- "Okay, listen up! I screwed up. And I'm sorry. I made it about me. And that's not what a sensei does. I took the easy way out. I gave up. What happened here at this school... it rocked me to my core. I couldn't look myself in the eye, let alone face all of you."
- ―Johnny Lawrence[src]
"Obstáculos" is the seventh episode of the third season of Cobra Kai.
Summary[]
Daniel spends some father-daughter time with a traumatized Sam. Johnny plans to form a new karate dojo but struggles to come up with a cool name.
Plot[]
In the beginning, Sam was doing karate in Miyagi-Do, until she realizes that Tory was at the back door. Both of them had a fight until Tory puts Sam's face in the pond, attempting to drown her. She woke up in shock until she realizes it's just a nightmare in her sleep. Miguel’s physical therapy is going better. He's walking with crutches and then unassisted; he and Johnny bin the crutches, along with the wheelchair. Back at Johnny's apartment, he's waiting for Ali's reply while Miguel tries to name their new dojo. Johnny asks Miguel of how long Facebook messages to be delivered. He said that it's instantaneous. The both of them tried to think of a badass name since Cobra Kai is a badass name. Miguel said that he's going back to school so that they can recruit students to join Johnny's new dojo. He returns to applause but his mood is soured somewhat when he runs into Demetri and finds out about his arm.
With the rivalry between dojos intensifying and the obvious fact that Kreese isn’t going anywhere, Amanda and Daniel both decide to reopen Miyagi-Do, but it’s an off-putting idea to Sam, who Daniel has to talk around to his point of view. She said that she quits karate ever since the arcade fight and the nightmare she had against Tory. At the same time, Johnny goes around looking for space to run the new dojo, but after a string of credit hiccups and viewings of overpriced garbage, he eventually settles on the public park.
As a bonding exercise, Daniel and Sam go fishing, though she’s wary about him trying to secretly trick her into doing karate. He pushes her to be honest and she confesses to freezing and being unable to help Demetri. She’s having panic attacks and doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to defend herself again. This is a problem since at school, Hawk has comfortably settled into the bully role, even being pally with Kyler, who vandalizes Demetri's cast. Miguel rightly confronts and shames him about his behavior, which is another step on Hawk’s road to redemption.
Concerned about how the recruitment drive is going, Johnny enters the high school and gives Hawk and the rest of the Cobra Kais an earnest speech about screwing up. He gives a good pitch, even shutting down Hawk’s bravado (which also becomes another step for Hawk's redemption), but will anyone be keen to join his new ranks? At least kindness is beginning to creep into the school. Yasmine counter-graffitis Demetri’s cast, giving him a boost. Meanwhile, Daniel and Sam stop on the way home at the All Valley Karate Tournament location, where Daniel shares with Sam his traumatic experience in the final match of 1985 All Valley Tournament of where Daniel was on the brink of losing to his fear, but Mr. Miyagi's advice helped him overcome his fear and win the fight (While Daniel is telling the story, flashbacks of Mike Barnes fighting and verbally abusing Daniel, as well as Mr. Miyagi giving Daniel hope in The Karate Kid Part III, are shown). Sam is impacted by the story and Daniel’s advice. When they later train, it becomes apparent that the fishing trip was secret karate after all.
At least Johnny gets some willing participants in what he has dubbed Eagle Fang Karate, despite the fact that eagles don’t have fangs. But his first lesson is ruined somewhat by the arrival of Hawk, Tory, Kyler, Kreese, and the rest of Cobra Kai. Kreese has an offer for Johnny, which he refuses. Apparently, Kreese says that he’ll regret it.
Transcript[]
Obstáculos/Transcript
Trivia/Episode Discussion[]
- This episode marks the establishment of Johnny Lawrence's new dojo Eagle Fang Karate, now expanding the number of dojos to four in the series (Incuding Topanga Karate).
- "Obstáculos" means "Obstacles" in Spanish.
- The episode's title could also allude to the different obstacles the character's face in the series.
- Sam continues to be haunted by Tory in her mind, but is trained by Daniel to face her fear.
- Miguel Diaz finally is able to walk again after facing tough, physical training under Johnny Lawrence through wheelchairs and crutches.
- Bullying still continues at West Valley High School when Demetri is bullied by Kyler.
- Miguel returns to West Valley High School for the first time since his injury.
- Kyler wears a Cobra Kai T-shirt when making fun of Demetri in high school.
- This is the second consecutive episode in a row in which Robby (Tanner Buchanan) does not appear.
- This is the second time Mike Barnes is shown in Cobra Kai, but like last time, he only appears in a flashback.
- While Mike is not mentioned by name, Daniel does reference Mike, when telling Sam about how physically and verbally abusive he was, as well as how he (Daniel) feared Mike.
- This is the first time that Miguel and Yasmine interact with each other.
- Tory is only shown in Sam's nightmare and just as a silent background character accompanying Kreese as he tries to force Johnny to rejoin Cobra Kai.
- During Sam's nightmare sequence, when she is drowned by Tory in a koi pond, the drowning sequence where the camera shows Sam's face as she is drowned wasn't filmed on the pond itself. Instead, the film crew used a clear box loaded with water, with a camera underneath to make it look like it was filmed underwater even though it wasn't.
- Sam's nightmare which involves her being drowned by Tory is mostly a representation of fear, as she refused to fight her during the arcade fight due to having PTSD of her previous encounter at the school fight.