagi-Do, it's terrifying to see students now embracing a much more brutal type of fighting-style all for the worse as once again, more bullies are coming out of their respective thug dojos.
  • On a business perspective, Rosenthal being removed as the sensei of Silver's newly-acquired Topanga Karate dojo is a chilling example of "no guarantees" when it comes to acquisition deals. Especially if a shady man like Terry is now the one calling the shots, coupled by the Faux Affably Evil persona that sways away the loyalty of students.
• Similar to Robby's time in juvie, Kreese's time in prison is another frighteningly realistic take on an environment where fellow inmates can be absolutely cruel, especially to newcomers. It can only get more satisfying when Kreese embraces his karate persona once again and beats the hell out of his tormentors, and even then Kreese is absolutely brutal when he does it.
  • Not to mention, the fight at Kreese's prison isn't just some ordinary hand-to-hand combat that the show usually portrays. There's a knife used in the scene, and it's a sign of something much more significant to come.
• Kim Da-Eun establishes her character moment with her brutal stick training featuring Tory against Devon. Kim not only displays a level of ruthlessness that vastly outclasses Season 2-3 Tory Nichols, but she goes all the way to enact physical abuse toward her in training by hitting her leg with a stick.
• Kreese's imagining his therapist of people from his past that he cared most about giving him Reason You Suck Speeches become shuddering when two of them happen to be the causes of the worst moments in his life: Captain Turner and Terry Silver. Facing your inner demons couldn't have come at a more frightening cost.
• Johnny and Chozen's face-off against Sensei Hyan-Woo becomes very anxiety-inducing, especially when the two former rivals of Daniel realize, in-universe, how much the both of them have to work to take him down alone, in sharp constant to Chozen's Curb-Stomp Battle against the Valley's "best senseis." Elite Mook and The Worf Effect couldn't have been better defined in a more chilling way, and it's a relief that Chozen and Johnny wisely back down when Kim and her team are more than ready to mercilessly fight them.

"Bad Eggs" (5x07)

• The intro scene of Cobra Kai continuing to expand just utters dread and desperation coming from the Miyagi-Fangs, as if they are clinging on to every hope they can in stopping Terry Silver. All of this reaches its peak with Kenny and his gang's brutal swirly on Anthony in a diarrhea-filled toilet.
  • Heck, just the build-up to Anthony's swirly is just downright horrifying. Anthony happens to come across a Cobra Kai tabling event and is given a new Cobra Kai t-shirt, which he understandably tosses it aside given his family's history with the dojo. Unfortunately, Kenny, Kyler, and their gang of Cobra Kais are right there when that happens—Anthony's face sums up perfectly well knowing how absolutely screwed he is when he comes face to face with a trio of high schoolers and a vengeful middle-school graduate, all of whom possess greater skill and more experience with karate. Coupled by the fact that Kenny is so deep into his hatred and Cobra Kai's corruption that Anthony trying to talk his way out would be of no use.
• Daniel, Amanda, Chozen, and Johnny are worriedly studying a map of the valley, with markers showing the horde of Cobra Kai dojos now in operation. Even in those few seconds, the scene has the feel of a desperate resistance movement plotting against invaders who have brutally conquered their homeland.
• Chozen is the good guy here, yes, but there's a lot of anxiety when it come to Chozen's attack on his students' eggs coming off as a jump scare. Especially when you already know just how much of a deadly fighter Chozen is, as well as the whole overall purpose in rooting for the students passing his lesson.
• Terry's grand plan in expanding Cobra Kai. It all makes sense when he outright states to Daniel "he doesn't give a shit about the valley, he's got much bigger plans." With his desire for Cobra Kai to enter the world-based tournament Sekai-Takai dating way before the original The Karate Kid (1984), he's making sure the world knows about Cobra Kai and the brutal teachings it would soon embrace. The Miyagi-Fangs' attempt to put an end to the madman couldn't have been more desperate with his ambition mirroring even that of brutal conquerors.

