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Kreese, Johnny, Robby, and the cycle of generational trauma

This post talks about Robby's ultimate goal of breaking the cycle of generational trauma that is being passed down to him from Kreese and Johnny. The post goes into Johnny's Hero's Journey a bit. (The Hero's Journey is a story structure and a character transformation arc in a story. I want to do a proper post about Johnny's Hero's Journey, but I may wait until after s6 to do so. Explanations below that are about certain stages in the Hero's Journey are in blue font.) Note, the post contains spoilers for s6!

Since s3, I've been really interested in the Kreese-Johnny-Robby storyline because it's about most of the generational trauma that is in Johnny and Robby's story. (s4e4 also touched on Johnny having his bio dad's things after he had abandoned Johnny and on Robby mentioning that Johnny once leaving behind a VHS movie was the only reminder he had for months that Johnny existed.) The ending of s3 also seemed to open up the possibility of Johnny starting to truly redeem himself. Now, if you follow my posts, you know that I believe there is a difference between writers not knowing how to do storytelling versus writers making decisions that I don't like for characters and characters' journeys. Yes, I did not like where the writers have gone with Johnny and Johnny's story, but I also don't believe that that means the writers don't know what they're doing as storytellers. These are just the decisions they have made for his character. They didn't have him start growing in s4 or s5. Instead, they had him stay the same in general and get worse wrt Robby. Anyway...

At the end of s3, Johnny started the Ordeal stage in his Hero's Journey. About the Ordeal:

Things go wrong and added conflict is introduced. The hero experiences more difficult hurdles and obstacles, some of which may lead to a life crisis. Usually involves looking in a mirror, literally or metaphorically. Can include being pushed to their limit until their identity is shattered or they face death or their greatest fear, and their essence (greatest flaw) is revealed. The hero also faces his shadow (his greatest villain) and reaches his goal. The goal itself does not satisfy the hero's deepest need.

Johnny faced his "shadow" (greatest villain) Kreese and looked in his "mirror" Robby. He was confronted by both his past/present with Kreese and his past/present with Robby. Kreese had inserted himself into Robby's life behind Johnny's back. Of course, Johnny's knee-jerk reaction was to blame Robby, "Robby, what are you doing here?" when he found Robby with Kreese, despite knowing that Kreese is a manipulative brainwasher. Kreese then told Johnny that he wanted them to become the 3 generations of Cobra Kai, and Robby told Johnny to listen to Kreese because Kreese wants what's best for Johnny. Kreese would always tell Johnny that he wants what's best for Johnny when Kreese is trying to manipulate Johnny. I've always believed that Robby wasn't manipulated by Kreese in this moment but was just playing along with Kreese. After all, Robby didn't trust anyone anymore and knew when he met Kreese in juvie that Kreese was using different manipulation tactics against him. (Robby's responses to Kreese in that scene indicate so.) Anyway, Johnny attacked Kreese after Robby said this. Their fight escalated. Johnny picked up a weapon, and Robby told him "don't do it." Johnny dropped the weapon, tackled Kreese, and started punching Kreese repeatedly while he was on the ground. Robby pulled Johnny away from Kreese, and Johnny tried to tell Robby to listen to him and not to trust Kreese. Robby responded by comparing trusting Kreese to trusting Johnny, indicating that Robby didn't trust either of them. Robby then told Johnny that all those years Johnny wasn't there Robby blamed himself, that Kreese is right that Robby can't be his own worst enemy, and that Johnny can be. Robby then attacked Johnny, who tried his best not to hurt Robby, but Johnny accidentally did. While Johnny was checking if Robby was okay, Kreese attacked Johnny and started strangling him. Daniel then arrived and kicked Kreese off of Johnny. At the end of the fight, after Daniel was stopped from doing more damage to Kreese, Johnny stood next to Daniel, opposite to Kreese, and said that Cobra Kai's gotta go. This was Johnny shedding his identity as "Cobra Kai". Kreese then offered a deal that they settle things with the avt, and Daniel and Johnny accepted. Robby then came out and stood next to Kreese and told Johnny and Daniel to leave. They were simply disappointed and didn't try to stop Robby from staying with Kreese.

