Cobra Kai – Season 5 Episode 2 “Mole” Recap & Review

Mole

Episode 2 of Cobra Kai Season 5 starts in Okinawa, 1972. A young Sato trains his students to endure, berating Chozen for trying to take an easier approach to his training. It’s a nice moment, and one that works to juxtapose the training currently going on, with Chozen presented as one of the new senseis in Cobra Kai dojo.

Chozen decides to immediately question Tory, trying to instil some honor into her. “No one can take honor from you. Only you, can take honor from yourself.” He says.

This seems to work too, although Chozen intentionally uses Tang Soo Do against the mannequin when Silver is nearby, a fine way of getting into Terry’s good books.

Terry Silver invites him along for dinner, where Chozen is shown some old swords the man has collected. Terry admits that he’s got a vision, one that’s much bigger than just the valley. He wants to make Cobra Kai and karate synonymous with one another but the actual details of this remain obsfucated for now.

When the session is over, Tory confronts Silver about him paying off the ref. As no one else knows, Silver uses an analogy about a starving guy stealing food to justify his actions. He promises to make Tory the future of the dojo too, but only if she drops this completely and heads back to the dojo the following day. It’s clear she’s conflicted though.

As for Miguel, he tries to broach the subject of him being there for his father to Hector, but he points out he doesn’t have kid and also doesn’t know who he is either. Miguel naturally rings his mother, pointing out that she’s wrong about him but Miguel refuses to listen to her warnings.

Down in Mexico, Robby and Johnny find a lead to track down Miguel but unfortunately he misinterprets a cop telling him to move his van as a barterer. It gets towed, prompting the pair to get involved in a chili contest to try and get the van back.

Robby wins, mostly through some smart deception, and eventually the pair manage to find Miguel.

It turns out he’s actually at an MMA event, but Hector gets the intel that there are feds sniffing around. The thing is, these FBI t-shirts that Robby and Johnny are wearing are actually the novelty gear Johnny picked up last episode.

When Hector finds out about the FBI though, his demeanour changes with Miguel. They go into hiding, where Miguel sees the true face of Hector. He admits that something happened in Ecuador. “Success” apparently.

Hector regrets nothing, pointing out that’s the cost of business and if some people get hurt or lost along the way (like Carmen) then so be it. Seeing the true face of his father, Miguel decides to leave. He rings Carmen teary-eyed and apologizes, but before he can continue, Johnny shows up and hugs the boy, determined to take him home.

With that subplot over, we’re back in the dojo where Terry realizes exactly who Chozen is and outs him in front of the other senseis. As a result, Chozen is surrounded by the others and forced to prove his worth.

Chozen is not to be underestimated though and he manages to take them all out. Chozen turns to Terry and decides to draw a line in the sand, demanding Terry stay away from Daniel and his family.

The Episode Review

So it looks like the drama down in Mexico is finally over and I must say, that subplot hasn’t been anywhere near as interesting as what’s happening in the valley.

Sadly, Chozen is outed as the spy and Terry is wise to his ways. Although the other senseis don’t manage to take him out, it’s clear that this fight is far from over.

With Tory now deciding to double down on working with Terry, the promise of victory in the future, it remains to be seen exactly what this means for the rest of the characters. Thankfully we don’t have to wait too long given all the episodes are up now!