Let's Begin
Directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Kreese: That's why I'm here. I need a partner. And the only other person who knows how to teach Cobra Kai is you. What do you say?
Season 4 opens on Terry Silver practicing the piano in his Big Fancy House. He is interrupted when he receives a call from an old friend... whom he promptly hangs up on and returns to his music. Meanwhile, Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang's first joint training session is off to an shaky start. Hoping to bolster the students' confidence, Daniel declares this to be a new era in which old rivalries should be set aside to combat the greater threat of Cobra Kai. However, Johnny's aggressive methods immediately clash with Daniel's martial pacifist philosophy, showing that they still have a lot to work to do.
At the Cobra Kai dojo, Tory broods over her recent loss to Sam while taking her frustrations out on the practice dummy. When she hears Kyler and the other students making small talk instead of training, she angrily confronts them. Though Kyler argues that Hawk switching sides turned the tide of battle at the house brawl, Tory points out that Miguel was able to defeat him despite just getting out of a wheelchair.
When Robby Keene enters the dojo to collect his belongings, Kreese assumes he is late for practice, but Robby tells him he never intended to join and had only needed a place to crash. He concedes that Kreese's advice helped him in juvie, but he refuses to be another pawn in the sensei's conflict with Johnny and Daniel. Kreese counters that he doesn't see him as a pawn, and believes him to be even more talented than his father was. He urges Robby to become a champion, but Robby doubts their chances now that Johnny and Daniel have teamed up. Kreese hints that they're not the only ones teaming up. Later, Tory finds Robby pumping iron in the dojo's back room and accuses him of hiding. He calls her out for orchestrating the house brawl, but she claims that Sam still has him wrapped around her little finger, despite her obviously choosing Miguel over him.
In the wake of the home invasion, the LaRussos struggle to adjust to the new home security system they have installed. Sharing wine at the dinner table, Amanda and Daniel discuss their recent misfortunes. Daniel tells her they can still report the incident to the police, but Amanda does not want to drag Samantha into the matter after all she has been through. She wonders if Kreese truly intends to honor the deal he made about the tournament, but Daniel assures her they have nothing to worry about if he and Johnny can work together, and if Sam is ready to compete, calling her "LaRusso 2.0". Overhearing the conversation, Sam looks uneasy.
Johnny serves a home cooked dinner of fajitas and grilled vegetables to Miguel and his family, who at least appreciate his effort to present an authentic meal despite them not being Mexican. When the conversation turns to his relationship with Sam, Miguel innocently gushes about Johnny's reunion with Ali, still unaware that his mother and Johnny are dating. Johnny awkwardly tries to smooth things over with Carmen after dinner, but the damage has been done and she suggests that they take things slow from now on. Johnny reluctantly agrees.
Kreese pays a visit to Silver at his home, only to find himself in the midst of a ritzy house party. Invited in by Silver's girlfriend Cheyenne, Kreese attempts to rekindle their partnership but finds his old friend to be very different from the man he once knew. Silver explains that back in the 80's, he was addicted to cocaine and revenge, but after hitting rock bottom after the 1985 All Valley Tournament, he rebuilt his life through therapy and now considers Kreese's absence the best thing that ever happened to him. Kreese muses that society expects men of their age to settle down comfortably, but unlike Silver, he still has some fight left in him.
Hoping to reach a compromise, Daniel and Johnny propose a "divide and conquer" strategy to train their respective students in separate parts of the Miyagi-Do property, to the students' dismay. Out front, Johnny singles out Hawk and orders everyone to practice their leg sweeps on him as a reprisal for his alliance with Kreese. Johnny's loud instructions also irritate Daniel, who is trying to lead his own students in meditation. After finding no acceptance from Daniel and the Miyagi-Do students, Hawk angrily leaves the dojo, prompting Johnny and Daniel to argue once more. Johnny wants to quit the alliance, but Miguel invokes Rocky III to convince him to work things out with Daniel. The two men sit down over beers at Johnny's place, but ultimately agree that they should part ways. Meanwhile, Sam finds Robby at the skate park and tries to talk him into returning to Miyagi-Do, but Robby rejects her, having already made his choice.
The Cobra Kai students arrive for another training session, only to find Robby waiting to warm them up for class. When the students reject him, Robby offers them a deal: if any one of them can land a hit on him, he will leave the dojo permanently. Using Miyagi-Do techniques, Robby soundly defeats all of them, but leaves himself open to a sneak attack by Tory. Honoring his agreement, Robby turns to leave, but Tory calls him back and bids him to stay. Afterwards, Robby vows to teach them all Miyagi-Do karate, in order to better combat their enemies.
Johnny and Daniel meet up at Miyagi-Do to announce their decision to the students, but upon hearing a crash out back, they rush to find Hawk knocking down Mr. Miyagi's fence with a sledgehammer, the students having come up with the idea of building a large training deck to better accommodate both dojos. Intrigued, Johnny and Daniel agree to stay together for now.
