Cobra Kai is a sequel to the 1980 series Karate Kid. Created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, the series’ first debuted on YouTube Red. The series later got acquired by Netflix in June last year due to its popularity. Now the popular series is finally back with its third season, which came out on January 1, 2021. This season has got a great response, being praised for its action, humor, and performance. And the show is said to have not just honored Karate Kid’s way of storytelling but mastered it. In a world full of bad reboots and sequels, Cobra Kai has set the standard that there is a way to recycle old characters and stories. In October 2020, the show was already renewed for a fourth season by Netflix. In this article, we’ll be covering all that has happened in Cobra Kai Season 3.
Episode 1: “Aftermath”
Two weeks have passed since the all-around brawl happened in the school. Miguel is in a coma after falling off the stairs, while Robby is missing. Shaken up by the events, the school suspended the kids involved and took an anti-physical contact rule. Sam is still suffering from panic attacks after the fight. Johnny, who is now in a rut, wishes to visit Miguel. So he sneaks in by hurting himself to get into the ICU. He says some words of encouragement to him, after which he is caught by hospital staff. Meanwhile, Daniel is unsuccessful in his attempts to track down Robby. So, he and Johnny team up to find him. On the other side of town, Miguel finally woke up from his coma.
Episode 2: “Nature vs. Nurture”
John Kreese wants Tory back in his dojo, but she can’t come as she is the only breadwinner in the family. As she is late on her rent, John visits her landlord and settles a deal. Meanwhile, Daniel and Johnny head to Shannon’s rehab facility. From there, in a twist of events, they see the van Robby had stolen. They follow it and end up in a fight with a few guys who stole the van from Robby. On questioning, they find out they have no idea where Robby is. So, after a quarrel, Johnny and Daniel go their own ways. Knowing Miguel woke up from his coma, Johnny goes to visit him but is soon dejected. And Daniel, who has now found Robby, gets him to turn himself in.
Episode 3: “Now You’re Gonna Pay”
Johnny goes to Bobby to look for a way to pay Miguel’s bills. Being unsuccessful in his attempts, Johnny resorts to pawning off one of Sid’s valuables. On the other hand, Miyagi-Do students organize a successful car wash fundraising event. The money from which is later stolen by Cobra Kai. During all this, Daniel finds out that Doyona Industries were about to cut business ties with Daniel, so he decides to go visit their headquarters in Tokyo. Sam starts preparing the Miyagi-Do students to fight against Cobra Kai. Robby is disappointed at his dad for not visiting him at Juvie as he is over at the hospital.
Episode 4: “The Right Path”
Doyona Industries rejects Daniel’s request as it would hurt their PR. So, Daniel decides to go to Okinawa to finds some answers. There he meets Kumiko and even encounters Chozen. Johnny visits Robby during his community service to reconcile, but things don’t go well. After a talk with Kreese, Johnny decides to go to Miguel and oversee his physical rehabilitation. Meanwhile, Kreese goes and tries to recruit Robby at Cobra Kai. Back at school, the students of Miyagi-Do get two-week detention by clever play directed by Hawk.
Episode 5: “Miyagi-Do”
When the Miyagi-Do students learn of Chris being harassed, they decide to take on the Cobra Kai at the amusement park. Ambushed by Tory and seeing Eli break Demitri’s arm, Sam suffers from a panic attack. Meanwhile, at Okinawa, after some sparring sessions, Daniel and Chozen reconcile, with Chozen giving Daniel a parting gift. Later, Daniel meets an adult Yuna who is now the Vice President of Sales for Doyona. She happily offers to let him keep the dealership. Back in Juvie, motivated by Kreese’s words, Robbie finally decides to take on a bully and gets involved in a fight. Johnny tries to help Miguel by taking him to a concert, where Miguel inadvertently starts regaining the feeling in his legs. Johnny logs in on his Facebook and finds a friend request from Ali. Later, Amanda, who found about the incident at the amusement park, confronts Kreese and slaps him.
