‘Cobra Kai’ recap, season 6, episode 8: Snakes on a plane

Cobra Kai

Snakes in an airplane

Season 6

Episode 8

Editorial review

4 stars

****

Photo: COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Something kept me from really loving the first two episodes of this series of five; Barcelona should be a nice change of setting, and it is, but there was something workmanlike about these opening events in the Sekai Taikai and this return to old character patterns. The show felt a little less joyful than at its best.

That changed for me with “Snakes on a Plane,” the exact centerpiece of this 15-episode sixth season. That’s quite a surprise for the least Barcelona-focused episode of the bunch, and for an episode with a prominent Anthony LaRusso subplot. But I felt a lot of genuine joy watching this one – both that big appearance at the end And the things that precede it.

That’s an impressive feat considering the relative lack of karate and the brief bleak turn with Carmen’s health. When Johnny calls Amanda from the plane, she reports that Carmen is still unconscious and that they are monitoring her bleeding. Otherwise we don’t know what’s going on or if she’s okay. I thought she would make it, just because killing off Carmen so deep into the show would really put a damper on the remaining episodes. But the story works because while We know she’s probably fine, and We Knowing that it is safe to enjoy the plane due to possible comedic possibilities, Johnny and Miguel have no such guarantees.

Pretty much any time Miguel feels hurt or neglected by Johnny, and the two get back together, it’s guaranteed to rub off on me. They are the core, the show’s original sensei-student relationship, the new Mr. Miyagi and Daniel, and in some ways they are an even more important couple than Johnny and Daniel. Often the distance between them only grows as they are all busy with their own things – as Johnny explains to Miguel later in the episode, Robby needs more support than he does at the moment, as he feels directionless without any particular academic prospects. But as he movingly tells Miguel, “You are my son too.” He admits that he worries about losing Carmen, that he knows it’s a false comfort to pretend he knows everything will be okay.

The rich jerk in first grade is a pretty cartoonish villain for the episode, but it’s nice to see Miguel being the one to punch him out instead of Johnny. And that’s the first of several W’s for these two, the biggest of which is the news that Carmen and the baby are doing well! (That bloody bedspread was equally horrifying, but I thought it was a misdirection.) She needed an emergency cerclage, but now she’s back on bed rest for a few weeks, so there’s no other option. She even encourages them to fly back to Spain and win the Sekai Taikai.

I think I would believe it I I could win a world karate tournament if Carmen told me I could, but her encouragement might get in the way of the wishes of the new fighter called up to compete for Miyagi-Do: Kenny. Johnny asked Amanda to get Kenny on a plane to Spain to replace Miguel, not knowing they would be going back the same day. It’s pretty smart to bring Kenny back in at this point, and I’m relieved that it doesn’t mean Miguel will actually be absent. There’s an interesting potential for conflict in the next few episodes: with a limited number of slots, who actually shall compete?

Getting Kenny to agree is no easy task. He’s still convinced Anthony was the one who drugged him with laxatives and led to the memeification of “Shit Butt,” a nickname that doesn’t roll off the tongue very well. (On the other hand, Kenny called Anthony “LaPusso.”) Amanda has Anthony apologize to Kenny for bullying him, but he is overly defensive about the laxative accusations, and the two inevitably get into a fight. (Amanda: “Damn karate.”) Amanda, ever the peacekeeper, shuts them up by sharing the news about Carmen, a powerful reminder that their problems are small potatoes. It is their duty to move past this so that Kenny can feel safe with Miyagi-Do and continue for his friends in Barcelona.

That doesn’t stop the war immediately. But Anthony’s more sincere apology does, along with his over-the-top gesture of voluntarily evening the score when it comes to pants-pooping. Devon’s guilty phone call admitting the whole thing seals the deal. Kenny and Anthony may not be the best of friends, but there is no bad blood anymore.

But now that a feud is over, teen drama in Barcelona is reaching a fever pitch. At Chozen’s encouragement (and against Daniel’s), the kids go ‘hard into town’ tonight to relax, including a tapas bar where Robby, Tory, Kwon and Zara become embroiled in a four-way mind game. Robby isn’t normally a drinker, but the breakup and his recent karate performances have left him in a dark spot. He ordered a double rum-and-coke as he jealously watched Kwon’s obnoxious flirting and reflected on how little the breakup has affected Tory — even personally. or in karate, which usually has a direct correlation.

Robby spends the night with Zara, who seems intent on screwing Tory personally, either out of a Kreese-esque attempt to get under her enemy’s skin or out of a pathological need to be the prettiest and most popular girl in the room . The next morning, Tory sees the two briefly kissing outside Zara’s door, which should further raise the stakes for the next event.

Everyone gets cozy with people they shouldn’t be with that night, including Demetri, who accepts a dance with a girl who is. not his girlfriend Yasmine. Eli’s FaceTime with his own girlfriend Moon certainly seems designed to betray Demetri, even though he didn’t know Yasmine was in the room with her at the time, but it puts the two friends on even worse ground than before.

And Sam spends some time with Axel and mentions that she saw Sensei Wolf hurt him. He is firmly focused on fighting and seems timid about everything else, although he tries to give her a kiss after an aborted fight with Kwon and some of his usual henchmen. I can’t quite tell where this story is going; Is Sam starting to realize that she might want something different than the life she dreamed of for herself and Miguel?

All of this is solid and sets up some intriguing wrinkles for the rest of the season. But I have to say my absolute favorite part of the episode is Chozen and Kim Da-Eun’s subplot where they keep running into each other while looking for their students. They meet again in the beach district and eventually follow the children to the tapas bar where they were last seen. Both expected the kids to fight and leave a destroyed bar behind in their wake – there is historical precedent, after all. But it turns out they were worried for nothing, as far as they know.

Kim Da-Eun has always been a solid secondary antagonist, but I also never found her to be as complex in the same way as Kreese or Silver. But it’s refreshing to see her separated from Kreese, who disapproves of his tactics off the battlefield. The episode makes us think that Kreese kidnapped Daniel without her knowledge, but following Dennis to a hotel leads to the “fuck yeah”-worthy reveal: it was Terry Silver who was behind the kidnapping all along, presumably in collaboration with Sensei Wolf to take down Miyagi-Do and lift the Iron Dragons to victory.

It’s a great moment, especially because it comes so early that it’s actually surprising (as opposed to an episode ten cliffhanger, which is what I expected). And yet, Chozen and Kim Da-Eun’s makeout session (and subsequent off-screen sex on the beach) has to be my favorite moment. There’s real energy in their sparring throughout the episode; in a show like this you would expect at least a few fighting moments that culminate in making out, but i think this must be the first actual instance, maybe because male characters rarely fight female characters (and there are no queer characters next to them) .

Besides the satisfaction of seeing Chozen get his groove back after Towel Man ruined his mojo, I’m excited to see Kim Da-Eun in this new mode. Alicia Hannah-Kim never got the chance to do comedy on this show, so it’s wonderful to see her flexing her muscles here. (The moment she shakes sand from her sleeves and hair the next morning is a highlight.) It will be difficult for the character to redeem herself at this point, given the ways she has hurt her students, but her growing gap with the other baddies is another variable to keep an eye on. I didn’t expect a full series of enemies-to-lovers to emerge Cobra Kaibut if that’s where this season is going, I’m here for it.

• “Why is the plane doing this twisty thing?” “You mean you follow the curvature of the Earth?”

• “I have to go inside. Looking for teenagers.” “I’ve heard that one before.”