Cobra Kai – Season 3 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Different But Same

It’s Christmas time as episode 9 of Cobra Kai Season 3 starts and would you believe it, Ali is back in town for the holidays. However, that’s likely to cause serious friction given Johnny wakes up in bed with Carmen. He’s clearly conflicted, and that’s only made worse when he receives a reply back from Ali asking to head out for lunch.

He goes along anyway, greeting Ali warmly as the two sit and catch up. There, Johnny breaks down everything that’s happened to him as he eventually apologizes for what happened between the two in the past. This icebreaker works well as the pair head out on a date and trade exposition about their kids.

At Miyagi-Do, Sam and Miguel’s romance continues to blossom as Daniel walks in and sees them together. He’s not happy with Sam and worries that she’s building more drama into her life than necessary. That drama continues though as Daniel talks to Miguel and discusses Ali, who was also his first love and what started all this karate business.

At Cobra Kai, Robby awakens and greets Kreese, thanking him for staying there for the night. When the rest of the Cobra Kai students rock up, they’re less than enthused to see Robby there and want him gone. Tory confronts him though and encourages Robby to use his hatred and channel it into power.

Eventually Robby tags along with the Cobra Kai boys (and girl) as they sneak into Ventura Zoo. There, they steal a snake for their sensei. While Hawk fails, Robby manages to bag it up and brings it back to Cobra Kai dojo. Wait, how were they not spotted? Are there no cameras? Anyway, Cobra Kai are debriefed on their mission and tensions swell as Tory learns Miguel and Sam are together.

With Cobra Kai gaining momentum, Sam and Miguel try to form a coalition between Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang Karate. As they do, Johnny shows up at the Country Club where Ali happens to be greeting Daniel. Uh oh!

The Episode Review

As we approach the finale of Cobra Kai season 3 one thing’s for sure – this season is not as strong as the first two. There’s so much going on and so many individual plot threads up in the air that nothing is given the chance to really breathe.

On top of that, the karate action has been limited this season and with so many conflicts and issues, I can’t see how this one will wrap things up without stumbling over the finish line with another cliffhanger.

Still, Cobra Kai is still entertaining and with the finale to come, quite what will happen next remains to be seen.