Cobra Kai begins its fifth season (and first pre-credits teaser) with a voiceover from villain Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and a documentary-style fighting montage. Silver is explaining how he wants to expand Cobra Kai. His spiel is to appeal to a broad range of different people and promises to turn your kid into a warrior. We then see more training montages, kids in combat, and clips of state-of-the-art facilities. Overall, it gives the impression of a safe space.
Chozen Togu (Yuji Okumoto) is performing laps in the LaRusso pool when Amanda (Courtney Henggeler), taking out laundry, gets an eyeful when she sees he has been swimming naked. She's furious and takes it up with Daniel (Ralph Macchio), who tells her it has been a ritual of Chozen's for years. Still angry, she wonders why he needs to be there at all. Kreese is in prison, and she thought all the karate nonsense was behind them. Daniel conveys his fears about Terry Silver and the expansion of Cobra Kai, and is worried Silver will brainwash most of the kids in the Valley. Amanda isn't worried about the kids in the valley; she is concerned about their kids. Daniel promises he will not put his kids in danger.
Miguel (Xolo Mariduena) arrives by bus in Mexico to search for his father. The naive boy gets off the bus smiling and refusing trinkets from sellers on the street hawking their trade. Realizing his phone has no service, he's approached by a group of dodgy-looking guys. Miguel asks them for directions, and they are only too happy to help. Marking an X sign on a map, they start shaking him down for cash. Miguel is happy to reimburse them for their time until he spots the scam: they've taken his bag and now want money in exchange for it. Instead of using his karate skills, he hands over a large chunk of cash and retreats with his tail between his legs.
In the next scene, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) is leaving a convenience store in Mexico with a bag full of knick-knacks, junk food, and a novelty t-shirt for Robby (Tanner Buchanan), who has tagged along. Johnny offers Robby a Mexican coke, which Robby tells him is just a regular coke. Robby asks his dad what they're doing in Mexico and not to say it's a father/son thing because that could have been done 500 miles away. "It is a father/son bonding thing," Johnny says, "there's just something we need to take care of first."
At Daniel's dojo, he tells the kids to gather around and how pleased he is to see them all again. He reiterates they had a goal going into the All-Valley Tournament, and it was to beat Cobra Kai. They had planned to close the dojo if they were beaten. And this is exactly what Daniel is going to do, Miyagi-Do Karate is to be shut down, effective immediately. Samantha (Mary Mouser) and Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) object. Daniel explains his reason for shutting the dojo down — due to Cobra Kai growing more powerful, it puts a target on each of the member's backs. Daniel wants to keep them all safe. Samantha confronts him and says she wants to make things right. She blames herself for losing against Tory at the tournament. Daniel also blames himself and with Johnny gone AWOL, it's on him to fix things, and one of the reasons he reached out to Chozen. For Daniel, it is no longer a tournament; it's real life. Silver will put kids in harm's way without hesitation and Daniel must keep them all out of it.
Miguel finds himself in a boozy establishment. He starts to approach a group of card players and a bouncer stops him. Miguel easily neutralizes the bouncer and speaks to the leader of the group in Spanish, who lets him go. Elsewhere, Robby and Johnny drive along a dirt road. Robby is pissed that Lawrence took him to Mexico and not once mentioned they were searching for Miguel. Johnny tells him he wasn't bullshitting about wanting to fix their relationship. When he heard Miguel was in trouble, he had to do something, and he needed Robby's help tracking down a man named Hector Salazar. Robby wonders what the plan is once they reach their destination and Johnny suggests using a Mexican phonebook. When Robby sarcastically replies putting Miguel's photo on a milk carton, Johnny turns and asks, "they still do that?" Robby confesses he'd much rather be at home with Tory (Peyton List). Johnny offers to buy him a ticket at the nearest station. Momentarily distracted, they barely miss a truck and crash in a forest.
