Tear Jerker / Cobra Kai

"I just wanted to show that we couldn't be bullied."

"Wake up, Mom! I'm a freak. I'm never gonna have any other friends besides Demetri. I'm never going to get a girlfriend, I'm never going to be anything other than a kid with a weird lip!"

— Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz

In a world that has gotten no easier since their day, one should not forget what Cobra Kai is about: the past haunting the winner, the loser, and the next generation.

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

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General

• Johnny Lawrence's life story. He grew up without a father and his mother married Sid Weinberg, thinking the financial security would be good for her son. Unfortunately, Sid disliked Johnny, and was hostile to the fact that he had to support Johnny financially. Sid's outlet for this support was a relationship with Johnny that based entirely on verbal abuse, making Johnny's well-to-do life in Encino psychologically unbearable. It was this troubled relationship with Sid that led Johnny to turn to both Cobra Kai as an alternative family, and to Kreese as an alternative father figure...who would ultimately replicate Sid's pattern of abuse, messing up his view of the world. After losing the All Valley tournament, his life became a series of failures for over 35 years while he had to watch the kid that signified the downward spiral of his life become very successful. While he eventually gets back on his feet, getting money, stability, friends, and even some of his family back, a series of poor decisions on several people's parts caused him to lose all of that and put in the same position he was in at the start of the series.
• Just the entirety of Hawk's character arc prior to Season 4. He started off as a disfigured nerd who was bullied severely enough to tearfully regret that he was ever born, and Demetri is his only friend. Then he discovers Cobra Kai, "flips the script", and - for a time - vastly improves his lot, gaining confidence, fighting skills, an expanded social circle, and even Moon's affections. But the resentment of his earlier life (and Kreese's corrupting influence) is too heavy a burden for him, and Hawk ultimately becomes a savage, hateful bully himself. By the end, Hawk has abandoned all of his old "nerd" interests, he has driven his girl away, he routinely bullies the newer Cobra Kai students, he has escalated the dojo war by trashing Miyagi-Do and stealing Mr. Miyagi's Medal of Honor, he has assaulted even Demetri, and - worst of all for Hawk's future - he has fallen completely under Kreese's influence. At the end of season 3, Hawk does manage to turn things around, joining Johnny and Daniel's combined dojo after making up with Demetri... but he still has a lot of amends left to make, including to Nathaniel, Sam, Johnny, and most of all, Daniel.
• Kenny's story rivals Hawk's and Johnny's. Here's a kid who idolized his brother and saw him get caught in a bad crowd and then put in juvenile hall while protecting him from this crowd. Both his parents work long hours, leaving him very susceptible to influence. Despite being a great kid, he makes a bad first impression on his first day at school, causing him to be targeted by bullies. Through his brother's misguided good intentions, he finds help with Cobra Kai and finds a group of kids willing to help him get what he believes he needs. It actually works temporarily, and he fights back against his bullies. Unfortunately, a series of events in quick succession ruins this. First, school policy requires he be suspended too for fighting back despite being 100% justified. Next, his own mentor eliminates him from the All Valley Tournament using a cheap move that causes him to embrace the unhealthy mentality Cobra Kai preaches. His own bully apologizes, but does so in the worst way possible, making it sound like he's just sorry he got caught. Finally, when he fights back, his own mentor turns on him, thinking he's the perpetrator, not the victim. Things only get worse the next season. He's still not satisfied, for understandable reasons, so whenever he runs into Anthony, he wants to finalize the revenge. While Anthony does not help matters by expecting to be Easily Forgiven, his revenge crosses the line into criminal offenses that, had Anthony gotten injured, would've resulted in him going to juvie. The whole season, you see him becoming the mirror image of his brother and putting his family at risk of another tragedy, but this time, rather than becoming aggressive as a result of being in juvenile hall, it would've been the other way around. Making matters worse, the only person who has been with him this whole time is a criminal and has no problem taking advantage of him. While he thankfully sees Silver's true character, the finale still leaves his future up in the air.
• Sam and Aisha's friendship, at least prior to Season 4. The two were apparently very close until Sam started prioritizing her social standing and ditched her for a group of popular girls, even after they publicly humiliated Aisha. While Sam eventually apologizes, it's only after Aisha gains social standing, and it's made clear that Aisha doesn't entirely forgive her. In season 2, Aisha tries to give their friendship another chance, which Sam quickly ruins by falsely accusing Aisha's new friend, Tory, of stealing her mom's wallet, then blaming Aisha for her choice in friends. After this, Aisha cuts off all ties with her for a while. To make things worse, Aisha is forced to move after the school brawl in Season 2, meaning that they can never truly reconcile. All of this is subverted in Season 4, in which Aisha is in a much happier place, in which her friendship with Sam has truly mended, becoming the one to give Sam advice for the latter's struggles with Tory.
• The show portrays bullying in a very realistic fashion, making the Season 1 scenes in which Miguel, Demetri, Aisha, Eli and later Sam get bullied by Kyler and Yasmine hard to watch. This is also applied in Season 2 where the Cobra Kais (especially Hawk) bully Demetri, Season 3 with Robby being picked on by Shawn in juvie, as well as Season 4 with Kenny being mercilessly harassed by Anthony and his gang.
• A bit of Fridge Sadness: with the Comic-Book Time of the series, Season 5 is estimated to be the Summer of 2019 of what will be most the characters' senior year of high school. A lot of them are gonna miss out on an important moment of their life.

Season 1

• Johnny's downward spiral after that fateful Crane Kick to the face. In that instant, not only did he lose the respect of perhaps the only reliable father figure he had, he discovered he had nothing else to rely on. Sadly, this is all too often Truth in Television for people who peak in high school.
  • During his half-drunken ride to the All Valley Arena, fans may at first wonder why he's still playing that old tape in his head so many years later. Then he gets there and starts thinking back on how Kreese ripped his trophy apart, called him a loser, and physically attacked him in front of his friends. Seeing it from an outsider's perspective at the start of The Karate Kid Part II, most viewers probably just thought "Man, that kid's sensei is a real jerk." and forgot about it once the story got going. From Johnny's perspective, though, this came from the only other adult in his life (apart from his mother) who saw any value in him and that he could look up to. That betrayal cut him deep, and even after all that time the memory is still very painful to him.
• Miguel, Eli and Demetri being tormented by Kyler and his gang on a regular basis. It doesn't help that the faculty are completely oblivious to the emotional damage the three have been facing, as Miguel and Eli themselves are aware of. It's no wonder why Miguel and Eli decide to join Cobra Kai dojo (and Demetri eventually joining Miyagi-Do)—so that they are better prepared to defend themselves from the very same people that pick on them.
• Johnny's whole relationship with Robby.
  • The first episode shows Johnny's fridge door being bare except for a picture of Robby from 2010, yet Johnny lives alone, foreshadowing that things aren't at all good between the two. This is confirmed with the following episode, where the vice principal at Robby's school calls up Johnny because Robby was caught selling drugs. When Johnny tries to give his son a pep talk over the phone, the latter responds by calling his father a "pathetic loser," not even caring that the vice principal is right there. The wince on the woman's face as he hands the receiver back to her matches the one on the viewer's face as the poisoned state of the father-son relationship becomes all too clear.
  • Johnny's argument with his ex-wife Shannon gives away just how much the two have come to loathe each other, with some truly mean comments made by both parties. What is even worse is at this point, Robby's life is going downhill, and Johnny is desperate to get his mother to intervene but to no avail. Shannon has truly given up — on both of them. Shannon gives Johnny an absolutely blistering "The Reason You Suck" Speech, calling him out on his failings as a father, and even though Shannon's not a great parent herself, it's clear Johnny knows that she's right.
    "Eat shit, Johnny. You gave up on day one. Day one! Okay, I was the one that was there for him when he got mono. I was the one that was there for him when he built his own half-pipe and he broke his wrist. Where the hell were you?"
  • On a more gently sad note, there's that half-wistful, half-regretful look on Johnny's face when he sees a man bonding with his young son in a diner. It reminds him of the sort of loving father he could —and should— have been for Robby all along, and motivates him to make a heartfelt appeal to Miguel's mother to let him resume training.
    "I know there's no do-overs, but that kid... he's the only person in the world who hasn't given up on me. And I don't want to give up on him."
  • When Robby decides to give Johnny a second chance, he witnesses him bonding with Miguel, and decides to go work for Daniel out of spite, thinking his dad has given up on him, ruining their chance at reconciliation.
  • Even when Johnny manages to turn his life around, Daniel still all but replaces him as Robby's father figure, and that clearly hurts him even worse than a Crane Kick to the face. When Johnny and Daniel arrive at Daniel's practice room to find Robby there, and Daniel discovers that Robby has been lying to him the whole time, Johnny sees how much respect Robby has for Daniel, even being ready to fight his dad in Daniel's defense, and it instantly sends him into a Heroic BSoD. Meanwhile, Daniel is deeply hurt by Robby's deception, orders him to get out of his life despite Robby's defense of him only moments ago. Thankfully, they reconcile at the tournament, though Robby and Daniel's relationships with Johnny still suffer.
• The Halloween dance at the high school concludes with multiple Downer Endings.
  • Aisha just happens to be at the food table at the worst timing, as Yasmine decides to make a cruel pig meme out of her for the entire school to watch and laugh at. Made even worse that Sam did not stick up for her at the moment, which strains their friendship even further.
  • Sam's relationship with Daniel becomes sour when he (rightfully) catches her with Kyler as the latter is attempting to date rape her. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished indeed.
  • When Miguel gets thrashed by Kyler and his gang in the locker room, Johnny is the one who finds him beaten bloody and unconscious, and is clearly struck by it, carrying Miguel to his home and nearly closing the dojo (after failing to gain recruits in the process).
  • Carmen's reaction to seeing Miguel, her son, bloody and beaten, being carried home by a complete stranger to her. Her terror and rage are heart-wrenching to any parent. Johnny's look and tone of remorse in many ways show he knows it is partially, if not mainly, his fault.
• Robby sinking into the couch, watching TV with headphones on while his mother takes another one-night stand into the bedroom - after she canceled plans with him to do so. Him putting on the headphones, in particular, mirrors how Johnny used to use his own headphones to tune out his stepfather's abuse.
• Daniel gets a big one in Episode 5, "Counterbalance", after getting a well-deserved tongue-lashing from his wife over his actions in trying to run Johnny out of business. Realizing he's in the wrong for the first time drives him to the one place he can find his center - Mr. Miyagi's grave. After a bit of self-reflection while trimming the Bonsai at the grave, Daniel remembers Miyagi's definition of what Karate is and should be - balance in every aspect of life, not just in fighting - and he immediately heads home, digs out his old headband and gi, and begins practicing a kata while the victory theme from the end of the first film plays triumphantly in the background as the episode ends. The episode's end seals it — just before the credits we see a picture of Daniel and Miyagi with the caption "In Loving Memory, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita 1932-2005"
• The flashback to when young Johnny discovers the Cobra Kai dojo and asks his parents if he can take lessons. Johnny's mom is all for it and has a big grin on her face as he excitedly tells her all the awesome things he saw at the dojo. Sid, on the other hand, mocks Johnny's desire to learn karate and states that it'll just be a waste of time and money. Johnny's mom tries to defend the idea, but Sid just yells at her and keeps insulting Johnny. The verbal abuse and bickering become too much for Johnny to handle, and he turns on his cassette player so he can tune it out.
• At the All Valley Tournament:
  • During the locker room scene where Daniel explains to Robby how messed up Johnny is due to Kreese's influence, it cuts to Johnny walking down the arena hallway and coming across a picture of the man. Johnny just stares at it and the audience can see his sorrowful expression reflected in the frame as he realizes he's unwittingly become the same kind of teacher that Kreese was.
    "Mr. Miyagi always told me there was no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher. And your dad had the worst teacher there ever was."
  • Sam's reaction toward Miguel's chilling declaration that he'll beat down Robby in the finals — she immediately goes to her mom to leave, as she can't watch her newly minted ex-boyfriend beat up another friend of hers out of jealousy.
  • Johnny has a sorrowful Little "No" of despair when Miguel gets ready to win the tournament by once again ruthlessly targeting Robby's shoulder, cementing Johnny's failure to avoid repeating the past and once more injuring Johnny's own son. In fact, the whole scene plays off as an antiheroic breakdown as Johnny finds he can't celebrate his dojo's victory thanks to their dirty deeds and his failures, can't reconcile with his son while simultaneously discovering that Daniel is being a better father figure to him, and gets struck silent when Daniel sarcastically (or not) congratulates him on getting what he always wanted. It's no wonder he's next seen Drowning My Sorrows.
  • Miguel looking for Sam after the tournament, and finding out she already left. Even after everything that has happened, he still has feelings for her — and he now realizes what the path he's going down has already cost him.
• Kreese returns, full of praise for Johnny bringing Cobra Kai back to the top, and Johnny just looks disgusted by every word he says.

