- "You didn't fail me. You know when you first met me, I was a messed up kid. But you gave me a job, and a home, and a purpose. You can't just give up."
- ―Robby Keene
"Ouroboros" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of Cobra Kai.
Synopsis
Terry recruits an expert on the way of the fist. Daniel walks away from a fight and Johnny and Chozen pick one. In prison, Kreese confronts old demons.
Plot
At an airfield, Terry Silver welcomes a group of new senseis and sends all but one off: Kim Da-Eun. He wants her to pick out the best of his students and mentions a couple of perks. She’s not in it for the money, and Silver explains he’s offering her a legacy, wanting to spread her grandfather’s style and that his students are up for it. They, along with Tory and the other senseis, begin by heading to Topanga Karate (where Devon Lee now trains). Topanga’s sensei enthusiastically explains that Silver is managing the dojo but actually he’s taking over. He says Senseis Kim and Hyan-Woo will teach for the day. Anyone who wants to stay can take a gi, and anyone who wants to quit can take a thermos. Everyone but Devon takes a gi, but she’s not quitting yet. Silver and the others begin to leave, but Sensei Kim wants Tory to stay.
Tory visits John Kreese in jail, and Tory informs him that Daniel going to Stingray's house ended badly, with Daniel being assaulted. Kreese tries to keep her faith and says he has a plan to get out. When he does and Silver inevitably slips, they’ll be ready. After she leaves, he gets food and looks for a spot to sit. Another inmate, Gabriel, bothers him and takes his Jello, but Kreese doesn’t take the bait. Sensei Kim instructs the class to work on different strikes and to pair up. Devon begins working alone until Tory comes to correct her technique. They snark at each other, and Devon says she didn’t take a gi because she doesn’t know if Cobra Kai deserves her. The two eventually get along and start to work together a little better.
Johnny, Amanda, and Chozen are trying to figure out the next move when Daniel arrives, still injured. Johnny wants to make Silver pay, and Chozen wants to make a plan, but Daniel is done fighting. Despite his good intentions, he feels as though he’s made everyone’s life worse. When he leaves, they need to do something but don’t know what. Sam shows them a live feed of Silver officially claiming Topanga. Johnny wants to attack Silver in retaliation for Daniel's attack, and Amanda tells Chozen to go with Johnny to stop him. The two arrive at New Cobra Kai. They start talking about Daniel and the good ol’ days, and how they tormented him. With each reminder, they try to one-up each other. After, they flip it and talk about all the cool things Daniel has done, again trying to one-up each other with each brag about him. They reach the dojo entrance and Johnny wants to rush in when he sees Devon, but Chozen stops him for now, saying that entering is too risky.
John Kreese goes to his therapy session with Dr. Folsom where he falsely claims everything is just fine. But soon he receives a letter that denied his petition for early release. When he sees Dr. Folsom again, he thinks it was wrong, but she saw right through him. If he wants to get out, he needs to really think about what he’s done. During the next session, Dr. Folsom begins to break through as she mentions someone from Kreese’s past. But he’s not seeing her; he sees Betsy. He talks about her death and how he was overseas when it happened. Betsy tries to dig deeper but Kreese begins to feel judged. Betsy shifts into Kreese’s C.O. as he shares that he just wanted to help kids take their anger and turn it into power. His C.O. points out the wording and Kreese gets agitated. The C.O. turns into Silver, who wonders why Kreese is angry and if he has regrets as Silver goes to Tory. Kreese doesn’t know what he would feel regret for, until Tory becomes the younger version of Johnny. Young Johnny mentions all the people Kreese has hurt, but that wasn’t Kreese’s intention. He wanted his students to be tougher and better than him, and young Johnny is now present-day Johnny. Dr. Folsom returns as she tells Kreese that he can be better, that it’s within him. And finally, Kreese sees the younger version of himself, who says he just has to find the good.
