‘Cobra Kai’ Episode 9 Recap: It’s Too Bad We Gotta Get Old

You’ve probably seen the ending to Rocky III, aka the best freeze frame ending to come out of the ’80s that didn’t also include John Candy’s face. Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa and Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed step into an empty gym for one last sparring match, not for the benefit of cameras or competition but just to see which of these hyper-competitive rivals-turned-friends is the best. Ring the bell, ding, ding. “You know, Stallion,” Apollo says, “it’s too bad we gotta’ get old.”

It’s no coincidence that Johnny Lawrence has been referencing Rocky III throughout Cobra Kai, a show that might as well have printed “it’s too bad we gotta’ get old” right on the poster. Episode 9 of the series, “Different But Same,” comes so close to giving Johnny his Rocky-Apollo moment with his lifelong rival Danny LaRusso. The middle-aged brawl that was about to go down as a result of the last episode’s car-fire is quickly stopped by Amanda LaRusso—the only sensible human being on this show—who convinces her husband to not get into an mid-afternoon scrap with a high-school nemesis and instead offer Johnny a car off the lot as reconciliation.

The car sale turns into a literal drive down memory lane for these two, featuring a pit-stop at the South Seas apartment complex that Danny moved to in Karate Kid. The palm trees are gone, but the pool has water in it now. “I remember, I kicked your ass around that corner,” Johnny says.

“Yeah, how’d that end?” Danny replies.

These scenes—intercut with Karate Kid footage—are the longest Johnny and Danny have interacted in Cobra Kai, and Ralph Macchio and William Zabka are incredibly effective as two stubborn-as-balls dudes slowly realizing they’re, ahem, not so different after all. Both of them filled the lack of a father figure in their lives early on—”It’s crazy,” Danny says, “us finding karate role models”—and both styled everything that came after on what those men taught them.

As is the case with most nostalgic deep-dives, alcohol gets involved and Facebook gets pulled up. Both men unconvincingly decide it’s totally chill that Ali Mills has moved on to a life completely unconnected to the Valley. I love Zabka’s Coors-tinged reaction to the Facebook photo of Ali’s incredibly attractive, pediatric surgeon husband: “Look at that dumb face.”

Overall, Johnny and Danny’s bar bonding is Cobra Kai in a nutshell, a bit sad, very funny, and incredibly relatable to anyone who has ever felt a little older than they’re used to. It is too bad we gotta get old, but getting old—as Johnny and Danny are realizing—is the only thing we all have in common.

The real genius, though, is pairing this lesson alongside the episode’s other storyline—a Cobra Kai beach party straight out of The Karate Kid—which is all about the problems that come with being very, very young.

There’s no doubt that Cobra Kai has been beneficial for some of its new students. Eli is out here with his back tattoo kissing Moon and offering lessons on confidence like two weeks after not being able to string a sentence together. Aisha has gone from the timid girl in the salt costume to the rager-host that screams “no mercy, bitch” and literally tosses her bully off the premises.

But Miguel is well on his way to embodying all the worst parts of Johnny Lawrence’s past, including an over-the-top jealousy of a girlfriend whose life he can’t treat like a sparring session. Samantha’s mother takes away her cell-phone, so Miguel’s increasingly rage-fueled texts go unanswered for a full six hours or so (roughly fifteen years in high school boy time). The final straw arrives when Miguel, hopped up on hormones and underage drinking, sees Samantha pull up to the party alongside Robby. Miguel has never sounded more like his sensei than when he slurs “I texted and called you all day” like the worst Reddit comment come to life. The inevitable shoving match occurs, Samantha is knocked to the ground, and the new Cobra Kai dojo has officially bred its first student that John Kreese might be proud of.

The past, present, and future collide in the episode’s finale. Johnny and Danny are right on the brink of having their friendly Rocky III fight when they’re interrupted by Robby. Two guys who just bonded over their lack of a father figure are torn apart once again by the kid they both consider something of a son.

If you want a visual of just how fucked up that dynamic has become, look no further than Robby stepping in front of Danny and holding up his fists to his own father.

Vinnie Mancuso writes about TV for a living, somehow, for Decider, The A.V. Club, Collider, and the Observer. You can also find his pop culture opinions on Twitter (@VinnieMancuso1) or being shouted out a Jersey City window between 4 and 6 a.m.

Watch Cobra Kai Episode 9 ("Different But Same") on YouTube Red