SPOILERS FOR COBRA KAI S4 E5

“Match Point”

This episode was fire.

Terry Silver showed up at Miyagi-do to apologize to Daniel for his behavior during Karate Kid 3. Daniel was having nothing of it, despite the fact that it truly did feel sincere. This show continues to paint Terry Silver as a repentant man who realized his past mistakes. He has been a voice of reason among the Cobra Kai and with Kreese. I’m not sure where this is going, but he did not appreciate Daniel’s dismissal of his apology.

Silver’s arrival spooked the heck out of Daniel and he immediately wanted to take full control of the training of the students. Of course, Johnny wanted no part of that and, after a lot of alcohol, they wound up with a rematch from the All-Valley Tournament set for the next day.

Although Silver placed a no fighting restriction on the Cobra Kai students, they found a way around it. They caught Hawk, held him down and shaved off his mohawk. That was a vicious shot at Hawk, since that hairstyle had become such a symbol of who he was.

Meanwhile, Daniel was recovering from his hangover, we got a Johnny Lawrence training montage. Johnny slipped right back into his bully persona as he was shoving people out of his way and causing destruction such as karate kicking a mailbox. The montage was in tune with Survivor’s Burning Heart from the Rocky movies.

Despite the understanding of what it might do to the uneasy alliance that has been in place this season, the match between Johnny and Daniel proceeded with Sam and Miguel in position as judges.

Johnny scored first. Daniel got the next two points. Johnny tied it up despite Daniel pulling out the old arm numbing trick he learned last season. Then, it a beautifully choreographed point, Daniel and Johnny struck the final blow at the same time.

This of course was when Hawk arrived and showed off his new hairdo and the alliance fell apart. Eagle Fang and Miyagi-do Karate split apart. Perhaps this is what Terry Silver was trying to do in the first place.

This was my favorite episode so far in season 4. Not sure where they go from here.