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Episode 6: “King Cobra”
Miguel helps Johnny to build up his Facebook profile, during which he meets Tory. Things don’t go well as back at home, and he takes out his frustration at Johnny. During which, he manages to stand up on his own. Meanwhile, Kreese tries to bolster his ranks by recruiting various athletes, including Kyler and Brucks. This disturbs Hawk as he brutalizes Brucks in order to prevent his enrollment.
Daniel returns from Japan, so he and Amanda go to the police to handle Kreese. But there, they learn that Kreese had already filed a restraining order against Amanda. Left with no choice, LaRussos try to bribe Armand Zarkarian in an attempt to evict Kreese, which is unsuccessful as Armand calls off the deal and Kreese challenges the Miyagi-Do.
Episode 7: “Obstáculos”
Daniel realizes that Sam isn’t doing well. So, he spends a day with Sam trying to help overcome her fears. Meanwhile, after weeks of training, Miguel can finally walk again. The next day, when he goes to school, he finds out about Demitri and the new recruits of Cobra Kai. So, Miguel cuts his ties with Cobra Kai and asks Eli to join him. Johnny then decides to start his own dojo called “Eagle Fang Karate,” where Kreese and the Cobra Kai students confront Johnny. Kreese asks Johnny to join him back at Cobra Kai, but Johnny rejects his offer.
Episode 8: “The Good, The Bad and the Badass”
Robby completes his sentence and meets Daniel and Johnny outside but doesn’t bother with them, to later meet Tory. When the local council cancels the All-Valley Karate Tournament championship, Daniel, Kreese, and Johnny attempt to get it back but only make things worse. So, then Miguel and Sam make their case as to why they need it. This request moves the city council as they reinstate the tournament. After this, Miguel and Sam catch up while even doing some friendly sparring. During this, Robby arrives and interprets this as Sam cheating on him. Robby then goes to Kreese for help. Meanwhile, Johnny and Carmen sleep together.
Episode 9: “Feel The Night”
The next day Ali is back in town. So, Johnny and Ali spend the day together, catching up. Meanwhile, the Cobra Kai starts warming up to Robby after he steals a snake from the local zoo as a gift to Kreese. Daniel catches Miguel and Sam making out, so he decides to start to find some common ground about Johnny and Daniel’s childhood. After this, Sam and Miguel prepare to form an alliance between Eagle Fang Karate and Miyagi-Do in order to take out Cobra Kai.
Episode 10: “December 19”
During this alliance, Cobra Kai has come to instigate a fight with Tory leading the pack. During this, Hawk contemplates what he was doing and turn on the Cobra Kai. Miguel overcomes his limits and defeats Kyler while Sam conquers her fear of Tory. Before the fight escalated further, Hawk asks her to leave.
Later, when Daniel and Johnny learn of this event separately, they head off to Cobra Kai. Johnny is first to reach, and he takes down Kreese. Robby tries to take on Johnny but is soon knocked out. Kreese takes the opportunity to try to murder Johnny but is soon saved by Daniel. Daniel makes use of the pressure point techniques he learned from Chozen to gain the upper hand but is soon stopped by Miguel and Samantha. Kreese, with Robby by his side, agrees to leave if Cobra Kai loses at the upcoming tournament.
In the end, Kreese calls up Terry Silver, a guy who owes his life to Kreese back during the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, we see that the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang Karate have joined hands with Daniel and Johnny as the teachers.
Verdict
This Season of Cobra Kai was great not just at its own storyline but also as a way to fall back on the past. The show had various sequences to look back at the past. And unlike other shows, it has kept characters in their own ideals. Kreese is still the guy he was instilling the attacking instinct to his students. In this season of Cobra Kai, we even got to learn of Kreese’s past as he fought in the Vietnam War and how he developed this attitude of showing no mercy. This season even revolved around the concept of “Enemy of my enemy is my friend”. As we saw people switch sides to take out the bigger agendas at hand. Overall, this season was great and has only wanted the fans asking for Season 4 to come soon. So, that we can finally see who thrives in the tournament- Cobra Kai or Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang Karate.