Here's How Sam Could Perform The Tornado Kick In Cobra Kai Season 4

Contains spoilers for "Cobra Kai" Season 4

As established at the end of Season 3 and teased in an extensive trailer prior to its release, Season 4 of "Cobra Kai" is largely oriented around a San Fernando Valley-wide war between the Cobra Kai karate dojo on one side, and a team-up between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) on the other. Daniel, of course, continues to instruct his students in Miyagi-do karate, first taught to him in the original "Karate Kid" film. Johnny, meanwhile, teaches his students a style he calls Eagle Fang karate — which showrunner Jon Hurwitz revealed could have been called Mad Mongoose, Iron Eagle, Tyrannosaurus Bear, or one of a number of other, equally ridiculous names.

At first, Daniel and Johnny begin to work through their differences, developing strategies to instruct their newly combined pool of students in their respective, clashing approaches to martial arts. Midway through the season, though, a schism divides the two of them for good. While they both share the goal of besting John Kreese (Martin Kove) and his Cobra Kai students at the annual All Valley Under 18 tournament, they decide to do so separately.

When Daniel's daughter and student Sam (Mary Mouser) scores her first point in her final fight at the All Valley, however, it's with a special technique called the flying tornado kick, entirely outside the purview of the Miyagi-do school. Here's how Sam ended up becoming capable of such a technique.

In the first "Karate Kid" movie, Daniel bests Johnny in the final fight of the All Valley Under 18 karate tournament with a technique he gleaned from his sensei Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) called the crane kick. It's fitting, then, that his daughter Sam, in her climactic fight in the girls' finals of the All Valley tournament decades later, similarly utilizes a special kick to score a point on her opponent Tory Nichols (Peyton List).

The flying tornado kick is first teased in Episode 7, when Johnny attempts to square the fact he's dating his neighbor Carmen Diaz (Vanessa Rubio) with her son and his longtime student Miguel (Xolo Maridueña). After Miguel makes it clear that he doesn't want their changed relationship to hinder his karate training, Johnny promises to teach Miguel the flying tornado kick, which he calls "the most badass move in karate." Sam then shows up to Johnny's dojo, claiming Daniel said that she should cross-train with Johnny in order to improve before the upcoming tournament.

When Sam deploys the flying tornado kick in the All Valley, however, Daniel immediately questions where she learned it, revealing her claim that he sanctioned her cross-training to be a lie. That said, while she loses her fight against Tory, Sam's decision to carve out her own path and value both Daniel and Johnny's teachings sparks a full-on reconciliation between the two karate teachers, potentially bringing their longtime rivalry to an end.