Lunchtime comes around again, and Gabriel heckles Kreese. But Kreese reacts and begins to beat up Gabriel and his crew. The catch is that it is young Kreese doing the fighting. As the fight comes to an end, present-day Kreese is back, and Gabriel has a new respect for him. Sensei Kim does a test with Tory and Devon to figure out who the leader is between them. However, she can tell Tory is holding back. So, Tory doesn’t, and Devon gets upset and runs out. After class, Chozen and Johnny head inside where they’re greeted by Sensei Hyan-Woo. They begin to fight, and Chozen recognizes Kim Sun-Yung’s style. Sensei Kim eventually stops them, and they are surrounded by the rest of the senseis. After a bit of antagonizing, Johnny is ready to fight, but Chozen stops him and they leave.
Back at the flagship dojo, Devon walks in, much to Tory’s surprise. Silver says Devon asked to join and wants to keep learning from Tory, who brings up the test. Sensei Kim reveals the test was for Tory, to see if she could do what she needed. At the LaRussos’, Chozen and Johnny bring Amanda up to speed, including the new senseis. They are ready to fight but Amanda is adamant that Daniel leads the charge. When reminded he doesn’t want to, Sam tells them how she thought the same. She believes they need to keep with this fight. Amanda agrees. So, they need to remind Daniel they’re in his corner. Amanda brings him to Miyagi-Do and Mr. Miyagi’s room, which makes Daniel emotional. Amanda shares how she visited Mr. Miyagi the night before the wedding. They talked about Daniel and how he always fought for what he believed in and standing up to Silver is right. However, Daniel is scared he’ll fail the kids. Robby enters and says he didn’t and that he was right about Cobra Kai. He praises him for turning his life around and ends saying that they need Daniel. Sam adds all of them are in it and leads Daniel outside where all the Miyagi-Dos, Eagle Fangs, Johnny, and Chozen are waiting for him. When he arrives, everyone bows.
Cast
Starring
- Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso
- William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence
- Courtney Henggeler as Amanda LaRusso
- Xolo Maridueña as Miguel Diaz
- Tanner Buchanan as Robby Keene
- Mary Mouser as Samantha LaRusso
- Jacob Bertrand as Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz
- Peyton List as Tory Nichols
- Dallas Dupree Young as Kenny Payne
- Vanessa Rubio as Carmen Diaz (Credit only)
- Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver
- Martin Kove as John Kreese
Guest Starring
- Griffin Santopietro as Anthony LaRusso
- Joe Seo as Kyler Park
- Oona O'Brien as Devon Lee
- Owen Morgan as Bert
- Nathaniel Oh as Nathaniel Oh
- Barrett Carnahan as Young Kreese
- Alicia Hannah-Kim as Kim Da-Eun
- Terry Serpico as George Turner
- Owen Hardin as Gabriel
- Tracey Bonner as Dr. Emily Folsom
Co-Starring
- Ben Bladon as Inmate
- Logan Coffey as Teenage Johnny Lawrence
- Jake Huang as Sensei Hyan-Woo
- Rashal James as Guard
- Spence Maughon as Sensei Rosenthal
- Emily Marie Palmer as Betsy
- Jaden Ponce as Zeke
Trivia
- A digitally de-aged William Zabka plays young Johnny Lawrence, appearing during John Kreese' scene with a therapist, it is one of a number of visions he sees from his past, others include Betsy, Tory, Silver, George Turner & young Kreese.
- "Ouroboros" is a Greek word meaning "tail devourer". It refers to a snake swallowing its own tail. It is symbolism for infinity or history repeating.
- This episode is the first time a Greek word has been used as an episode title.
- When Silver takes over Topanga Karate, he reveals that the dojo had been taking losses left and right ever since. However, this is wrong and little much is known, as Topanga Karate had won the All Valley Karate Tournament in 2017 prior to the events of the show, with Xander Stone being their champion.
- Chozen & Johnny tell each other about their fights with Daniel from both The Karate Kid & The Karate Kid Part II, as well as the good side of him, reflecting when Daniel saved Yuna during the typhoon, when Daniel defeated John Kreese in Season 3, & when he defeated The Hammer & his teammates in Season 4.
Gallery