Season 2

• Johnny spills his guts to Miguel about when Robby was born. With his mother dead, and with a kid on the way, Johnny neglected to welcome his son into the world and instead drank his sorrows. It's clear that at this point, he wants to make up for being a lousy father to Robby by at least being a good father figure to Miguel.
• Very subtle, but after Daniel reiterates to Robby how karate was always used in self-defense, Robby gleefully replies that Cobra Kai was the exception to this tenet and enthusiastically notes how surprised and unprepared his dad will be by their preempt. The look on Daniel's face after this may or may not spell My God, What Have I Done?.
  • This horrifically foreshadows Robby's inability to let go of his aggression towards Miguel and Cobra-Kai (especially as he starts falling for Sam) and his failure to understand the bases of Miyagi-Do - after being trumped by Miguel again in the finale, he snaps and attacks his rival while he's trying to apologize, leading to his accidentally almost killing Miguel.
• Daniel's emotional devastation at seeing the dojo vandalized and Mr. Miyagi's Medal of Honor stolen. He's so hurt that even when he's confronting Johnny about the incident, he's clearly struggling to hold himself together. It is at this point that he goes off the deep end against Cobra Kai, opening the door to a cascade of tragedies that end with Robby possibly facing jail, Daniel's business and marriage on the rocks, and Miguel on death's door.
  • You can also see just how close he is to tears when he says the following line to Johnny:
    "You don't earn a Medal of Honor by stealing it."
• Tommy's reintroduction is pretty depressing. The audience is treated to a brief flashback of him, Johnny, and Bobby hanging out on their dirt bikes in the first film before showing him in his hospital bed hooked up to machines and close to death's door. Even as he puts on a brave face, seeing what that jovial young man has become thanks to old age and disease is a sad sight to see.
• Tommy's death in the woods is both this and a crowning moment of heartwarming, as he got to spend his last day on Earth not waiting to die in a hospital bed, but on a road trip with his old Cobra Kai brothers. All the same, it's still tough to watch Johnny and the others wailing over Tommy's corpse before the paramedics put him in a bodybag... and then we later learn that Kreese used Johnny's time away to start setting up his ultimate takeover of Cobra Kai.
  • And what song could they choose to underscore Tommy's passing other than Freddie Mercury's swan song, "The Show Must Go On"?
  • All made even harsher with the death of Tommy's actor, Rob Garrison, in September 2019. Even though the showrunners were open to Rob returning in future seasons, this role was his last. The season 3 premiere is dedicated to his memory.
    Rob Garrison
    1960-2019
    COBRA KAI NEVER DIES
• The moment when Daniel learns that Anoush has quit, and Amanda has to explain to Daniel what a mess he has made neglecting the dealership to spend all his time training his Miyagi-Do fighters. While Daniel had seemed to find balance again at the end of season 1, he completely lost that balance (despite his assurances that "Balance is my thing!") over the course of season 2. Amanda expresses such heartbreaking disappointment in him that it feels like she, too, is on the edge of leaving him. Maybe Daniel isn't a psychopath like the worst Cobra Kai... but his feud with them is still costing him what matters most in his life.
  • Laid out pretty brutally in this article.
• Lucille and Daniel reminiscing about Daniel's dad. He's only been mentioned in passing a few times throughout the franchise, so to hear a full memory of him is both sad and heartwarming.
• Tory seeing Sam kiss Miguel. As she watches it through the window, an expression of pain and hurt on her face, one can't help but sympathize with her. Even if she was wrong to start the brawl, her relationship with Miguel was one of the only things keeping her happy despite her difficult home life.
• Sam's melancholic drunkenness and shame during and after the party, which prompts Robby to shelter her with his dad so she can avoid letting her parents see her in that condition. Unfortunately, it only makes things worse by reopening the rift between Daniel and Johnny (when they were just starting to patch things up again), and seemingly causing Daniel to write Robby off as a loser like his father.
  • The look on Robby's face as he's clearly crushed by Daniel breaking with him (for good this time)... then he still tells Johnny how much Miyagi-Do helped him and how Johnny and Daniel could both learn from each other.
• While Hawk's character arc dived sharply through the last half of season 2, the aftermath of the school brawl — when he officially forsakes Johnny's mentoring in favor of Kreese's because his Cobra Kai best friend (Miguel) has ended up in the hospital — is almost certainly Hawk's jerkass event horizon. There's seemingly no hope of him coming back now.

  Hawk: (To Johnny) Miguel is in the hospital because of you. He showed mercy to Robby Keene because of you. If he dies, that's on you.

• The state of Johnny's life at the end of season 2: Miguel, his star student who looks up to him, has been hospitalized by his actual son, who's turning into a Generation Xerox of Johnny's own worst traits at that age, and his romance with Miguel's mother abruptly ends because of what happened to her son. On top of all that, Kreese (who Johnny foolishly trusted) robs him of the Cobra Kai dojo itself, which will now be perverted into the Thug Dojo that Kreese always wanted - and Johnny is powerless to stop it, because the remaining Cobra Kai students are siding with Kreese, blaming Johnny's "weakness" for what happened to Miguel. At the end, he is once again alone, with no job, no students, no love, and no family (blood or otherwise) by his side. While Johnny is not 100% blameless for things arriving at this point, it's still crushing to see all his hopes, dreams, and good intentions destroyed in the span of a single episode.
  • As Johnny sees Miguel lying comatose in the hospital, he pulls out his phone and sees a voicemail from him. Johnny plays it and learns Miguel had tried coming to him for advice about the Tory/Sam situation that morning but missed him before he left for the day (because Johnny had left to drive Robby to school) and offers to go with him to the burger place to talk about it after school. Once the message ends, Johnny completely breaks down and starts sobbing in the hospital hallway.
  • The end of the second season is a heaping helping of My God, What Have I Done? for any number of characters; but especially for Johnny and Daniel. Their once seemingly innocent dojo rivalry has effectively erupted into a Mob War where their students paid the price. In fact, both men are so distraught in the aftermath that when they end up in the hospital elevator together, they cannot find one word - even in peace - to say to each other. They just know that neither of them can pretend to be the victim on this one. Both sides could've had blood on their hands, and they know it.
  • Both men seem to realize that this is all their fault, but neither has any idea how to move forward from it and try to reconcile themselves and their students. They both just look so broken, having stared their ultimate failure in the face.
• Johnny isn't the only sensei to see his hopes and dreams shattered. The aftermath of the school brawl and pressure from his wife both drive Daniel to give up teaching karate altogether. He even apologizes (with his voice breaking) to a portrait of his late mentor for failing to uphold Miyagi-Do karate's philosophy.
  "I tried my best. I thought I was doing the right thing. I'm sorry."
  • Sam's situation. One episode ago, she drunkenly kissed Miguel in a moment of weakness after learning he returned Miyagi's Medal of Honor, and now, as a result of the brawl that Tory instigated in response to this, her ex-boyfriend is in a hospital bed on life support, and her current boyfriend is the one who put him there. You can hear the hurt in her voice as she yells "Robby, what did you do?!" before running to Miguel's side, not caring that she's bleeding from where Tory sliced her arm open. And when she's in the hospital getting her arm stitched up, she's doesn't care about whether Tory gets punished or not, only that Miguel pulls through.
  • Her first instinct upon running to Miguel's side is to reach down and comfort Miguel. For the last ~4 months she hated who Miguel had become. He had become someone different than the person who first asked her out. Over the summer, their few conversations were always very closed off and defensive. They only had one good conversation, which ultimately led to a drunken kiss. Yet despite all of this, her heart immediately told her she needed to comfort Miguel. It's in traumatic moments like this you realize how people really feel. In this moment we see just how much Sam still cared about Miguel. Enough to kneel by his head and try to hold his head. Even later in the hospital, when Sam gets over the initial shock of what happened she still only cares about Miguel. Doesn't care about her own injury. Doesn't care about Tory. Doesn't even care about what happens to Robby in that moment. Her sole thought is that Miguel needs to be okay so that she has another chance to try at least being friends with him again.
• The new remix of Cruel Summer that plays at the end. In this version, the lyrics are sung in a somber tone that perfectly reflects just how alone Johnny has become at the end and how disastrously everything turned out.

