Cobra Kai season 5 has revealed that Miguel is still lacking in one aspect of his training that Johnny can help him sharpen. Following the ill-achieved victory of Cobra Kai over Johnny Lawrence's Eagle Fang dojo and Daniel LaRusso's Miyagi-Do school in season 4, Cobra Kai season 5 opens with Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) having traveled to Mexico to reconnect with his father. Upon his arrival, Miguel unfortunately finds himself in a tough situation very quickly.
When Miguel requests directions from a group of Australian surfers on a beach, he makes the mistake of setting his backpack down, allowing one member of the group to steal it from behind him. Once he realizes what has happened, Miguel is forced to pay them much of the money he's carrying with him in order to get it back. Meanwhile, the arrival of Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Robby (Tanner Buchanan) to bring Miguel home highlight an area of Miguel's training that could have prevented the theft of his backpack - specifically, maintaining awareness of his surroundings.
With Johnny having been practicing karate since before Miguel had even been born (the young Johnny Lawrence's training even flashed back to in Cobra Kai season 5), he swiftly picks up on his wallet being pulled from his pocket when he speaks to the same gang of thieves later. Given Johnny's much greater experience in karate, it makes sense that his overall skills as a martial artist are much more harnessed than Miguel's. That said, while Miguel has shown himself to be a great fighter and student on Cobra Kai, the bad situation he finds himself in early on suggests a bit more attention to his surroundings could make him even better should he train at enhancing his perception of the environment he is in.
Miguel Still Needs To Improve His Situational Awareness
Though Miguel's re-match with Robby demonstrates his skill in combat and his mercy, the difference in Miguel and Johnny's confrontations with the thieves on the beach show that Johnny was more cognizant of maintaining his awareness of his environment at all times. Had Miguel kept his backpack on his shoulders while speaking to the group, they would not have been able to take it without him noticing. By setting in on the ground during their conversation, Miguel unfortunately lost his advantage in the situation.
While neither Miguel, Johnny, nor Robby were entering the situation with an express intent to fight anyone, Johnny was aware that he was a traveler conversing with strangers while receiving directions. Decades of the Cobra Kai mindset undoubtedly instilled in Johnny a keen degree of attention to his situation and potential enemies at all times, but Miguel, while searching for his father, was unable to draw upon that side of training, arguably because finding Miguel's father was his primary focus and naturally distracted him. In the end, while Miguel did not need to be in fight mode from the start, taking extra steps to maintain an awareness of his surroundings and situation is an area of karate that he could still improve upon.
While Johnny has transitioned himself and his students from the philosophy of Cobra Kai to Eagle Fang karate, he did not lose sight of what he learned in the former. The offensive style of Cobra Kai remaining a part of Eagle Fang enabled Johnny to realize he was about to be robbed in time to stop it, while that is a lesson that Miguel unfortunately ended up learning the hard way. That said, the fact that Miguel's karate dedication still strong by the Cobra Kai season 5 ending ensures that he will learn from that mistake.