Cobra Kai Season 5's Two New Special Techniques Explained

Contains spoilers for "Cobra Kai" Season 5

The crane kick. The drum technique. The Miyagi-do kata. Those are the classic special techniques in the first three "The Karate Kid" movies — all different, but all highly effective in defeating their respective movies' antagonists. 

Netflix's "Cobra Kai" has understandably latched on to the winning concept of these finishing moves. As such, every season has introduced a brand new super move that proves handy in a pinch. Since Season 5 has the biggest stakes the show has ever seen, it's only natural that the tradition not only continues, but doubles down. This time, both the good guys and the bad guys get their own cool special technique. The moves couldn't be more different from each other, but they both wind up having a major impact on the plot. Here's a closer look at the two new special techniques in "Cobra Kai" Season 5. 

"Cobra Kai" Season 5 sits on its special techniques for quite a while, but when it rains, it truly pours. During the lengthy build-up of the season's climax, two of the show's most powerful fighters introduce special techniques to their respective students, and as befits the season's central theme, these techniques are just about as different from each other as they can be. 

In Episode 7, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) takes over as the temporary Miyagi-do sensei, and has way too much fun terrorizing his hapless students as they try and fail to protect eggs from his increasingly inventive attacks. However, this apparent exercise in gleeful bullying is actually anything but. Unbeknownst to his students, Chozen plays the role of a proverbial, Cobra Kai-style snake, and is stealthily training the kids to work together in a co-operative huddle that brings out the best in their respective techniques. Meanwhile, Episode 8 introduces a more traditional one-person special technique, as Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) teaches Kenny Payne (Dallas Dupree Young) his "Silver Bullet" — a stance that unleashes a devastating chest strike that can quite literally take the opponent's breath away. 

Both techniques come into play in important moments of the season, and both prove highly effective. The protective "egg huddle" saves the season finale, as the kids use it to protect the all-important laptop from attacking Cobra Kai students. The Silver Bullet sees even more use. First, Kenny manages to incapacitate reigning All Valley karate champion Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) with it during their grand fight. In the all-in battle of Episode 10, he even manages to do the same to Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), which shows once and for all how much Kenny's skills have improved.