Different but Same
Directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
The episode opens with Robby skateboarding at the skate park. After several failed attempts on the half pipe, he is shocked to find himself perched upside down on one arm much like Daniel was, in perfect balance.
Meanwhile, Daniel is at home drinking a cup of coffee, which drops to the floor when he sees Johnny Lawrence standing on his patio, looking ready for a fight. He races outside to confront his old rival, who accuses him of sending Louie and his goons to torch his car and potentially the entire neighborhood with it. Daniel firmly denies any involvement and threatens to call the police on Johnny for trespassing, but Johnny tries to take Daniel's phone and the two square off. However, Amanda quickly defuses the situation by suggesting that they work out their differences over a meal, and the two men agree. As Daniel and Johnny argue, the LaRussos discover that Sam was involved in the accident that damaged Johnny's car months ago. To help make amends, Amanda talks Daniel into giving Johnny a used car from his dealership.
At school, Miguel is still distraught over his visit to the LaRusso house. He encounters Sam in the hallway and expresses his desire to meet her family, but Sam tells him it is not the right time. Discussing the matter with his friends later on, Hawk suggests that Miguel pick a fight with Robby, but Demetri tells him that Sam has given him no reason not to trust her. After more cyberbullying from Yasmine, Aisha comes up with the idea of crashing her birthday party at the canyon later that night.
At the car lot, Johnny picks out a 2009 Dodge Challenger but insists on taking it for a test drive. With Robby on his day off and Louie having been fired, Daniel has no choice but to go with Johnny. As they drive, Daniel switches on the radio and the two men share a moment singing along to "Take It on the Run" by REO Speedwagon. They stop at the old South Seas apartment complex where Daniel used to live and explore the property. Discovering they have more in common than he thought, Johnny decides to take Daniel out for a drink. At the bar, the two men discuss their respective father figures and the spaghetti incident at the Oaks Country Club before the conversation turns to Ali. Daniel brings up Ali's Facebook page on his phone but tells Johnny he has never reached out to her. They then make fun of Ali's husband, assuming he must be a real loser.
Back at the LaRusso house, Sam finds herself grounded for the hit-and-run accident, with her mother confiscating all of her electronic devices. While the Cobra Kai stock up on snacks and alcohol using a fake ID, Miguel tries to invite Sam to the party, but with her phone privileges revoked, she cannot answer. Robby then arrives at the house for a training session, and is invited in to wait until Daniel returns. After being scolded for checking her phone, a frustrated Sam tells Robby she is a prisoner in her own home.
Yasmine and her friends arrive at the canyon for her birthday party, only to find the Cobra Kai and a host of uninvited guests from school already there. Stunned at this development, Yasmine tells Kyler to get rid of them, but upon spotting Miguel in the crowd, he quickly backpedals and suggests they find another spot. As Kyler leaves, Moon joins the party and Yasmine reluctantly accompanies her. Still unable to reach Sam, Miguel opens a beer and starts drinking heavily.
Back at home, Sam is miserably reading a book when Robby limps into the house, having apparently sprained his ankle while training alone. As she is tied up with paperwork, Amanda instructs Sam to drive Robby home and then come right back. As they get outside, Robby reveals that he faked the injury to get her out of the house, and they hurry to the party. At the canyon, Yasmine confronts Aisha for crashing her party, but Aisha strikes back by delivering a painful front wedgie to Yasmine, who then scurries away in humiliation. When Sam and Robby arrive, Miguel shoves Robby down in a jealous rage and then lashes out at him, accidentally hitting Sam. Furious, Sam tells him her father was right about Cobra Kai and leaves the party with Robby.
Returning to the LaRusso house, an inebriated Johnny and Daniel agree to a final match in Daniel's dojo, but find Robby there waiting. When Johnny learns that his son is Daniel's new student, he violently shoves Daniel against the wall, breaking one of his All Valley trophies. Robby immediately steps between them, telling his dad to back off. As Johnny tears out of the driveway in his car, Daniel is furious about Robby's dishonesty and banishes him from his home and his business. In the aftermath, Daniel picks up the pieces of his ruined trophy.
Tropes:
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: How people reacted to the wedgie Yasmine got.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: A drunken Miguel gets jealous over Robby escorting Sam to the party, swings at Robby, and ends up hitting Sam.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Moon takes a liking to Hawk and decides to stay at the party with him, much to Demetri and Yasmine's confusion.
- Apathetic Clerk: When Hawk pulls out his fake ID, the cashier just shrugs "Whatever" and lets him buy all the booze he wants.
- The Atoner: Moon has befriended the Cobra Kai students and apologized to Aisha for her previous actions. She tries to convince Yasmine to do the same, but she dismissively brushes her off, and walks off while bumping into Aisha at the same time.Moon: I apologized to Aisha for what we did, and you should too.
