Party Time
Episode 8 of Cobra Kai begins with Stingray called out by his neighbour Greg for all his faults. As Greg starts calling him Stink-Ray, Raymond promises that he’ll get his revenge if he keeps this up. This prologue paves way for Stingray showing back up at Cobra Kai, ready to fight. Unfortunately, he’s met with a call of laughs as Kreese scoffs at him. He calls the man a joke and a buffoon. If that wasn’t enough, Kreese grits his teeth and tells him he’ll never be Cobra Kai and is forced to leave. While this is going on, the kids all prepare for junior prom. Tory and Robby decide to go together while Miguel and Sam obviously do too. As the kids prepare for their big day, Johnny runs into Shannon, Robby’s mum. She points out that Silver dropped off a car for him to travel in first class with Tory. He’s also offered her a job and a whole stack of cash. It’s a real low blow and a psychological test to get under Johnny’s skin. Shannon is worried that this is the case too, pointing out that Terry clearly has his hooks buried deep under Robby’s skin. At the big dance, Tory and Robby arrive in style. It’s obviously all a big play to put on a show and the pair quickly dance in front of everyone and take the limelight for themselves. That limelight soon shifts over to Stingray though during the afterparty. He brings all the kids back to his where he ends up in another spat with Greg. This time though he beats down Greg and gains a good cheer for his efforts. While they do, a livid Johnny appears at Cobra Kai. He breaks in and is caught on camera sneaking in. Terry is there to see it all unfold and lures him to a secluded area. It’s an abandoned spot where Terry intends to expand out once they win the All Valley tournament. Unfortunately it turns out this was one big trap to leave Johnny a bloody pulp. That way, he’ll be in no shape to train Diaz and the others. Kreese steps in though and chooses not to let this happen. He questions Terry’s methods and tells him they’ll settle this at the tournament as agreed. However, the kids aren’t waiting that long. Robby and Tory eventually square off against Miguel and Sam at the party, right next to the pool. Just before things escalate too much, they all end up in the pool, which causes drama between Sam and Miguel. While Robby and Tory come out all laughs, a rift begins to grow between this couple. When Diaz heads home, he finds a drunken Johnny and puts him in bed. He tries to talk about how much he wants to be a dad to him but laments that he’s really bad at this. Miguel tells Johnny he loves him…which he replies “I love you too, Robby.” It’s a tough pill for Miguel to swallow and as he leaves, he clearly has tears in his eyes and he’s heartbroken. As the episode closes out, Stingray heads back to Cobra Kai dojo and makes his play to be part of the team. Silver is incredulous to this and ends up beating the man down, laughing as he does the entire time, questioning his resolve.
The Episode Review
Cobra’s Kai’s latest episode brings up some interesting developments. Johnny using defensive moves to protect himself against Terry shows that LaRusso’s methods are having an effect. Likewise, LaRusso lashing out at his son and quite literally snapping his iPad is enough to show he’s learning from Lawrence and instilling some of that aggression he’s been lacking. It’s such a quiet, clever bit of character development that largely goes under the radar in the wake of such dramatic events with the other teens. The whole peace-deal is completely out the window now though during the after-party of prom, as our four main teens in this love square of sorts wind up fighting and duking it out. Seeing Stingray in the midst of all this is a nice way of expanding out the lore and showing what he’s been up to. It’ll be interesting to see what part he has to play going forward but one thing’s for sure – Terry is not messing about. He’s slowly growing more and more unhinged as the episodes progress and I’m guessing that will play a big part of the tournament as we prep for that. The fate of these three dojos hangs in the balance.
