Jake Schoeneberger Talks Cobra Kai – August 26, 2022 Edition
Kreese is worming his way back into Cobra Kai. Just when Johnny had made leaps and bounds toward becoming a better sensei and mentor, now Kreese comes back to throw a monkey in that wrench. Jacob Schoeneberger just hopes Johnny is smart enough to protect his students from any negative influences.
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 2)
This will contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t watched the show yet.
The second episode of season two begins with an awesome montage to Back in Black. Johnny has a sweet new black and yellow paint job on his Challenger, he and Miguel are cruising and getting noticed by the ladies, and everything is right in the world.
As Robby sleeps, someone breaks into his house. He wakes up and kicks the intruder, only to find out it’s his mom’s new guy. His mother is there too and she tells him to calm down, that she just stopped by to grab some stuff because she and the new dude are going down to Cabo. Jake Schoeneberger really feels bad for Robby, his mom never seems to be around.
In the next scene, he’s hitting the punching bad pretty hard to get out some aggression. Sam arrives at the dojo and answers a call from Aisha’s phone. But it’s Miguel using Aisha’s phone. He tells her he wants things to go back to the way they were, but Sam says she can’t talk.
Then Daniel arrives and their lesson begins. He teaches them a new concept called the Wheel Technique. The technique involves mirroring your partner’s moves and moving in a circle. Daniel tells them they’re not moving in sync, but Robby and Sam complain that it feels more like a dance than a fighting technique. Daniel gets called away on an emergency at work, but he tells them to continue practicing it. While it doesn’t exactly look like a fighting style, Jacob Schoeneberger knows enough about how Miyagi taught karate to know you have to trust the process and know the technique will make you better in the long run.
Kreese shows up at Cobra Kai, and Johnny is annoyed because he said to come the next day. Johnny introduces Kreese to the class, but he says that Kreese is just an observer and that they should pretend he isn’t even there. As Miguel is warming the class up, they all make an inside joke and goof around. Johnny gets angry that they’re making him look bad in front of Kreese, and already we can tell that Kreese is having a bad influence. Any team that can’t blow off steam every now and again is not going to excel at anything. Johnny tells them all to meet at 5:00 a.m. the next day for a mandatory training or they’re off the team.
The emergency at the dealership is that several of Daniel’s sales staff has been poached by the competition. Amanda tells him that they need to pick up the slack, and they need to sell 10 cars to make their quota. She and Daniel team up to sell some autos, and it’s clear they make a great team. Jake Schoeneberger has been so caught up in some of the other characters that I overlooked how great a character Amanda is. She’s the right combination of tough, fun, and smart to be a great partner for Daniel and the scene of them teaming up to sell cars is a great illustration of that.
After they meet their quota, she gives him some great advice. He keeps comparing himself to Mr. Miyagi with his training, but she says he doesn’t have to be Mr. Miyagi, he just needs to be Mr. LaRusso. This is great advice for anyone. We all try to live up to the standards of others when the only standards we need to achieve are our own.
The next morning, Johnny makes the students mix cement. Then a huge cement mixing truck arrives. Johnny tells the students that winning one championship is nothing. A true champion continues moving forward. Just like the cement in the truck, if it stops moving it hardens. Then he tells them to get in the truck and move the cement. They argue that they don’t want to, but Kreese chimes in and says that Johnny was the best student he ever trained and that they better listen to every word he says. Miguel is the first to enter the mixer.
At his house, Robby realizes there’s nothing to eat in the fridge and then the power goes out. Looks like his mom has skipped town without paying any of the utility bills. When he arrives at the dojo, he’s in a bad mood.
Daniel decides the way to making Robby and Sam learn the wheel technique is by making them balance on a wooden wheel floating in water. As they stand on either end of the wheel, they need to move in unison in order to keep the wheel level and stay in balance. They start out really well, if a little shaky. Then Jacob Schoeneberger literally laughed out loud when they got off balance and both fell into the water.
In the mixer, the team sloshes and pushes through the cement but they have trouble getting any momentum. Robby and Sam get back on the wheel, now a bit wetter from their fall. Slowly the mixer begins to rotate as the team churns and churns. Robby and Sam get into sync and move in unison on the wheel. The team starts to slip and fall in the mixer, but they help each other up. Robby and Sam fall again but they get back up and keep going. Soon the mixer is spinning, and Robby and Sam are moving in total harmony. It’s interchangeable scenes like these that make this show an absolute thing of beauty. Johnny and Daniel have different methods of teaching, but they both inspire their students to reach within themselves and become better through the lessons. What a beautiful show.
After their lesson, Robby apologizes to Sam for being in a bad mood earlier. He tells her about his mom missing some of the bills. When he leaves, Sam asks Daniel how much he knows about Robby’s home life. Daniel then goes to Robby’s house and finds that his mom isn’t around. He invites Robby back to his house. Amanda tells Daniel that it’s cool if Robby stays for the night, but if he stays longer then Daniel will have to talk to Johnny, which we all know Daniel doesn’t want to have to do.
At Cobra Kai, Kreese compliments Johnny for a job well done with his lesson. Then he invites him out for a beer to discuss tomorrow’s lessons. Jake Schoeneberger sees the writing on the wall. Kreese is slowly worming his way back in. Ok, I guess I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, for now. But I’m still concerned he has ulterior motives, or he just wants to be in charge of Cobra Kai again. We’ll see.
Miguel uses his spare key to Johnny’s apartment to drop off some food his mom made for Johnny. On the fridge he sees a picture of Robby. Now he knows.
Daniel drops by Cobra Kai to talk to Johnny but finds Kreese there. Now Daniel knows Kreese isn’t dead and he asks Johnny if this is all part of his “new Cobra Kai” plan. It’s a legitimate question since Johnny made it a point to tell the tournament committee that his Cobra Kai would be nothing like Kreese’s. Daniel walks away without asking Johnny about Robby, and he tells them they’re both in for a rude awakening. I believe that means that it is officially “on.”
The Jake Schoeneberger Final Thought on Cobra Kai
Kreese is making an already difficult situation much worse. There was a time when Daniel and Johnny could have found common ground together, but Jacob Schoeneberger thinks the possibility of a truce just keeps getting slimmer and slimmer.
More Thoughts from Jacob Schoeneberger