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"You can't do this."
"Of course, I can. I founded Cobra Kai. It belongs to me. It always has... and it always will. I will never let my students lose. Even if they have to learn the hard way. One day you'll thank me for this, Johnny."
"This was a mistake. You want Cobra Kai? It's yours.
"
Johnny Lawrence and John Kreese[src]

No Mercy is the tenth episode of the second season of Cobra Kai and the final episode of Season 2.

Summary[]

It's the first day of school at West Valley High School but tensions between the two dojos have not cooled with the end of summer. And the rivalry between Daniel and Johnny comes to a head.

Plot[]

Daniel and Amanda wake up in bed together, still happy from their date night the night before, their marital problems behind them. However, Anthony reports that Sam did not come home. It takes Daniel and Amanda roughly five minutes to not just realize that Sam is missing, but to break into her laptop. Eventually, Daniel determines he can trace Sam's iPhone. Daniel gets in his car to follow the coordinates, which leads him to Johnny's apartment. Daniel knocks on Johnny's door, asking if Sam is there. Johnny confirms she is, but refuses to let him in, sensing Daniel's mood, and he shuts the door in Daniel's face. Daniel breaks down the door and him and Johnny immediately begin to fight. Daniel gains the upper hand, and begins to look for Sam, but Johnny counters, and Daniel's attention turns back towards the fight. Before things get worse, however, Robby realizes what is going on, and he brings Sam out.

It's the first day of school after the summer break and Daniel has taken Sam's car away and he drives her to school. They argue a bit, and Sam gets out of Daniel's car without saying a goodbye, still unhappy with Daniel. Not long after, Johnny drops Robby off at school, and they seem to be on good terms. As the other Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do Students are working hard in their first period classes, Tory is nowhere to be found, until suddenly Tory who skips all of her first period class, hijacks the school PA system and announces she's going to hunt Sam down after she kissed Miguel. After Tory threatens Sam, the bell rings and Sam and Tory both head towards each other at a hallway, with the other Cobra Kais, Miyagi-Do students, and several other students witnessing Tory starting to physically fight Sam. As the two girls face off in the hall, Robby tries to stop the fight by pulling Tory away from Sam. Tory tries to attack Robby but he holds her in place against a batch of lockers. At that moment, Miguel arrives at the scene where Robby then kicks Doug away when Doug demands Robby to free Tory. Miguel attacks Robby after mistakenly believing he is attacking Tory. All of a sudden, an all-out karate war erupts between the Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do students. Aisha tries to stop the fight but she was pushed by a Miyagi-Do student and ultimately punched him back.

When Moon attempted to stop the fight by asking if they can just get along, Doug Rickenberger threw a Miyagi-do student into a locker but was kicked away by the student. Raymond, who was denied a job as a security guard, viciously assaults several Miyagi-Do students. The fight between the two dojos moved to a different part of the school as more high school students come watch the fight for amusement. When a member of school's staff intervened to break it up, Doug violently elbowed him and flipped to the ground just as Demetri brought Mr. Palmer, in the hoping that he could help end the fight. However, Mr. Palmer witnessed Doug Rickenberger take down the teacher and refused to get involved. After beating several Miyagi-Do students, Hawk went after Demetri. Demetri however is able to use his lessons from Miyagi-Do to counter all of Hawk's attacks. Demetri then displays offense by kicking Hawk into a trophy case and wins, though he does apologize there after.

Bert successfully breaks Miyagi-Do student Nathaniel's glasses, but Nathaniel then tackles Bert and punches him several times, only for the security guard to pick both of them up and take them potentially to the principal's office.

Chris fights Mitch in one of the hallways. Chris dominates the fight until Mitch kicks Chris in the face, knocking him down to the floor. After taunting Chris that he should've stayed in Cobra Kai, Mitch gets knocked out by a book to the face by Chris, winning.

Miguel gets the upper-hand on Robby, but after noticing Sam and Tory still fighting, he lets Doug and Mikey fight Robby, and he himself then runs up to stop Sam's and Tory's fight. He is rejected with his actions when Tory kicks and hits Miguel away in anger that he had kissed Sam. Robby defeats Doug and Mikey easily and runs to the spot where Miguel, Tory and Sam are, where he and Miguel resume their fight.

Tory has the upper hand over Sam for most of their fight, but once Sam starts to get the upper hand, Tory starts fighting more viciously by using her spiked bracelet (or brass knuckles) to harm Sam. Tory is able to injure Sam's wrist with the bracelet. Just as she is about to kill Sam with the bracelet, Sam blocks and then kicks her down and over the stairs, winning in the process. She lies there in pain for the rest of the fight.

Miguel and Robby are the last two fighting. Their fight seems to be even, but when Miguel tells Robby that Sam loves him more, an angry Robby aggressively attacks Miguel and starts to get the upper hand. Miguel however recovers and beats Robby a second time by locking his arm which Robby is unable to break out of. As instructed by his sensei, Miguel becomes the bigger man and shows mercy and even apologizes. Then a furious Robby kicks him with a cheap shot, inadvertently sending him over a balcony and landing on the stairs which renders him unconscious. Horrified at what he has done, Robby runs away while Sam, Hawk and a cop go to an unconscious Miguel.