What's important about these confrontations for Johnny is that earlier, because of his conversation with Ali, he had decided to move on from his past and focus on his present and future. He decided to move on from Ali. Later, because of these confrontations with Kreese and Robby, Johnny also decided to move on from these relationships as well. It's why in s4 he didn't do anything for Robby and did everything he could to hold onto his relationships with the Diazs, which he now considers his present and future (as he also indicated to Chozen in s5e9). This is also why Johnny dismisses or shuts down any mention (especially by Robby) of his failures with Robby. Johnny wants to move on from the past for his own benefit and believing that he can't make up for that it.

In s4, Kreese was easy going with Robby, which Robby knew was to get to Johnny. Silver also made note of this. He knew that Kreese wanted to share his legacy with Johnny and Robby more than Kreese wanted to share it with him. Silver noted to Kreese that Kreese had struck first against Johnny and took his son. Silver also noted to Kreese that he didn't have everything under control, including Robby. Silver decided to take matters into his own hands in s4e8. Silver took advantage of Johnny's weaknesses wrt to Robby. Kreese had figured out in s2 that Johnny neglects Robby, but in s3, Kreese saw for himself that Johnny refused to fight Robby. As viewers, we can doubt whether Johnny actually cares about or loves Robby, but Kreese and Silver do keep trying to use Robby against Johnny. (Although Silver did mention that Miguel would see Johnny's bruises and get thrown off balance, that didn't happen. Instead, Miguel got thrown off balance because Johnny said "I love you too Robby". Also, Silver was trying to use Johnny against Miguel, not the other way around.) Anyway, on prom night, Silver went to the Keene's home, gave Robby his car to borrow, gave Shannon cash, and offered her a job. Shannon recognized this as a red flag and went to Johnny. At first, he focused more on the fact that Robby was going to prom than on what she was saying about Silver. She forced Johnny to pay attention to the Silver part. She told him what Silver had done, why she didn't like it, and that Johnny needed to handle it because it's related to Cobra Kai.

Johnny: "... I didn't have a male role model growing up. Till I met Kreese, and you know how that went. And I didn't want to be like him. Or Sid. Or my own dad. And I took all that bullshit I felt from them and I put it on Robby's life. I can never fix that."

Johnny then went to the CK dojo looking for Silver. Silver called the dojo and taunted Johnny over the phone. When Johnny told Silver to keep his cash and cars away from his son, Silver pointed out that Johnny didn't even know that Robby was going to prom. Silver said that as long as Robby was with him, Silver would take care of him. He also commented about Shannon being a beautiful woman. Silver then lured Johnny into a trap, blindsided him with an attack, and fought him. When Silver got the upperhand and wanted to show Johnny no mercy, Kreese stopped him from doing more and they left Johnny there. By the time, Johnny made it home, Johnny was drunk and in a broken state. No doubt, the experience was an insane one for him. Johnny's turmoil and grief were focused on what he has never been able to do for Robby. All Johnny has wanted to do is be a father to Robby and protect him, but Johnny's traumas and his reliance on his coping mechanisms (his addictions to alcohol and to the validation he feels in his relationship with Miguel) have really impaired his ability to do so. Sadly, despite this experience with Silver, Johnny still did nothing to get Robby back from Silver and Kreese.

I believe the prom night was part of Johnny's Ordeal. (Though, I'm still playing with the analysis of Johnny's Hero's Journey. Because the series is structured like a very long movie, some stages in the characters' Hero's Journeys can span more than one episode, as with Robby's Hero's Journey.) The Ordeal stage takes the character to their lowest state and also reveals the character's greatest flaw and Johnny spoke about some of his flaw: him not being able to be a father to Robby. In s4e7, Johnny had also spoken about how he is passing down generational trauma to Robby:

In s4e10, Kreese and Johnny did talk at the avt, and Kreese told Johnny that Johnny didn't know what Silver was going to do. Kreese told Johnny that he could have been with his "real" son. Johnny said that Kreese doesn't care about Robby any more than Kreese cares about Johnny. Johnny then reminded Kreese that he had forced Johnny to fight dirty and sacrifice his soul so that Cobra Kai could stay number one. Kreese said that that wasn't true and that he wanted Johnny to be number one. Kreese said that Johnny was about to beaten, he was down 2-0, and Kreese knew it would take Johnny into a downward spiral and had been right about that. Kreese went on to say that it does matter whether you win or lose and, if he can help Robby win, Robby will remember it for the rest of his life and maybe Robby can keep Cobra Kai going. Johnny said that that's never gonna happen because Cobra Kai's gonna die that night.

