When Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) arrives in Cobra Kai season 4, his plan may be to turn Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) to joining the black and yellow dojo. The villain of The Karate Kid Part III, Terry Silver is a legacy character who could still harbor 35 years of animosity towards Sam's father, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). With Cobra Kai season 4 building to the All Valley karate tournament that will decide the future of the Cobra Kai, Miyagi-Do, and Eagle Fang dojos, striking at Daniel though his beloved daughter may be how Silver plans to win for himself, Cobra Kai, and his old friend, John Kreese (Martin Kove).
The Karate Kid Part III introduced Terry Silver as the multimillionaire co-founder of Cobra Kai who was Kreese's financier, silent partner, and war buddy from Vietnam. Cobra Kai season 3 later filled in the story of Kreese and Silver's exploits in the war. In The Karate Kid Part III, Silver took on Kreese's grudge against Daniel and Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita) as his own and he enacted a diabolical plot to turn LaRusso against his sensei. Preying on Daniel's temper, impatience, and insecurities, Silver remade LaRusso into a Cobra Kai before he dropped the facade and shocked the karate kid with his ruse. However, with Mr. Miyagi's help, Daniel beat Silver's handpicked fighter, Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), in the finals of the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. When Daniel humiliated Barnes, all of Silver and Kreese's plans to open Cobra Kai studios all over the San Fernando Valley went up in smoke, and Cobra Kai vanished until Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) resurrected the dojo over 30 years later in Cobra Kai season 1.
Terry Silver is a master manipulator who backs his plots up with his seemingly unlimited funds, and when Terry joins Kreese in Cobra Kai season 4, Silver's target may very well be Daniel's daughter, Samantha. For many of the same reasons Daniel was easy prey for Terry in The Karate Kid Part III, Sam could be ripe to be turned against her father. Like Daniel, Sam has a temper and she may feel limited by Miyagi-Do, which teaches defensive strategies and patience. Since Cobra Kai season 2, Sam has been locked in a blood feud with Tory Nichols (Peyton List), which culminated with Tory and Cobra Kai breaking into the LaRussos' home to attack Sam and her friends. Samantha likely craves revenge and the chance to go on the offense, but Daniel wouldn't allow that because Miyagi-Do never strikes first. This is where Terry Silver could easily slide in and seduce Sam with promises of enabling her revenge.
Terry could repeat what he did in The Karate Kid Part III and pose as a friendly face who promises to teach Sam the fighting techniques that her father won't. Of course, Daniel remembers Terry well and would protect Sam from him, but it's unlikely the younger LaRusso knows who Silver is. Silver may even tell a half-truth that he's an ex-Cobra Kai who knows John Kreese better than anyone, and he has the knowledge that would allow Sam to beat Tory and Cobra Kai at their own game. Isolating Sam, who is normally surrounded by her family, friends, and her boyfriend Miguel (Xolo Mariduena), may not be easy, but LaRusso could be so driven by wanting to get even with Tory that she might want to learn Cobra Kai's fighting style to augment Miyagi-Do's.
Samantha also has extra pressure on her to win the All Valley Championship because Daniel is famously a two-time champion. Terry Silver could promise Sam that he has the key to everything she wants: beating Tory and Cobra Kai and continuing the LaRusso legacy as the All Valley karate champion. Judging from Terry Silver's actions in The Karate Kid Part III, there's literally no tactic that's too underhanded for the ponytailed villain.
Terry's plot could even result in Tory and Sam burying the hatchet to fight together as Cobra Kai. Overall, seducing Daniel LaRusso's daughter away from him and remaking her into a Cobra Kai would be the ultimate revenge on "Danny-Boy" by Silver. Turning Sam into a villain would not only break Daniel's heart but it would totally change the paradigm of Cobra Kai to give the snakes the advantage, and nothing would delight Terry Silver more.
Cobra Kai season 4 premieres December 31, 2021, on Netflix.
