Cobra Kai Scene Analysis: “Reminiscing”

You know that feeling when you walk into a Target and you just want to pickup your cereal without running into that one person from high school? That’s this scene.

Scene Context:

Johnny’s car is being repaired at Larusso Auto. Johnny doesn’t want his car there, as it’s owned by Daniel, his high school rival.

Scene Conflicts:

• Johnny wants to avoid contact with Daniel.
• Daniel wants to visit and help Johnny.

Scene Outline:

PART 1

1. Johnny enters. Ignores the car salesman and goes directly to the receptionist.
2. Johnny tells the receptionist he wants his car moved. She tries to convince him to stay, but he firmly states he doesn’t want his car in this body shop.
3. Johnny hears that Daniel is coming down to the sales floor. He turns and heads to leave.
4. Daniel sees Johnny and calls out to him. Johnny stops and, irritated, turns to Daniel.

PART 2

1. Daniel hugs Johnny, who doesn’t reciprocate. He invites his salespeople over to meet Johnny. Johnny tries to walk away, but Daniel pulls him back.
2. Daniel explains how him and Johnny had a huge high school rivalry. Johnny argues it’s because Daniel took his girlfriend.
3. Daniel contests the point. One of his salespeople brings up how Daniel defeated Johnny in a karate tournament. Daniel jokes about it.
4. Johnny says that Daniel’s win was illegal. Daniel references that Johnny also played dirty. Daniel laughs it off, sends his salespeople away.

PART 3

1. Daniel asks Johnny why he’s here. The receptionist comes up, tells him that Johnny wants his car moved to a different shop.
2. Daniel offers to give Johnny a tour of the shop and get him a deal on a new car. Johnny declines the offer.
3. Daniel looks into getting a good repair deal for Johnny. Offers to repair the car at no cost. Johnny firmly declines.
4. Daniel reveals that the repair cost is hugely expensive. Johnny lamely accepts Daniel’s free repair offer.
5. Daniel gifts Johnny a bonzai tree. Tells him that he holds no grudges, and everyone’s better off without Cobra Kai (Johnny’s old karate dojo).
6. Johnny leaves the shop. Leaves behind the bonzai tree.

Why It Works:

Built to Succeed: From the very beginning of the pilot, we’ve been waiting for a Daniel/Johnny confrontation. Every scene up to this one has, to some extent, referenced the pair’s rivalry, so it makes sense that their meeting is the climax of the episode. When you allow yourself this kind of build-up, you’re allowed to make scenes like this last longer. Whereas most scenes before this lasted roughly 3–4 minutes each, this scene takes over nearly 7 minutes of screen time. Since it’s something the audience has been expecting since scene one of this pilot, it’s welcomed rather than loathed.

Split Up the Scene: To avoid the scene from becoming stagnant, the writers seemed to split the scene into three distinct parts. In each part, there’s a different obstacle that blocks Johnny from leaving. In part one, he struggles against the receptionist. In part two, he struggles against Daniel and the salespeople. In part three, he struggles against Daniel’s apparent benevolence. Each subsequent part is more involved and personally effecting to Johnny than the last. In part one, there’s no personal grudge against the receptionist. But in part three, not only is there a grudge- there’s humiliation. This sense of escalation allows the scene to naturally build, and similarly allows the characters within the scene to naturally react to the changing emotional landscape.

In the Opponent’s World: For all of this pilot, we’ve been exclusively following the disappointing life of Johnny Lawrence. We’ve only been exposed to places which he would frequent, those places largely being the local 7–11 and his crummy apartment. But here, he must go to the one place he’s been wanting to avoid the entire pilot, and when he walks in, it feels like he’s not welcome. He’s a unkempt hoodie-wearing alcoholic surrounded by clean cut salespeople in suit jackets and nice watches. He doesn’t belong, and it’s because this environment isn’t his world- it’s Daniel’s. Everything here is emblematic of Daniel’s success, and by association, Johnny’s failure.

Opposite Reactions: One of the best things this series does is showcase the ever-present “two sides to every story” theme. Here, it is wonderfully visualized in how Daniel and Johnny reference their history. While Daniel looks at it all as a fun adventure which he’s moved on from, Johnny is still deeply affected, evidenced by his aggressive demeanor and shortened speech. This creates a tight tension between the two and makes each piece of dialogue a possible point of contention, thus allowing the scene to avoid stagnation.

Mysterious Motives: We know why Johnny’s here, and why he treats Daniel the way he does. What we don’t know, however, is why Daniel is being so kind to Johnny. We learn later, but here, from Johnny’s point of view, Daniel’s kindness is more threatening than it is comforting. Johnny’s distrusting nature adds to the conflict within the scene, and makes Daniel appear more dangerous than he actually is.

Summary:

There’s a lot of reasons why a sometimes too-ridiculous show like Cobra Kai is so successful, and this scene is one of them. By never giving your protagonist an easy way out and always putting them into the most uncomfortable scenarios imaginable, you create scenes like this which are engaging, revealing, and sometimes, thought-provoking. Always find a way to increase the pressure on your protagonist until they crack or, in Johnny Lawrence’s case- strike back.