Back in Black

"A little water never hurt anyone."

Written by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg

Amanda: Look, if we're gonna meet our quota, you and I are gonna have to pick up any slack and focus our attention here this week.
Daniel: I just started teaching Samantha and Robby. I can't quit on day one.

A montage of Johnny and Miguel getting ready for their day is seen, interspersed with Johnny's Challenger being given a Cobra Kai makeover, all set to the titular AC/DC track.

Robby is awakened from a sound sleep when he hears someone attempting to sneak into the apartment. Fearing that Trey and Cruz have come to take their promised revenge, Robby ends up attacking his mom’s latest catch, an aging surf bum named Rick who is whisking her away to Cabo, leaving Robby with the bills which he is unable to pay.

After Sam gets an unexpected call from Miguel (who uses Aisha's phone to trick her into talking to him), she starts training at Miyagi-Do, where Robby is already sweating out his troubles. Daniel devises a new exercise called the "wheel technique" to keep both his new students in balance, instructing them to perform a synchronized kata on a floating wooden platform in the garden without falling into the water. He then leaves them to practice while he is called away to handle an emergency at the car dealership. Later, Daniel discovers Robby’s poor living conditions and decides to take him in as a guest, although Daniel's wife Amanda suggests that he consult Johnny about the situation first.

Meanwhile, some new students turn up at the Cobra Kai dojo, much to the chagrin of Kreese, who has rejoined the dojo as an "observer". When the senior students begin goofing off in class, a furious Johnny arranges a punishment exercise, ordering them to climb inside a cement truck and turn the mixer themselves. When the students hesitate to comply, Kreese shames (and impresses) them with a motivational speech, revealing that he was Johnny's sensei.

As the Cobra Kai students struggle to turn the mixer, Robby and Sam practice the wheel technique, an exercise that similarly requires perfect balance and coordination. Eventually, both sides triumph — the mixer rotates and the Miyagi-Do students get through the entire kata without falling.

Later that night, Miguel drops off some food at Johnny’s place and notices a picture of Robby Keene on his fridge. Johnny and Kreese stop by the mini mart for beer and run into Daniel, who has come to ask about Robby but decides against it upon seeing Johnny reunited with Kreese. After a tense conversation, Daniel warns both men they are in for a rude awakening before driving away.

Tropes:

Artistic License – Cars: The inside of the cement mixer is not portrayed realistically; there are spiral blades running through the inside that would've made it much harder to move around in and MUCH more dangerous to accomplish what they were trying to do.
Artistic License – Medicine: While the cement mixer training is played off as a Moment of Awesome for the Cobra Kai kids and for Johnny, in reality, cement is caustic and can cause serious burns to exposed skin, eyes, and even lungs (in the case of breathing in powder). None of the kids had any protective gear whatsoever, and that light hosing off afterwards would not have been enough, especially not after a lengthy exposure. This was potentially even more dangerous than the junkyard training in season 1.
Bash Brothers: Daniel explains to Sam and Robby that normally the defensive strength of two people would just be two people but done right two people can have the defensive strength of twenty. Thus comes the Wheel Technique, a narrow circle where two people learn to mirror each other's movements through instinct.
Call-Back:
- To the first season pilot, when Johnny pulls up to a woman and tries to get her attention, to no avail. This time, both Johnny and Miguel get a look-down from a woman and her daughter, and it's Johnny's turn to act like he's too cool to acknowledge them.
- To both The Karate Kid Part II and The Next Karate Kid, before and during the Miyagi-Do training session, when Robby finds the old children's toy, and both Robby and Sam say it feels like they're dancing:
  - In the first of the two films, Daniel finds an old children's toy (which he still has with him by the time of Cobra Kai) and Mr. Miyagi tells him that's the basis for Miyagi-Do Karate; later, he shows Kumiko the toy and tells her it's the basis for his style of karate, to which she responds that it looks like her o-bon dance, and they both dance on top of the bridge.
  - In the second one, Julie Pierce and Mr. Miyagi go to her grandmother's living room, tells her he invented a new kata he calls "karate waltz", "teaches" her the "new kata" and after a while leaves her alone dancing.
Cool Shades: Johnny and Miguel both don a pair.
Continuity Nod: Daniel remarks that it's been a long time since Miyagi-Do Karate has had more than one student, indirectly referencing Julie Pierce who appeared in The Next Karate Kid.
Contrast Montage: Miyagi-do's methods vs. Cobra Kai's. As might be expected, the Miyagi-Do exercise focuses on balance (doing a group kata on the pond's wooden platform) while the Cobra Kai exercise is more about force (turning a cement mixer's drum hamster-style). Ultimately, though, both are about the power of cooperation.
Embarrassing Nickname: The Cobra Kais continue their practice of bestowing nicknames on the new recruits. Only now, it's not Johnny doing it, but the more senior students like Miguel and Hawk.
"Eureka!" Moment: Sam and Robby were having a hard time figuring out the Wheel Technique because when they start turning they can't see the other. Daniel isn't sure how to help them learn better until he sees a wheel being changed at the dealership and see it slowing spinning before it stopped. That had him put Sam and Robby on a circular wooden disc in the pond, their weight balances out the disc so they could feel the motion of the other.
Foreshadowing: Shannon is holding two pill bottles when Robby turns on the lights; in a later episode, she goes to rehab.
Forgot to Pay the Bill: Soon after Shannon leaves, Robby discovers the power goes out in his apartment.
Gendered Insult: Kreese refers to the Cobra Kai students as a "pack of pussies" after they question Johnny for making them go inside a cement mixer as part of their training.
If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Robby issues this warning to Rick.
Insistent Terminology: Rick isn't taking Shannon to Cabo. He's taking her "Cabo-adjacent."
Jerkass: When Robby goes into If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her... mode with Rick, the guy responds to him with a flippant expression. Shannon's assurance that he's handling the bills for this month also proves to be a lie (though in fairness to Rick, that one's on Shannon as much as him).
Mistaken for Prank Call: A prospective customer asks Johnny over the phone whether the dojo accepts gender neutral/genderfluid students. A dumbfounded Johnny questions whether or not they're prank calling.
"Gender-what? Hey, is this a prank call?"
Mistaken for Thief: Robby attacks Rick, initially believing him to be a thief when he just turns out to be another guy Shannon is hanging out with.
Parental Abandonment: Shannon leaves Robby alone without ensuring the bills are paid, even though she claims Rick is covering this month. Eventually, the lights go off, implied to be for non-payment, and there is barely any food in the fridge. Sam learns of this and passes it on to Daniel, who then invites Robby to stay with them. He attempts to contact Johnny over the issue, but upon seeing him with Kreese, writes them both off.
Pet the Dog: Kreese seems momentarily concerned for the students' safety when they see the barrel isn't turning.
Shout-Out: Sam sarcastically asks Daniel if she and Robby are supposed to sense each other's movements by using the Force.
Training from Hell: Johnny reprimands his students for goofing off and makes them turn a truck's cement mixer from the inside as punishment.
Training Montage: The second half of the episode switches back and forth between Cobra Kai's Training from Hell and Miyagi-Do Karate's training on balance.
Tranquil Fury: Daniel's reaction to seeing Kreese. He barely raises his voice, but is unmistakably enraged all the same.