Netflix’s Cobra Kai Season 2: 28 Easter Eggs And References You Might Have Missed

Episode 1

The first thing we see in Season 2 is several trophies in the Cobra Kai dojo. While you can’t see their inscriptions on the show, GameSpot visited the set of the series during filming of this season. It may surprise you to know they were all inscribed with the name Johnny Lawrence, showing just how good a student he was.

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Hey, look who’s not dead! For the first time since Karate Kid III–and the final scene from Season 1–it’s John Kreese, the former sensei at Cobra Kai and the man who taught Johnny karate.

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At the end of the first Karate Kid movie, Kreese has a teenaged Johnny in a chokehold just like this one. Now, the shoe is on the other foot.

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Here we see the car Miyagi gave Daniel for his birthday in the first film. Now, Daniel owns all of the cars–and Miyagi’s former home.

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This is one of Mr. Miyagi’s training exercises that’s been passed down to Daniel. He’s teaching his students the only way he knows how–muscle memory. Later, in Episode 5, Daniel goes through the motions once again with his new student Demitri. It doesn’t go as well.

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Yet another Miyagi technique in action.

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And who could possibly forget waxing the car as an extension of karate?

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No, this is not the house used in the first Karate Kid film. Unlike that movie, most of Cobra Kai isn’t shot in California’s San Fernando Valley. Instead, it’s filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. In Season 2, the Cobra Kai team actually recreated the home, including the front and backyards, in the parking lot at the studio where the show was filmed.

When GameSpot visited the set of Cobra Kai, we realized the inside of the house was left largely empty, save for one room that was built to resemble the way it looked in the film. However, the front and backyard, along with the cars, were recreated as close to the original film as they could be.

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Balance is everything in Miyagi-Do. According to Mr. Miyagi, without balance, everything falls apart. Daniel has adapted the lesson into his own teachings to pretty hilarious results as it ends with his students falling into the water.

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In Season 1, Anthony, Daniel’s son, couldn’t be torn away from his PlayStation Portable. It made some sense, given this show is produced by Sony. However, it also made no sense since Sony stopped producing the PSP in 2014 and Season 1 came out in 2018. Now he’s clearly upgraded to a gaming console people actually want.

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According to Kreese, he spent some time in Panama in 1989. That timing is interesting, given that Karate Kid III was released that year. However, the movie is set in 1985. In that film, Kreese tries to revive Cobra Kai once again, though LaRusso ultimately beats his top student one more time. We learn in Season 2 that after that happened, he claims he ran “off book” missions around the world. While he claims he reenlisted in the military, he later admits to Johnny that’s not the case.

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In Karate Kid II, Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel the “drum technique,” which is a way of avoiding being hit. The movement is like that of a drum Miyagi has–the same one Robby is holding in this scene. Well, not exactly the same one. While this drum is made to look like the one Miyagi has in the film, it’s not as thick.

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Daniel still has Mr. Miyagi’s Medal of Honor, which he was awarded for his service in World War II. While the movies didn’t dive too heavily into what Miyagi did during the war to earn the medal, he was shown wearing it to a ceremony.

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Inside Miyagi’s home, Daniel still has the rules of Miyagi-Do Karate displayed on banners. The first rule is that karate is for defense only. The second rule? First, learn rule number one.

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Don’t expect much professional wrestling in the plot of Cobra Kai, but seeing two friends each wearing classic WWE T-shirts is a nice bonus.

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In this scene, Johnny is wearing a Metallica shirt. This shirt, in particular, is from the Damaged Justice tour, which ran between 1988 and 1989. We’re guessing this isn’t one of the original shirts from the tour, though, as it has been reproduced over the years. You can even buy it at Walmart.

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While recounting his romantic history to his teenage daughter, Daniel mentions Ali, the love of his life from the first film. When she asks why they broke up, he said that it’s a story for another time. This is that time. It was revealed in Karate Kid II that Ali dumped Daniel for a football player at UCLA.

Episode 2

Daniel is shocked to find out Kreese isn’t dead after all. Why? Because in Season 1 of the series Johnny said he was. It’s unclear whether he knew it all along or not. Naturally, the three relive some of their unfortunate history.

Episode 6

Episode 6 sees the returns of Rob Garrison (Tommy), Ron Thomas (Bobby), and Tony O’Dell (Jimmy), as we get to catch up with some other former Cobra Kai members. Johnny spends the majority of the episodes reuniting with his former fellow Cobra Kai members, going on one last adventure before one of them, Tommy, dies. They also reminisce about the old days, with the group being shocked Johnny brought Cobra Kai back.

Episode 6

In this episode, Daniel tells the story of Karate Kid III, in which he actually left Miyagi-Do and joined Cobra Kai. Yes, even Daniel went to the dark side once upon a time.

Episode 8

Randee Heller, who plays Daniel’s mom Lucille in the movies, reprises her role in the eighth episode of both Seasons 1 and 2.

Episode 8

If that jacket looks familiar, it’s because Miguel borrowed it from Johnny. It’s the one Johnny wore in the first Karate Kid movie. Honestly, there’s probably some of Daniel’s blood on there somewhere.

Episode 10

Even all these years later, it still always comes to blows between Johnny and Daniel. This fight, naturally, harks back to the climax of the first film. Now, though, this isn’t a tournament bout. Instead, it’s just two adults that can’t seem to keep their cool and are karate fighting each other in a tiny apartment in the valley.

Episode 10

As kids head back to school in this scene, the song “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama is heard. Released in 1984, it became a Top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 after it was featured in the first Karate Kid movie. It’s also not the last time you’ll hear it in this season, as a cover by Kari Kimmel is used at the end of this episode.

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For those of you out there that didn’t grow up in the ’80s or early ’90s, the Trapper Keeper Johnny mentions in this scene–which has his son perplexed–was the coolest binder kids could ask for. They were often emblazoned with illustrations, geometric designs, or pictures of your favorite fictional characters.

Episode: 10

Not really an Easter egg, but we can’t not talk about the high school karate riot in the Season 2 finale. It’s easily one of the best TV fight scenes in some time. What’s more, it takes the rivalry between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do to an entirely new level and has us assuming Robby’s in jail after this. They should all be in jail, honestly.

Episode: 10

As if things weren’t bad enough, Kreese has risen once again to take control of Cobra Kai, in an attempt to ensure that his vicious and destructive form of karate lives on.

Episode: 10

Miguel might die, Johnny’s lost Cobra Kai, and Daniel is giving up karate. That’s a lot to leave hanging at the end of Season 2, but Cobra Kai had one more twist to drop on everyone–Ali is back in the mix. She’s accepted Johnny’s Facebook friend request and now we just need to hope she actually appears in Season 3.