After reflecting on Kreese's words, Silver ventures down into his wine cellar to retrieve a bottle for Cheyenne and ends up shattering another bottle against the wall with a wheel kick, showing that he may have some fight left in him after all.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: At one point, Daniel attempts to lead the Miyagi-Do students in a mediation exercise, only for Johnny to be shouting vulgar instructions to his own students in the background. At first, Daniel tries to ignore it (and his class tries with him), but soon, most of the Miyagi-Do students are cracking up at what Johnny is shouting, infuriating Daniel.
- Addled Addict: Turns out that most of Terry Silver's over-the-top behavior during the events of Karate Kid III was the result of the massive amounts of cocaine that he was snorting at the time.
- Ambiguous Situation: After Kreese has seen what kind of people Silver now associates with, Cheyenne offers him a drink, only for Kreese to request two drinks. This could be either a case of I Need a Freaking Drink or simply Kreese flirting with Cheyenne (as he has occasionally done with attractive women in previous seasons), and it's funny either way.
- Artistic License – University Admissions: Kyler's dad thinks Kyler has a shot at Harvard, despite his awful personality, bad grades, and the fact that Harvard doesn't offer athletic scholarships. Ironically, Kyler is the more reasonable one here, wanting to go to Arizona State University which does at the very least have athletic scholarships. Then again, Kyler also describes ASU as the "Harvard of the west coast", which is... not exactly true.
- The Atoner: To Hawk's credit, when he discovers he's not as Easily Forgiven as it first appeared, he doesn't leave or turn back to Cobra Kai, but instead starts trying to make amends for what he has done.
- Backstory Horror: Kreese reveals that the reason he and Silver started Cobra Kai was because after going through hell in the Vietnam War, they returned only to have the counterculture movement label them as killers, so they sought to teach discipline and respect to the next generation.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- In a continuation of the previous season's finale, Silver gets a phone call from an unknown number and picks up to hear Kreese saying "Hey, long time". But instead of answering, he abruptly hangs up and continues to play the piano.
- Also in a continuation of the previous season's finale, last season played Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang uniting as the triumphant start of a new era for the good guys. This season opens with the revelation, mere moments later, that Daniel and Johnny Did Not Think This Through.
- Miguel and Sam see Hawk walking into the Miyagi dojo with a sledgehammer and a look of determination on his face and think he might want to vandalize the dojo in anger. Turns out he just came up with a plan to build a sparring deck for the dojo and the sledgehammer is for helping to clear the building area.
- Big Fancy House: Silver's house provides a bit of nice Scenery Porn in a couple scenes. It's no surprise that Kreese's effort to lure him away from it requires multiple episodes.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: Cheyenne and her other associates are cut from this cloth, much to Kreese's dismay.
- Call-Back:
- Robby repeats "I used to be one of them" to the Cobra Kai students, clearly remembering his time at Miyagi-Do in the first two seasons.
- Tory is again knocked to the floor by Cobra Kai's current champion, but proceeds to land a hit on her opponent through treachery.
- Compliment Backfire: Silver's obnoxious guest tells Kreese he has a "Habsburg Jaw
", then he calls Cobra Kai karate "adorable". Kreese is not flattered. - Curb-Stomp Battle: When the remaining Cobra Kai students challenge Robby's right to be part of their dojo, he outfights all of them without taking a single hit, the only exception being Tory. And she only lands a hit by attacking him after he lets down his guard.
- Did Not Think This Through: From their opening speech onward, it is painfully obvious that as much as they both hate Kreese, Daniel and Johnny have put no thought into exactly what or even how they're going to teach their combined students.
- Drugs Are Bad: Silver blames cocaine for why he acted the way he did in the third movie.
- Foreign Queasine: While he's only offered a tofu skewer with cashew sauce, the look on Kreese's face invokes the trope.
- Foreshadowing: After Kreese leaves Silver's property, Silver spin-kicks a bottle of wine. He's not quite ready to rejoin Kreese, but as we'll see, that day is not far away.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: While Hawk has made a Heel–Face Turn and regrets being a jerk under Kreese's iteration of Cobra Kai, not everyone is ready to instantly forgive him, as Johnny makes him act as a practice dummy for leg sweeps, while Chris and Nate are quick to bring up all of his misdeeds before telling him to stay on the Eagle Fang side of the fence. Finally, Daniel himself tells Hawk that he's burned bridges with everyone in both dojos.
- Happy Ending Override: In season 3, the final shot of Johnny, Daniel, and their respective students ready to train together was a beautiful moment, presenting the most upbeat ending of any Cobra Kai season thus far. But the first episode of season 4, set immediately afterward, wastes no time in demonstrating that the Eagle Fangs and Miyagi-Dos aren't on the same page at all.
- Hidden Depths: More like resurfaced depths, but after all of Hawk's macho antics from the past two and a half seasons, it's easy to forget he was ever a nerd. In this episode, he uses the brain he's had all along to design a sparring deck for the combined dojo, and his diagrams are good enough to impress Demetri.
