Upon rewatching Cobra Kai, one fan recently took to Reddit to share a very niche Easter egg hidden at the end of the show's second season that they recently uncovered. In the episode entitled "No Mercy," Daniel's daughter Sam (Mary Mouser) is shown holding a copy of S.E. Hinton's 1967 novel The Outsiders. As it is, this isn't really a groundbreaking discovery, since most school-aged kids are required to read the classic novel at one point or another. However, there is a much deeper meaning behind it, connecting it to Ralph Macchio's pre-Karate Kid acting work.
Back in 1983, roughly a year prior to The Karate Kid's theatrical premiere, Ralph Macchio took on a leading role in Francis Ford Coppola's big-screen adaptation of The Outsiders. He played the hot-headed greaser Johnny Cade to perfection, bringing all of the attitude and swagger readers necessary to bring the character into live-action for the first time. Cobra Kai's recollection of his biggest role before becoming known worldwide as Daniel LaRusso is a reminder that, before Macchio crane-kicked his way into cinematic history, he had to start somewhere. That somewhere just so happened to require him to don a denim jacket and grease his hair.