"Taikai" (5x08)

• If Silver himself isn't dangerous enough, he introduces a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to his star-pupil, Kenny, as a means to once again provide an outlet for the latter's ruthlessness, as well as a "win at all costs" mindset. Said technique, Terry's "Silver Bullet," is as deadly as he advertises it: a One-Hit KO hit toward the lungs that takes away the opponent's ability to breathe; Silver himself displays a glimpse of its power as he manages to rip part of the dummy as he makes contact. Kenny questions the legitimacy of the technique, but Silver downplays it as "the shortest path to victory." How does Kenny respond?
  Kenny: Show me again.
• And just like that, Kenny uses that dreaded technique against Hawk in the Sekai Taikai face-off to beat the latter into forfeiting. Once can be forgiven that Hawk is thankfully ok afterwards, but him being knocked out cold and struggling to breathe is just straight-up frightening. It takes Terry’s saying of “A man can’t breathe, he can’t fight” to the utmost terrifying level. Makes it much worse when the rage-filled pyscho Kenny does a Kick the Dog moment with Hawk completely helpless on the ground.

"Survivors" (5x09)

• Also counts as a Tear Jerker moment, but just how absolutely brainwashed (or even under coercion) the Cobra Kai students are when Robby comes into the flagship dojo and gives an epic "Reason You Suck" Speech on Terry Silver. Terry's comparison on "being heard" and "being listened to" is nightmarish, not just the fact that Terry has just the level of influence to enact full control on students, but the fact that he outright encourages his students to go all-out on "No-Mercy" if Robby and the rest of the Miyagi-Fangs enter the dojo, with Kenny's "no mercy" response as the loudest of the them all being the cherry on top.
• The Quicksilver method scene with Tory, where Kim outright tortures her for ditching the fixed qualifier match for the Sekai Taikai. And as though Kim's sociopathy wasn't enough on its own, when Tory initially tries to leave, three senseis who are fully grown men stand in her way. Forget about the fact that this is a grim Call-Back to one of the The Karate Kid trilogy's darkest moments; again, we have three adults with no qualms about overseeing the torture of a teenage student. Silver has a real gift for summoning monsters to his cause. And yet even he looked almost sympathetic to Tory once the torture was finished.
  • In a way, the fact that Silver expressed some outward sympathy for Tory's circumstances and only appeared to arrange the exercise reluctantly, but still considered her torture by Kim Da-Eun to be a Necessarily Evil act to keep her in line and then implicitly threatened her that she should "keep making the right choices" if she does not want to experience the same pain (or worse) again, makes him even more terrifying. As with him plunging wholeheartedly into ruining Daniel's life while refusing to accept his "surrender" once the conciliatory terms that Silver had offered passed their expiration date, it either shows that Silver has a conscience but actively chooses to stifle it, or possibly is just Faux Affably Evil and intermingles abuse with a superficial veneer of empathy and magnanimity to further psychologically manipulate people.
  • Another thing that makes this worse is that the flashback in "Molé" showed us the correct way to make this training. Or rather, one correct way to train and reinforce one's hands: this kind of training techniques, borrowed from Chinese martial arts, are collectively known as "Iron Palm" and consist in repeatedly striking relatively hard objects (a bucketful of sand in Sato's version), then letting it rest and heal stronger than before. The Quicksilver method is nothing but a torture that perverts actual training exercises.
• Silver's encounter with Johnny and Carmen at the hospital elevator. It's a relief that he doesn't fight them and there (which would have ended horribly again), but there's a lot of shudder when he proclaims the reasoning of his goals being that of influencing his brutal, deceptive style of life to future generations. Imagine if he was alive long enough to provide such poisonous influence to that of Johnny and Carmen's baby.
  • When Johnny reveals that Carmen is pregnant with his child out of a misunderstanding when Silver was in fact referring to what he had achieved with Daniel rather than Carmen, and Silver forebodingly responds that there is "apparently lots to celebrate," it is another chilling reminder about just how potentially dangerous it can be for Silver to be aware of any aspect of the personal lives of any given character and their loved ones, since he will potentially use it as leverage, and eventually deploy psychological warfare tactics or worse against you and yours using that knowledge to his advantage.
    • Even worse, Silver's composed demeanor and unchanging facial expression of the revelation imply he knew about the baby already and just was waiting for this moment to pass it off as their fault he knew. Given his connections it's very likely he figured it out by illegally accessing their medical records.
• Stingray expresses a sense of fear when he shares his D&D Campaign cryptically revealing the truth of Silver's assault to him and Kreese's wrong arrest, before outright expressing fear, not because he doesn’t want to lose the benefits, but of what Terry would do to him if he told anyone. A grim reminder of the psychological grip Silver has on him, and what Silver is capable of should he find out.
• Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen are drunkenly having the time of their life in Reggie's limousine, only to slowly find out that something is wrong with their ride with them locked inside and them in the limo going on forever. Makes it much worse when Reggie gets frantic with his limousine missing. One can only express horror, at the potential assumption of Silver or one of his henchmen hijacking the limo and kidnapping them.