Yasmine: Whatever. You deserve them, Moon. - Batman Gambit: Robby pretends to have injured his ankle and asks Amanda for a ride home, knowing that she's currently busy with paperwork and thus would have Sam, who's supposed to be grounded, do it for her. That way, Sam has now an excuse for being out of the house and can sneak off to the beach party.
- Blatant Lies: Hawk tells the shopkeeper that Bert is his kid. Granted, Bert looks young for a high school student, but Hawk's fake ID says he's twenty-five.
- Break Them by Talking: Subverted. Yasmine confronts Aisha for crashing the canyon party and tries to verbally put her down in front of her face. Unfazed, Aisha delivers a well-deserved comeuppance to Yasmine in the form of a super painful wedgie."Yeah, well, I know you and your little karate gang think you're cool. But we all remember who you really are. You're just a fugly bitch, and your friends are all freaks."
- Bullying a Dragon: This episode is far from the first time Yasmine has said cruel things to Aisha, but this time it ends up with Yasmine on the ground, humiliated and in pain, when she should have known better.
- Call-Back: The pool finally got fixed.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Daniel tries to convince Johnny that he had nothing to do with Louie's actions. Johnny dismisses his claims, however, and accuses the LaRussos of being no different from each other.
- Miguel doesn't believe Sam when she says she couldn't have answered his calls because her mother confiscated her phone.
- Daniel doesn't believe Robby when the latter says he and Johnny weren't playing a sick game on Daniel.
- Circle of Shame: After Yasmine is left on the ground by Aisha's Groin Attack, everyone around them (except Moon) laughs at her.
- Cliffhanger Copout: The previous episode ended with Johnny rushing off to confront Daniel after Louie torched his car while Robby was at the LaRusso's house for dinner, implying Johnny would find him there and discover that he is Daniel's student. At the start of this episode, Johnny somehow doesn't make it to Daniel's house until the following morning, despite clearly having left at night, and Robby is long gone by the time he gets there.
- Commonality Connection: Johnny and Danny almost overcome their issues by bonding over cars, REO Speedwagon, and Ali.
- Deadpan Snarker: On Facebook, Yasmine makes a snide and condescending remark about Aisha and her board breaking skills."Impressive...can't believe the belt made it around ur waist."
- Distinction Without a Difference: Daniel is adamant that it wouldn't be appropriate for a happily married man to go snooping around his ex's Facebook photos... as opposed to knowing every detail of Ali's life in her public profile. Even Hope Less With Tech Johnny is skeptical of this.
- The Dog Bites Back: Yasmine finally gets a well-deserved comeuppance in the form of a super painful wedgie, courtesy of Aisha.Aisha: Hey, Yasmine!
Yasmine: (turns around and confronts Aisha again) Huh? What?
Aisha: Let me help you to your car.
(Aisha reaches for Yasmine's underwear and yanks it upwards; Yasmine screams in pain)
Aisha: No mercy, bitch!
(Aisha tosses Yasmine to the ground; speechless and humiliated, Yasmine turns and leaves) - Downer Ending: Robby's relationship with both his dad and Daniel fall apart once they learn the truth about each other, Daniel and Johnny's reconciliation and budding friendship is brutally ended, and Sam and Miguel's relationship ends with Miguel accidentally hitting Sam.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Instead of enjoying the party, Miguel starts downing beers like no tomorrow. With unfortunate results.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: According to Eli's fake ID his name is Walter Hawkman.
- Gendered Insult:
- Johnny mockingly addresses Daniel as "Danielle" while test driving a Dodge Challenger.
- Yasmine calls Kyler and Brucks "a couple of pussies" when the two propose partying elsewhere instead of confronting the Cobra Kais who beat them to the canyon party.
- Go Through Me: Johnny tries to start a fight with Daniel, but Robby intervenes and defends his mentor from his father.
- Go to Your Room!: Defied. Amanda knows that as long as Sam has internet access, sending her to her room would be like sending her out with her friends. So she confiscates all of Sam's devices.
- Grin of Audacity: Aisha shows a triumphant smirk when she finally gets one over Yasmine.
- Groin Attack: What the wedgie amounts to. Yasmine is hanging literally by her panties in the process.
- Hope Spot: Daniel and Johnny nearly managed to completely settle their differences and end their feud. Then Robby completely ruins it.
- Internal Reveal: Johnny discovers Robby has been taking lessons from Daniel and Daniel learns Robby is Johnny's son. What happens next is not pretty.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- While he's wrong about Daniel being responsible for his car getting torched, Johnny is right that Daniel's been the antagonist throughout the series, since he's the one who's been going out of his way to mess with Johnny while Johnny hasn't done much to him.note Also, from his perspective he's right to call the LaRusso family rotten since aside from Daniel, Sam and her friends were the ones who did a hit and run on his car and Louie and his goons did the torching. And yes, Louie's goons torching his car could've easily burned down his entire neighborhood and hurt other people aside from Johnny.
