Summary
Lessons are learned and both karate schools begin to solidify themselves in “Back in Black”.
This Cobra Kai Season 2 Episode 2 recap for the episode titled “Back in Black” contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
AC/DC’s titular song plays over an opening montage of Johnny and Miguel’s contrasting morning routines; as they leave their apartments and fist-bump, you realize how integral their relationship is to Cobra Kai, and how good it is to see a second season of this supremely underrated show in the first place. It’s a fitting song, to say the least.
But we mustn’t forget that it isn’t all 80s rock and master-student ridealongs. Robbie’s problems at home continue, as his mother turns up in the middle of the night with a new fling and announces she’s going to Mexico for a while, leaving Robbie all alone with past-due bills. And Miguel isn’t having an easy time of things either. He sneakily uses Aisha’s phone to call Sam, but she isn’t ready to deal with him yet. Both she and Robbie have their respective issues to work out, and training at Miyagi-Do is their way of doing so. (Their inevitable romance is, I assume, on the horizon.)
Things are going relatively well at Cobra Kai. The uptick in interest since the All-Valley Championships finds Johnny fielding calls from prospective students, allowing for more of his hilariously idiotic social blundering: “We take girls and boys. Gender what? Is this a prank call?” Kreese arrives, meanwhile, and is quite obviously dismayed by the state of the clientele; a bespectacled student wearing a “The Future is Female” t-shirt draws his attention straight away, and you have to imagine it isn’t the kind of attention the kid wants.
Still riding high on their success at the Championships, the students at Cobra Kai are having fun during training, much to the embarrassment of Johnny, who has Kreese sitting in as an “observer”. In a potentially dangerous (though ultimately successful) overreaction, Johnny has his students spin the drum of a cement mixer from inside, as Kreese immediately begins to involve himself in their training. As Cobra Kai learn not to rest on their laurels, Sam and Robbie are learning about balance and trusting one another in Miyagi’s idyllic back yard.
Both groups find success in “Back in Black”, but things aren’t that easy elsewhere. For one thing, Daniel’s focus is on the dojo and not on the dealership, meaning that his competitors are starting to get a foothold in the market. To meet their quotas, Daniel and Amanda need to sell ten cars in a day, which is a nice shift of focus that highlights their relationship well. Johnny and Kreese go out drinking — there’s a brief implication that Kreese racially abuses the store owner, returning from the first season — and run into Danny, who is obviously fired up more than ever at seeing his old nemesis Kreese back from the “dead”. Will he be able to maintain the balance he speaks so highly of to Sam and Robbie? I have my doubts.
