Cobra Kai Recap: Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Oh, we’re in the thick of it now. The midseason premiere was a bit low on karate, but now we’ve got nothing but karate. The Sekai Taikai really starts to take shape in this second episode of the batch, and though the finals aren’t yet here, the possibility of elimination looms at all times. Miyagi-Do is just barely scraping by.

“Dog in the Fight” features three different rounds, which form a handy three-act structure for the episode. In act one, Miyagi-Do starts off poorly, outclassed by the Iron Dragons and their team of international fighters, including a three-time champ for a sensei. Sensei Wolf has a lot to say about arrogant, coddled Americans who have never known sacrifice or hunger, which feels a little presumptuous. But the biggest red flag of all is the abuse that Sam witnesses while walking by during one of Wolf’s training sessions with Iron Dragon captain Axel. When Demetri later likens Axel to “a mix between the Winter Soldier and Frankenstein’s monster,” Sam is quick to defend him.

But there are a couple other obvious reasons Miyagi-Do is flopping, one of which Sam and Devon can immediately diagnose: Johnny and Daniel are not gelling. For them, it’s nice to think co-teaching is possible without friendship, but the results don’t bear that out. The two can’t even agree on how to treat the kids after a round of losses: with aggressive berating or gentle encouragement?

Johnny has a point when he blames Daniel’s obsession with “honoring a dead guy’s legacy,” which keeps Daniel occupied in the hours before the next round. You know Daniel’s in the wrong when Amanda sounds skeptical, and over the phone she cautions him against meeting up with Master Serrano, a mysterious and potentially dangerous fighter. (Never mind that this master must be pretty damn old.) But he’s insistent, desperate to meet someone who could shed light on a dark, unspoken-of time in Mr. Miyagi’s life. Of course, Amanda’s concerns are seemingly proven correct when Daniel gets knocked unconscious outside the place he’s supposed to go, dooming his chances of being present for the next round of the tournament.

I’m not the biggest fan of this side quest, honestly, which feels like a contrivance meant to just keep Daniel away. I do find this season’s subversion of the famously peaceful Mr. Miyagi pretty compelling, so I was looking forward to seeing what Daniel’s meeting with Serrano had to offer. Instead, he’s just locked up in a cage for a couple scenes near a bunch of dogs, with none of his captors willing to offer any answers. It’s satisfying to see him break out and let the dogs loose on them, putting together from one guy’s Cobra Kai tattoo that these men were sent by Kreese. But it’s not the most thrilling use of time overall.

Without Daniel there, this final points round goes as poorly as you’d expect. As sole sensei, Johnny at least has clarity of vision, a change from the first round’s confusing dual coaching that pulled everyone in both directions. But he’s also precisely the wrong sensei for this type of challenge, which involves balancing on narrow platforms. His strike-first mentality gets Devon knocked off the platform in ten seconds, and only Miguel’s win keeps them from the very bottom of the standings.

Johnny’s speech in the locker room is pretty brutal, telling the kids they were fighting with weakness and painting a picture of a life filled with pain and regret. (He’s clearly projecting after decades fixated on his own All Valley failure.) It’s not so much a pep talk as it is a scolding, and Sam is right to push back and call him out, even if Devon sweetly tries to defend Johnny. After some reflection, he realizes he needs to set aside his pettiness once again and work together with Daniel. A satisfying realization, for sure, but we’ve also been here before.

To be fair, though, there’s one other reason for all these losses: Robby’s head is decidedly not in the game, and everyone knows it. Miguel has accepted Robby as the rightful captain after losing to him, but it’s hard for him to watch Robby repeatedly screw up without thinking of how much better he’d be doing as captain. (Even Eli says so.) He even suggests Robby hand over the headband if he can’t man up and do better.

During the elimination round, Robby … cannot man up and do better. In fact, he’s still falling over after getting distracted by Tory’s face in the crowd, a problem he really needs to get over. It’s kind of a funny reversal from the midseason finale, when he only won his fight after seeing that Tory showed up. At that time, just two episodes ago, Miguel was the one caving under pressure, consumed by what this win could mean for him.

Luckily, this round doesn’t depend on the captains alone. It’s actually a pretty fun format compared to the other events so far: competitors face off on a raised platform, two at a time from each dojo, with new teammates quickly swapping in as their friends fall. The fight doesn’t stop until all the fighters from one dojo are knocked off, at which point that dojo is out of the competition.

Miyagi-Do’s opponents this time are Dublin Thunder, apparently a dojo full of Irish stereotypes (complimentary). Again, we all know what Johnny’s pep talk will consist of this time because we’ve heard this reversal before: The kids must prioritize balance and remember the core tenets of Miyagi-Do. Sure enough, everyone except Robby does a lot better — especially Miguel, who cockily tells Robby to “watch how it’s done” before he singlehandedly takes down the remaining two Irish fighters himself.

Unfortunately, we can’t enjoy the high of that comeback. When Daniel gets back, Johnny tells him that something is wrong with Carmen’s pregnancy, so he and Miguel must fly back to the States that night. It’s a pretty unexpected turn, especially after this episode set up Miguel taking the reins from Robby. Cobra Kai can be a predictable show at times, routinely following traditional sports-movie underdog arcs and sometimes repeating itself. The best thing it can do in a moment like this is keep enough balls in the air that anything feels possible.

Mr. Miyagi’s Little Trees

• According to the credits, the tattooed man who attacks Daniel is Dennis De Guzman (William Christopher Ford), one of Mike Barnes’s cronies from The Karate Kid Part III. Does this hint at a Terry Silver reappearance down the line?

• I like the way the show keeps Eli and Demetri’s conflict relevant — Demetri accidentally kicks Eli off the platform along with their opponent this time — but I’d like to see them repair their friendship soon. Their sniping is getting old, especially whenever Demetri mentions MIT.

• Tory fully kicks a girl’s tooth out, so that’s pretty metal. But Zara is not a fan of her thunder being stolen.

• But she’s less threatened by Sam! After all, Zara only live-streams with winners: “It’s a brand thing.”

• It’s nice to see Devon come clean to Johnny about how she cheated to beat Kenny, and I’m curious how long it’ll be before she owns up to it. (Kenny doesn’t really have a role in this middle chunk of episodes so far.)