The Rise
Episode 10 of Cobra Kai Season 4 begins with Stingray waking up in hospital following his brutal beat-down from Terry. He’s in a rough way though and it’s unknown if he’ll fully recover. Speaking of which though, Miguel is okay. It seems his bad back is a result of a pulled muscle rather than a genuine broken bone. During the semi-finals, Robby sails through after beating Demetri. Backstage, Anthony feels guilty and tries to apologize to Kenny. Instead though he hits back and beats down LaRusso Jr., becoming the aggressor and giving him a taste of his own medicine. When Robby sees this, he tries to stop him. He’s not happy, pointing out that’s not how he trained him but the damage is done. The girls’ final comes down to Tory VS Samantha, as we always knew it would be, while Miguel gets his second shot in the semi-finals… if he can make it back in time. The 1 minute long countdown runs out and Miguel loses by default, leaving Eli to win by default and take his place in the final. Now, it turns out Miguel did this because he didn’t feel like he was fighting for himself anymore, especially after Johnny’s drunken outburst the night before. Meeting Sam backstage, the pair settle their differences and quite literally kiss and make-up. Miguel has made his peace and he’s okay with not competing. The first final begins and it’s a big match between Eli and Robby. With the pair tied 1-1, it goes down to sudden death. As the pair bow to one another, Terry is incredulous and angry over the respect being shown. Eli meanwhile, is shown respect by Daniel in his corner. As the match continues, Eli comes out on top in a really shocking win. It’s definitely a big blow to Cobra Kai’s chances. Robby is livid and he takes off, deciding to clear his head. Just before Tory heads out into the arena, Amanda approaches backstage and asks her to play fairly and try to make it so this fight ends the rivalry between the pair. Of course, Sam has been just as much to blame as she is but Tory is left with a lot to think about. Meanwhile, Daniel and Johnny patch up their differences in a really touching chat. Daniel apologizes for his behavior and asks for Johnny’s help, finally respecting and understanding his fighting prowess and skills. Likewise, Johnny admits that Diaz training with Daniel freaked him out and as a result, he lashed out. He also admits that Daniel is a competent fighter. It’s truly water under the bridge as Miyagi-Fang prepare to strike. The final fight begins and the pair are squared up 2-2. During a roll, Tory accidentally elbows Sam in the face. Terry senses an opportunity and decides she should go for the other eye and cheat. Kreese interjects and decides Tory should fight the way she wants to. And as she storms back on the mat, she wins fair and square. Immediately after Tory asks if Sam is okay, before she’s pulled away by the other Cobra Kai competitors. Unfortunately it also means Cobra Kai come away overall victors. After the win, Terry takes the mic and announces that they’ll be opening up Cobra Kai dojos all over the region and expanding out. It’s a big hammer blow for Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do, especially as they’re no longer allowed to fight. And just to cement that fact, the old Cobra Kai dojo is completely cleared out that night. When Johnny heads in and sees it completely empty, all that’s left are the words he put up on the wall. Out of all the people to show, it’s Robby that does. He confirms that Cobra Kai are moving to new locations as Johnny praises Robby’s performance at the All Valley tournament. Robby is torn up over what’s happened with Kenny, including how he’s changed and become more ruthless and aggressive. The reason Robby froze at the crucial moment is because he saw a part of himself in Kenny and it made him realize that the anger and hatred he had was not healthy. Vocalizing these reflections, Robby and Johnny patch up their differences, as they hug it out and Robby sobs on his shoulder, promising he’ll do his best to straighten things out. Having won the championship, Tory heads back in to grab her gear but notices Silver paying off the ref. That’s obviously not what she wanted but it all falls back on that earlier chat about weaknesses. And nowhere else is that more evident than in the evening’s chat between Kreese and Silver. The thing is, Kreese’s weakness has always been Johnny Lawrence. Likewise, Terry’s weakness has been Kreese. So naturally, Terry decides to eliminate that weakness. As police show up, it soon becomes clear what’s really going on here. Terry’s big beat-down on Stingray was all a play for him to be invited into Cobra Kai. All he needed to do was blame the assault on Kreese…which is exactly what he does. So while John Kreese is arrested for attempted murder, Terry takes control of Cobra Kai. Back home, Miguel writes a note for Carmen and Johnny. He’s leaving and heading back home to figure out the truth about his past. He gets on a bus and leaves town. Johnny decides to chase after him but as Carmen soon reveals, Miguel’s father doesn’t actually know that Miguel exists. Although Johnny and Daniel are no longer able to be senseis, given the lack of honour put in place by Cobra Kai, Daniel isn’t about to go down without a fight. At Miyagi’s grave, Daniel vows to fight back and win their dojo. And that comes from a returning Chozen, who’s intent on helping the dojo strike first.
The Episode Review
What a great ending to the season! Some of the storylines and characters have been severely under-utilized but others have really had great arcs here. Tory, for one, has had a really nice angle this year while Robby, Miguel and Eli have all had a fair share of the limelight too. It’s a nice way of developing these characters and across the season we’ve seen all of them fighting for their beliefs. In the end, we see a lot of characters making amends for their past mistakes. One of the more touching is that of Robby and Johnny, who finally do bury the hatchet thanks to Robby seeing some of his own aggression in Kenny. It’s a nice way to round out their storylines but it also paves way for a fair few shockers too. I genuinely did not see Sliver turning on Kreese and the beat-down on Stingray comes full circle as he incriminates Kreese and leaves Silver to take control of Cobra Kai and mold it into the empire he wants. The show has always flirted on that line of incredulous unbelievability but thankfully this year actually brings things back with a really solid storyline and a bit less of the soapy melodrama with the teens. It’s still here of course, but most of this season’s focus on Johnny and Daniel has done nothing but help this series. It looks like we’re on course for a very dramatic season 5 though and that’s undoubtedly going to cause all sorts of drama going forward. The fate of All Valley is left hanging in the balance.