- Hypocrite:
- Daniel tells his students to let go of anger even though he still shows anger towards Hawk, Johnny, and Kreese (not that it's completely unjustified in any of those cases).
- Tory claims Sam thinks the whole world revolves around her. This is rich coming from someone who tried to murder Sam twice, knowing if she went to prison, her family would be out on the street.
- Immediate Sequel: Johnny said, "Let's begin!" in the previous season finale. Here, Demitri asks, "Begin what?"
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Kyler tries to deflect blame for the house brawl going south by pointing out Hawk defected mid-battle, Tory reminds Kyler that he lost to Miguel, who had just been in a wheelchair a few weeks prior.
- Karma Houdini: Tory and the rest of Cobra Kai are facing no legal consequences for the attack on Daniel's house because Sam didn't want her parents to make the situation worse and Daniel's dealership can't afford any more bad publicity.
- Kick the Dog: Even after Hawk is obviously hurting from his treatment by both dojos, Daniel unsympathetically points out that he brought it all on himself.
- Lampshade Hanging: Terry Silver, regarding the entire (ridiculous) plot of the third film."Back in the '80s, I thought I could conquer the world. And I came pretty damn close. I was so hopped up on cocaine and revenge, I spent months terrorizing a teenager over a high school karate tournament. It sounds insane just talking about it."
- Lady Macbeth: Tory continues to eagerly lure Robby deeper into Cobra Kai.
- May–December Romance: Cheyenne's exact age is never established, but it is definitely a few decades short of the 70-something Silver.
- Mook Chivalry: Unlike the other Cobra Kais who Zerg Rush Robby, Tory stands back and waits for him to finish with them so she can fight him one-on-one, implicitly because she wants to test her skills properly against a Worthy Opponent. It's also possible that, given her rage at the other Cobra Kais for losing the brawl at the LaRusso house, Tory just wanted to enjoy watching Robby humiliate them. Either way, she's still not above hitting him with a surprise kick when he thinks the fight is over.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sam makes one last attempt to convince Robby to return to Miyagi-Do. But he's still so hurt about her choosing Miguel that this ends up being the last straw for him to fully join Cobra Kai.
- Nice to the Waiter: Perversely, we see Silver acting sympathetically to one of his maids, Carla, when she drops a glass.
- Opposing Combat Philosophies: On full display between Johnny and Daniel, who continually butt heads over what their combined students should be learning.
- Put on a Bus: Doug Rickenberger and Mikey Miller are nowhere to be seen among the Cobra Kais, as they are two of the members to have quit at some point after the fight in the LaRusso household.Kyler: You know what? At least I'm still here. Half the squad quit.
- Refusal of the Call: A villainous variation. At first, Silver wants nothing to do with Kreese or his plot against Miyagi-Do, and seems embarrassed by how he acted in the 80's.
- Shout-Out: The bottle of wine that Silver kicks at the end of the episode has the name 'Kamen' on the label; Robert Mark Kamen created The Karate Kid franchise, not to mention started his own vineyard in the 1980’s.
- A subtle one to The Last Jedi: After a returning character is hyped up as finally returning to their franchise, fans waited impatiently for their first moments back onscreen after decades...only for said character to immediately refuse the call (literally in Silver's case).
- Spoiled Sweet: Sam. Discussed by Tory and Robbie. When Sam asks Robbie to come back to Miyagi-do, Robbie refuses.Robby: Then it looks like I get to be the first person to ever tell you this: You're not getting what you want.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Apparently after Kreese disappeared, Terry kicked his cocaine habit, got himself into therapy, and ended up building a peaceful, happy, and successful life. Terry even outright says that Kreese disappearing was the one of the best things to happen to him. Unfortunately, Kreese's return inevitably puts Silver right back into his old mindset.
- Villain with Good Publicity: If Silver can even still be called a villain at this point in his life, he's a placid villain who has many upper-class friends, completed therapy to overcome the problems that lead to his antics in Karate Kid Part III, and today cares so little about Cobra Kai that even his lover knows nothing about that era of his life.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Unsurprisingly, the Eagle Fang/Miyagi-do alliance gets off to a rough start because of Johnny and Daniel's Opposing Combat Philosophies and the two come very close to ending the partnership.
- What Were You Thinking?: Robby asks Tory what her actual end goal was for starting the house fight and points out that the only reason her life isn't over is because the LaRussos didn't call the cops.
- Wicked Cultured: Silver is a skilled piano player, has a fine wine collection, and is something of a patron to creative people.
- Workout Fanservice: Robby is seen bench-pressing in a tank top when Tory comes to talk to him.
- Would Hit a Girl: Subverted in Robby's case when he fights Tory. Unlike when he curb-stomped the male Cobra-Kai students moments before, he conspicuously avoids using any hard strikes against her, instead handling her with less brutal pushes and throws.
Terry: Yeah.