- Even if she proved to be an Unwitting Instigator of Doom, Amanda did have cause to ground Sam, as she was involved in a vehicular crime. It does not matter who was driving, being in any way involved in a hit and run accident is a very serious matter.
- And finally, Kyler. Since the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown he and his gang faced at in the cafeteria (which Yasmine also witnessed), he's kept his distance from Miguel. Seeing Miguel in the crowd at the canyon, Kyler advises that the gang find another location for their party (much to Yasmine's irritation). It's clear that had Yasmine followed Kyler's lead, she would have been spared her humiliation at the hands of Aisha.
- Meaningful Name:
- The episode's title is a reference to how Miguel, Aisha, and Eli are a more diverse and sympathetic group than the 1980's Cobra Kai students... but are now following in their delinquent bullying footsteps. It originates from a phrase spoken by Mr. Miyagi to Daniel in the original film, to describe Daniel's relationship with Ali.
- It also references how Daniel and Johnny, for all their conflict with each other, really aren't so different in the end.
- Minor with Fake I.D.: Hawk uses one to get the teens alcohol for their party. It works, not because the cashier doesn't realize it's a fake, but because he doesn't really care or out of necessity since Daniel got his rent doubled.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Sam and Robby arrive to the canyon party at the wrong time, as an intoxicated Miguel mistakenly assumes that Sam is dumping him for Robby. Miguel attempts to take a shot at Robby, but misses and hits Sam instead.
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: At the canyon, Aisha is just chugging away peacefully when the birthday girl storms up to her to give her a piece of her mind.Yasmine: HEY! You think it’s funny crashing my party?
Aisha: Well, it’s not really your party 'cause we were here first. - Not Me This Time: When Johnny goes to the LaRusso household and confronts Daniel over his car being torched, Daniel honestly has no idea what Johnny's talking about. After hearing more details, Daniel realizes that Louie went behind his back with this egregious stunt, but Johnny's too pissed off to believe it.
- The One That Got Away: This episode cements the fact that to a lesser degree than Johnny, Daniel also never fully got over Ali. He keeps tabs on her on Facebook and instinctively dislikes her husband just as much as Johnny does.
- Parental Obliviousness: When Johnny reveals that Sam and her friends were the ones who wrecked his car in episode one, Daniel dismisses it as nonsense, assuming that Johnny was just drunk driving. Amanda, on the other hand, confronts Sam about it and when she confesses, Amanda grounds her (to Anthony's sheer delight).
- Parental Substitute: Hammered home to Johnny when he sees how well Daniel is doing with Robby. Even more so since Johnny himself was having much the same success with Miguel!
- Playing Sick: Robby supposedly sprained his ankle in the middle of training. Amanda sends a grounded Sam to drive him home and return immediately; as they get outside, Robby reveals he faked the injury so he could bring Sam out of the house.
- Redemption Rejection: If Moon qualifies as The Atoner as described above, Yasmine takes the exact opposite approach.
- Sympathy for the Devil: After spending the day with Johnny and getting the full picture of his life, Daniel realizes that he's not the spoiled Jerkass he thought he was, but a man who struggles with a lot of demons and he starts to sympathize with him.
- Thicker Than Water: Deconstructed with regard to Louie. Daniel only hired him in the first place because he was his cousin, and Louie has consistenly proven to be a terrible employee. He finally goes too far when he goes after Johnny with a biker gang, which would have been a PR nightmare for the dealership if that story gotten out, and Daniel rightfully fires him in spite of their familial connection.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Aisha tears Yasmine a good one with a super painful wedgie."No mercy, bitch!"
- Two Decades Behind: Johnny has no idea what Facebook is, much to Daniel's bewilderment.Johnny: What's a Facebook?
Daniel: Wow. Really, Johnny? - Wedgie: Aisha yanks Yasmine off the ground with a Melvin.
- What Does She See in Him?: Demetri is completely baffled by the fact Moon is attracted to Hawk now just because he got a mohawk, tattoo, and new clothes. Hawk tries explaining that it's more because of his newfound confidence than the look, but Demetri just doesn't get it.
- Wild Teen Party: The Cobras host a more traditional variant than the one at the start of the season, with copious booze, drama, and drunken fistfights. Finding out that they hijacked the canyon where her birthday party was supposed to be, Yasmine is pissed.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- Had Amanda at least allowed Sam to message Miguel that she was grounded and not allowed any outside communication, the beach incident could've been avoided entirely.
- Conversely, the incident would never have occurred had Robby not snuck Sam out of her grounding and walked to the beach with her.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Both Daniel and Johnny appear to be on the verge of making amends, having a chance to understand each other and were even prepared to have a friendly spar to end their rivalry. Walking into the family dojo Robby happened to be there, so Johnny thought Daniel was keeping this a secret from him and Daniel assumed the bond he had developed with Robby was just a sick prank.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: An understated example. Johnny is quite heartbroken by the revelation that his longtime rival is now more of a father to his son than he ever was, and mutters the sentiment under his breath before leaving.
