After six seasons, 65 episodes and nearly forty decades of history, Cobra Kai has come to end. But Cobra Kai season 6 episode 15 is as much about the past as it is the future, with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) having to face his tournament past to go against Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) for the Sekai Taikai championship win.
Entitled "Ex-Degenerate," the series finale not only sees Johnny's trying to achieve both professional victory and personal redemption, but also the resolutions of years-long — heck, in some cases decades-long — character arcs for Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and the rest of our beloved Miyagi-Do crew; from college plans to career advancement to, yes, even a little unexpected romance.
It's a lot of loose strings to tie up, so here's everything that went down in the Cobra Kai season 6 ending.
Johnny makes peace with his past
We start by going back to the beginning: a despondent, drunk and disheveled Johnny from the series' beginning, visits the grave of his late mother and laments all the things that have gone wrong in his life. The flashback is a welcome reminder of just how far Johnny's come across these six seasons — it's immediately followed by a restless Lawrence at his home with his new bride Carmen (Vanessa Rubio) and their newborn baby, on the brink of realizing the second chance at greatness he never thought he'd get.
Not wanting to blow that chance, Johnny is hard at work with Daniel and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), training at Cobra Kai HQ, but memories of his past fights with Wolf are haunting him. He needs to find balance, the other senseis realize — cue a good old LaRusso pep talk. Rocky Balboa loses at the end of Rocky, Daniel reminds him, but everyone felt like he won because he gave it his all. No matter what happens, Johnny has love and support around him. "That's what makes you a winner," Daniel declares, before commencing heavy training inside the dojo, out on the streets and on the beaches of the Valley.
A high school happily-ever-after
We already know that Demetri (Gianni Decenzo) has decided against attending MIT to be with his best buddy Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) over at Caltech, but the series finale also gives an update on Miguel's (Xolo Maridueña) college plans. The Sekai Taikai boys' champion has officially been accepted into his dream school, Stanford, and his acceptance came even before he won at the international karate tournament.
Samantha (Mary Mouser) is also celebrating her graduation with a special gift from grandma: a treasured pearl necklace that Mr. Miyagi had given her. It belonged to his mother and was later given to his wife, but during World War II, it was stolen by an internment camp officer. Miyagi later found the guard, beat him in self-defense and reclaimed the necklace, the incident that prompted that concerning newspaper clipping that Daniel had found earlier in the season. Consider the Miyagi mystery solved!
As for Tory Nichols (Peyton List) and Robby Keen (Tanner Buchanan), they get a dual job offer from a branding agency to compete as professional karate fighters, promote athletic products, put on demonstrations, the works. They're ecstatic at the news, especially that they get to be on the brand team together.
Johnny and Wolf leave it all on the mat
Even before their Sekai Taikai smackdown, Johnny and Wolf engage in some serious smack-talk in the locker rooms, with the latter poking at Johnny's lingering insecurities about his prior failures. Things get physical, with Sensei Wolf nearly injuring Johnny's shoulder along with wounding his pride.
The big match begins, with Wolf confused about the absence of Silver (R.I.P. Terry), but Johnny is fully supported by Team Miyagi-Do, with Daniel and Chozen sporting the Cobra Kai gi and Carmen cheering from the stands. The fight is intense, with Wolf playing dirty and making illegal moves throughout. Bloodied and dispirited, Johnny isn't getting much of a mental boost from Daniel's usual Miyagi-Do teachings, so his sensei does something uncharacteristic — he teaches like Johnny: "Stop acting like a little p***y and get out there and kick the living sh*t out of that a**hole!"
That tough talking-to works, and Johnny catches up in points. But for the final set, Daniel reminds him of those Miyagi-Do teachings and about balance. With focus anew, Johnny does it — he knocks out Wolf and wins the Sekai Taikai for Cobra Kai! The whole place erupts in cheers, with Cobra Kai students old and new celebrating his victory.
Not a bad way to go out
Following Johnny's victory, we get quick snapshots of what the future holds for the characters: Johnny and Carmen get a new house for their family; Hawk and Demetri set off for Caltech; and Tory and Robby are busy doing brand promos. Samantha is off to Japan for the Okinawa program, but Miguel surprises her with the news that he'll be joining her for the summer ahead of Stanford so they can explore the country together. We even get a catch-up with Sensei Kim (Kim Da-Eun) in Korea, who is proudly leading her own dojo and welcoming a surprise visitor — it's her enemy-turned-lover Chozen!
News of Cobra Kai's victory has gotten the team heaps of attention, including Sports Illustrated covers and throngs of wannabe students lining up outside the dojo. (Paul Walter Hauser as Stingray is back to police the crowds.) To his new students, we see Johnny preaching not only the teachings of Cobra Kai but also Miyagi-Do, telling the pupils that they will need to learn both disciplines to become truly great karate fighters. "Yes sensei!" he's thrilled to hear from the kiddos.
In our final moments of Cobra Kai, we're alone with Johnny and Daniel at lunch, as they discuss the upcoming All-Valley tournament. They're collaborating healthily but, as usual, their differing outlooks continue to amuse. When Daniel tries to calmly catch a fly with a pair of chopsticks — a throwback to the original The Karate Kid movie — Johnny is there to whack it dead with his bare hands. "No mercy!" he says, right before the credits roll.
That's the end of Cobra Kai as we know it. We already know that we'll see Daniel LaRusso again when Karate Kid: Legends hits theaters later this year, but as for Johnny and their students, we'll have to wait and see if any more spin-off series are in the works. What to Watch will keep you posted on all of the above!
All episodes of Cobra Kai season 6 are now available to stream on Netflix.