Cobra Kai didn't die that night, though. Kreese had also been wrong about Robby. Kreese had wanted to pass down his legacy to Robby and even tried to, but Robby rejected it soon after he adopted it fully in his fight with Kenny. Robby went to Johnny after the avt and also quit Cobra Kai. Johnny of course had done nothing to protect Robby from Kreese in the first place, nor the whole time Robby had been with Kreese.

Robby has been experiencing the generational trauma through Johnny's behavior and through the Cobra Kai teachings. Kreese's captain had used the teachings on Kreese. Kreese has used the teachings on Johnny. Johnny, through teaching and supporting Miguel and knowing that he uses the teachings against Robby, has essentially been using the teachings on Robby as well. In s4, when Robby used the Cobra Kai teachings on Kenny, Robby immediately regretted it and turned completely against the Cobra Kai teachings. Later, he didn't even join Eagle Fang but chose to join Miyagi-Do. Robby is the cycle breaker! Since Daniel's lessons about finding balance in s1e8 and s1e10, Robby has been trying to overcome his "hate"/trauma and trying to "find balance". He tried using the Miyagi-Do way from s1e10 to s2e10 but failed. He tried to use Cobra Kai to channel his hate into fighting from s3e10 to s4e10 in order to find balance. But, fully adopting Cobra Kai led to him hurting Kenny, which he doesn't want to do. He doesn't want to be like Johnny. He wants to be better than Johnny, like he told Johnny in s4e4. Robby wants to break the cycle of generational trauma, and he has actually been trying to. Whereas Johnny only focuses on how the trauma and his failures with Robby have affected Johnny himself, Robby wants to work on overcoming his trauma so that he doesn't affect others with it.

In s5e7, Kreese tried to convince Johnny that everything Kreese had done had been for Johnny and that Johnny could still get Cobra Kai back and carry on the legacy. Johnny then said that that is Kreese's legacy and that Johnny's in this fight to erase everything Kreese did, every mark Kreese left, and every memory of Kreese. However, throughout s5, Johnny continued to pass down Kreese's legacy---the generational trauma due to the dysfunctional relationships and the generational trauma due to Cobra Kai. Johnny didn't treat Robby well at all and continued to pass down trauma to Robby due to Johnny's continued dysfunctional behavior with him. Also, although Johnny taught Miguel Kreese's Cobra Kai legacy as well as Johnny's own Cobra Kai legacy called Eagle Fang, Miguel has used this legacy primarily on Robby since s1, attacking him more than once, and this has added to Robby's traumas. Robby's life has been affected negatively by the school fight the most, especially with the consequences and aftermath of the school fight continuing to add to Robby's traumas and to have lasting effects on his relationships, reputation, and present and future prospects. In s5e5, for his own benefit, Johnny told the boys to use a "Johnny classic", aka Cobra Kai, method to resolve the rivalry that is essentially Miguel's rivalry with Robby. Robby clearly didn't want to fight but did so because Miguel agreed to it. Miguel "struck first" and drew blood first. They both "struck hard" then. In the end, Robby stopped fighting back, and Miguel "showed mercy". This fight was meant to mirror the school fight.

In s5e10, the juxtaposition of Johnny's and Robby's fight scenes, the parallel of Robby not fighting back against Kenny in the brawl to Johnny not fighting back against Robby in s3e10, and the line that Johnny will screw up another kid---and essentially continue the cycle of generational trauma---are very important.

The only line that acknowledges the reality of Johnny becoming a father again is bookended by these two editing cuts, one of the many subtle, visual reminders throughout the series that Robby is Johnny's son. The statement itself literally tells the audience what to expect if Johnny were to become a father again: Johnny will screw up another kid.

All this leads me to a thought I had for s6. Of course, this is just a musing on my part...

