Netflix’s original series Cobra Kai’s second episode “Mole” starts off with Xolo Mariduena’s Miguel Diaz spending time with his father. From what the viewer can see, the man is a good person who cares about his family. This leads to Miguel confronting his mother about never telling him about his father as a result. In his mind, Miguel feels as if he was robbed of an opportunity to get to know the good man, he believes his father to be. Also, now he sees that his mother made up the stories about his father being a dangerous man just to keep him from meeting his father. After a long time, Miguel feels as if he has found a missing part of himself, he now knows he no longer has to fill the void of an absent father with any substitutes. On the other hand, Vanessa Rubio’s Carmen wants nothing more than to protect Miguel from the heartbreak of the truth about his father. The viewer can tell that she wants nothing more than to tell Miguel that he was right about his father. From the way he talks about him on the phone she hears hope in her son’s voice. In her mind, Carmen knows how dangerous Miguels father can be to anyone that comes near. Unfortunately, Miguel soon finds out his father is everything his mom told him he was. This is due to a one-on-one conversation they both have where his father’s true colors come out to the light. The truth that he is a criminal who fixes fight matches, steals money, bad mouths his wife, and is implied to have been involved in drugs back in Ecuador.
Furthermore, the viewer can see by the look on Miguel’s face that having seen what kind of man his father is has left him brokenhearted. In Miguel’s eyes he now sees every worst fear of his father being a bad man has come true. At this point Miguel feels has if he is now more lost than ever before. This is a result of his father talking about how he has no regrets about never seeing his mother or being a criminal much to Miguel’s dismay. However, Miguel soon finds himself not alone anymore due to William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence finding him just as his world is shattered. The is leads to Miguel seeing that he already has a dad in life and doesn’t need one that prefers to be a criminal. The interesting part is that as they hug, he sees that he came with his son causing Miguel to rethink Johnny as his surrogate father. This is due to the unresolved issues that he has with Johnny’s son. Only time will tell if the two can make peace with each other since, they both are Johnny’s kids in his eyes.
At the end of the episode, the viewer sees Yuji Okumoto’s Chozen Toguchi be exposed by Thomas Griffith’s Terry Silver as a mole to stop cobra kai. This is due to earlier in the episode him being invited by Terry to his house and incorrectly saying cheers in a different language than the one he claimed to speak. During this, Chozen fights against other people and wins to send a message to Terry Silver. This is a result of him and Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso teaming up to put a stop to cobra kai. It can be said that Chozen has undergone an amazing character development from the cheating assassin he once was to an honorable man he now is. He even goes as far as to openly protect Daniel and his family as their guardian. That is saying something about him given as how he tried to kill Daniel during a festival when they were younger.
Rating 8.5/10