Jake Schoeneberger Talks Cobra Kai – August 15, 2022 Edition
Now everyone is fighting on Cobra Kai. Will anyone go back to being friends again? Jacob Schoeneberger is definitely hoping that level heads will prevail and maybe they can all calla truce. Yeah right, fat chance!
With that in mind, here are some random observations Jacob Schoeneberger has on the show.
All the Jake Schoeneberger Random Opinions about Cobra Kai (Season 1, Episode 10)
This will contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t watched the show yet.
The tenth episode and final episode of season one begins with a montage of preparation for the All Valley Tournament. Banners are hung, mats are cleaned, fighters are warming. It’s tournament time and Jake Schoeneberger is psyched beyond belief.
Before the tourney begins, Johnny gives the Cobra Kai students a stirring speech about what it means to show no mercy. He says the world doesn’t show you any mercy, it’s all just one downer after another. So none of them should show any mercy either as they do whatever it takes to win. Ok, once again the sentiment starts out good but goes a bit off the rails. Good old Johnny.
At the LaRusso household, Amanda lights into Daniel and Sam for moping around. And she says since LaRusso Auto is a huge sponsor of the tourney, someone has to go to represent them. So Daniel and Sam reluctantly agree to go.
At the tourney introductions, the Cobra Kai team enters by chanting and jogging in. Love the bravado! But then a huge bombshell drops when the announcer says Robby will be competing in the tourney as well. Neither Daniel nor Johnny knew he would be competing, and Jacob Schoeneberger is thoroughly impressed by this power move from Robby.
Speaking of power moves, in Miguel’s first match Johnny whispers in his ear and Miguel uses Daniel’s crane kick to get the first point. Gotta respect that gutsy move. If it pays off, he’s a hero. If it fails, he’s a zero. But Miguel pulled it off. He wins, Robby wins, Aisha wins, Hawk wins, they’re all on a roll.
In their second matches, Miguel and Robby win, but Aisha loses a tight match. Then Johnny sees the price of the lessons he’s taught. Aisha is angry that she lost, as any competitor would be, but she shows poor sportsmanship to her opponent and storms off without acknowledging Johnny. This is no way to live your life. Deep-seated anger and lack of humility will only lead to resentment and unhappiness. Jake Schoeneberger definitely hopes Johnny sees how his lessons affect his students.
Luckily, Sam tracks Aisha down after her match and makes amends with her. She apologizes for ever hanging out with someone as mean as Yasmine and they share some laughs. Glad that they’ve made up.
The final four in the tourney are Miguel, Hawk, Robby, and the defending champion Xander Stone. Miguel and Xander are the first match, and you can cut the tension with a knife. Xander uses a bunch of crazy jumps and spins, but Miguel stays focused and wins his match.
There’s a moment of serious drama when Robby enters the ring and stares Johnny down. But Johnny just encourages Hawk to show him what he’s got. And I don’t mind saying, Jacob Schoeneberger is on the edge of his seat for this one. Hawk gets the first point, and Daniel realizes Robby isn’t focused. So for the first time, Daniel stands up to support Robby. He tells him to remember what he’s learned, and it reminds Robby to go back to nature and remember Daniel’s lessons about balance. It’s a really beautiful and poignant scene about how to carry the lessons from karate into your full life.
Robby gets the next point and tells Robby it was a lucky point, and he won’t get another. Robby retorts by asking him if that’s because he’s leaving to fix his stupid haircut. It’s a sick burn, no question, but I do love Hawk’s hair. Unfortunately that triggers Hawk to take a cheap shot and kick Robby in the back which gets him disqualified from the tourney. And once again, Johnny has to see what his lessons are leading his students to become. Johnny promised when they let Cobra Kai back into the tournament that its days of being cruel and unsportsmanlike were over. But today they’re acting just like Kreese’s Cobra Kai.