Johnny had left Robby with Johnny's abuser, and that's yet another irredeemable thing Johnny has done to Robby. Robby is a cycle breaker, while Johnny isn't. In s5, the last statement made about Johnny becoming a father again is that Johnny's going to just screw up another kid. Robby in contrast was shown to do more to get Kenny out of Cobra Kai and warn him of the potential dangers of Cobra Kai and Silver. In s5e4, Robby himself went to Kenny and told him that Cobra Kai would turn him into a someone him doesn't want to be. In s5e8, when Kenny approached Robby angrily, Robby discouraged him from giving into his hate and encouraged him to use a Miyagi-Do way to solve his rivalry. In s5e9, Robby went to the Cobra Kai dojo and told the students in front of Silver that Silver is their enemy. Robby looked right at Kenny and said that he has not gone beyond the point of no return and that there is another way (Miyagi-Do). In s5e10, later that day, Robby took part in the plan to take down Silver and made a point to keep trying to talk to Kenny before, during, and after the brawl. Robby didn't try to fight back against Kenny when he attacked him, and Robby also gave Kenny a meaningful look while the video of Silver's confession was playing. Although, Johnny did by chance find Robby with Kreese and tried to tell Robby not to trust Kreese (s3e10), Johnny had done nothing to prove himself or be there for Robby up until that point. Johnny had not built a relationship with Robby and didn't have Robby’s trust. When Robby attacked Johnny, Johnny didn't fight back until he instinctively did and hurt Robby by accident. Johnny did immediately regret it, but he soon after gave up on Robby pretty easily and left Robby with that mark on his head and with Kreese. In all of s4, Johnny did nothing for months afterwards to get Robby away from Kreese. That does indicate to Robby that Johnny as always truly doesn't care about Robby and/or Johnny was lying to Robby about Kreese. Although, because of Kreese's arrest, Robby does now believe that Kreese is bad, Robby still believes that Silver is the worse of the two. Robby still doesn't know about what Silver had done to Johnny on prom night. Though, Robby is also still unaware of Johnny's full history with Kreese, so Robby is still unaware that Kreese has strangled Johnny twice: first, when he was Robby’s age; second, that night at the CK dojo with Robby lying unconscious a few feet away.

The s5 finale started with Kreese saying that his best student, who was like a son to him, told him that every mark he made and every memory of him would be erased. The finale ended with Kreese escaping prison. With Kreese out in the wild and with s6 being the last season, this storyline between Kreese, Johnny, and Robby should/will now be focused on and resolved. After all the writers have always talked about the premise of Johnny's story being that Johnny's relationship with Kreese has affected Johhny's relationship with Robby. It's important to note that, in canon, Kreese and Johnny both blame Johnny losing the avt for Johnny's life falling apart, but the root of it is Kreese strangling and abandoning Johnny. That is also what makes their confrontation in s3e10 so important. Johnny relived the worst moment of his life but has never really confronted what that means for him and how that had affected his relationship with Robby. Instead, Johnny chose to just move on.

A few spoiler pics since s6 production resumed this year have confirmed so far that the "joint" dojo will just be named Miyagi-Do. I have believed since s3 that Johnny would become Miyagi-Do. (I talk about it a bit in this post.) It has been the trajectory of his journey from the start. The biggest indicator of this was in s2e10 when Robby told Johnny that Miyagi-Do had helped Robby and that Johnny could learn from Daniel. Robby wanted Johnny to become Miyagi-Do, like Robby was trying to become Miyagi-Do. Since then, Johnny himself chose to ally himself with Daniel at the end of s3 and then officially joined dojos with him in s5.

Marty Kove has said that Kreese will be on the warpath. Also, at an event soon after production had stopped last year due the writers' strike, Billy Zabka mentioned that they had filmed the first episode already and that it had two mega fights in it and that there's character development. Now, the thought that I had, which is pretty bleak, is that Kreese will go after Robby. Kreese has played this game with Johnny before, and Kreese knows that one of Johnny's weaknesses is that Johnny neglects Robby. Kreese told Johnny in s2e7 that, when you have a weakness, you let your guard down and it makes you vulnerable. I have mentioned this in general before, but now I wonder what Kreese could potentially do to Robby if Kreese were to approach or confront Robby in s6. What if history will repeat itself? What if Kreese confronts Robby, maybe even about his second place trophy and saying that he is weak just like his father? What if Kreese somehow ends up strangling Robby? Of course, Robby survives, but what if this were to happen? Maybe Johnny will be the one to save Robby? Would this be the wake up call Johnny finally needs? That Robby live through what Johnny has lived through? In terms of passing on the trauma, Kreese has gone to Robby directly before. Robby has also rejected Kreese's legacy, like Johnny has. Most importantly, Robby is Johnny's legacy. This bleak thought occurred to me. On the one hand, I dismiss it. On the other hand, I think it is possible. Kreese strangled Johnny in kk2, and Kreese strangled Johnny in CK s3e10. Could Kreese strangle Robby in s6? I know that people suggested this might happen right after the s4 avt, but it may be a subversion if it happens now. Of course, this is just a thought, and this likely won't happen.

