Head of the Snake

Season 5, Episode 10

Air date

September 9, 2022

Written by

Bob Dearden

Directed by

Joel Novoa

Episode Guide
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"I can't believe it's happening. We're really going to take Silver down."

―Tory Nichols

"Head of the Snake" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Cobra Kai and is the season finale.

Synopsis

A fight night erupts in the Valley as Johnny, Daniel, Chozen and their students summon all their skills and strength to expose Terry and take him down.

Plot

The episode opens with a Kreese montage. As “My Way” by Frank Sinatra plays, Kreese watches a fight brew between Gabriel and someone else. Mixed within this, he talks to Dr. Folsom, feeling especially down about lack of purpose for himself in jail. Teaching gave him purpose and now, after what Johnny said, that will be gone, too. She moves close to him and says to keep fighting, with his heart and his soul. Kreese then intervenes in the fight. Gabriel doesn’t like that and shanks Kreese multiple times, and Kreese bleeds out on the floor appearing deceased.

The limo stops, and Daniel starts to get out until he finds out the driver is Mike Barnes, who throws him to the ground. Chozen is next to emerge while Mike screams at Daniel for ruining his life. Johnny follows with a cascade of empty beer cans trailing him. He throws one intending to hit Mike but instead hits Daniel in the face. He starts to fight Mike until Chozen breaks them up. Daniel explains that what happened to Mike was Silver’s fault, and it was never Daniel’s intention to get Mike caught in the middle. He says he will do anything to make it up, and Mike wants to go confront Silver, like, NOW. Daniel thinks it’s a bad idea, but the ship has sailed, and Johnny and Chozen are on board, too. As Mike drives off, Daniel screams at him for leaving him stranded.

At Silver’s, he and Sensei Kim are talking when Kim sees the limo break through the gate on the security feed. Meanwhile, Mike wants to kick in the front door, but Johnny thinks he shouldn't because it's solid oak. Chozen, though, stops them both and simply pushes the door open. Silver seems relatively unfazed as he reminds drunken trio 2.0 that they’re trespassing; violence on them will be warranted. Another of Silver’s senseis shows up, and he and Mike fight. Mike almost wins until yet another one knocks him out from behind while the rest surround Johnny and Chozen.

At the LaRusso residence, Amanda and Carmen unwind with some tea and are ready for things to go back to normal. Daniel calls her and tries to explain what happened. She needs to pick him up, and he sends his location. However, his cell service is awful, and the call drops just as someone pulls up to the house. Amanda is nervous, because it’s Cobra Kai.

Miguel, Robby, Eli, and Demetri (with tech gear in tow) all meet but aren’t sure why; Sam called them. Sam and Tory show up and tell them about the video, but after the dojo move, the old one was cleaned out. Demetri says if Silver took the whole system to the flagship, the footage should still exist (and he did). Eli chimes in that they can then post to the Cobra Kai YouTube Channel, with Sam saying to call everyone else.

They get to the flagship, and when the others arrive, they’re all wary of Tory at first. Robby recalls his criminal past and offers to break in but Tory can also get them into the building, saving Robby from breaking the law again. Mitch asks why they’re there, and Miguel fills him in. The main crew heads inside while the rest stand guard. In the office, Demetri and Eli get everything set up while Robby disconnects a security camera. They fail to realize that there’s another, smaller one in the wall right behind the computer. It pings Silver, who sends Kim to deal with it. Johnny and Chozen are fending off Silvers men but after Chozen notices Silver walking away, Johnny encourages Chozen to go after him, which he does.

Daniel finds a guy with a truck and needs a ride, but the guy is a total donkey and refuses. Daniel is ready to duke it out when more guys come out of the truck. Just in time, Stingray comes zooming around the corner and Amanda tells Daniel they need to go save the kids.

Unaware of the camera, Demetri finds the video, only it’s almost entirely deleted. Tory remembers another one (that we don’t see) as a ruckus is heard downstairs. Everyone but Demetri and Eli check on the situation, and it’s the Cobra Kais beating up Anthony. The Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students are surprised that the Cobra Kai students were tipped off by Mitch, who has been Cobra Kai's spy and been wanting to rejoin his original dojo. Kyler thinks it cancels out now that both groups have traitors (meaning Tory). Tory tries to reason with them, Robby chimes in, but Kenny gets confrontational. Miguel steps in and the fight begins. In the car, Stingray apologizes, and the other three (Carmen is there, too) can’t get in touch with Sam, Anthony, Miguel, or Johnny.

