Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai Season 4.
The years after The Karate Kid Part III changed Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) although Cobra Kai season 4 reverted him back to his villainous ways. With his trademark ponytail and evil grin, Terry Silver became infamous for tormenting Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) in The Karate Kid Part III. Silver even did the unthinkable when he was able to create a schism between LaRusso and his beloved sensei, Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita). In Cobra Kai season 4, the master manipulator bided his time and then he struck, betraying his old friend, John Kreese (Martin Kove), to become the sole sensei of Cobra Kai.
As memorable as he was, Terry Silver was a one-dimensional villain in The Karate Kid Part III. The multimillionaire CEO of DynaTox, Silver was constantly under federal investigation for his company’s environmental crimes. But when a down-on-his-luck Kreese came to his Vietnam war buddy for help, Terry sent John to vacation in Tahiti while he launched an insane scheme to torment and humiliate Daniel LaRusso. Although Silver was able to briefly turn LaRusso into a member of Cobra Kai, it was all just a ruse to force Daniel to fight Terry’s handpicked fighter, Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) at the All Valley tournament. But despite all the way Silver and his cohorts tortured LaRusso, the Karate Kid was still able to defeat Barnes, which ruined Silver’s plan to open Cobra Kai dojos all over the San Fernando Valley.
Cobra Kai season 4 jumped ahead 30 years to find the white-haired Terry Silver initially resistant to rejoin John Kreese and the black and yellow dojo he helped found. While much of what Terry did between The Karate Kid Part III and Cobra Kai season 4 remains a mystery, Netflix’s show filled in some pertinent details. After his epic failure against LaRusso in 1989, Terry turned his back on Cobra Kai and karate entirely. By the late-2018/early-2019 timeline of Cobra Kai season 4, Silver had long since moved out of his sinister Los Angeles mansion into a stunning, modern beachfront property. It’s not clear if Terry still runs DynaTox but the older Silver remade himself into a respected pillar of the business community. Terry also began a relationship with a woman named Cheyenne (Salome Azizi) and he financed her mindfulness app. Not surprisingly, the “new” Terry Silver disgusted Kreese when he visited his old friend.
Cobra Kai season 3’s flashbacks to the younger Kreese (Barrett Carnahan) in the 1960s explained how John saved Terry Silver’s (Nick Marini) life in Vietnam when they were prisoners of war. Terry also adopted his signature ponytail look from another soldier in their unit who was known as Ponytail (Seth Kemp) and was killed in action by the Viet Cong. More flashbacks to the young Kreese and Silver in Cobra Kai season 4 revealed that Terry’s father ordered him to take over DynaTox when he and Kreese returned to the United States. Silver left John to run the Cobra Kai dojo by himself but he remained a silent partner, co-founder, and financially supported his best friend’s karate dreams. Yet Terry also admitted that he was high on cocaine throughout the 1980s and this was the state he was in during The Karate Kid Part III.
Seeing John Kreese again reawakened the monster inside Terry Silver in Cobra Kai season 4. Silver had believed he had put Cobra Kai behind him, but Terry soon joined his old Captain as co-sensei. In reality, Terry’s manipulative ways resurfaced and he eventually revealed that he didn’t return to Cobra Kai to back Kreese up but, instead, to take revenge on John. Silver carried decades of guilt and resentment about Kreese saving his life in Vietnam, which John held over him and used to coerce him. Terry identified John as his lifelong “weakness” and, when he turned on Kreese at the end of Cobra Kai season 4, he purged the source of his weakness. Cobra Kai season 4 reaffirmed that Terry Silver hasn’t really changed and that he will still use all of his guile and money to get what he wants, but the target of his vengeance since The Karate Kid Part III now also includes John Kreese.
Cobra Kai Season 4 is streaming on Netflix.