Season 3

• Johnny at the start of the season — drunk, aimless, and getting into pointless fights that even as a Cobra Kai master, he cannot win. At the start of season 1, he gets mistaken as a homeless person. For the first couple episodes of this season, with his badly bruised face and drunkenness, he comes across MUCH more like a bum, and it's painful to see him like this.
• Daniel is now suffering nearly as badly as Johnny as the public have turned against him, seeing him and his students as the face of the riot and Miguel's injuries. No one wants to buy cars from his dealerships, Sam is suffering PTSD, Robby is a fugitive, and there is a strong public outcry against the Miyagi-Do dojo. About the only damn thing going right for Daniel at this point is that Johnny is finally desperate enough to at least try to collaborate with him, and even that quickly washes out when they run out of leads to find Robby.
• In the first episode, Moon reveals to Yasmine that after the brawl, Aisha's parents were afraid of letting her return to West Valley and enrolled her in a private school. They even sold their house, apparently moving to get away from the community they’ve lived in for years.
• When Johnny goes to visit Miguel for the first time since he woke up from his coma, he blames his sensei for his current predicament, lashing out at him and tells him, through tears, to leave.
• Seeing Sam suffer from anxiety and panic attacks in the aftermath of the school brawl is not comfortable to watch.
  • On her first day back in school, she is overwhelmed by painful memories just setting foot in the stairwell where Miguel was crippled, and the way everyone who's not a Miyagi-Do looks at her funny, to the point that she has to leave and seek the solace of the dojo. When Daniel finds her there (as the dojo is near where Robby dumped the transponder off the car he stole), he's at a loss for words how to comfort his daughter. When she finally works up the courage to return to school, she walks up to some of the girls and snaps at them in a very un-Sam-like way.
    Sam: You wanna say something? Say it to my face! [all three girls are stunned into awkward silence] That's what I thought.
  • Sam freezes and breaks down completely during the fight at the abandoned laser tag arena at Golf n' Stuff, and can do nothing but watch as Hawk snaps Demetri's arm. For the next few episodes, she's left to blame herself for failing to help him, in addition to the guilt she already feels for Miguel and Robby's predicaments.
  • When Amanda shows up at the hospital and begins to chew out Sam for starting another fight, she sees her daughter in tears and her anger immediately fades away as she consoles her daughter. When Sam cries about Demetri getting his arm broken and her being so scared that she couldn't stop it, Amanda finally realizes that Daniel was right about the kids having to defend themselves and she's horrified by what Sam went through, and hugs her and tries to say that everything will be okay.
    "I just wanted to show that we couldn't be bullied..."
  • Episode 7 opens with Sam having a nightmare in which Tory drowns her in the Miyagi-Do pond, with Tory serving as a manifestation of Sam's conscience taunting her for freezing up in fear at the laser tag, and blaming her for Robby's and Miguel's predicaments. Smash cut to Sam bolting upright in bed, hyperventilating, and judging from Amanda's comments to Daniel a few scenes later (which is implied to be a few days later given the training montage of Miguel regaining his ability to walk), these have been happening on a regular basis.
• The transition that the Cobra Kai Dojo gradually undergoes under Kreese's takeover is hard to watch.
  • While Johnny's Cobra Kai was all about turning bullied students into better versions of themselves (in his terms, becoming "badasses"), Kreese's Cobra Kai becomes all about handpicking people who were already thugs in the first place (Kyler, Tory, Robby) and indoctrinating them into the original "Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy" creed that was seen in the original The Karate Kid so that they can be used as deadly weapons for Kreese's own agenda. Goes to show how far the dojo has fallen from a safe (albeit slightly rough) haven for former bully victims to basically being the enemy that Daniel and Johnny now have to take down with their combined dojos.
  • Imagine being extremely loyal to a dojo, its sensei, and its creed, only to be kicked out all of a sudden because you just so happened to not be a good fit for the system (in other words, "not Cobra Kai-material"). This is the case with Bert (and a few others) after refusing to feed a hamster to a snake (with the excuse that "a true cobra feels no sympathy to its meals"), and Mitch after he loses to Kyler in a sparring match. Goes to show how unlike Johnny (who is a Father to His Men to his students), Kreese doesn't give a shit about ANYONE, even if they are loyal to the dojo and his cause (in Mitch's case). Both Bert and Mitch were written off completely by the remaining members of the dojo after being kicked out by Kreese, as shown when Hawk directs Mitch to the "rejects table" after the latter attempts to sit with his old Cobra Kai teammates. Much like in season 1 when Sam got kicked out of the "popular girls" group after Kyler spread vicious rumors about her, this is all too true with real-life cliques in high school in which people who were once part of a club, organization, or friend group are excluded once they leave, whether it is voluntarily or involuntarily.
  • It's clear that Eli would have had NO chance of lasting even a day in Kreese's Cobra Kai (due to his history as a bullied victim and his meek, submissive nature). The only reason why Hawk was able to last as long as he could under Kreese was because of Johnny encouraging him to "flip the script" and training him to become the skilled karateka he is now. And yet it's all because of Kreese's poisonous mindset that he outright dismisses Johnny as "soft." Brainwashed and Crazy to the core. Even Johnny calls out on Hawk for his mismatched loyalty toward Kreese (which culminates to Hawk finally defecting to the Miyagi-Fang alliance).
    Johnny: I made you what you are, not Kreese! He doesn't give a shit about you!
  • Yes, they are bullies with seemingly no redeeming qualities, but it's heartbreaking to see the remaining members of Kreese's Cobra Kai now enemies to those that were apart of Johnny's Cobra Kai, but left due to unfortunate circumstances. Season 1 featured Miguel, Aisha, Hawk, Bert, and even minor characters like Abe, Dieter, Mikey, and Edwin all training together and cheering each other on during the All-Valley tournament; season 2 featured all the aforementioned characters continuing to bond and train together, with the addition of Mitch, Chris, Nathaniel, Big Red, Lil Red, Frank, as well as Tory, Stingray, and Doug Rickenberger. Much of that won't be present in the 51st All-Valley Tournament, as Miguel, Hawk, Mitch, Chris, Bert, Nathaniel, and a few others (i.e. Abe, Lil Red, Frank) all defected from Cobra Kai to join either Miyagi-Do or Eagle Fang (Aisha on the other hand left the Valley and Cobra Kai in shame). If it means taking down Kreese's Cobra Kai once and for all, it means to fight against their former allies and friends by all means necessary.
  • What's even more heartbreaking is that the remaining Cobras (Mikey, Doug, Dieter, Edwin, Big Red, Tory) are now closely aligned to their biggest former enemies, Kyler and Robby; two delinquents who are shaped to be among the most vicious fighters in the dojo. Kyler, for example, being the very reason why some of the current Cobras joined the dojo (his viral ass-beating from Miguel, as witnessed by Dieter, Edwin, and Mikey), and Robby, a former top-student of Miyagi-Do who basically put Cobra Kai's former top-student (Miguel) in the hospital and on death's door. Goes to show that they are nothing more than brainless mooks who have absolutely no loyalty to anyone other than Kreese. Miguel even compares them to having drank the Kool-Aid.
• Carmen's predicament seeing Miguel so distant and sullen following his discharge from the hospital, since he cannot walk or do the things he used to love to do, particularly karate. It hits hard if you've ever been the parent of a child who now uses a wheelchair - or such a child yourself. Even so, she has to try to stay strong for the sake of her son, and Johnny catches her one night sneaking out of her apartment so Miguel won't see her crying.
• This season does a lot to humanize Kreese. Although it doesn't excuse his actions, it's quite upsetting to see how a once good man has gone so astray.
  • When Kreese visits Tory and tries to convince her to return to Cobra Kai, he mentions that he knows her mother is sick, and that his mother was sick as well. When Tory asks if his mother got better, he says that she had a different kind of sickness, and that he couldn't see it until it was too late. It's a rare moment of vulnerability from him, and the fact that he shows so much understanding of the nature of mental illness, in stark contrast to his usual Politically Incorrect Villain status, indicates that he did everything he could to figure out what was wrong with his mother, and that he truly loved and misses her.
  • Kreese's first flashbacks reveal that he was actually heroic in his youth, first saving Betsy from abusive jocks and then becoming a sufficiently badass soldier to be field promoted into the Green Berets during the Vietnam War. It's genuinely tragic that this fine young man will inevitably become the sociopathic monster that Kreese is today.
  • The final flashback especially qualifies as this. It's brief, but you can see in his facial expression and tone of voice that Kreese is so desensitized to the horror, possibly resembling PTSD, that whatever humanity he had left has been all but snuffed out. It doesn't make him sympathetic, but you start to see why he treats everything he experiences as a war... because the war never left him.
  • When Kreese is told of Betsy's death in a car accident, he falls to his knees on the spot, feeling perhaps for the first time truly broken. This, along with having to kill his CO in the ensuing duel above the Snake Pit, is essentially what quenches any bit of decency Kreese had left in him. The fact that he never seemed to have had another romantic partner after Betsy indicates that no one has ever had a positive and moralistic influence on Kreese as she did.
  • Kreese volunteering to take Silver's place in the match against their CO was perhaps the last truly heroic, selfless decision he would make for likely decades.
• Once again, Hawk's arc is very upsetting. Even after everything he's done, it's hard not to feel a little bad for Hawk finally realizing that he's aligned himself with the same kind of people who bullied him to begin with.
  • Hawk breaking Demetri's arm. Demetri begs Eli not to do it, but he does so anyway, with Demetri screaming and crying in pure agony all while Sam watches looking absolutely heartbroken, as she's paralyzed from a panic attack brought on by the sound of Tory's voice, and the other Cobra Kai members outnumbering her. As mouthy as Demetri was in previous seasons, it's hard not to feel sorry for him here. Even Hawk looks uneasy when he hears Demetri begging and only does it after Tory and the other Cobra Kai members egg him on. Once he does the deed, he clearly shows regret for doing so and realizes he crossed a line.
  • Despite being overshadowed by the sheer brutality of the moment, when Hawk is going full ground-and-pound on his former bully Brucks, there's a brief flashback to Season 1 when he was mocked in the cafeteria for his cleft lip. It's a small reminder of the person Hawk use to be and the root of all his bitterness and rage. It's arguable that at this moment, it wasn't Hawk beating on Brucks; it was Eli.
  • On Miguel's first day back in school, he runs into Hawk, and then Demetri. And Demetri tells him about how Hawk broke his arm. You can hear the disappointment in Miguel's voice when he confronts Hawk at lunch.
    Miguel: I heard about what happened to Demetri. How could you do that?
    Hawk: You should be thanking me for getting revenge on the Miyagi-Dos. Besides, they're the ones who started the fight. We finished it.
    Miguel: That's not what our sensei taught us.
    Hawk: He's not my sensei anymore.
    Miguel: After everything Sensei Lawrence did for you, you betray him?
    Hawk: He betrayed us.
    [Miguel takes a deep breath, clearly trying not to lash out in anger.]
    Miguel: Look, this isn't you talking. It's Kreese; he's gotten in your head. You can change that if you leave Cobra Kai and join Sensei Lawrence's new dojo. If you come, others will follow. Okay? We can show everyone that we're not a bunch of bullies. We can be like before.
    Hawk: He has a new dojo?
  • It is at this point that Kyler parades his dick-drawing around on Demetri's cast for all to see. Miguel notices the Cobra Kai T-shirt that Kyler is wearing, and you can hear nothing but disappointment in the realization that Hawk has now aligned himself with the very bully who was the reason they joined Cobra Kai; remember that Kyler outright called Eli a freak and that no girl would ever "kiss this shit (the scar on his lip)", as witnessed by Miguel himself. Unlike in season 2, where Miguel continued to be friends with Hawk even after knowing Hawk trashed Miyagi-Do and stole Miyagi's Medal of Honor, here he draws the line and walks away from one of the closest friends he's made in his life.
    Miguel: So these are your friends now? (Shakes his head in disappointment before walking away)
  • After remembering Kreese's, Miguel's and Johnny's words about his allegiances, Hawk's breathing becomes ragged, showing how this decision in picking sides is tearing him apart. Then he sees Rickenberger offering him a chance to re-break Demetri's right arm, at which point Hawk makes his decision to attack Rickenberger and rescue Demetri. Their expressions afterward clearly show that he figured Demetri would still be scared to face him, but is ultimately relieved that Hawk's serious about both his apology and wanting to work with him to take down the remaining students.
• Kumiko remained unmarried despite her Auntie's wishes and receiving many proposals. She joked that none of them had ever fought to the death to save her, which Daniel points out (also jokingly) is a tough act to follow. While this was mostly them having a laugh about their past, it's sad that Kumiko lost contact with someone who put his life on the line to save her and that she remained unmarried because none of her suitors ever measured up to that. Then, she had a reunion with Daniel and learned that he married and had a family. Even though she kept a smile, that revelation may have made Kumiko regret the path not traveled. Daniel (like Johnny) may see Ali as The One That Got Away, but he may be that for Kumiko.
  • When she gets to the part of Mr. Miyagi's letter when he says "I never thought I would have a family again," she winces in surprise, smiles and laughs, winces again and frowns before proceeding to read it in an emotional tone. She's back to smiling at the part where Mr. Miyagi says Sam made him feel like her grandfather.
• Kyler humiliating Demetri at school. Kyler gets a look at Demetri's sling, and what does he do? Doodle a big-ass dick the whole length and, for good measure, parades it around the lunchroom to see who all laugh at him. And to rub even more salt in the wound, he later messes up Demetri's hair, makes a jerking-off motion at him, and laughs at him again. Even Yasmine does not approve of how Demetri is being treated.
  • What makes it sadder for Demetri is that, unlike the previous school year where he didn't stand a chance against Kyler, he now has the fighting skills he needs to stand up for himself but he can't use them because of circumstances completely outside of his control (his arm injury and Counselor Blatt cracking down on the Miyagi-do students). Thus, he has no choice but to let the bullying happen.
• Robby's story arc for the season 3. At the start of the season, he's on the run from the cops, and everything that happens from then until his eventual joining with Kreese is the result of him feeling constantly betrayed and abandoned by everyone he cares about.
  • Daniel tries to get Robby a lighter prison sentence by making him turn himself in, but when the cops close in without warning, Robby sees this as Daniel selling him out. Robby is so hurt that every time Daniel calls him in juvie, he just hangs up at the first sound of Daniel's voice.
  • Throughout his incarceration, Robby becomes the target of Shawn Payne's gang, who he is unable to defeat with his Miyagi-do skills. They go on to gang-beat him, steal his pillow, mock his troubled relationship with his father, and otherwise do their damnedest to make Robby feel like poor Daniel did at the start of the first Karate Kid.
  • Johnny tries to visit Robby in juvenile hall, but ends up passing on their meeting after Miguel's grandmother implores him to stay and pray during his surgery, leading Robby to believe his own father had chosen Miguel over him. Johnny's attempt to make up for it by visiting Robby during community service is met with a cold rejection from Robby.
  • Robby is able to log onto a prison computer and see that his email inbox is full of worried messages from Daniel, Amanda, Shannon, and even Sam, all begging him to contact them. He does start to write an apologetic reply to Sam, only for Shawn to unplug the computer just to be a dick. The universe won't even let Robby have that!
  • And when Robby finally does get out of juvie, he finds Sam play-fighting with Miguel at Miyagi-Do and having a romantic moment, forcing him to realize that despite his attempts to say otherwise about Sam to Shawn and to Tory, Sam kissing Miguel at Moon's party wasn't some drunken mistake she regretted. She was okay with what happened when she was impaired. She may have regretted the circumstances surrounding the kiss but she didn't regret kissing Miguel. To Robby, Miguel has truly "taken" everything from him: his dad, his championship win, his girl, his freedom, and now his dojo (and, presumably with that, Daniel's favor). Robby's pain tends to manifest as anger, and when Miguel physically gets in between Robby and Sam, Miguel is, in a way, forcing him to see the painful truth again, just like he did during the school fight. And since Robby lashes out when he's hurt, he gets angry and tries to take a swing at Miguel.
    • As Robby tries to punch Miguel, Sam steps in, catches his punch, and shoves him backwards, yelling "ROBBY, DON'T!" And she appears to be fighting back tears as she watches Robby walk away. Think about what's going through Sam's head. She has now had three boyfriends where all of a sudden she questioned who they were. In season 1, Kyler put on a nice guy act around Sam so he could get into her pants. Then in late season 1, sweet innocent Miguel turned into a raging asshole that jumped to attacking Robby and then defended that action afterwards. Now in season 3, Robby jumps right to attacking Miguel. This is the second time that Sam has questioned if she ever really knew her boyfriend. In season 1, it was "Was Miguel the sweet boy that took her to Golf n' Stuff or was he the Cobra Kai asshole?" Now it's "Was Robby this kind and supportive person or was he someone who was violent and also struck first?" Both times, Sam isn't sure she knows who they truly are. And the next time she sees Robby, he's at Cobra Kai and being trained by Kreese.
  • Remember at the end of season 2, when Robby told Johnny that he and Daniel could both learn a lot from each other? Now at the end of season 3, Johnny and Daniel are finally ready to do exactly that... and Robby has already pissed away his chance to be there.
  • What makes this even sadder is that while all of this is happening, and despite that Robby initially wants nothing to do with him, Kreese's guidance is the only thing improving Robby's life. Through Kreese's simple advice of "strike first, strike hard, no mercy", Robby is able to earn his bullies' respect in prison and get them to leave him alone. Then Kreese offers him a place to stay, and he finds comrades and friends with the other Cobra Kais. Robby finally feels that someone has his back again and willingly lets Kreese's poison in, culminating in him putting on a Cobra Kai gi and attacking his own father in the season finale, all while spitting Kreese-esque vitriol. It's no wonder that when Daniel finds out Robby has joined Cobra Kai, he doesn't even look angry, just as heartbroken as Johnny is that he had gone so wrong with Robby and utterly failed him. And while Johnny still has his first student, Daniel lost his first (unless you count Sam as his first).
    • Moreso when one considers how Daniel has every reason to think that Kreese is about to do with Robby everything that he and Terry Silver tried to do to Daniel 33 years ago.
• Going back to Shawn Payne for a moment, season 4 retroactively makes his bullying in season 3 even more sad, as it's revealed Shawn actually came from a nice family, with Good Parents and a little brother who idolizes him, and the only reason he's in juvie is for brutalizing a thief, his former friend, who attacked that brother. It's hard to believe this family would be happy if they knew all the pointless cruelty we see Shawn perpetrating in juvie.
• Daniel reflecting with Miguel on how his feud with Johnny started over Ali and despite how much they both cared about her, neither of them ended up with her.
• Tory's situation. For starting the school fight and maiming Sam, she's been expelled from school, and the only reason she's not in juvie right alongside Robby is because of her home life. She's working two menial jobs—waitressing at a sushi restaurant by day on top of her existing night job waitressing at the roller rink—just to survive while doing community service while being creeped on by a lecherous landlord while trying to find the time to complete her GED so that she might eventually climb her way out of this hole. And as though it's not enough that Tory is poor, overworked, and desperate, Kreese plays on this to draw her back into his cult. He feeds her anger and manipulates her lingering feelings towards Miguel, which inspires her to jeopardize her future when she leads not one but two separate gang assaults on Sam and Miyagi-Do. Her rage and bitterness has not only destroyed any chance she had at salvaging her relationship with Miguel, but pushes Miguel right back into the arms of Sam, her most hated target.
  • What makes it even worse is that Tory is putting her family's security at risk just to pursue a petty grudge. Her mother cannot work because of her terminal illness, and her brother can't do anything because he's a child, leaving Tory as the primary breadwinner. If Tory goes to juvie, her mother will likely be placed in a care home and her little brother sent to foster care. One can only imagine how Tory would react to this from a cell. Thankfully, neither Sam nor her parents reported her to the police, but Tory very much exemplifies Mr. Miyagi's warning to Daniel about the ultimate consequence of revenge: there's going to be two graves to fill.
    • Perhaps worst of all, there's the bit where Tory says to Robby "At least I know what kind of person I am"... it's like she already knows that she's damned to a life of violence and despair, and she's just given up.
  • "On the section on home life, just check off 'stable'. They don't care, they never come to check." Tory saying this to Robby in the Probation Services office just serves to illustrate how the deck has been stacked against her all her life. If this is all that society itself can do to help Tory (and all the other struggling kids), it's little wonder that she follows Kreese's path of darkness so readily.
• Mr. Miyagi's final letter is likely to provoke two different kinds of tears. Tears of sadness since he's clearly aware that he's going to die soon and is saying goodbye. Tears of joy due to the grace he shows and the love he expresses for his surrogate family, calling Sam the granddaughter he never thought he could have. By the end, both Daniel and Kumiko are openly weeping...and it's pretty clear that Ralph Macchio and Tamlyn Tomita are not acting there.
  • It's safe to assume that when filming this scene, Machio and Tomita were not just thinking about Pat Morita, but also the other prominent actors from The Karate Kid Part II who'd passed away in the interim, namely Danny Kamekona (Sato) in 1996 and Nobu McCarthy (Yukie) in 2002.
  • This scene proves that the whole Karate Kid/Cobra Kai franchise would not be what they are or were without the spirit and influence of Pat Morita. He was born to play Miyagi and he made sure that the strong Okinawan/Japanese culture was humanly represented. You can feel the honor and the reverence that every actor has for what he contributed to this franchise.^note To the point that Tamlyn Tomita wanted to ensure the proper representation of Okinawan culture in Cobra Kai as a condition of this guest appearance (ie: clothing, Okinawan phrases over the Japanese ones, etc.) ... which the writers wholeheartedly accepted.