Chozen confronts Silver in the sword room. Silver brings up how Chozen said he would make Silver beg for mercy, wanting to test that theory. Thus, the fight begins. They start with a brief hand to hand combat, which proves to be even. It then escalates to weapons, as Silver pulls out a sword while Chozen pulls out his sais. The fight heads outside near Silver’s reflecting pool. Chozen initially has the upper hand in the weapon fight, but Silver soon gains control. Silver gets Chozen’s arm and then his leg. Silver prepares to finish him off, but Chozen regains the advantage in the last minute, and proceed to knock Silver down and have him at his mercy. Seemingly defeated, Silver told Chozen he was meant to die in the battle field, and then told Chozen to follow through. However, Chozen turns for a millisecond after hearing a scream, which causes Silver to give a cheap shot to slice his back, sending Chozen into the water and bleed.

Inside, Johnny is initially holding his own against the others, but is soon overpowered and being beaten up. By the time Silver comes back in, he’s barely hanging on. After he throws a threat at Silver, Silver says he never saw why Johnny was Kreese’s best student. He’s angry they all attacked his home, adding that at least Johnny won’t be around to “screw up another kid.” Silver tells the others to finish him while he goes to deal with the mess at the dojo.

A bit later, Johnny is still getting beat, and they wind up in the sword room. A hefty punch knocks him over, and the ultrasound result flies out of his jacket. When he sees it, he regains his strength. He manages gain the upper hand and take out three of them. A well-timed dodge by him causes someone to lose a finger. However, the final two that Johnny initially gained the upper hand on corner him, but thanks to some great timing by Mike, he defeats the two, and he and Johnny get out of there.

Back with the kids at the flagship, Eli tells Demetri things are madness, but Demetri only needs a few minutes to log into YouTube and start the upload. People are coming upstairs, so Eli tells Demetri they need to go mobile. Kyler and four others walk in. Eli, and eventually Demetri, fends them off. They get the upload started and get out of there.

Outside, the adults arrive, and Stingray takes down the Cobra Kais blocking the door. Back inside and downstairs, Devon and Tory are facing each other, and Devon feels betrayed. Meanwhile, Kenny hits Robby with the Silver bullet, and Kenny and a few Cobra Kai's gang up on Robby and start beating him up. However, Miguel saves Robby and beats Kenny and the other Cobra Kai's. Sensei Kim also arrives and is fighting Tory now. Eli and Demetri get downstairs, and Eli tells Miguel the footage is uploading, but Kyler knocks him over and the tablet goes flying. Anthony grabs the tablet and the Miyagi Do and Eagle Fang students apply their egg lesson to use to protect him. Sam briefly joins Tory until Devon realizes Kim’s true colors and sends Sam back with Anthony. Cobra Kai is beginning to overwhelm as Daniel, Amanda, and Stingray arrive to witness the ensuing chaos. Amanda decides to call the cops as she realizes that the kids are in danger due to Stingray knowing he can't take out a lot of them. As Daniel tries to break off the fight, the footage uploads and Anthony gets it playing on all the televisions. It’s when Tory confronted Silver about him bribing the All Valley referee. Silver shows up and begins monologuing about how he’s not really the bad guy. But the damage is done. However, the Cobra Kais aren’t with him. Still, he goes into a Maniac Spiral and continues trying to sway them. He turns it back on Daniel, saying he caused nothing but pain. He got beaten, and now he can accept it or go again. Daniel chooses to fight and he isn’t worried about what will happen to Miyagi-Do, despite what Silver says.

The fight begins and Daniel gets in a solid hit. During the fight, Daniel remembers the quicksilver technique from The Karate Kid Part III. When each rule is stated, Daniel enacts the matching attack. By the time he reaches the third rule, Daniel assumes the infamous crane kick. Silver is distracted for a moment, when he turns back to grab the Cobra Kai trophy from the 51st All Valley Tournament as a possible weapon, and Daniel then kicks him in the eyes, and he goes down for the count just as he crashes into the Cobra Kai logo. Having finally defeated Silver for good, Daniel is then embraced by his wife Amanda, his daughter Sam and his son Anthony. The other Cobra Kai's, shaken by what happened, follow Kenny’s lead by removing some of their Cobra Kai clothing and toss it onto Silver, showing they quit Cobra Kai.

After the excitement dies down, the news and first responders are on the scene. Kyler claims credit for Silver’s takedown on the news, Stingray redacts his initial claim about Kreese to the detective, and Big Red and Lil Red return home supporting one another. Robby tries to talk to Kenny, who can’t talk to him right now. Tory comes over and Robby says he owes her an apology, though she doesn’t want to hear it, either. Instead, she wants him to kiss her. Another pair finds solid ground, as Sam asks Miguel about the octopus necklace. He didn’t really want to break up with her, but he knew that’s what she needed. Sam appreciates that, and Miguel responds by saying that’s what you do when you love someone. Sam is surprised, but she loves him too, reconciling their relationship.

