Summary
“Aftermath” picks up where we left off, with everyone still reeling from the school brawl, and old rivalries still lingering among the students and their senseis.
This recap of Cobra Kai season 3, episode 1, “Aftermath”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous season finale by clicking these words.
Picking up a couple of weeks after the tumultuous second season finale, “Aftermath” is aptly-titled, since it deals pretty much exclusively with the fallout from the school brawl. Miguel is still comatose in the hospital, dreaming of competing in the All Valley Karate Tournament, while news of so-called “karate riots” spreads like wildfire. The humble martial art is obviously being scapegoated for the carnage caused by Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai’s rivalry, and neither Johnny nor Daniel are handling it well. Johnny has once again disappeared into the bottle, getting into it with two dudes in a bar and finding himself beaten up and arrested; Daniel and Amanda’s community standing has tanked, meanwhile, and their business is failing, especially given the whole “kick the competition” marketing theme and the fact that Robbie really did kick the competition over a first-floor railing.
Of course, that rivalry isn’t over for the students. A throwaway line of dialogue explains that Aisha has been moved to a private school, thus explaining why Nichole Brown is no longer in the show, but everyone else is continuing as they were, with the battle lines clearly drawn. All except Robbie, that is — he remains on the run, and Daniel spends a good chunk of “Aftermath” looking for him.
It’s Louie, now working back at the LaRusso dealership, who figures that Robbie stole a car from the trade-in lot knowing nobody would notice. Those cars are fitted with a GPS, which Daniel is able to follow, but Robbie smartly dumped it. He’s not at the Miyagi-Do dojo, though Sam is, wracked with guilt and worried about the perception of tough girls as crazy. He isn’t at the Cobra Kai dojo either. Daniel finds Kreese there, who predictably tries to antagonize him. Daniel doesn’t bite, but Kreese assures him that a fight between them is inevitable and that this time he and Johnny will finish it. He’s right, by the way, but not in the way he thinks.
Speaking of Johnny, his primary concern in the third season premiere is getting to see Miguel, which he’s eventually able to manage after failing to pose as a doctor and eventually hitting his own head against the paper towel dispenser to be admitted as a patient. He gives the sleeping Miguel a pep talk, but it doesn’t seem to have much of an effect.
Towards the end of the episode, Daniel enlists Johnny’s help to find Robbie, thus beginning a season-long arc of the two learning to work together. In a closing montage, we catch a glimpse of Robbie, having gotten rid of that awful haircut, and see Sam return to school, unashamed of the claw scars Tory left on her arm. As Miguel experiences some kind of complications in the hospital, “Aftermath” ends with him suddenly snapping awake.
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