- "Cobra Kai is not a hobby. It's not a club. Cobra Kai is your brothers... and your sisters. You are all Cobra Kai for life because Cobra Kai... never dies."
- ―John Kreese[src]
Take a Right is the sixth episode of the Season 2 of Cobra Kai.
Summary[]
Daniel’s students are given a lesson in overcoming their grudges. Johnny briefly leaves the dojo, while Kreese exerts his influence. Meanwhile, Johnny spends some time with his high school friends, including a dying Tommy.
Plot[]
After the events of the previous episode, the Miyagi-Do dojo is a total disaster. Luckily, Daniel’s students are on the case, including some new hires from the Cobra Kai Dojo, which causes friction. Demetri is especially annoyed at the idea of letting the kids who jumped him train there; he resorts to another Game of Thrones analogy (“it’s like letting the Wildlings beyond the Wall!”) and is once again thwarted by Daniel's superior knowledge of Westeros. When Demetri confronts former Cobra Kai Chris and a fight nearly breaks out, Daniel tries to establish peace by stating that he had once been in Cobra Kai and told the story of training with Terry Silver in 1985--a story he was not proud of but told to remind his students that even former Cobra Kais are welcome into Miyagi-Do.
The remaining Cobra Kai students, meanwhile, are forced to do constant exercises in the hopes that they will give up the identity of the vandal. Eli wants to admit his guilt to Johnny, but Kreese keeps him quiet, later insisting that they are all responsible, they are all Cobra Kai. Johnny, unfortunately, does not have time to stick around for the investigation. He receives a call from an old buddy letting him know that one of their friends is terminally ill; it's Tommy, and the rest of the original Cobra Kai members have gathered around to say their farewells.
While Kreese is busy running Cobra Kai and insisting that the students are about to begin their “real training”, Johnny, Tommy, Bobby and Jimmy head out on one last road trip. They stop at a bar, where they remember the night they got drunk and Dutch smashed a dart board. Johnny also sadly remembers the aftermath caused him forget Ali's birthday which resulted in her dumping him. Tommy, being supportive and a friend, tells Johnny it was her loss. Visibly Johnny doesn't agree with this as he had already learned previously that Ali became a successful doctor and married another doctor and did very well for herself. Johnny then tells the other 1984 Cobras about resurrecting Cobra Kai, and how he gave Kreese a chance at redemption. This prompts Johnny's old buddies, especially Bobby and Jimmy (who vocally express their indigence towards Cobra Kai ([owing their own experience with it), think he's naive letting Kreese back into his life, and they don't believe that everyone is capable of change; least of all Kreese. While this is similar to Johnny's arguments over the matter but with his actual friends. However from Johnny's side, as his friends had loving families, Kreese was the closest thing Johnny had to a father. But the most prescient conversation is about time; for all the mistakes Johnny has made, he still has the time to atone for them. Some other people aren't so lucky, like old Kreese. Johnny and his old friends then head to the pool table to play, but trouble soon arises, when they witness a troublemaker wreaking havoc (including making unwanted sexual advances towards the unnamed woman). They are about to play pool (and maybe intervene), when the troublemaker notices them and sees Tommy, and insults the latter for his ill condition (calling Tommy an ugly make-a-wish kid). After that, the troublemaker is attempts to attack, but Johnny grabs the latter's arm [possibly snapping it], and snatches his large ear gauge from his stretched earlobe which causes his earlobe to bleed as Johnny detached the earlobe while removing his earring, before kicking him to the ground. The troublemaker’s goons then attack Johnny and his friends, only to be fended off by the once 1984 karate champs, who use the karate they learned 34 years ago. After that they go camping on a mountain, where they talk about high school and make confessions. The next morning, Johnny and the boys wake up to find out Tommy died in his sleep, saddening them.
Kreese, meanwhile, has taken to teaching the dojo in his own way, and tells Miguel that they will put Johnny "back on track".
Quotes[]
- "I don't know. Right now all I wanna do is make sure my students don't make the same mistakes that we did. I don't want 'em to look back at their life full of regret."
- ―Johnny Lawrence
- "Cobra Kai sells power, strength, and when I joined I was, well, I was weak. It was 1985, I had just won my first All-Valley, and, Mr. Miyagi didn't want me to compete anymore. He never really liked the idea of fighting for trophies in the first place. So, you know, I-we got into this big argument, and what did I do? I joined Cobra Kai. I learned to strike first, strike hard, show no mercy, and it turned me into an angry and violent kid. It changed me. (...) It's not something I'm proud of, Sam. And my point is anyone can be seduced by Cobra Kai, even me. And I'll admit Cobra Kai makes you feel stronger, tougher, but it will also get you in trouble. And that's what happened to me. I'm just lucky Mr Miyagi was willing to take me back. So remember, it doesn't matter who anyone was before they stepped into this dojo. All that matters is that right now, today, we are all Miyagi-Do."
- ―Daniel LaRusso
- "John Kreese is bad news. All that crap we dealt with after high school, taking that "no mercy" bullshit out into the world."
- ―Bobby Brown
- "You know Kreese. He's always got something up his sleeve!"
- ―Bobby Brown
Trivia/Episode Discussion[]
- The episode is named from a scene in “Karate Kid”, when the Cobra Kai gang rides their bikes at the beach and Tommy tells Johnny "Take a right! Check it out!" indicating that Ali and Daniel were together at a campfire.
- This episode marks the first time Mr. Miyagi appears in a new scene in the series, an uncredited actor doubles for Pat Morita.
- This episode marks the return of old Cobra Kai members Bobby Brown, Tommy and Jimmy. Also this marks the death of Tommy.
- Tommy also literally gets placed in a body bag. This is a cheeky gag that references Tommy's most famous line: "Get him a body bag!... Yeah!"
- This is the first episode of Cobra Kai to show a death of a character, the next occurrence is in Best of the Best. It is also the second on screen death in the franchise overall.
- On September 27th, 2019, about 5 months and 2 days after this episode aired, Tommy's actor, Rob Garrison, died in real life from liver failure..
- Both Terry Silver & Jessica Andrews are seen in flashbacks as Daniel talks about when he was forced to join Cobra Kai due to Mike Barnes pressuring him to enter the All Valley Karate Tournament.
- At the end, the song The Show Must Go On by Queen is played when the boys wake up finding out that Tommy died.
- Tommy asks Johnny "Who beat me in the finals?" insinuating that he was the runner-up in 1983 after beating Vidal. However, in the original movie, it was said that Bobby Brown was last year's runner-up
- When Daniel is trying to un-brainwash the new students, Robby tells Sam "you can't change how you feel." After Robby says this, Sam is tilting her head down, most likely contemplating Miguel, whom she has feelings for.
- When the old Cobra Kai gang were together at the bar, Bobby mentions the "no mercy" stuff taking place after high school. They were all still in high school when Kreese snapped after the All Valley Karate Tournament in the first movie, and all left the dojo afterwards. Bobby would've likely been the first to leave (as he always had drawn a line as to how far he would go, unlike the others), followed by the rest. However, the events of the first movie took place during the gang's senior year of high school. The tournament was in December, which gave them roughly six months before they would finish the school year, graduate, and go into the world. They would still likely have the 'no mercy' mindset that soon after quitting Cobra Kai, so it would be a difficult transition for them. Jimmy even mentions that Johnny got the worst of it, and it's revealed that Dutch was doing time at prison. This all stems from the Cobra Kai mentality, so Bobby's comments make sense.
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