Warning: This article contains spoilers for Cobra Kai season 4.
The Cobra Kai season 4 premiere admitted just how ridiculous The Karate Part III’s Terry Silver story really was. By bringing Thomas Ian Griffith’s character back to the Valley, Cobra Kai revived the cruelest and most dangerous villain in the entire Karate Kid trilogy. Not only that, but Silver was also the backbone of Daniel LaRusso’s most over-the-top story.
The stakes were raised both times that the franchise released a sequel. Heading to Okinawa and facing a challenge to the death from Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) in The Karate Kid Part II was obviously a step up from the original movie, where Daniel’s biggest problems were fending off bullies and winning a local karate tournament. The Karate Kid Part III continued the trend with the introduction of Silver, a psychotic multimillionaire who used his wealth to ruin Daniel’s life and force him into a fight with a professional fighter named Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan). Now, the villain who worked so hard to destroy him is back in his life in Cobra Kai season 4.
Upon Silver’s return, Cobra Kai was quick to acknowledge the absurdity of Silver’s character in The Karate Kid III and the lengths he went to cause issues for Daniel (Ralph Macchio). When Kreese (Martin Kove) asked him to rejoin Cobra Kai as a sensei, Silver recounted the terrible things he did to Daniel and admitted that it “sounds insane”. His comments reflected a commonly-held opinion about his character and how he drove the plot of The Karate Kid Part III. As Silver pointed out in the premiere, he was an adult who concocted a scheme to maliciously torture a teenager. Instead of pretending that the idea of someone like Silver focusing so much of his energy on hurting a kid and winning a high school karate tournament wasn’t ridiculous, Cobra Kai embraced and explained that element of the movie.
Silver attributed his behavior in Karate Kid Part III to his cocaine addiction and his hunger for revenge. Understanding that he crossed lines with Daniel ended up factoring heavily into his season 4 story, especially at the beginning. Fully aware of his past mistakes, Silver was hesitant to dive back in and expressed trepidation about getting involved with Cobra Kai again. He even demonstrated restraint and served as a voice of reason when Kreese was advocating for violence against Eagle Fang and Miyagi-do.
While Cobra Kai succeeded in its efforts to fix Terry Silver and Karate Kid Part III, history may repeat itself regardless. Silver’s actions in the season’s final episodes are signs that he may be regressing back into the villain he was before. The vicious beating he gave Stingray, framing Kreese to take over Cobra Kai, and fixing the tournament’s final match in Tory’s favor indicate that his tendency to go too far is just in his nature. Also, it’s arguably his greatest flaw.