Season 4

• The entirety of Kenny Payne's arc from Episode 2 to Episode 10. Right off the bat, he fails to adjust to his new school as he is relentlessly bullied by his peers, with the most notable examples being Anthony LaRusso and his gang. It doesn't help that he's pretty much on his own, as his dad is overseas in the military, his mom works long hours, and his brother (later revealed to be Shawn Payne) is in juvie; the last of which is because Shawn protected him by brutally attacking the former's friend, something that Kenny takes immense guilt for. When Shawn directs him to a karateka that could help him, that said karateka just so happens to be training under Cobra Kai of all places (to which even the students and Kreese don't think highly of Kenny, given his youth, small stature, and previously timid nature)—setting the stage for Kenny's Start of Darkness. And because Kenny is so new to Cobra Kai, he’s completely unaware of the karate war going on between Miyagi-Do, Eagle Fang, and Cobra Kai, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when even the good guys that we’re supposed to be rooting for (Bert, Nathaniel, Hawk) go all the way to bully him, simply because he’s Cobra Kai. This all culminates in the season finale in which he fully embraces Kreese and Silver's teachings, becoming an even worse bully than his peers, something that Robby is appalled by. Like Miguel and Hawk before him, Kenny is just the latest in a line of former bully victims turned evil, thanks to the corrupt philosophy that is Cobra Kai's "Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy" creed.
• Believe it or not, Terry Silver's arc counts as well. Coming off an embarrassing defeat after his champion (Mike Barnes) loses to Daniel LaRusso, Silver actually makes incredible strides to leave behind his dark past (including his experience as a Vietnam POW, his cocaine addiction, and the aforementioned events of Part III), going as far as to go through therapy, build himself back up as a successful businessman, and live a thriving new life with his mindful (and yes, beautiful) girlfriend, Cheyenne. So when Kreese decides to come visit him and remind him of his old life before 1985, Silver's PTSD flashbacks re-emerge and he begins to struggle with his old madness. Even after Silver eventually re-joins Cobra Kai, he still has enough sanity to want to rebuild the dojo rather than pointlessly attack Miyagi-Do, but bloodthirsty Kreese is not having that. Kreese responds by utilizing his former war position as Silver's captain in treating him like a subordinate, and further pushing Silver's Trauma Buttons — all of this slowly but surely causing Silver to experience Sanity Slippage and completely revert back to the psychopathic mastermind that was his old self. In the end, Silver does prove himself to be Eviler than Thou to Kreese, but it comes off as heartbreaking to see this man who overcame himself to achieve a life of peace and clarity end up as nothing more than an evil sensei ready to terrorize the valley with his chain of Cobra Kai dojos at their Thug Dojo peak.

"Let's Begin" (4x01)

• Despite how badly their respective students want to work together, Daniel and Johnny don't even make it through one episode before the cracks in their alliance are obvious. Meanwhile, Hawk comes perilously close to a Heel–Face Door-Slam when Demetri is the only one on either side who wants him around.

"First Learn Stand" (4x02)

• The bullying Kenny endures from his first appearance onwards. If you thought you could hate Anthony LaRusso more than you already did in the first three seasons, get ready to watch the bastard Take A Level In Hate Sink.
  • Particularly, Kenny's enthusiasm at what he thinks is Lia messaging him, only to realize that it was Anthony and his group. His simple, heartfelt, innocent joy being stomped to pieces is utterly heartbreaking for him and for the viewers alike. After escaping from them at the park, Kenny hides in a dumpster, utterly terrified and on the verge of tears.
• Even under normal circumstances, receiving charity that you never asked for is always cringy. But when you receive a bag of groceries from the mother of your arch-nemesis, the same individual who has just cost you your job (and the only source of income for your home), you don't have to be Tory to feel so hurt that you'd go on a rampage. Indeed, if it weren't for Amanda's sincere (and more thoughtful) efforts to help Tory later in the season, one could only take this as an incredibly hostile act of Condescending Compassion.

