Emmy Catch-Up: Cobra Kai

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

Cobra Kai: Season 3, Episode 5 “Miyagi-Do” (B)

Things can get pretty violent on this show, as was the case here with the antics at Chris’ work and Robby’s seemingly successful effort to prove that he shouldn’t be picked on in jail. It is true that Hawk and his minions started things by stealing a bunch of prizes while Chris was working, and Samantha’s revenge plan could have worked if Tory hadn’t shown up to terrify her into freezing. Amanda was rightfully angry, and marching right into Kreese’s dojo and slapping him when he tried to talk down to her was about the most aggressive response she could have made without crossing the kind of line that he far too frequently crosses. Johnny’s methods are both archaic and generally counterproductive, resulting in Miguel falling again and nearly got set on fire, but somehow he did achieve one aim and got him to start tapping his foot, which both he and his mother were elated to see. Daniel had a similarly hopeful time in Japan meeting with his former nemesis, whose perspective has evolved much more than Johnny’s has, and he even got to experience some true nostalgia by remembering key Mr. Miyagi moments and seeing how his legacy lives on in another way in Japan. Meeting the little girl he rescued was the best possible development, since her high-up role at Dayonna means that he actually has a shot at rescuing his business. We’ll see if that’s the top priority when he arrives home and gets filled in by his wife on what he’s missed while he’s been gone.