"Head Of The Snake" (5x10)

• Kreese finally stabbed to death in prison is not a pretty sight, both in a physical standpoint (where there's blood all over him) and a psychological standpoint (this is a prison, after all, with vicious people from all fronts). Though, the fear factor gets mitigated when it's revealed that Kreese faked his death and the blood is actually jello.
• Thankfully, the person hijacking the limo is Mike Barnes, with a sigh of relief that he is still not in league with Silver. And yet, his Rage Breaking Point is still a terrifying sight to behold, showing that despite many years of redemption and a change of heart, he's still the vicious brute that defined him as "Karate's Bad Boy" and "Tournament Terror." It's also a relief that the Miyagi-Fang senseis manage to (sort of) put Mike in his senses, otherwise Barnes might've thrown down with Daniel right there and then.
• Much like every season finale, the Final Battle has its moments. Let's start with Terry and his elite mooks' brutal showdown against Johnny, Chozen, and Mike in Terry's mansion.
  • The elite mooks that define Kim Da-Eun's "The Fist" are finally seen in action altogether. And they are just as vicious and terrifyingly powerful as Chozen had feared.
    • One of them manages to sneak behind Mike Barnes and pragmatically smash him in the head in the trophy, knocking him out cold for a good chunk of the episode. Already, the trio are one fighter down, and hopelessness arrives further when all of them show up at once. On a positive note though, Mike's lucky he's in a fictional show, otherwise he could have suffered severe brain damage there and then.
    • With Chozen occupied with Silver, Johnny is forced to taken on the rest of "The Fist" (sans Kim) all alone, and it's NOT your typical Curb-Stomp Battle you'd expect from Johnny against a horde. Johnny is badly beaten — nearly to death, and it took a Heroic Second Wind from looking at a photo of his child to give him the motivation to fight back. Even then, had Mike Barnes not regained consciousness and stepped in, Johnny (and possibly Mike as well) would have been as good as dead.
    • However, even the villainous senseis themselves aren't safe from this trope, as poor Sensei Odell loses a pinkie to a poorly-aimed katana swipe to Johnny, from one of the other Cobra Kai senseis. With plenty of blood sprinkling out of what left of it. Ouch.
  • Chozen vs. Silver. Normally, one would expect a good fight at the end of each season, but this one is genuinely nail-biting. Why? Terry is wielding a katana. Chozen is wielding his two sais. Both are out for blood.
    • Special mention goes to the deep slash that Terry gives to Chozen when the latter is distracted by a helpless Johnny against Terry's mooks. It's arguably the goriest thing you would ever see in the entire The Karate Kid franchise, and it really shows just how much brutality has amped up this far in the season.
• Then, there's the fight at the Cobra Kai dojo between the rest Terry's Cobra Kai (his students, Sensei Kim, and eventually Terry himself) as well as the Miyagi-Fangs.
  • The lead-up to the fight and the showdown itself. It's a non-stop, anxiety-filled trip that only gets worse as it drags on.
    • Six of the Miyagi-Fangs' best fighters (Miguel, Sam, Hawk, Demetri, Robby, and a recently-defected Tory) are desperately trying to upload the video of Silver beating the heck out of Stingray, only to have no idea that Silver has cameras all over the place, even as Robby takes an obvious one down. Doesn't help that they have to resort to alternative tactics (uploading Terry's confession to Tory about cheating in the tournament) on the fly, no matter how clever it is.