The Party Limo Posse arrives, and we see Johnny first. Carmen wants him to go to the hospital, but he wanted to see her first. He tells her about how he went into overdrive, because “I couldn’t stand the thought of missing the rest of our lives together.” Daniel and Amanda walk together when Mike helps a still alive, but injured Chozen out of the limo. Chozen is a wreck but still standing, and Daniel takes him to an ambulance. He also sees that Mike stole a Rembrandt painting from Silver’s place and that he is using it to make amends for his destroyed furniture shop. Silver is being escorted to a cop car as he is taken to jail for his crimes. The detective explains that he is facing a lot of charges and his lawyers are going to be busy. Daniel remarks he never thought he’d see the day his nemesis and tormentor will be in handcuffs. Johnny joins them and tosses in a remark about Kreese. This gets the detective’s attention, who realizes they didn’t hear something about Kreese.

Kreese’s body is wheeled into a mortuary exam room. The doctor examines the wound but seems a bit confused. Much to the dismay of the others with him, he tastes what is presumably blood, only to find out it’s actually Jell-O. Kreese pops up and incapacitates the two police officers. The scared doctor begs him not to harm him. Kreese is then seen walking down the hall in doctor attire. He uses Dr. Folsom’s keycard (which he stole when she was close to him) to move through the building. The alarms are blaring as Kreese walks right on out of the jail.

Cast

Starring

Special Guest Star

Gianni Decenzo as Demetri Alexopoulos

Guest Starring

Co-Starring

Franco Castan as Detective
Richard Garner as Prison Doctor
Dante Ha as Sensei Min-Jun
Andrew James Hicks II as Edwin
Rashal James as Prison Guard
Christopher Ryan Lewis as Big Red
Shane Donovan Lewis as Little Red
William Mark McCullough as Redneck
Bryan Snell as Cop
Tyron Woodley Jr. as Sensei Odell/K.O.

Trivia

The episode is the longest of the season with a run time of 49 minutes, beating "The Rise" run time of 45 minutes.
This episode marks the first time that Daniel and his three former rivals (Johnny, Chozen and Mike) from The Karate Kid film series appeared together in one scene.
The title is said by Chozen as they prepare to face Terry Silver.
As of this episode, all three of Kyler's victims (Miguel, Hawk and Demetri) defeated him, with Demetri being the last to do so.
This is the first time Edwin, Big Red and Lil Red have lines in the show.
This is the first time the Cobra Kai credits theme plays during the credits of the season finale, but an extended version of it is heard.
It is revealed that Mitch somehow rejoined Cobra Kai before the finale and was allowed by Terry Silver to do so due to the following reasons:
- He didn't want to get expelled by John Kreese after being defeated by Kyler in a sparring match (in King Cobra)
- Became interested in their new gears and products (as shown in Bad Eggs and Taikai)
- He doesn't like it when the Miyagi-Fangs call him "Penis Breath"
  - Kyler then calls him that to pause him for the traitoring
- However, it was short-lived when Mitch, along with Cobra Kai, discovered Silver's bribery at the tournament, forcing him to quit, not wanting to join a dojo that will make him a false champion.
- This marks the 2nd season finale since Season 2 (No Mercy) where he fights against Chris and Miyagi-Do, turns against Johnny Lawrence (despite Johnny not having any scenes with the students due to him being occupied with fighting the Cobra Kai senseis at the time)
The soundtrack playing during Chozen and Terry's fight is called "The Fifth Battle of Kawanakajima", in reference to the sword that Terry used being from Uesugi Kenshin, who fought with it in the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima.
Chozen and Silver's fight mirrors Leonardo's fight with Raphael in the 2007 movie TMNT.
Johnny, Chozen and Mike breaking into Silver’s home to attack him is a form of poetic justice, as the Cobra Kai’s broke into the LaRussos’ home at the end of season 3 to attack the Miyagi-Dos and Eagle Fangs.
Devon's the second student after Hawk to leave Cobra Kai by switching sides mid-fight during the season finale. Hawk switched sides during the season 3 finale while Devon switched sides during this episode.
Kyler calls Eli "Faux Hawk" in this episode, breaking his streak of calling him "Lip".
This is the second show to have characters sitting on fire engine vehicles after a horrible fight. The first show to do so was Stranger Things.
- Coincidentally, both this show and the latter had them happening in their respective season finales: Season 5 for Cobra Kai and Seasons 1 and 3 for Stranger Things.
This is the second episode to have a character steal a valuable artifact in order to sell it and pay something. The first was Now You're Gonna Pay.