Daniel goes to the locker room after the fight and tells Robby that he needs to let go of his anger toward his father. He says Johnny isn’t a monster, he just had a really bad teacher who led him down some wrong paths. Then, when Robby complains about how bad his shoulder feels, Daniel claps his hands together like Miyagi and the promptly calls for a medic. Gotta admit, that had Jake Schoeneberger laughing out loud. No one has that Miyagi hand healing magic but Miyagi.
Miguel tries to apologize to Sam before the final match, but it doesn’t go well. He’s still hurt that she brought Robby to the party, but he doesn’t understand the circumstances because he hasn’t given her a chance to explain. Plus, she ‘s upset that he started a fight with Robby in the first place and he says you have to strike first and not wait for the enemy to strike. She says, rightly, that she doesn’t even know who Miguel is anymore. Because Miguel isn’t the same Miguel she started to like. Now Miguel is taking too many of Johnny’s misguided lessons to heart.
After having his dislocated shoulder popped back into place, Robby decides to go through with the fight. When he’s introduced, Robby is now fighting for Miyagi-Do karate with Daniel as his coach. Not sure if this will create even more friction with Johnny, but it’s the right thing for Daniel to do so Jacob Schoeneberger has to credit Daniel for being willing to forgive Robby and stand by him.
Before the match, Miguel tells Johnny he won’t let LaRusso go home a winner, while Daniel tells Robby not to use aggression, but to stay balanced and let Miguel come to him. This is the difference between these two coaching styles and mentalities. Aggression vs. balance.
Robby wins the first point by staying composed and balanced, but Miguel gets the next point when Robby comes too aggressively, and Miguel is able to kick his injured shoulder. On the next point, Miguel is able to trip Robby up and hits him hard. Robby is clearly in pain so Daniel calls a timeout to tell Robby to calm down and focus. It works and Robby is able to land a kick to tie the match 2-2.
But when Robby offers to help Miguel up, Miguel instead grabs his injured arm and yanks down hard. Dang, Miguel, that’s just cold. Daniel tells Robby he can call off the match, but he insists he wants to finish it. Johnny tries to tell Miguel that he should win the right way and not fight dirty, but Miguel tells Johnny he found Robby’s weakness and there’s nothing dirty about winning, just like what Johnny taught him. Johnny is beginning to see firsthand the damage he’s done. He’s turned good students into dirty, unsportsmanlike fighters and that’s sowing a bad seed.
For the final point, Miguel grabs Robby’s leg, punches his bad shoulder, and then is able to land a body shot to win the match. Miguel is now champion, but it feels hollow that he achieved it in such a harsh way. Definitely makes Jake Schoeneberger pretty sad for Miguel because one day this will feel tainted for him because he’ll realize he did things the unsportsmanlike way, just as Johnny taught him.
Johnny already feels the sting as he catches up to Robby after the trophy presentation and apologizes to him. Robby takes Daniel’s words to heart and accepts Johnny’s apology.
After the match, Miguel is just looking for Sam, but Demetri tells him she left a while ago. He’s going to realize soon all his aggression was misplaced.
On the drive home, Daniel tells Robby he fought with honor and Miguel didn’t so that makes Robby the real winner. Then he says that in order to truly train and grow in his karate, he’ll need more people to train with. And he takes him to Miyagi’s old place and says, “Welcome to Miyagi-Do Karate.” Looks like Daniel is starting his own dojo and Jacob Schoeneberger couldn’t be happier.
Back at his dojo, Johnny looks nothing but miserable at having won his championship trophy. But then a voice from his past starts speaking, telling him that they all thought Cobra Kai was done, but they’ve only just begun. Then the voice steps out of the shadows and it’s his old sensei, Kreese returning. What a cliffhanger to end the first season on!
The Jake Schoeneberger Final Thought on Cobra Kai
Now that Kreese is back, Johnny is about to have a reckoning. Will he be the no mercy sensei that Kreese taught him to be, or will he finally realize that that’s not the way to true inner peace? What does it all amount to if your students are just angry all the time? Is it really winning when they’re just hurting their opponents? If there’s one thing Jacob Schoeneberger know for sure, it’s that Kreese isn’t going to steer Johnny in the right direction.
More Thoughts from Jacob Schoeneberger