At the end of the Cobra Kai season 6 premiere, we saw the return of John Kreese (Martin Kove), who has seemingly resumed his karate instruction since faking his death and breaking out of prison at the end of season 5. And in the first moments of episode 2, entitled "The Prize," we revisit Kreese but in flashback: we see a young John (played by Barrett Carnahan) and Terry Silver (Nick Marini) departing their training in South Korea under Kim Sun-Yung (C.S. Lee) back in the 1980s.
Before they go, Kreese wants to say goodbye to little Kim Da-Eun — played as a child by Sarah Anne and an adult by Alicia Hannah-Kim — who is not a student but is listening in on her father's karate coaching. When Master Kim discovers his daughter spying, he reprimands her, which prompts Kreese to step in at her defense.
We then fast-forward four decades to see Kreese and Kim Da-Eun reunite as adults in South Korea. You just know this duo is going to stir up some drama together.
The eagle needs a new nest
A sewage pipe explodes over at Carmen Diaz's (Vanessa Rubio) house, which is very poorly timed for Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). As his partner reminds him, they're a family of five — almost six, thanks to the baby on the way — now living in a two-bedroom and they already don't have the money to pay for Miguel's (Xolo Maridueña) dream college, Stanford University.
Though Johnny promises the Sekai Taikai will bring in sponsorships, he's ready to find a new living situation for the growing brood. He finds real estate help from a surprising source: Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto), who is apparently a big fan of Selling Sunset and The Property Brothers.
Together, the odd couple go to open houses and, at least at first, it's going well, with Chozen pretending to be an independent realtor hyping up Lawrence as a big-shot Valley businessman. But then Johnny gets to talking about his knocked-up girlfriend and tricked-out minivan and the jig is up. It also doesn't help that he tries to fight the realtor, with Chozen unsuccessfully reminding him of Mr. Miyagi's teachings. ("I'm doing all sorts of breathing exercises and karate yoga bulls*** at the dojo!" Johnny proclaims.)
Thankfully, the homeowner at one of the showings — specifically Little Stevie, Jerry's brother's friend, who used to moonwalk to class — recognizes Johnny from his high school karate days. After some surprisingly heartwarming vulnerability from Johnny, Stevie graciously offers to rent him a place so long as his financials are in order.
To do so, Daniel (Ralph Macchio) suggests Johnny get a 9-to-5 job, since their work at Miyagi-Do doesn't come with a paid salary. Johnny mistakenly takes that to mean Daniel is offering him a job at his dealership, showing up fully suited for his "first day." While Daniel and Amanda have a mini-freak-out in the office, Johnny manages to pull out his prom-king charms and sells a woman a car right on the floor. It looks like he has the job: "Welcome to the LaRusso family," Daniel tells him, shaking his hand.
School of hard knocks
After overhearing Carmen and Johnny discuss their financial situation, Miguel realizes he should look for a more budget-friendly back-up school to Stanford. While touring the College of the Valley campus with Demetri Alexopoulos (Gianni Decenzo) and Hawk Moskowitz (Jacob Bertrand), Miguel and co. run into their former bully Kyler Park (Joe Seo), who attends the college.
Despite the previous animosity between the boys, Kyler invites the high school fellas to a house party hosted by Theta Omega, the fraternity he's pledging. There, they see Kyler is now on the receiving end of his own bullying, courtesy of the older frat brothers, who force him to "vacuum" up some popcorn from the floor using his mouth. And when a fight breaks out between Kyler and the Theta Omega bros, the Miyagi-Do guys have his back.
Later, Kyler and Miguel have a sweet conversation in which the former tells the latter to fully go after his dream and try for Stanford instead of settling for a safety school. Those good vibes come back to Kyler, too: members of another fraternity were impressed by what he and the boys did over at Theta Omega, so they invite him to join their frat.
A slithering task at hand
Kreese wants Kim Da-Eun to join forces with him and the reconstituted Cobra Kai team to win Sekai Taikai. "It's not up to me," she tells him, leading him into a hut. There, he — and we — shockingly learn that Master Kim is, indeed, alive and seemingly still not a huge fan of Kreese. But Master Kim decides to give him a chance and puts forth a challenge for Kreese to prove his worth.
That challenge consists of setting off solo and searching creepy caves for Master Kim's eunjangdo, the ancient family knife he lost while he was dodging Japanese invaders as a young boy. Kreese finds the knife but is bitten by a snake while trying to retrieve it. He experiences hallucinations of young Silver and present-day Johnny Lawrence, but he manages to fight through them to snatch the knife.
He returns to Master Kim not only with the eunjangdo but also the head of the snake he killed. "It's not about the prize," Kreese tells him. "It's about eliminating what stands in the way." It impresses Master Kim enough to agree to partner with him: "Now we are ready, and nothing will ever stand in our way again." That spells trouble for Miyagi-Do!
All five episodes of Cobra Kai season 6 part 1 are now available to stream on Netflix.
