- "The deal was my way or the highway."
- ―Mike Barnes
"Underdogs" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of Cobra Kai.
Synopsis[]
Daniel and Johnny invite a new sensei to evaluate their students. Friends become foes as the competition heats up for a spot in the Sekai Taikai.
Plot[]
While training in Miyagi-Do, Daniel and Johnny tell them that because the Sekai Taikai is upon them, they will undergo intense evaluations to try to select their six students. Daniel adds that despite the selection, they are still one dojo and that they need to bring out the best.
At West Valley High School, Miguel, Robby, Sam and Tory talk about the tournament and Robby explains that they have champions and runner ups who have a guaranteed selection. Eli and Demetri talk about last spot and that they think Kenny should have the last spot. Anthony, Devon and Kenny vent that they want to go to Barcelona and that Kenny says that he can't get his hopes up.
At LaRusso auto, Daniel and Johnny talk about their students and who will they be sending. Daniel picks the obvious choices in Sam, Miguel, Robby and Hawk and Johnny agrees. When he sees Demetri and Anthony, he is surprised with the selections. Johnny considers sending Devon and Tory but Daniel is iffy due to the Devon being fresh to karate and he’s concerned if Tory’s committing Miyagi-Do. Because the process is tough, Daniel resorts to contacting someone to help them and it won't be a good idea.
The person he reveals is one of his former rivals, Mike Barnes. Mike tells the students about the Sekai Taikai and that he will explain the intense training process and that he will be selecting the six students. Mike then talks to Daniel about their last encounter at the dojo and is happy to be back. During the first phase of the training, Mike tells them they have to have speed, endurance, strength and teamwork to survive the first round. After, he picks twelve people to advance to the next phase. He picks the obvious choices in Hawk, Robby, Miguel, Sam and Tory. The other seven he picks are Mitch, Kenny, Chris, Nate, Demetri, Anthony and Devon. At night, everyone is training where Yasmine arrives and makes out with Demetri.
Hawk admits that he never applied to MIT and explains that he never looked into other schools. When Mike arrives, he has them do a battle royale where each of the twelve students need to steal each other's flags. During the session, Kenny hits Anthony hard and causes his nose to bleed. After the challenge, Tory, Miguel, Robby and Sam are chosen to go to Barcelona. However, the next four students are tied and Mike will re-evaluate the scores. Daniel tries to cheer up Anthony but to no avail.
Johnny goes to Mike's shop and tries to apologize. However, Mike sees it as Johnny trying to follow up about Devon and Mike explains that she is in the bottom. He insults Miyagi-Do and the two fight. After Mike tells Johnny that his karate is a joke, the same insult he used on Daniel, Johnny knocks him out. Mike then admits that going back to karate helped him get back on track.
Miyagi-Do goes a forest for the last phase. Mike explains that it was hard to choose the last people so he decides to host a tiebreaker. The four people that are tied are Devon, Hawk, Kenny and Demetri. He adds that there are two flags and the final four have to race to retrieve the flags and if whoever reaches the flag first and races back will win. However if two reach the flag at the same time, they have to fight for it. Hawk admits to Demetri that he never applied and that he wanted to keep his options up. He also adds that Demetri has been annoying about MIT and that the fraternity party helped him get back on track. The final four race and Mike apologizes to Daniel about how he's been acting and mentions his fight with Johnny. Mitch also notices that his laxatives were missing. While Devon and Kenny are racing, Kenny gets constipated and has to run to the bathroom. Devon runs back with the yellow flag while the binary brothers fight for the red flag. Demetri returns with red flag and wins, causing him and Devon to earn the final two spots in the Sekai Taikai. Kenny thinks Anthony put laxatives in his bottle but he never snitched because Daniel won't believe him. However, Devon had Mitch's laxatives and throws it away to hide the evidence. Daniel and Johnny talk to each other that they have no idea what they're facing despite having a strong team.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso
- William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence
- Courtney Henggeler as Amanda LaRusso (credit only)
- Xolo Maridueña as Miguel Diaz
- Tanner Buchanan as Robby Keene
- Mary Mouser as Samantha LaRusso
- Peyton List as Tory Nichols
- Jacob Bertrand as Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz
- Gianni Decenzo as Demetri Alexopoulos
- Dallas Dupree Young as Kenny Payne
- Vanessa Rubio as Carmen Diaz (credit only)
- Martin Kove as John Kreese (credit only)
Guest Starring[]
- Griffin Santopietro as Anthony LaRusso
- Oona O'Brien as Devon Lee
- Aedin Mincks as Mitch
- Khalil Everage as Chris
- Owen Morgan as Bert
- Nathaniel Oh as Nathaniel
- Annalisa Cochrane as Yasmine
- Sean Kanan as Mike Barnes
Trivia[]
- Mike Barnes returns to Miyagi-Do since The Karate Kid Part III.
- Another callback to The Karate Kid Part III was where Mike told Johnny that his karate is a joke.
- Mike calling Johnny a creampuff is a callback to The Karate Kid.
- At one point during their fight, Demetri puts Hawk in an armbar similar to the one Hawk used on him in the season 3 episode Miyagi-Do; Demetri even makes a quip about how good it feels to be the one issuing the armbar this time (which also possibly causes Hawk to realize how Demetri felt when Hawk was pressured by the other Cobras into breaking his arm during the fight in the laser tag room at Golf N Stuff).
- This is the first episode to involve bodily functions — in this case, farting.
- Another show to have shown this kind of thing was The Thundermans: burping in one episode and farting in another.
- This is the first appearance of Yasmine in season 6.
- Towards the end of the episode, it's revealed that Devon rigged Kenny's water by filling it with laxatives in order to win one of the last two spots for the Saikai Taikai.
- Another show that involved a character rigging another character's drink happened in the Heartland episode Blowing Smoke, where Jeremy rigged Amy's juice with Vodka in order to make her sell Phoenix to him for the jumping season.
Gallery[]