"Then Learn Fly" (4x03)

• The dinner with Miguel and Sam. Daniel casually saying if Sam wants to go to schools with very expensive tuition like USC and UCLA, they'd support her, while Miguel's dream of going to Stanford is tempered by his mom worrying about the tuition and suggesting Santa Monica college instead. (Although Stanford's endowment is large enough that they're extremely generous with giving out free tuition, room and board to kids like Miguel). It just shows the massive wealth disparity and opportunity gulf between Miguel and Sam and the vastly different worlds they live in.
• After the disastrous meeting at Cobra Kai, Robby goes to Kenny's house to return his backpack he left at the dojo and asks how Shawn is doing. After Kenny sadly tells Robby that Shawn's sentence was extended for spitting on a guard, he goes on to say that it's his fault his brother wound up there in the first place; he caught one of Shawn's friends stealing from their parents and the guy tried to assault him, but Shawn stepped in to defend him and brutalized the guy enough to get arrested. It's clear that Kenny really misses having Shawn around as both his protector and his brother.
  • As Robby tells Kenny he's too busy to be his karate tutor, Kenny's phone suddenly beeps and he's greeted by a TikTok video of him opening his locker and having milk pour out of it, drenching him and ruining his possessions. Robby takes a look for himself and is so disgusted by how bad Kenny's bully problem is that he immediately changes his mind.
• While Silver pulling his hair back to his familiar Karate Kid Part III ponytail was a spine-tingling moment, the scene itself is tearjerking, as his return to Cobra Kai is prompted by flashbacks to how Silver promised a life debt to Kreese in Vietnam. Little did Silver realize in that moment that he was making a deal with someone who would become a devil, and that this 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 we won't hear of mindful Cheyenne again.

"Bicephaly" (4x04)

• Sam heckling Tory at her new job as a children's performer comes across as especially cruel (and childish). Not that Tory hasn't fairly earned every iota of Sam's ill will, but now their feud is bringing out the worst in Sam, too. It was so awful that Amanda, despite her own disastrous experiences with Tory, felt compelled to at least try to apologize to Tory for Sam's bullshit.
• In Johnny's flashback, Laura tells little Johnny that she's re-married and that they'll be living with Sid from here on. Johnny is having difficulty accepting this change, and retreats to his room to find comfort in his dad's relics, which causes his patient mom to snap, and tell him that he's going to have to accept that his father left them both and that Sid is going to be his new step-father.
  • One of the memorabilia in the box of his dad's things? An empty Coors Banquet can.
• When Kreese and Silver are discussing a response to the sprinkler incident, Kreese describes the morning when Johnny came to class with a black eye from being beaten by Miyagi. His tone is like that of a heartbroken father discussing a beloved son's first broken bone. A subtle reminder that Kreese was the only real father figure Johnny ever had... and in his twisted way, Kreese deeply cared about Johnny, too.

"Match Point" (4x05)

• Seeing Silver again almost knocks Daniel out for a few seconds, and it's clear that a lot of what happens in this episode is due to his PTSD from what Silver did to him all those years ago.
• Hawk/Eli walking into Miyagi Do after his Traumatic Haircut. He just looks so broken and depressed by what happened to him. To add salt to his wound, Eli was the only main character (other than Johnny) who was excited to see the Daniel/Johnny rematch, and he only arrives after it's over. Later, him quitting karate and then not having a date to prom crams even more salt in the wound.
  • The fact that everyone is too busy arguing about karate methods, rather than actually comforting Eli, who had just been assaulted and traumatized.
  • The reason he doesn't have a date to prom? He was about to text Moon and ask her to be his date when the Cobra Kais come in and smash his phone before he could hit send before shaving his mohawk off. The damage the experience did to his self-esteem was so great that he didn't even bother trying to reach out again, even though in all likelihood she would have said yes.
• Seeing Daniel and Johnny break up and go back to being rivals again, after having made serious progress towards becoming Vitriolic Best Buds, is really frustrating and upsetting. Miguel glances at Daniel and Sam before he reluctantly follows Johnny, and his expression says it all.
  • Watching both senseis fall victim to their own problems is heartbreaking. Daniel is so traumatized by what Johnny, Kreese, and Silver did to him as a teenager that he's not thinking clearly, while Johnny is equally convinced that aggression is the only way to win the upcoming tournament. Both of them are almost 100% convinced that it's their way or the highway, and any chance they have to reconcile is ruined by poor choices of words from others and bad timing.

"Kicks Get Chicks" (4x06)

• Tory's leech of an aunt rubbing it in that Tory would stand no chance against her in court, and it's only a matter of time before she gets what she wants.
• Amanda telling Daniel why she wants to help Tory — because she herself was once an angry, violence-prone girl with a broken family. The story Amanda recounts is a harrowing insight into this time in her life and the fact that she had never told Daniel about this in all the years they were together reinforces the shame she must have felt for her actions.
  Amanda: Did I tell you about the time I was arrested?
  Daniel: Sure. What? It was a high school prank.
  Amanda: Right. And by "prank," I meant I took a baseball bat to my math tutor's car. With her in it.
  Daniel: You... what? Why?
  Amanda: She was having an affair with my dad. My parents' marriage was falling apart, I thought the world was ending, and I blamed her for taking it all away from me.
  Daniel: I know you didn't get along with your dad, but I did... I had no idea.
  Amanda: I was charged with misdemeanor reckless endangerment. I didn't walk my graduation. And then my parents divorced anyway.

"Minefields" (4x07)

• Anthony looking at souvenirs of Mr. Miyagi while experiencing guilty flashbacks about how he's been bullying Kenny is surprisingly somber.
• Though Anthony unquestionably deserves his punishment from the school for bullying Kenny, it's hard not to feel sorry for Daniel and Amanda after seeing their shock and disappointment at what he's done. For a pair that pride themselves on being Good Parents, it's a very harsh reality check for them to realize that their son has become a bully right under their noses. It must be especially galling for Daniel, himself a survivor of bullying, to see his son becoming just like the kids who made his adolescence such a hell.
• Kreese, feeling that Terry was undermining his authority in the Cobra Kai dojo, confronts his friend for daring to imply during a class that he had a weakness. What's worse was Kreese approaching the conversation like a CO disciplining an insubordinate officer, asserting his rank (and dominance) over Silver despite that their military days are now decades in the past. Silver attempts to explain that he was only trying to impart a very practical lesson to the students, but is silenced by Kreese when he reminded him of the time they were both POWs and how he saved Silver from being forced to fight over the snake pit, or rather, how pathetically Silver cowered when he was chosen. Despite that Kreese was evoking their shared military experience, there wasn't a single iota of their old companionship that surfaced throughout the conversation, and by the end, Silver looks on the verge of tears for being forced to recall such a traumatic memory, by (of all people) the man he once saw as his best friend and his leader.
  Kreese: We should remember what happens to soldiers who don't follow their leader.
  Silver: Look, Johnny, is this about-
  Kreese: Quiet! I'm not done speaking, lieutenant.

"Party Time" (4x08)

• Raymond, having recently finished serving his probationary period, is excited to return to Cobra Kai and to be with his "peers". However, instead of a warm welcome from his sensei, Kreese coldly rebuffs him as a pathetic joke that never truly belonged there. Raymond is on the verge of tears and utterly in denial, convincing himself that this was some Secret Test of Character. His struggle to hold it together as he's walked out is pretty saddening to watch even though Kreese was completely right in his denouncement of "Stingray".
  • Consider the last time Kreese and Stingray spoke on camera was the end of the Coyote Canyon challenge, when Stingray came out of nowhere to secure victory for Kreese's team. In that moment, Kreese seemed genuinely proud of him. The school brawl, too, saw Stingray wading into battle to help Kreese's "soldiers" — the stunt that landed him in probation in the first place, which he gladly served out of loyalty to Cobra Kai, doubtless counting the days until he could rejoin his brothers in arms... only for Kreese to throw the poor bastard out like yesterday's garbage. An ice cold reminder that Kreese is a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness kind of guy.
• Johnny's fight against Silver is no doubt hard to watch, considering this is the first time he is utterly outclassed by his opponent. And it gets more tragic when Kreese of all people tells Silver to back off, after realizing just how much he (in a twisted way) really did care for Johnny (despite at one point trying to murder him), and also how badly Silver's sanity has fallen after spending years of "clarity and therapy."
  • The build-up to it also heart-wrenching, considering how this is the first time on-screen that Shannon (after years of neglecting Robby for hook-ups) is actually concerned for her son. Yes, Robby has fallen under Cobra Kai's (and Terry's to an extent) hands so much that even Shannon goes to Johnny out of desperation. Which makes it all the more heartbreaking that this is all a set-up by Silver for Johnny to come to the old dojo and be whooped senseless.
  • And to make this all the more heartbreaking, this was the last time Silver saw Kreese as a friend and felt deeply indebted to him. Yes, he's the bad guy we're supposed to root against, but the look of confusion and bewilderment in his face speaks volumes on how messed up their camaraderie turned out. In Kreese's eyes, he's realizing that Silver is embracing the Cobra Kai creed way too far when the one person he cared about (Johnny) is falling victim to it, from his war buddy nonetheless. In Silver's eyes, he feels betrayed when Kreese's seeming Heel–Face Turn comes out of nowhere after months and months of guilt-tripping — coming to his realization of "bringing back the glory days" with their new plan for Cobra Kai was, in his words, "all bullshit." What follows next (Silver's beating of Stingray) completely solidifies their years-long of friendship and camaraderie completely and utterly destroyed.
• Hawk finding himself Alone Among the Couples at prom after Yasmine surprises Demetri by coming back from Australia. Made still worse by how Hawk spots Moon among the prom-goers, yet even though he knows that she likes him again, he remains too shattered to have the confidence to approach her.
• After prom, Miguel arrives at Johnny's apartment to see the latter passed out in a drunken stupor after being beaten up by Silver. Miguel gets Johnny to bed, then tells him he loves him. Johnny appears to return the sentiment before mumbling Robby's name. The look on Miguel's face is heartbreaking.
  • What’s worse, Miguel, Sam, Robby and Tory got into a fight, where Robby taunted Miguel by saying Johnny doesn’t care about him, and he just wants to be a good father figure to Miguel to make up for his failure to be one to Robby. Johnny mumbling Robby's name seemingly confirms Miguel’s fears.
  • Also Johnny’s face in that exact moment Miguel told him he loved him. Johnny thought it was Robby who said that. He thought he finally gained his son’s love, only to unknowingly hurt Miguel in the process.
  • The worst part? Johnny does love Miguel as a son every bit as much as Robby and anyone with eyes can see it. The timing of this moment couldn't have been worse.
  • Johnny's drunken confession to Miguel; it's shown that Johnny truly regrets how his relationship with Robby went down the drain. Despite all of his bravado, he's deeply saddened and hurt by the mistakes he's made as a father.
    "Wait, wait, listen, listen. I want... I wanna be a father to you. I really do. I try to protect you. I try to be there for you. I just suck at it. I really suck at it. But I want to so bad."

