Cobra Kai Season 3 Episode 4 Recap – The Right Path

[00:00:30] Daniel fails to secure Doyona International. They appreciate his effort to visit them in Japan, but they have already decided to avoid negative PR. Doyona will cease its partnership with LaRusso Auto by the end of the month. Amanda calls Daniel to see how his meeting with Doyona went. Daniel tells Amanda he’s still working on it, but the meeting already fell off. He gets a drink, and the bartender notices he‘s happy when he‘s with Mr. Miyagi. Daniel says those were happier times. The bartender asks if Daniel is visiting Mr. Miyagi, so he tells the man that Mr. Miyagi is already dead. The bartender tells Daniel that in Japan, the dead still talks to the living, so Daniel can visit Mr. Miyagi any time he likes.

[00:02:30] Kreese is slowly poisoning the minds of his students, just like how he did with Johnny and his friends. Hawk and his friends are learning from Kreese that they must do whatever it takes to win. Kreese calls it fighting smart, but it‘s just plain old cheating. Hawk looks up to Kreese because he no longer wants to be the weak version of himself. He thinks following Kreese is the only way, but it‘s a path no one should ever take.

[00:04:30] Miguel just came out of surgery, so he’s on the road to recovery. Time will tell if he gets to walk again or not. Johnny is at the hospital throughout the surgery, so he calls Bobby to apologize for missing their appointment. He wants Bobby to talk to Robby and explain what happened, but Bobby refuses. He tells Johnny he should tell his son the truth and explain things to him. Johnny checks on Miguel with one of the nurses at the hospital. The surgery was a success, but there were still no guarantees. The nurse offers to take Johnny to Miguel’s room, but he refuses, thinking about their previous talk. Johnny feels he doesn’t deserve to speak to Miguel again.

[00:06:00] Daniel goes to Okinawa to visit Tomi Village. He takes a cab from the airport, but things are very different from when he first visited the village. Everything has changed from a simple village to a bustling modern hub. The once little village left out by time has caught up with everyone else. Meanwhile, Johnny visits Robby’s place of work. He‘s doing community service to lessen his time in juvie hall. Johnny apologizes to Robby, but he doesn’t want to hear it. He feels both Johnny and Daniel let him down, but Johnny is there to make amends. He tells Robby they should talk. Robby tells Johnny he has to wait a while until he’s done with work. Johnny assures Robby he’ll be there waiting for him.

[00:09:30] Hawk is the new bully at school. He replaced the very people he‘s trying to avoid. Eli is gone, and Demetri does his best to cope with facing Hawk every day. Demetri is showing Yasmine and Moon their science project. Hawk gets jealous that Demetri gets to talk with Moon, so he destroys the science project. Demetri took three weeks to build the project, so he confronts Hawk with Sam to back him up. A fight seems to break out, but Counselor Blatt stops them before it even happens. Hawk plays the victim card well. Sam and Demetri get reprimanded while Hawk laughs at them.

[00:12:00] Mr. Sato brought about change in Tomi Village. The village was slowly dying, so he sold out and allowed retailers to enter the village. Soon, everyone benefited from the change, and Tomi Village emerged into the new era as Tomi Village Green. Daniel thought the villagers would be angered by what Mr. Sato did, but they embraced the change. They knew they must change to catch up, and that’s what they did. After talking to a tour guide, Daniel sees his old friend up on stage — Kumiko. She‘s still teaching the new generation about the traditional dance of Tomi Village. She thanks the crowd for watching their performance and spots Daniel clapping his hands in delight.

[00:14:30] Johnny’s visit to Robby ends up in a mess. They argue about Johnny not showing up at juvie hall. Johnny apologizes for not showing up and tells Robby he needed to be at the hospital for Miguel. Robby feels bad because Johnny chose Miguel over him. Johnny tells Robby he’s only making things right and he’s not the one who put Miguel in the hospital. That‘s the last straw for Robby. He tells Johnny he no longer needs him, so the guards tell Johnny to leave.

[00:16:00] A school soccer match begins between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai. It‘s just a normal PE class, but things get personal as Miyagi-Do wants to strike back at Cobra Kai for what they did to them at the car wash and for destroying Demetri’s science project. The referee sees there‘s too much physical contact. At first, she waived things as coincidental, but as the game progressed, she knew the kicks and hits were intentional. She sends everyone to the principal office as the match ends.

[00:18:00] Daniel catches up with Kumiko through tea. Kumiko tells Daniel she fulfilled her lifelong dream of dancing by joining a dancing troupe and traveling the world with them. She returned to Okinawa to teach the younger generation. Kumiko asks Daniel why he chose to return to Okinawa. Daniel tells Kumiko he’s lost and wants to find a way to reunite with Mr. Miyagi. Kumiko understands what Daniel needs and tells him she can help.

[00:21:00] Johnny is back to drinking. He drinks alone in a bar when Kreese walks in. He tells Johnny to return to Cobra Kai. Kreese needs Johnny so he can get Miguel back to Cobra Kai. Johnny refuses to return and threatens to kill Kreese if he ever goes near Miguel and his family. Kreese leaves the bar and tells Johnny to think about his offer. Meanwhile, Cobra Kai gets away with everything again. They‘re allowed to go free while everyone at Miyagi-Do receives detention. Sam can’t believe they‘re getting detention. She‘s so frustrated with the system that she just walks out.

[00:25:00] Daniel and Kumiko go to Auntie Yukie’s house. Yukie left the house in Kumiko’s name. Kumiko reveals that Mr. Miyagi wrote many love letters to Auntie Yukie during his stay in America. Yukie kept each letter. Daniel finds the last letter Mr. Miyagi wrote for Yukie. It was written the week of Mr. Miyagi’s death. He told Yukie he‘s back in the hospital and assured her there‘s nothing to worry about. Mr. Miyagi told Yukie how proud he was of Daniel and he’s thankful Daniel welcomed him into his family. Mr. Miyagi felt lucky he still had a family in Daniel.

[00:28:30] Daniel gets what he‘s after on his return to Okinawa. All doubt is laid to rest as Kumiko reads Mr. Miyagi’s letter. Mr. Miyagi is the father Daniel never had; he finally gets closure on their relationship. Mr. Miyagi never told Daniel how proud he was of his achievements. The letter means everything to Daniel. Kumiko gives the letter to Daniel so he can keep it in memory of Mr. Miyagi. Daniel can now return to America carrying the life lesson of Mr. Miyagi. He just needs to focus on the people he loves, and everything will fall into place.

[00:30:00] Johnny gets out of his slump and visits Miguel. Miguel doesn’t want to talk to Johnny, but he doesn’t visit to apologize or sympathize. He went to resume Miguel’s training — back to square one. Johnny tells Miguel he must train to walk again, and he’ll be there for him every step of the way. A fire lights up in Miguel’s eyes, and he again accepts Johnny as his sensei. Miguel gets up from his bed to reach for his phone, but he falls out of bed. Johnny knew Miguel wouldn’t reach the phone in an instant but getting him out of bed was the first step.

[00:31:30] The bullying continues at juvie hall. The guys are really picking on Robby, but he can’t do anything to help himself. The guards send the bullies away because Robby has a visitor. He goes to the guest hall and is surprised to see Kreese. Daniel has one last drink with Kumiko the next day before returning to America. Kumiko assures Daniel that things will work out with his business because people who put good things in the world will always get good things in return. Daniel can’t do anything but hope that things will work out for him. Just as they‘re getting ready to drink, an old rival emerges from the shadow — Chozen.