‘Cobra Kai’ Episode 3 Recap: Kicks Get Chicks

It’s appropriate that Cobra Kai‘s third episode, “Esqueleto,” was Halloween-themed because boy did it have me scared there for a while. (Flawless intro joke.)

But honestly, for a good portion of this episode’s slim 22-minute runtime I was worried, worried that after two episodes of Johnny Lawrence slowly but surely coming to grips with his dickish past that Cobra Kai might instead be positing that a borderline abusive karate dojo might be a Good Thing, Actually. That tying a kid’s hands together and kicking him into a pool is worth it if the kid’s self-confidence slightly improves.

But then we get to episode director’s Jennifer Celotta perfect final shot that puts Johnny front and center as he looks down at Miguel, who just suffered a surprisingly brutal lacrosse stick beat down. William Zabka has been nailing this Johnny Lawrence who is realizing he doesn’t have to be an asshole 100% of the day with small looks and subtle pauses, but this is his best work. It’s Johnny seeing a kid with a lot of anger just looking for an excuse to lash out and knowing that’s his fault. He’s also looking at himself, and that’s his fault, too. It’s a grown-ass man learning all at once after 30 years that having the confidence to strike first doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have the awareness to maybe not strike at all.

To be fair, Johnny spends most of “Esqueleto” having his self-confidence zipped into a bodybag. Again, Zabka is very good at playing someone desperately trying to be as cool as he used to be. Dude is on “dad going solo to a Poison reunion” levels right now. “No shit, kicking is badass,” Johnny says to Miguel, sounding earnest on every level. This poor bastard throws on a denim vest and headband combo out of the earliest possible Street Fighter and tells a pair of guys, “Want to score those hot babes? Try karate.” He calls a website a “rad internet site.” It is wonderful, and it is sad.

But it’s also all oddly sweet when tempered by the presence of Miguel, who Johnny is clearly coming to care for whether he wants to or not. (The small smile on Zabka’s face over Miguel’s enthusiasm for a Cobra Kai webpage is aces.) Cobra Kai, so far, has hinged far more on the relationship between Johnny and Miguel than the old rivalry from the past and that works for me. There’s far more heart there. It’s a 180 on the Miyago-LaRusso relationship, where the student is teaching the master to chill the fuck out without him even realizing it. I am fully onboard the next generation of Cobra Kai students—the dojo does need income, as evidenced by roughly a dozen shots of “past due” notices—being a band of social outcasts. Especially if it includes Miguel’s newfound friends Demetri (Gianni Decenzo) and Eli (Jacob Bertrand), because they are both gems. Hell, get Samantha’s former friend Aisha (Nichole Brown) in there, because I desperately want to see that girl back elbow someone in a Lakers costume.

Danny’s story here is a lot harder to love. Most of that is on the script from Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, which forces a lot of comedy about Danny stopping his daughter from having sex awkwardly toward a punchline that doesn’t really make sense. (Whose reaction to a bracelet is, “it’s so hard”?) After three episodes, it’s still unclear if Danny is supposed to be coming across as unhinged as he is. That man is deeply traumatized by what happened to him in The Karate Kid, apparently more so than Johnny Lawrence. Danny can’t see a skeleton costume at a high school Halloween dance without having Apocalypse Now flashbacks.

To be fair, it’s not clear whether Danny himself knows how he’s supposed to be acting. “I just don’t know why you’d ever want to bring back Cobra Kai after what your sensei did to you,” he tells Johnny in a high school highway.

“Because I’m not Kreese,” Johnny responds. Which is… somewhat fair. But Danny is no Miyagi, either. Not yet.

Vinnie Mancuso writes about TV for a living, somehow, for Decider, The A.V. Club, Collider, and the Observer. You can also find his pop culture opinions on Twitter (@VinnieMancuso1) or being shouted out a Jersey City window between 4 and 6 a.m.

Watch Cobra Kai Episode 3 ("Esqueleto") on YouTube Red