"The Fall" (4x09) / "The Rise" (4x10)

• Robby versus Kenny in the tournament. Robby has been Kenny's much-needed mentor all season, but now he has no choice but to crush Kenny to secure victory for Cobra Kai. Every hit Robby lands leaves Kenny in obvious pain, and this beating (and lack of mercy) is the final step in Kenny's journey to He Who Fights Monsters. When Anthony later approaches to sincerely apologize for his bullying, Kenny gives him such a vicious No-Holds-Barred Beatdown that Robby is appalled.
  • The fact that Anthony's sincere apology gets thrown in his face is a Tearjerker of its own—yes, Anthony was a Grade-A jerk to Kenny, but this was one of the first instances of him showing genuine maturity. While the sweet, gentle, beginning of Season 4 Kenny might well have accepted the apology, the Cobra Kai student never will.
• A minor one but before Miguel and Eli/Hawk's semi-final match, Johnny tells Miguel to "take his ass out" because he's fighting for Miyagi-Do. It's clear that, his feelings towards Daniel aside, Johnny is hurt that Hawk once again chose one of Johnny's rivals to be his karate sensei over him. Miguel, in turn, is hurt that Johnny seems to care more about his rivalry with Miyagi-Do than about Miguel's own feelings. This may have been a small moment, but it definitely fed into Miguel's decision to leave town at the end.
• Miguel re-injuring his back during his friendly rematch with Eli, made much worse when he yells, "SENSEI!" to Johnny. While he does manage to recover (as the injury was minor), this was the turning point for Miguel to completely give up the will to go on further, as shown when he refuses to show up, even as the countdown winds down to 0:00. Made even worse that he leaves the tournament completely on his own, without witnessing two of his closest friends (Eli and Sam) fight against their opponents in the finals. It doesn't help that a contributing factor to him walking away from the tournament was that because he still believes his sensei sees Robby as more of a son than Miguel, he loses his faith in his sensei as well.
• Just after Hawk defeats Robby in the boys' final, there's a subtle look of disappointment on Johnny's face. Even though he's firmly dedicated to taking down Cobra Kai, he still doesn't enjoy seeing his son lose. Or that one of his former pupils won the championship without his guidance.
• Kreese finally realizing how awful his treatment of Johnny was. He urges Tory to follow her conscience, rather than seeking victory at all costs. It's all too late, as by this time Silver has gotten his claws into Cobra Kai and set Kreese up to take the fall for his crimes.
  • This is even more tragic when you consider that Kreese made an ethical decision (letting Tory fight fairly) and saw it pay off (Tory, unlike teenage Johnny, kept her head in the game and won). This COULD have the beginning of... well, not quite a Heel–Face Turn for Kreese, but at least a version of Cobra Kai that, while still brutal, actually cares about fair competition. Unfortunately, this is the exact moment Silver removed Kreese from the equation, and now Silver is free to open his own "win at any cost" Cobra Kai dojos all over the valley.
  • The exchange between Kreese and Silver before the latter reveals his true colors and sets him up to be arrested. Sure, Kreese got what he deserved, but this act of treachery shook Kreese to his core, being betrayed by your own now-former friend when he previously put you on a pedestal for saving him during the horrors of the Vietnam War, which is just hard to watch. Given that Kreese's domineering behavior pushed Silver over the edge over the course of the season, Terry is upset by the fact that Kreese took their friendship for granted all because he wanted to get back at Johnny.
  Silver: You remember when you asked me who your weakness was? It's Johnny Lawrence. That's this was all about, right? This is never about us teaming up, or bringing back the glory days, that was all bullshit.
  Kreese: That's not true...
  Silver: Yes, it is! And I fell for it. You know why? 'Cause everyone has a weakness, John. And mine... is you.
  Kreese: You think that I'm your weakness?! Well, you've got it backwards! Because I am your strength, I have been your strength ever since Vietnam.
  Silver: Yes, there it is! I can always count on you playing the guilt card. How many times do you expect me to repay that debt before we're square?
• Tory does win the All-Valley Girls' tournament (and contributed to Cobra Kai winning the All-Valley overall), but at what cost?
  • Per character development, Tory asks Sam if she's okay, but the damage towards her has been done, as Sam runs away from her in terror and grief. It doesn't help that the Cobra Kais immediately rush toward her to celebrate the victory, preventing Tory for making a further attempt to finally reconcile with her now former-nemesis. Tellingly, Sam's response to Tory asking that question is a Flat "What". Their feud is so deep and personal that Sam can't even comprehend that Tory doesn't want to hurt her.
  • Tory then learns the victory she worked so hard for wasn't in fact earned and Silver paid off the ref. One can only imagine her reaction upon the revelation. For one shining moment in her life, Tory managed to beat the odds, triumph over the rich kid who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, carry forever the knowledge that she is a champion... only for the universe to quietly say to her, "Nope, it's not for real."
  • And one can only imagine how she'll react to the news that Kreese got arrested. Even if neither of them ever said it in as many words, Tory was almost like a daughter to him, the only person other than Robby and Silver that Kreese ever had Pet the Dog moments for. Now Kreese can no longer intervene for Tory, and even if she never learns that Silver framed him, she does know that Silver fixed the tournament, and that Cobra Kai from this point on will be in his filthy, cheating hands. Joy.
• Even if Raymond is a genuinely buffoonish Manchild, it's hard not to feel sorry for him when seeing the utterly crestfallen and ashamed look on his face when he lies to the police that Kreese was the one who assaulted him. Even after being harshly berated by Kreese and then put in the hospital by Silver, Raymond still wants to return to Cobra Kai so badly he accepts the terms of a sociopath who had just beaten the everliving hell out of him. When you consider the utter ridicule he endures at the hands of his neighbor and the hints that his family is none too fond of him either, it's easy to see that Cobra Kai is the only place where Raymond has ever felt like he belonged, and this is the degradation he's willing to swallow to not lose it.
• Also counts as Heartwarming. Robby's tearful interaction with Johnny at the Cobra Kai dojo after finally realizing he'd gone too far with his hatred towards his father. Johnny tries to mitigate it by continuing to acknowledge it was his fault, but Robby can't help but blame himself for how his resentment toward his father and Miguel led him down a dark path that culminated in him going to juvie, joining Cobra Kai, and inadvertently corrupting Kenny into yet another sadistic bully.
  Robby: It's this kid, Kenny. I thought I could take him under my wing. Be the mentor I wish I had when I was younger. But when I saw him today, it, uh... (Voice progressively cracks as he tears up) It's like looking in a mirror. And I realized I screwed everything up. I had all this hate inside of me. For you and for Miguel. And I thought I could use Cobra Kai to control that. But it just made things worse and now it's never gonna get better.
  Johnny: That's not true. You had a good thing going with LaRusso. I got in the way of that; Don't blame yourself, blame me.
  Robby: I'm sick of blaming you, Dad.
  [Johnny hugs Robby, who starts sobbing in his father's arms.]
  Johnny: It's gonna be alright. We'll figure this out, okay?
  • What makes Robby's words of "I'm sick of blaming you, Dad" sting even worse is that after spending his whole life bitter and angry towards his father, to the point where he willingly throws his lot in with Kreese and joins Cobra Kai, that bitterness and anger is gone. Spent. Robby is so utterly guilty about unintentionally corrupting Kenny with Cobra Kai that he can't even hold onto his lifelong resentment of his father anymore.
  • It's clear on Johnny's face that, for all of his badassery, seeing your child broken and weeping is a kind of pain that no amount of karate training can toughen you against.
  • The one detail that makes this scene sadder? Robby's eyes were reddened before he arrived, meaning that he had already cried plenty of tears after the tournament.
• Miguel leaving to locate his father after the tournament.
  • Johnny and Carmen are both heartbroken at Miguel's abrupt departure. They really come across as a set of Good Parents who just discovered their son has run away. Johnny, ever Miguel's Papa Wolf, swears to find him and bring him home safely, while Carmen can only weep in Johnny's arms, terrified of what could happen to Miguel. William Zabka really brings out Johnny's obvious guilt over the whole situation.
• The aftermath of the tournament does not bode well with the LaRussos either.
  • Sam just looks utterly heartbroken over the fact that despite everything she fought for (learning from both Daniel and Johnny), she lost not just her fight against Tory, but also the war against Cobra Kai. It becomes so much worse with the aforementioned reveal of Terry bribing the ref to make his calls in Tory's favor, meaning that Sam's loss was completely undeserved.
  • Even if it might have been deserved on his part after everything he did to Kenny, this is actually the first time we see Anthony completely distraught, and it's not a pretty sight. He's clearly gotten the message that Kenny will make his life miserable in high school, and unless he finally mans up and learns karate from his dad, there's nothing Anthony can do about it, especially since he knows it's his own damn fault that Kenny hates him.
  • And to top it all off, Daniel visits Mr. Miyagi's grave again, reflects on his actions and him working together with Johnny to combat Cobra Kai, and once again deems himself unworthy of upholding the legacy of Miyagi-Do Karate.
  "I did everything I thought was right. I followed all of the Miyagi-Do teachings. I even put aside my rivalry and teamed up with Johnny. None of it worked."
• While we don't know exactly how long Miguel's time in Mexico took in-universe (a few days to a week), lord knows how Sam and Daniel reacted to his sudden departure. It must likely have been especially jarring for Sam, as they had only recently reconciled (with him even stating he's always rooting for her). You can easily see the poor girl blaming herself for his decision to leave. His other friends will be every bit as heartbroken, too.
  • This is made even worse by how, with her crushing defeat to Tory (and Cobra Kai's victory in the bet), Sam is already in a really bad place as it is. She's probably gonna be even more of a complete wreck after learning that Miguel left.

Season 5

• The trailer for Season 5 makes it clear that Tory is not enjoying her time in the new Cobra Kai dojo like she used to. Her voiceover states that "everything has gotten worse" since the tournament. A previous preview showed Tory enduring the same harsh Quicksilver training that Terry put Daniel through in the 80s. The official trailer also shows Sensei Kim hitting Tory's legs with a stick, implying that she may endure a lot of physical abuse in the dojo.
  • As a matter of fact, Tory's experience in the dojo becomes more and more tragic as the season progresses. She has to live through the lie that she was the All-Valley champ even though she knows that Terry Silver cheated by bribing the tournament referee (and given how the tournament went, she probably realizes that that's the only reason she won). And it only gets worse for her down the road. As Season 5 reveals, she is a mole sent by an imprisoned Kreese to spy on Silver — but that makes it only harder for her to handle as Robby dumps her for "being brainwashed," Tory's victorious achievements continue to be shallow when Kenny deflates Hawk's tube in their waterslide race, and Kreese unintentionally betrays Tory's trust after giving up on his revenge plan with the hope that she does what's best for her. And that's not counting Kim Da-Eun showing up in Tory's life and making it a living hell with her Training from Hell and complete disdain, as well as her home life becoming more and more dire. It isn't until the end of the season that Tory finally gets a reprieve when Sam swallows her arrogance and sympathizes with her situation. It's no wonder why she eventually defects to the Miyagi-Fangs in the finale; it's been a long time coming.
• Anthony's bullying situation (which also counts as Nightmare Fuel). It's no longer Laser-Guided Karma — Kenny has become worse than him. Anthony has clearly grown from the Spoiled Brat and The Bully that he was in the previous seasons, but his efforts in being The Atoner are not enough to prevent him from being a target of Kenny and the Cobra Kais' brutal antics. What makes this more sad is that Anthony knows it's his own fault and clearly feels that he deserves every bit of it.

"Long, Long Way From Home" (5x01)

• Daniel still decides to close Miyagi-Do karate, despite his vow to keep fighting Cobra Kai with Chozen. Why? He doesn't want to see any of his students hurt. But this decision isn't accepted by them, with special mention going to Demetri's and Sam's reactions.
  Demetri: Great. Guess I'm getting a summer job.
• And speaking of Sam, she still feels demoralized over losing to Tory in the tournament, to the point where she practices her karate techniques from a video detailing her loss. As she tries to replay the video again, she stops when she sees the referee raising Tory's hand in victory.

"Molé" (5x02)

• In perhaps one of the most bitter moments of the entire Cobra Kai series, Miguel — who has come to believe that Hector is a loving family man — calls Carmen to berate her for abandoning him and robbing Miguel of a childhood with a real father. This would be heartbreaking even if Miguel were right about Hector being a good man, but as the moment mentioned below reveals, it is Carmen who is right about Hector being a bad man, which is far worse. Forget about Miguel being so wrongly harsh to his mother in that phone call — one can only imagine the heartbreak Carmen herself must have felt at the seeming inevitability of losing Miguel to Hector.
• While Miguel never learns exactly what Hector did to make Carmen and Rosa leave him, the man does callously reveal that he was indeed some kind of criminal back in the day — and he retains that ruthlessness and selfishness even today, putting the lie to the first impression he made as a kind, responsible family man. Miguel wisely jumps ship before outing himself as a complication in Hector's life, but he's still in tears.
  • And to top it all off, Miguel spent the last season's final episode and this season's previous episode traveling all the way to Mexico to find his biological father, only for it to be rendered moot by the aforementioned revelation of Hector's criminal background and admitting to no guilt nor shame over it. The only silver lining to the entire ordeal is Johnny and Robby being able to find Miguel unharmed.