At the hospital, Sam has serious injuries and is devastated over what happened. Daniel promises to make Cobra Kai pay for what happened as Tory started the fight, but with their daughter having been badly hurt, Amanda demands that Daniel gives up karate and Miyagi-Do. Daniel reluctantly agrees and Amanda is determined to ensure Tory is expelled from West Valley High School for good. Meanwhile, Carmen blames Johnny and tells him she never wants to see him again, and Johnny naturally also blames himself, as do many of the remaining members of Cobra Kai. If Miguel had not shown mercy, he would not be lying unconscious in a hospital bed. However, this would lead to Johnny's son, Robby, being in Miguel's shoes with a broken arm. When Johnny returns to the dojo and finds several of his students which include Hawk, Tory, Stingray and Mitch being taught by Kreese. Not knowing what's happening, Johnny asks what he is doing. Kreese reveals that he has worked out a deal with the landlord and renewed the building's lease in his name when Johnny was away, as Johnny had only been on a series of handshake deals. Johnny gets upset with the students, but Hawk openly blames Johnny that Miguel is in the hospital because of him, he showed mercy to the enemy because of him; and if Miguel dies, that's on him. Kreese then explains that because he founded Cobra Kai, it belongs to him and it always has, and it always will. Kreese also explains that he will never let his students lose even if they have to learn it the hard way. Kreese also says that one of these days, Johnny will thank him for this. Johnny then realizes that reopening Cobra Kai was nothing more than a massive mistake. Johnny then bitterly says to his former sensei that if he wants Cobra Kai, he can have it since Johnny's efforts have obviously caused more harm than good. Johnny then leaves in anger as Kreese continues to train the students. As Daniel disassembles his dojo and apologizes to his picture of his lifelong mentor for his failure, Johnny gets drunk on the beach & throws his car keys into his car. He gets mad and throws his smartphone onto the beach (the screen later lighting up to reveal Ali has sent him a friend request) and disappears into the night.

Trivia/Episode Discussion[]

  • A fight breaks out between the students of Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do resulting in an all-out war as predicted by John Kreese.
  • Tory attempts to maul Samantha using her spiked bracelet as a knuckle duster.
  • The episode title is named after the final motto of Cobra Kai dojo "No Mercy".
    • The line is said when Tory tries to kill Sam using her spiked bracelet.
  • Robby's fate after critically injuring Miguel was not addressed. He was last seen running off after the fact.
  • The episode ends with a cliffhanger, as Johnny receives a Facebook friend request from Ali Mills Schwarber, which he did not notice, strongly hinting Ali returning to his life after it was foreshadowed in previous episodes.
  • It is clear that Sam has feelings for Miguel, since it is evident she still cares about him (and loves him) as she tearfully says she hopes Miguel is okay.
  • This is Aisha Robinson's and Stingray's final regular appearances, as they had not returned for Season 3. However, Aisha made a cameo in Season 4, and Stingray also appears.
  • When Daniel and Johnny are fighting archive footage of the 1984 all valley tournament also appears, showing the two fights similar, but with an age difference and location difference.
  • While at school, Sam is seen looking at The Outsiders, a novel by S.E. Hinton. The novel was adapted into a film in 1983 and starred Ralph Macchio as the character "Johnny Cade". The role served as Macchio's breakout role before his casting as Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid.
  • The fights at the school are based on the threat level they possess Tory and Samantha's threat level is the second highest while Miguel and Robby's threat level are the highest which makes them the final people to battle.
  • Doug would've gotten expelled for assaulting the teacher.
  • This is the final episode where Anthony has a chubby appearance, as he will be more slim in seasons 3 and 4.
  • There's another Netflix show that has a main character go into the hospital during a season finale: Stranger Things. While Miguel did it for the season 2 finale for this show, Max did it for the season 4 finale of Stranger Things.
           Cobrakai

Season I
Ace Degenerate | Strike First | Esqueleto | Cobra Kai Never Dies | Counterbalance | Quiver | All Valley | Molting | Different but Same | Mercy

Season II
Mercy Part II | Back in Black | Fire and Ice | The Moment of Truth | All In | Take a Right | Lull | Glory of Love | Pulpo | No Mercy

Season III
Aftermath | Nature Vs. Nurture | Now You're Gonna Pay | The Right Path | Miyagi-Do | King Cobra | Obstáculos | The Good, The Bad, and The Badass | Feel The Night | December 19

Season IV
Let's Begin | First Learn Stand | Then Learn Fly | Bicephaly | Match Point | Kicks Get Chicks | Minefields | Party Time | The Fall | The Rise

Season V
Long, Long Way From Home | Molé | Playing With Fire | Downward Spiral | Extreme Measures | Ouroboros | Bad Eggs | Taikai | Survivors | Head of the Snake

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