    • The army of Cobra Kais unpleasantly come storming in, thanks to the help of a traitorous Mitch. A chilling example of backstabbing that can take place anywhere, at any moment.
    • Then, Kim Da-Eun comes in, as sadistic as ever, brings the Would Hurt a Child trope to terrifying lengths as she attempts to beat Tory to a pulp with her "final, more painful lesson." The poor girl just feels utterly helpless against the vastly-skilled sensei, and even then she provides a vicious challenge when Sam and Devon also show up to help.
    • Kenny once again uses the "Silver Bullet" against Robby and tries to get his goons to beat the living daylights out of him. Luckily, Miguel comes right on time to finish the fight.
    • Picture this: you're Anthony, you have precious information in your hands, you have to wait for a bit to get that information out there, and you're vastly outnumbered, even as your allies try to protect you all at once. While the successful upload comes as a sigh of relief, this is where the anxiety factor reaches its peak, especially when you consider the Miyagi-Fangs were this close to losing their battle.
  • Silver's Villainous Breakdown, from his utter ruthlessness to his Slasher Smile when he arrives (out of nowhere) at his dojo with a face covered in (someone else's) blood and his disheveled appearance finally reflecting the deranged animal he's always been.
    • When he finally exposes his true colors, everyone (including Cobra Kai) rally against him. It doesn't stop him from being the scariest person in the room, especially when he challenges Daniel to yet another brutal fight. You get a sense that this time, there's no rules or holding back, anything goes and he will put "Danny Boy" in the ground with his bare hands if Daniel makes a single wrong move.
    • Hell, just Silver's uncanny knack for showing up at exactly the right place and time with zero warning to mess with our heroes. It gives him an unsettling aura of omnipresence, makes you wonder exactly how he's so well-informed to effortlessly show up out of nowhere and derail whatever the heroes are plotting. Or if he's just really, really lucky, which frankly is almost as bad.
• Right when Terry Silver finally appears to be out of the picture due to his arrest and the Cobra Kai dojo looks like it may be shutting down for good due to lack of students, John Kreese reminds the audience that he remains a threat by successfully engineering his own escape from prison, likely nursing a lingering grudge toward Silver, Daniel and Johnny that has only been compounded by the latter two tricking him into divulging information on Silver's intentions, then reneging on their deal to help set him free. Whatever good that is buried within Kreese is gonna stay buried it seems...
  Coroner: Please. I'm begging you.
  Kreese: For what? Mercy?
  • Meanwhile, Kim Da-Eun seemingly remains scot-free to continue spreading her grandfather's "No Mercy" philosophy and potentially pursue her own sinister ambitions. Makes it much worse that she still owns 50% of the dojo as part of Terry's deal, meaning Cobra Kai would still be around, now under her ruthless hands. Cobra Kai really never dies...
  • Also, given the immense resources and influential connections at his disposal, alongside his past propensity for getting himself out of legal trouble through underhanded means (even getting off scot-free for dumping toxic waste in foreign countries), Terry Silver may not remain in custody for long, or else could still indirectly pose a threat to Daniel, Johnny, and all of his other enemies even while in detention.

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"You wanna be Cobra Kai?! You wanna be Cobra Kai?! You wanna be Cobra Kai?! I'll make you Cobra Kai... but you gotta do something for me, alright?"

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