Cobra Kai Season 4 Episode 2 Recap – First Learn Stand

[00:00:30] There‘s a new kid on the block — Kenny Payne. Kenny is excited to go to school in the Valley, but it seems he will only get bullied by Anthony. Meanwhile, the sparring deck is complete, so Johnny goes out of his way to buff it. Daniel arrives and sees Johnny buffing the deck. He gets angry at Johnny because the students are supposed to get a perfect training moment with it. Johnny tells Daniel he must cut the bullshit method because they must focus on Karate. Daniel says Johnny must learn to respect the Miyagi-Do way.  Johnny tells Daniel respect is a two-way street, so Daniel challenges Johnny — they teach each other their way of Karate.

[00:03:30] Amanda confronts Tory at her workplace. She can’t stand seeing Sam in pieces while Tory enjoys her freedom. Amanda thinks Tory is just a delinquent, but she doesn’t understand that Tory has her own problems. Tory almost argues with one of the customers at the restaurant, so Tory gets fired on the spot. Amanda didn’t plan on getting Tory fired; she just wants her to stay away from Sam. Amanda will regret her decision as Tory will likely go after Sam again for what happened.

[00:06:00] Kenny is the new kid in middle school. Anthony is doing his best to fit in, but Kenny bested him in basketball. It seems a rivalry will form between Anthony and Kenny as he has the same attitude as his father — he likes to jump the gun. A girl named Lia stops Anthony’s argument with Kenny. Anthony thinks Lia likes Kenny, so it plants more hatred in his heart for Kenny. Meanwhile, Daniel is teaching Johnny the Miyagi-Do way. Johnny doesn’t like defense, but Daniel shows him there’s more to defense than being boring. Daniel breaks a beer bottle with his hands which impresses Johnny into taking his teachings seriously.

[00:09:30] Robby continues teaching everyone Miyagi-Do techniques in Cobra Kai. Everyone is eager to learn, but things aren’t going great with Tory. She gets angry at Robby for taking her down in training. Robby is just showing them moves, but Tory takes it personally. Kreese notices something is bothering Tory, so he talks to her privately. Tory tells Kreese how she lost her job. Meanwhile, Kenny is having problems of his own. His father works in the military, so he isn’t physically present in his life. Kenny’s father tries to compensate for his shortcomings by constantly reaching out to him, but it isn’t enough. Kenny has a brother, but something happened to him, so he is the man of the house.

[00:13:00] Kenny desperately tries to find balance through video games. Kenny is in luck as Lia is playing the same video game. Lia reaches out to Kenny in the game and becomes friends with him. Meanwhile, Daniel continues training Johnny in the ways of Miyagi-Do. Johnny puts up with the training, but he doesn’t see how defense is better than offense. Daniel doesn’t bother arguing with Johnny. Johnny tells Daniel to prepare because it‘s his time to learn.

[00:15:00] Kenny is having a great time with Lia. They keep playing together, but it turns out that Kenny isn’t playing with Lia. He‘s playing with Anthony the whole time. Anthony is a good kid, but he chooses to be friends with bullies. They used Lia‘s name to lure Kenny to the park. They ridicule Kenny for being a nerd, even if Anthony is somewhat the same. Anthony also plays Dungeon Lord but doesn’t tell his friends about it. They tell Kenny to cosplay for “Lia” and meet up with her at the park. Kenny thinks he‘ll hang out with Lia, but it‘s all a trap.

[00:17:30] Kreese confronts Amanda while she’s grocery shopping. He tells Amanda the truth about Tory so she‘ll leave her alone. Amanda feels sorry for Tory. It‘s not her intention for Tory to get fired. Kreese is just looking out for Tory, but he has plans of his own for telling Amanda the truth about her. Meanwhile, Daniel starts his Eagle Fang training under Johnny’s guidance. Johnny takes Daniel to an abandoned factory where he tells him to shovel hot coals and walk on them. He also places Daniel in front of a pitching machine and tells him to attack the balls flying to his face. Daniel does pretty well on his first day.

[00:22:00] Kenny shows up in his Dungeon Lord costume at the park. He‘s waiting for Lia to show up when Anthony and his friends appear. They laugh at Kenny’s costume and beat him for trying to stand up against them. Anthony’s friends continue to bully Kenny, but it seems he‘s just with them because of peer pressure. Anthony is just a kid avoiding becoming the victim of bullying himself. He doesn’t want to bully Kenny, but Kenny doesn’t know it. Kenny runs from Anthony and his friends. He loses them by hiding inside a dumpster at the park.

[00:24:00] After training, Johnny takes Daniel to a hockey game. They‘re drinking beers and watching the game when Johnny calls out one of the players for something illegal. The player gets reprimanded and blames Daniel and Johnny for what happened. After the game, the players confront Johnny and Daniel. Daniel tries to de-escalate the situation, but Johnny bails on him. The players recognize who Daniel is, so they disrespect Amanda in front of him. Everyone knows who Amanda is, and they all want to take her for a test drive. Daniel won’t let the men disrespect his wife, so he beats them all up to teach them a lesson. Johnny arrives just in time as Daniel wins the match on his own. Daniel asks where Johnny is, but he just tells Daniel, “No be there.”

[00:28:30] Tory goes to Amanda to return the groceries she left on her doorstep. Amanda feels sorry about getting Tory fired, so she offers some groceries in return. Tory doesn’t accept the groceries. Amanda apologizes for what happened and tries to have Tory talk with her in the office. Tory refuses. She tells Amanda she’ll feed her family on her own and tells Amanda that everything will be over once she humiliates Sam at the tournament. Amanda worries about Sam, but she doesn’t want Daniel to know what she did with Tory. She tells Anoush not to mention anything to Daniel as she tries to sort everything out.

[00:30:00] Kenny visits his brother in the juvie hall. It turns out that Robby’s enemy in juvie hall is Kenny’s brother — Shawn Payne. Kenny continues to get bullied in middle school. The video of him in his Dungeon Lord cosplay goes viral. Kenny wants to learn Karate to defend himself against bullies. His brother laughs at Kenny for thinking of Karate as a way out, but he tells Kenny he knows someone who can teach him. It seems Kenny will approach Robby, which will only lead to the dark side.