"Playing with Fire" (5x03)

• Mike Barnes has moved on and is happy in his life. He and his wife own a furniture store and Mike regrets his past behavior and is genuinely happy to see Daniel doing well. He even tries to help Daniel by offering information about Silver’s old lawyer. How does Silver retaliate? By burning down his furniture store. In the finale, Mike reveals he is broke now and something has happened to his wife. He breaks down before he can clarify what.
• Sam and Miguel's second breakup. Miguel can't hold back his tears as he exits Miyagi-Do. The real kicker is when he drops the octopus necklace he brought for Sam as an Apology Gift for leaving her finals match with Tory. Thankfully in the season finale, they rekindle their relationship.

"Downward Spiral" (5x04)

• Even though it's clear by now that Eli belongs with Moon, it seems every season Cobra Kai always manages to get between them. Seasons 2 and 3? Cobra Kai turned Eli into too much of a jerkass to deserve Moon. Season 4? Eli has a Heel–Face Turn and Moon wants him again, only for the Cobra Kai guys to shave Eli's head and wreck his confidence too much to take Moon to prom. And now in Season 5? Eli wanted nothing more than to just have a nice day with Moon at the water park, but he spots Cobra Kai bullying Anthony and damn it, he knows he can't let that stand.
• Speaking of Anthony, he is bullied by Kenny, this time with his gang of Cobra Kais. While some may sympathize with Kenny after everything he went through last season, it's still a bit hard to watch when Anthony is basically cornered by trained karatekas (most of whom are reaching high school senior status) and ultimately kicked into the lazy river. Special mention goes to Kyler giving absolutely no fucks when he brushes his relationship with Sam (if you could call it that) off as a usual thing for him.
• Tory's reaction when Eli reveals that Kenny cheated for her during the tube race by putting a hole in Eli's tube. Her elation at her victory quickly evaporates as she realizes she once again won a competition unfairly and is now wondering whether she'll ever achieve something on her own merits.
  • Tory's day just gets worse. She is kicked out the waterpark along with the Cobra Kais and Miyagi-Fangs despite doing nothing wrong and actually trying to defuse tensions. If that wasn't bad enough, when she laments about the situation to Robby, they get into an argument which leads to him making an ultimatum: Tory can choose either him or Cobra Kai. She declares she can't leave Cobra Kai, leading to Robby breaking up with her on the spot (unaware she is only there as The Mole under Kreese's orders). Poor girl.
• Daniel and Amanda's relationship takes a massive hit this episode. Thanks to Daniel's growing obsession with Silver and the latter's manipulations, Amanda reaches her breaking point when his vendetta ends up costing her a philanthropy opportunity, and decides to return home to Ohio and take the children with her.

"Extreme Measures" (5x05)

• Stingray being welcomed back to Cobra Kai by Terry Silver and his students. Sure, being accepted back into the dojo that you've been passionate about fighting for feels great, but it's all too obvious that he isn't 100% having it. For one, he's come face to face with the man that beat him nearly to death — which further makes him startled when Silver does a physical gesture on him. Secondly, he's living under the lie (and coercion) that Kreese beat him up — under the fear of what Silver would do to him if the latter found out he told the truth. It doesn't help that Silver is basically playing Stingray like a fiddle by bribing him with luxuries as a means to keep the latter's mouth shut.
• Johnny's attempt at having Robby and Miguel reconcile appears to go absolutely nowhere despite going through extreme measures — such as taking them to Olive Garden and turning his apartment into an escape room. Johnny has proven to both boys that he loves them both equally, but the tensions between the two rivals are too much for them to come to an accord (especially when considering Robby putting Miguel on death's door three seasons ago, and Miguel pretty much taking everything away from him throughout Season 3). It gets so bad to the point where Johnny resorts to having them physically face each other off (by Daniel's suggestion), which finally eases the tension between the two.
• Daniel's state throughout the episode as he reaches a Despair Event Horizon: he's unkempt, drinking, and eventually ends up at Johnny's place to pick a fight. Because in his mind, Johnny resurrecting Cobra Kai led to the return of Kreese and Silver and the events of the series. Johnny for his part, is so shocked by Daniel's behavior that he doesn't even get mad when Daniel calls him a "pussy". Instead, he honestly asks Daniel what the hell has gotten into him. Thankfully, they end up having drinks together and the two former rivals talk things out, but it remains that Amanda is still gone and Daniel has no idea what to do about Silver or Cobra Kai.
• Silver's beatdown of Daniel is incredibly difficult to watch. Daniel is not only the hero, but a master martial artist in his own right, and watching Silver methodically crush and torture him—just for the hell of it—is horrible. This is very probably the worst he's been hurt by anyone since Halloween 1984.
  • Even before that, Daniel attempts to walk away from Silver and admit defeat only for the ponytailed bastard further press his buttons. First, by rubbing salt in the wound for Daniel and Amanda's rocky current relationship state, then by proudly proclaiming he'll brainwash Sam and Anthony by "putting Cobra Kai gis" on them. As if Daniel already hasn't been tortured enough from his former Evil Mentor since decades ago.
  • Special mention goes to the blood Daniel receives on his knuckles after he punches the pillar in Stingray's apartment twice. The moment he sees them, the audience is treated with a beautiful flashback of Silver's torture of Daniel back in 1985, which already is a Tear Jerker on its own, to which both Daniel and Silver remember well — much to the latter's delight.
• Lizzie-Anne Rooney continues to remind Amanda that despite completely moving on from her dark past and living her best life in the West Coast, she (to her) is still the jackass that smashed her tutor's car. Even as Amanda manages to play it off, it's a sobering reminder of how bullies never forget others' shameful past even after decades and continue to rub it in their face.
• Sam finds out through Piper's Instagram reel that Anthony has become a victim of the Cobra Kais' bullying, much to her shock (in stark contrast to her previously unsympathetic response when Anthony told her of his issues with Kenny). She asks why Anthony didn't reach out to her for help, to which he admits that he actually deserves it as he was the one who hurt Kenny in the past.
  • Even worse, Piper, Cobra Kai's supposed Token Good Teammate, was the one who posted the water park video on Instagram, even going as far as to label Anthony a bully despite the latter now wanting to make up for his actions. It's tragic considering Cobra Kai's brainwashing and Black-and-White Morality that has her and the rest of the students failing to see that they are no different than what Anthony was in the past.
• Amanda learning from her cousin, which features the return of Jessica Andrews, that Silver is every bit as bad as Daniel said he was and worse. Amanda gets the full details of the third movie and realizes her husband was right to be worried and obsessed with one of his old enemies. Then she comes home in L.A. to find her husband beaten by Silver himself.

"Ouroboros" (5x06)

• While it's nice that Tory can open up to someone, the fact that she feels like Kreese is the only one she can look up to is still pretty sad.
• Doubles as Nightmare Fuel, but Silver taking over Topanga Karate is no doubt hard to watch — especially when he outright removes Rosenthal as a sensei without any clear communication from their "shabbat services." You can imagine the look of horror on his face as everything he possibly worked for to maintain a dojo that clearly emphasizes peaceful values will be taken over by a sleazy businessman with a much more sinister philosophy when it comes to karate.
• Devon talks about an inspirational quote from her mom: "The only way to lose is by giving up." When Tory says her mom sounds cool, Devon looks down and replies that "she was". She elaborates that her mom died of cancer and she wishes there was a way to hit the disease the way she hits her opponents. Tory clearly empathizes with her.
  • Later on, Devon and Tory are called on for a sparring challenge. At first, Tory holds back but Kim Da-Eun pushes her to show no mercy to Devon. At the end of the session, Devon is lying on the floor, humiliated, and runs out of the dojo on the verge of tears when the class is dismissed.
  • Worse, Devon decides to join Cobra Kai to learn more from Tory. Tory is shocked that she unknowingly inspired someone to adopt Cobra Kai's philosophy despite her secret mission to take down the dojo.
• How does Tory experience her first lesson with Sensei Kim Da-Eun? The latter physically abuses Tory with a stick because she "wasn't showing 'no mercy' enough." It's going to be a long season for Tory as a Cobra Kai.
• Even though Kreese could easily take on these inmates, it's still (despite his monstrous streak throughout the entire franchise) a little sad to see him as the victim of bullying caused by the prisoners, mainly because of Kreese's age. And we all know too well this isn't the first time Kreese has experienced this before.
• While Kreese clearly has his ulterior motives, he ends up opening up a little to his therapist, even talking about Betsy for the very first time. When he sees her (in a psychological representation of his conscience or mind), it's clear he's still damaged by her memory and he even refers to her as the love of his life. Additionally, seeing Captain Turner, Terry Silver, and all the others in his life makes him genuinely distressed. He even chokes up when he sees Tory Nichols, followed by both younger and older versions of Johnny Lawrence. Regardless of his true intentions, it's apparent that Kreese is a broken man with a lot of demons that still haunt him.
• While we've seen Mr Miyagi's house - now the Miyagi-Do dojo - plenty of times in the show, we've never seen Mr Miyagi's bedroom. That's because Daniel hasn't set foot in it since Mr Miyagi died, some (at that point) 8 years ago. Amanda gently leads him in front of the door and lets him open it, finding everything still in place, as though Miyagi just left and will be coming back shortly. The naked grief on Daniel's face and the way his voice breaks when he says, "It's like a time capsule in here" is heartbreaking.

"Bad Eggs" (5x07)

• Also counts as Nightmare Fuel: Anthony being ambushed and getting a swirly in a dirty toilet from the Cobra Kais is definitely not a pretty sight — considering how not only this act of bullying goes through life-threatening situations, but the fact that Kenny has succumbed to Silver's corruption, fully taking his vengeance way too far. You could see the look of horror his face when he realize what the Cobra Kais are putting him to.
  • Even worse, the public is clearly not on his side, with peers from left to right calling him "Shithead". Anthony laments that to his sister, while also expressing doubt that he will ever catch up with his nemesis, Kenny.
• It's a bit minor, but Kreese basically giving Daniel a Kick the Dog response when the latter is pissed that Silver brutally beat him a couple seconds ago. You could see the look on the Karate Kid's eyes how badly he wants to take the old bastard down.

"Taikai" (5x08)

• When Tory comes to Kreese in jail once again to seek out his advice about remaining in Cobra Kai to participate in the Sekai Taikai tryout, he simply tells Tory that she should do what is best for her and her own personal advancement, informing her that he has given up hope that he will ever get out of prison (legally, at least). Rightly or wrongly, Tory interprets this as her mentor abandoning her at the time when she needs him the most, having solely used her as an instrument for his own supposedly abortive revenge plot against Terry Silver, and leaves him in disgust. Given the previous three seasons of development in their relationship, and the almost father-daughter bond they have cultivated and shared, it is sad to see that it may have ended so unceremoniously.
  • Tory lamenting about putting her trust in others only to be left picking up the pieces hits hard. After being presumably abandoned by her biological father (who was also implied to be abusive), cheated on by Miguel, used as a pawn in Terry Silver's schemes, and exploited by her Aunt Kandace, Tory has been repeatedly let down by almost everyone in her life barring her mother, who can't take care of her, and Amanda. This latest letdown by Kreese is a particularly big one because she not only stayed in a dojo she didn't want to be in anymore, she broke up with Robby, one of the few people Tory could connect with because of their troubled upbringings, to help Kreese, only for him to bail on their plot to stop Silver, thus rendering her sacrifices completely pointless.
• As if Kenny's hatred towards Anthony and Hawk isn't bad enough, he lashes out at Robby when he finds out his former mentor is now training the person that bullied him in the past. Robby's response is that of sadness, after seeing what Kenny has become under Silver's tutelage, despite letting him know just how much hatred could consume Kenny as it did to Robby.
• The Miyagi-Fangs are once again at a disadvantage with a bribed referee providing leniency towards the Cobra Kais, first with Hawk's matchup against Kenny.
  • Kenny fights dirty, with an illegal knee strike and Terry's "Silver Bullet" punch, successfully landing several crushing blows on Hawk. It's clear it's only because Eli didn't take him seriously until it was too late.
  • The referee being bribed by Silver makes things worse. Johnny and Daniel outright say that Kenny should have been disqualified over the knee contact, not just given a warning. Even worse, the referee considers this as a forfeit on Hawk's end despite Hawk clearly trying to catch his breath, with Kenny providing a Kick the Dog moment with another Embarrassing Nickname for Hawk himself.
  • When Tory clearly gets the picture of what was going on in the matchup, she decides to leave the dojo and the qualifier, not wanting to participate in any acts of dishonesty during her potential rematch with Sam.
• Prior to the party, Sam found the octopus necklace that Miguel dropped after their breakup and decides to bring it to him when she realizes that he still has feelings for her. She finds out too late when she arrives that Miguel has been hooking up with another girl. Bad timing at its finest.
  • And how does it get much worse? Tory comes in and reveals to Sam what really happened at the tournament.
  • Also worth noting, by the time Miguel realizes this, his face (as well as him trying to find Sam) pretty much sums up "I fucked up" and instant regret.

