Pulpo

"Pulpo"
Season 2, Episode 9
Air date	April 24, 2019
Written by	Josh Heald Hayden Schlossberg Jon Hurwitz
Directed by	Jon Hurwitz Hayden Schlossberg
Episode Guide
← Previous	"Glory of Love"
Next →	"No Mercy"

"I want Cobra Kai to be better."

―Johnny Lawrence to Daniel LaRusso

"Pulpo"is the ninth episode of the second season of Cobra Kai.

Summary

Johnny cautiously takes a stab at love, while Daniel and Amanda enjoy a romantic date night. An attempt to bring the students of the two dojos together backfires as hostilities between the teens escalate.

Plot

The penultimate episode of Cobra Kai (Season 2) opens with training scenes of Tory and Miguel at Cobra Kai contrasting with Sam and Robby at Miyagi-Do. Robby’s mom Shannon turns up at the LaRusso house with good news: she’s going to rehab. Meanwhile, Johnny finally asks Carmen out and she accepts. After the events of the previous episode, Amanda agrees to go with Daniel for a date night to patch things up. Johnny takes Carmen to a Mexican restaurant, but when they walk in, they find that Daniel has taken Amanda to the same restaurant, and furthermore, their tables are close together.

Despite it being tremendously heated and awkward at first, Carmen proposes to push the two tables together, and though both Daniel and Johnny object, Amanda agrees. After some initial hostility, the two couples quickly start to warm up to each other and begin having a good time. At one point, Carmen and Amanda go to use the restroom, and Johnny and Daniel talk a bit, where they clear the air about the trashing of Miyagi-Do. Johnny tells Daniel he kicked Kreese out of Cobra Kai, and that he was trying to change his karate teachings for the better. When Carmen and Amanda return, Carmen mentions that Robby will be attending West Valley High School, and a surprised Johnny asks why. Daniel explains the LaRusso family rule: if Robby stays with them, he must attend school which means that Amanda and Daniel enrolled Robby at West Valley High School. Johnny, while disapproving Robby staying with Daniel and his family, states that Robby attending West Valley High School was good, and that Robby never should have dropped out, implying that he was grateful to them. Johnny and Daniel start sharing old stories and laugh the whole time. The two couples then do some salsa dancing and Carmen teaches Johnny how to dance.

Robby and Sam’s evening doesn't go as well, since they are at a party organized by Hawk’s ex-girlfriend Moon. As a result it has the entirety of both the Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai dojos in attendance. Sam gets into a drinking contest with Tory; while Hawk, a bit put out by the fact his ex now has a girlfriend, rejects Demetri’s attempts to make amends. This, in turn, prompts Demetri to take the stage and antagonize Hawk by revealing deeply personal information about him. This almost turns ugly as the Miyagi-Dos and Cobra Kais were about to fight, but the police arrive in the nick of time and clear the place out.

However, more problems emerge. Aisha tells Sam that Robby lied about the Medal of Honor, but despite Sam being inebriated, she passionately kisses Miguel, which Tory witnesses and this causes her to leave the party. Concerned of going home, Sam and Robby head to the only place where they will not be judged for being so irresponsible: Johnny’s apartment.

Trivia

• Daniel and Johnny talk about an incident involving pie at school, this is a scene from the original Karate Kid script which never made it to the final edit of the movie.
• This is the first time Carmen meets Daniel and Amanda.
• Pulpo means Octopus in Spanish. The title has a double meaning, as per the usual for most Cobra Kai episodes.
  • Octopus is what Carmen orders at the restaurant on her date with Johnny in this episode.
    • An octopus is also the stuffed animal that Sam got on her first date with Miguel in the previous season. Sam is shown picking up the animal in this episode and thinking about Miguel, which hints that she still loves Miguel.
    • A detail some Cobra Kai fans have failed to spot is that there was someone recording Miguel and Sam's moment in this episode.
    • Sam's conversation with Moon before the party implies that she never got over Miguel. Her kiss with Miguel implies that she has always been loyal to Miguel, when some fans have believed this was untrue.
    • Sam and Miguel's kiss was referenced in "Aftermath" when a woman shouted that Sam was "tramping around with the other girl's boyfriend".
    • Carmen's line "I'm sorry to hear [Miguel and Sam] broke up", is considered to be ironic because Miguel and Sam shared a romantic moment in this episode (their kiss at the party).