Terry Silver is back on TV, demonstrating to Daniel how much this man's influence is beginning to spread. He tells his new ally Chozen that Silver is the antagonist they are going up against. Everyone apparently sees Terry Silver as a kind-hearted, philanthropic figure whose purpose is to save the kids of the Valley, but this is the reason Daniel brought Chozen from Okinawa: to help him cut the head off the snake. Chozen pulls out Sai weapons. Daniel backtracks, telling Chozen he didn't mean for them literally chop Silver's head off. Chozen tells him they are not for cutting, only for delivering a laundry list of deadlier things you can do with the knives. Daniel's plan is to expose Terry as the psychopath he is. He tells Chozen that Terry is smart and two steps ahead of everyone else and to be careful. Chozen points at himself and says, "No, Daniel-san, you must be careful with this guy. Take me to Terry Silver."
Samantha is practicing fighting skills and watching footage of her failed battle against Tory. She's in her father's dojo, and she's obsessively recreating the moves from the brawl. There are flashbacks of a triumphant Tory and a beaten Sam. She stares at Miyagi Do's symbol before she receives a call from Miguel. He tells her he's safe and not to worry. He didn't want people to know what he was planning until he'd found his pop, but he'd called her to let her know the process has proven to be far more difficult than he expected. An annoyed Samantha reminds him of his mom and gran and how worried they've been. Miguel informs her that had anyone known, they'd have stopped him. Samantha becomes quite vocal and tells him that maybe there was a reason his mother left Miguel's father. She goes on about his lack of interest in her life and when he tells her there is more to life than karate, she hangs up.
Meanwhile, Johnny and Robby are fixing the car. Robby asks how he got this car in the first place. Johnny relates a story from when Robby went missing and they had to search for him. He found this heap of junk instead and ended up getting into a fight with the guy who stole it. Robby had no idea and seems impressed by the story. Johnny admits he hasn't been there for Robby, more times than he can count and that he's also failed Miguel. He came to Mexico to fix his mistakes, so he doesn't have to live with "the regret of me." Johnny calls Carmen, she asks if he is at the bus station, he tells her he had car trouble and will be there in a few hours. Sam has put her mind at rest by telling her about Miguel's phone call. Carmen is worried about what might happen if Miguel finds Hector, a man who is unaware of his existence. Carmen wants to come down to them, but Johnny tells her not to get herself in any danger.
People are flocking to Cobra Kai's grand opening and Daniel and Chozen watch from a car park nearby. Daniel's fears have been realized; Silver is enlisting kids who have no idea what they're getting into. Chozen is unnerved when he sees Silver spar with a couple of boys, telling Daniel he has seen moves like that before. They are from a dark Sensei known as Tang Soo-Do, an old adversary of his father and a Master of Deception who practiced controversial fighting techniques which Chozen demonstrates to Daniel. Chozen also proposes using Silver's tactics against him.
Miguel follows the man he believes is his pop to a colorful outdoor market and is dismayed to see him kiss a pretty young woman and play with a toddler. Miguel tries to chat with the child, and he runs off. Johnny and Robby decide to part company with Johnny handing over some cash so he can catch a train. Johnny gets chatting to the dodgy guys who robbed Miguel at the beginning of the episode, and these fools try their same scam with him. Robby has followed his dad, and together they make short work of the goons. Miguel is still following the family when the little boy runs out onto the street. Miguel saves him and the family is so grateful that they invite this boy into their home for dinner. The pop thinks Miguel looks familiar. Robby and Johnny share a Coke on the beach. Johnny repeats how much of a mistake it was to bring him to Mexico. Robby agrees that maybe some of it was, but at least they got a good story out of it.
Silver's voiceover returns, and it is a turning point for Cobra Ka as he addresses all of his students, celebrating that his enemies have been forced to close up shop and Cobra Kai has more students than ever before — but this means Cobra Kai will need a new Sensei. Right as the episode ends, it is revealed to be... Chozen.