The first season of Cobra Kai was awesome. New characters to root for, the same old rivalry between Daniel and Johnny, beloved characters learning new lessons. Who could ask for more? It’s everything Jacob Schoeneberger dreamed it could be!
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 2, Episode 1)
This will contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t watched the show yet.
The first episode of season two begins right where the first season left off. Kreese is back in the Cobra Kai dojo, but Johnny isn’t happy to see him. Johnny even throws a punch at him, but Kreese blocks it and throws Johnny to the ground. But from the ground, Johnny gets a sweet Miguel-esque kick in and knocks the cigar from Kreese’s mouth into a trash can. Oh no, Jake Schoeneberger doesn’t like the looks of that. If G.I. Joe taught us anything, it’s not to play with fire. So now you know, and knowing…
They continue fighting (while the fire smolders in the trash) and Kreese is beating up on Johnny pretty hard. But then Johnny gets mad and is able to get Kreese in a choke hold. He relives the moment when Kreese choked him in his memory and comes to his senses and lets Kreese go. Kreese kicks him from the ground to teach him not to show mercy, then the sprinklers kick on.
At Mr. Miyagi’s place, Daniel and Robby start cleaning up, using Miyagi’s techniques of course. They get the place looking pretty good; Jacob Schoeneberger is impressed, and it really brings back some good memories. But Amanda warns Daniel not to take on too much, running a dojo and his auto dealerships. He says he beat Cobra Kai once and he can do it again. And, apparently, this time it’s personal.
Carmen comes to Johnny’s door to congratulate him on Miguel’s victory. They wind up talking about how Miguel was having a tough time when they first moved there, but now his confidence is thriving. But she says that there were moments during the tournament that she didn’t like. Johnny promises her that Miguel is a good kid, and he won’t let him go astray.
At the victory party after the tourney, Miguel is bummed because Sam blocked him on Instagram. But Aisha tells him to give Sam some time and she’ll come around. While she’s being really supportive about it, Aisha might not realize that she also has the same “no mercy” mentality that made Sam want to break up with Miguel in the first place, though.
Johnny meets Kreese at a diner. Over breakfast, Kreese explains that after his Cobra Kai shut down he reenlisted in the military and went around the world, training and in combat. But all the while he was waiting for the right moment to reemerge. Johnny isn’t listening and says Cobra Kai only needs one sensei and that’s him. Jake Schoeneberger has to give Johnny a lot of credit for sticking to his guns, but something tells me Kreese has some other trick up his sleeve here.
At the dojo, Johnny has a new lesson for his students. He tells them that the best cobra is one that can defeat its opponent when the opponent is at its strongest, not when its back is turned or when it’s injured. He lights into both Hawk and Miguel for their unsportsmanlike behavior at the tourney.
But Miguel sees through it. Afterward he asks Johnny why he taught them no mercy when he’s suddenly taking pity on Robby. It’s a fair question, and it’s one Johnny will have to face up to eventually. Johnny’s answer is surprisingly honest and profound. He tells Miguel that he was never taught the difference between mercy and honor, and he’s trying to change that for Miguel. He says he’s only hard on Miguel because he has a chance to be better than Johnny ever was. Definitely made Jacob Schoeneberger tear up a little. Johnny is really figuring it all out.
In a wild coincidence, as Johnny is buying a replacement mirror for the dojo, he runs into Daniel and Robby there as they’re buying supplies for their project at their own dojo. Johnny tries to clear the air between them, but things go south when he makes a remark against Daniel and Robby says Daniel is a better man than he’ll ever be. That has to cut deep. Robby is showing nice loyalty to Daniel, but he’ll just make things worse between him and his father, and between Johnny and Daniel by saying rough things like that. Sure, he has every right to be upset with Johnny. But a comparison like that is just deeply wounding.
When he sees Sam training, Daniel finally gets a chance to have a heart-to-heart with her. He tells her about his first loves to try to make her feel better about what happened with Miguel. She complains about how Cobra Kai has brainwashed so many people at school. He says that’s why he’s opening Miyagi-Do, to take down Cobra Kai. But she says she doesn’t want to fight them because they’re her friends. And that’s where Daniel is missing the big picture. He thinks only bullies or mean people would join Cobra Kai, but that’s not the case. For as helpful as he’s trying to be, Daniel is seeing things in black and white but that doesn’t represent the real world. Jake Schoeneberger definitely thinks Daniel needs to start seeing that there are shades of gray here and not everyone can be separated into two simple camps.
And right on cue, when Robby sees Daniel meditating he asks him what he was focusing on. Daniel says he now sees that his goal shouldn’t be to destroy Cobra Kai because they’re just like he and Robby are, but they’ve been taught wrong. The goal of Miyagi-Do is to show them a different way, a better way. And as he says that Sam shows up and asks if she can join. Things are starting to come together for Miyagi-Do now, and Daniel has his head in the right place.
Back at Cobra Kai, Kreese comes in once again and, in a moment that mirrors the interaction Johnny had with Miguel earlier, he apologizes to Johnny. He says he was too hard on Johnny back then, and that when he heard Johnny brought back Cobra Kai that maybe he’d have a chance to redeem himself. And before he leaves, he gives Johnny back his second place trophy that he fixed for him. As he’s walking away, Johnny appears at the door and tells him to hold up. The episode ends, but it definitely has Jacob Schoeneberger wondering if all that was just an act from Kreese to get back into Johnny’s good graces.
The Jake Schoeneberger Final Thought on Cobra Kai
Johnny has learned from his mistakes, but maybe Kreese is just using Johnny’s newfound perspective against him. Jacob Schoeneberger sure hopes not, it would suck to see Johnny go back down the wrong path just because Kreese has a bad influence on him. Or maybe Kreese really has changed and is actually remorseful for his past behavior. Nah, Jacob Schoeneberger knows there’s not a chance.
More Thoughts from Jacob Schoeneberger