"Survivors" (5x09)

• Following up from the previous episode's conclusion, Sam is understandably furious that Tory kept Silver's match fixing from her. It's no surprise she'd resort to being the aggressor after realizing that everything she fought for was straight-up taken away from her by unethical means, which was only made worse by the abuse her family faced from a rising Cobra Kai, especially the tormenting Daniel (and Amanda to a lesser extent) went through from Silver, and Anthony from Kenny.
  Sam: (Shoving Tory) You knew all along that Silver cheated the All-Valley and you did nothing?!
  Tory: You don't know what it's like in there! What I have to deal with!
  Sam: (Proceeds to kick Tory and hits a garbage chute while attempting to kick her again) My entire family has suffered...because of you!
  Miguel: No, Sam that's enough!
  Sam: She's been working with Kreese this whole time!
  Robby: What?
  Sam: Why did you only come forward now, huh? Because you're a coward!
  • Tory is on the verge of tears as Sam berates her for the pain her family has gone through. Clearly, she never wanted any of this to happen. As Tory leaves the party, she shares a sad look with Robby and now feels even more isolated than before. It's to the point where unlike the entirety of the series, she doesn't even fight back, only leaving the scene out of heartbreak.
    Tory: Screw you, LaRusso! I knew this was a mistake!
  • To hit this home, Sam's and Tory's exes, Miguel and Robby (mind you, two former rivals of each other), are the ones attempting to intervene in what is once again another Sam vs. Tory conflict, showing just how much they are done with the rivalries between all of them. And that's not even counting the fact that they just found out about Silver's deception that ultimately cost the Miyagi-Fangs their rightful victory.
• Robby giving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Silver is no doubt a Moment of Awesome, given that he has the balls to come face to face once again to someone that kicked his ass big-time last season and stand up for what he believes is right for the people he once fought with in the All-Valley. It's just the fact that they've gone way too deep in the Cobra Kai creed and Silver's teachings (as well as Kreese's to a lesser extent), to the point that what all they (especially Kenny) see in Robby is another enemy for them to show "No Mercy" towards.
• As a punishment for going AWOL during the Sekai Taikai tryout, Sensei Kim forces Tory to repeatedly hit a stone dummy with her hand, cruelly goading her until she shatters the dummy's head (and her own hand) in a rage. Afterwards, Tory falls to her knees in a near-fetal position, crying in agony as everyone (including Kim) abandons her. It's too reminiscent of Daniel at the end of his first fight with Johnny in the original Karate Kid, wailing and broken as everyone left the beach.
  • Kim also broke Tory mentally. She gave up her healthy relationship with Robby all to help Kreese, who she saw as a father figure, and it was All for Nothing. All she has left is Cobra Kai, which she doesn’t even want anymore. No one has gotten to Tory like this, even Sam hasn’t come close. And this time she doesn’t even have her rage, only despair and a broken hand.
  Kim: You act strong, but inside you're soft.
  Tory: (kneeling in pain) That's not true!
  Kim: Your feelings have made you weak.
  Tory: No!
  Kim: You care more about this boy than your own dojo!
  Tory: (Tory stands back up to confront Sensei Kim) I broke up with him because of this dojo, you bitch! (tries to punch Sensei Kim, but shatters the stone instead)
  • To drive the whole thing home, even Silver seems a little upset (though naturally he doesn't let her see it). When Terry Silver thinks you've gone too far...
• Stingray gets quite the poignant Let Me Tell You a Story speech where he uses D&D figures to show the kids how much it hurt when Kreese denied him re-entry into Cobra Kai and he wanted to gain a sense of honor and esteem by making a deal to get back in. Now, he regrets his bargain with Silver and feels like a pathetic and dishonorable failure but is too afraid of Silver to reveal the truth about his beating. It's also heavily hinted that Stingray deep down knows he's nothing but a pitiful poser.
  Stingray: I think "the monk"... "The monk" just wanted reentry to the guild because he thought he could be like... like a proud and noble warrior. Just like you, Hawk, Samantha, all you guys. But he's neither proud nor noble. Definitely not a warrior.
• Sam's Heel Realization about her role in perpetuating the feud with Tory, having never considered just how hard Tory's life has been, prompted by both Miguel's speech to her about Tory's struggles in Cobra Kai, and more viscerally by visiting Tory at her wretched apartment. Sam finally sees for herself what Tory has had to endure both at home (taking care of her sick, bedridden mother by herself while living in poverty) and at the Cobra Kai dojo (her bloodied, swollen hand from the stone dummy exercise earlier in the episode).
  • Tory's living arrangements are now even messier than before — her dining table and countertop are buried in opened and/or discarded boxes of cereal, milk cartons, and Chinese takeout, her trash bin is completely overstuffed with refuse, and from the partial view of Mrs. Nichols' bedroom it can be seen that she is now confined in an actual hospital cot. What's more, if you listen closely, it's implied that she's now using a ventilator to help her breathe. Made even sadder since Tory stepped it up last season and let go of her rivalry with Sam (and her rage in general) to help her family, yet things have only gotten worse. Every direction Tory turns — Kreese, Cobra Kai, Sam, Robby — she can't find any way to keep the hole she's in from getting ever deeper.

"Head of the Snake" (5x10)

• While the reveal and confrontation of Mike Barnes hijacking the limo and the interaction between him, Johnny, Chozen, and Daniel is supposed to be Played for Laughs, it's noticeably sad to see Karate's Bad Boy like this. Clearly, him being completely unshaven and revering back to his Blood Knight tendencies is enough to give the audience the impression that he is back to becoming a broken man after Terry Silver (mind you, his old Evil Mentor and employer) burns down his business. And that's not even counting the fact that he's revealed to now be broke and doesn't finish his sentence when he mentions his wife. As a matter of fact, he's so broken and filled with rage, that he manages to convince a drunk Johnny and Chozen to storm Silver's house and take on the ponytailed bastard themselves, even though Daniel understandably thinks it's a stupid idea.
  • Even worse, when Barnes does confront Silver about it, the latter responds in a rather callous manner — yes, after again burning someone's lifetime business to the ground. Sadly, his Lack of Empathy response is Truth in Television for real-life criminals (and bullies) who show absolute no regret for their actions, no matter how morally wrong they are.
• While it's mostly Played for Laughs, Mitch revealing himself to be The Mole for Cobra Kai is definitely sad. As much as the Miyagi-Fangs (particularly Hawk, Chris, Bert, and Nathaniel) teased him with the "Penis Breath" nickname, they clearly considered him one of their closest friends regardless and are genuinely upset that he betrayed them.
  • Their legitimate cluelessness to Mitch's abhorrence of his nickname and envy of Cobra Kai's nicer amenities are just a few things that could have been resolved had Mitch been open about it. The former, especially — "Penis Breath" was meant to be an Insult of Endearment, but everyone would have likely gone back to addressing him by his actual name if Mitch had simply asked.
  • Depending on whether or not you feel bad for Mitch, he shares the same reaction as the other Cobra Kais when they witness the truth about Silver's bribery. He spent the entire season conspiring with Cobra Kai by acting as The Mole not only he because he was tired of being called "Penis Breath" by his real friends, but he also revealed the reason for his betrayal was so he can enjoy the dojo's expensive products. Unfortunately for him, it's quickly taken away from him at the last moment. With Silver exposed as a fraud and ultimately arrested after being defeated by Daniel, the dojo gets closed down and all of the students discard and throw their Cobra Kai apparel on a defeated Silver. Now that Mitch has burned all the bridges with the people he cared about, he's left to wonder if his betrayal was really worth it.
    • While any relationship between Silver and Mitch is not directly depicted onscreen, it is also more tragic when one considers that Mitch's relationship with his previous senseis (Kreese, who unceremoniously kicked him to the curb when he lost his fight against Kyler, and Johnny, who was the one that started hazing him with the name "Penis Breath" from the outset and did not even remember his real name based on a deleted scene from the previous season) likely contributed to his Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal, and he may have genuinely fit in better at a Cobra Kai that was more open to recruiting fighters of all skill levels under Silver's leadership, only to have that possibility immediately taken away from him.
• When the fight between the Miyagi-Fangs and Cobra Kai breaks out, Kenny targets Robby and attacks him with all of his might. Robby on the other hand just pleads with Kenny that he doesn't want to fight him and only uses defensive moves because he doesn't have the heart to strike him. It's basically a repeat of him fighting Johnny in the Season 3 finale, only with Robby on the other side of it.
• The Cobra Kai students' disenchanted reactions to finding out just what a dishonorable, unethical fraud Terry Silver is when his bribery of the referee at the All-Valley Tournament is revealed. Especially Kenny, who looks devastated to find out that the mentor that he idolized and who directly took him under his wing (due to their shared status as scrappy, underestimated pushovers who became feared fighters) is a contemptible cheater, and shares a sad glance with Robby when realizing that the latter was right all along. When the fight is over, Kenny is the first to angrily discard his Cobra Kai shirt atop Terry Silver's barely-conscious body, followed by Kyler and the other Cobra Kai students, and he asks Robby to give him time alone to sort out his feelings afterward.
  • Some of the students look like they’re on the verge of tears wondering if whatever achievements they have in the dojo — future or past — would mean anything or if they were all bought and paid for. Therefore, the revelation made the students think that the dojo's 2019 All-Valley win was All for Nothing.
    • And the real kicker? For all of his talk, Silver doesn't have real faith in his students, only seeing them as extensions of his grand ambitions, no less. He believes at winning at all costs, morality and rules be damned, let alone having the wealth to bend them to his favor.
  • Hell, put yourself in Kenny's shoes. He has very severe trust issues, which were first developed when his former family friend was caught stealing from his family, and Shawn, in a desperate attempt to save his brother, beat said 'friend' up...which landed him in juvie. Now, Kenny's trust issues resurface, stronger than ever; he thinks Robby, whom he saw as a second brother, betrayed him by defecting to Miyagi-Do, but Robby was really just hoping to save Kenny from Cobra Kai and doesn't even want to hurt him. All this results in Kenny putting all of his trust in Terry Silver...and Silver's ultimate betrayal clearly hit him the hardest. He doesn't know who he can trust anymore...and it's most likely his guilt and shame that prevented him from rebuilding his relationship with Robby. In the end, Kenny is a poor, broken kid who puts his trust in the wrong people and pushes away anyone who genuinely tries to help him.
• As satisfying as it is to finally see Terry Silver being arrested for all of his crimes and heinous actions over the past two seasons, there's still an element of tragedy to it when one remembers how well he was doing before Kreese reconnected with him. If it weren't for Kreese resurfacing all of his trauma, Silver would likely still be living a crime-free life as a successful, mindful businessman with a loving girlfriend by his side.
• It's a bit minor because we barely got to know him, but the prison doctor cowering in a corner as Kreese advances on him. He's about to get knocked unconscious (if he's lucky), and there's nothing he can do about it, and he knows it. All because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  Doctor: Please. I'm begging you...
  Kreese: For what? Mercy?