As I mentioned in my post about Robby's Hero's Journey, Robby's and Johnny's Hero's Journeys are converging. The Ordeal is the 8th stage of the Journey, and the Resurrection is the 11th stage, This stage is the climax and is also known as the "dark night of the soul":

"At the climax, the hero is severely tested once more on the threshold of home. He or she is purified by a last sacrifice, another moment of death and rebirth, but on a higher and more complete level. By the hero's action, the polarities that were in conflict at the beginning are finally resolved."

Robby and Johnny should/will both go through their "Resurrection" stages in s6. Each will have his moment of transformation (which doesn't have to be literally associated with a death and birth, but could just be metaphorically) after which each will start to resolve his central conflict and obtain his "need". Robby will start to find balance the correct way that is not detrimental to his mental health, and Johnny will start confronting his past with Robby and atoning for it.

"It is here that the hero receives the object of desire they have been pursuing in the story thus far. But it cannot be enough to fulfill the central conflict in the story. That's because your hero must have an internal need that the object doesn't satisfy." "The hero can also be too easily satisfied with the Reward, leaving unresolved conflict. This sets up an even more shocking twist later when the Shadow rears its head again, shattering the false comfort provided by the physical Reward."

I know everyone has given up on Johnny's redemption wrt Robby, but I'm entertaining the notion that the writers are going to bring this storyline of Kreese-Johnny-Robby home. They will resolve it. s5 was Johnny's Reward stage (the 9th stage). Johnny got his "wants", but the Reward is not meant to satisfy the character's internal "need". Johnny's "need" is him needing to start to resolve his relationship with Kreese and his trauma due to Kreese so that Johnny can start resolving his relationship with Robby and atoning for his failures with Robby. Johnny has to grow in order to be redeemed.

About the Reward stage:

Johnny's shadow (greatest villain) is Kreese. That's why Kreese's escape at the end of s5 and Johnny's promise to wipe out Kreese's legacy were left unresolved at the end of s5. It was pretty obvious from a story structure standpoint that s5 was the false victory as part of the Reward stage. Johnny for sure has yet to have his final confrontation(s) with Kreese, as I assume they will have more than one confrontation across the course of the season, at least one of which may be in ep 1 and one of which may have something to do with Robby. We'll have to see... Regardless, Robby should succeed in his goal of breaking the cycle of generational trauma. This trauma has been been Robby's main rival throughout the series.

(I'm aware that, earlier this year, after production had picked up again, Xolo mentioned in one his and Jacob's podcasts that episode one had been rewritten. We don't know to what extent, so we don't know if what Billy had said about episode one is still true. Given how much producing an episode costs and Jon commenting last year about episode one being wrapped and not being redone after the strike(s) end, it's possible that just some and not all of it has been written. There was also a recent spoiler that indicates something important about Tory that I won't say here. If you follow the spoilers, you'll likely know about it. I'm keeping all this in mind while sharing this thought for s6.)

(Regardless of what will be in s6 or what payoffs we'll get in the story, this is an analysis of what is in canon so far. Please don't reblog or reply with any dismissive comment or tag expressing negativity towards the show writers, the writing, or the serious aspects of the show. Such comments/tags minimize the contents of the post, which discusses the serious topics (such as trauma, bullying, neglect, and abuse) that are explored in the show and should be respected.)

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In s4 and s5, there were no scenes of Shannon and Robby, which was disappointing. There were only scenes of Shannon and Johnny, and these scenes portray an important contrast between Shannon and Carmen.

When some of us point out that Carmen has never encouraged Johnny to try to build a relationship with Robby, people immediately bring up the school fight as a justification and frame Carmen as the sympathetic party. But, Carmen didn't try to encourage Johnny before the school fight either. In s2e5, when Johnny was drunk and told her about Daniel taking in his (Johnny's) son, she just focused on the rivalry and told Johnny to be the bigger person. In s2e9, Carmen herself told Johnny that Amanda said that Robby is going to go to school, but again she didn't encourage Johnny to try more to become a part of Robby's life. Carmen however throughout the series has wanted Johnny to do better with Miguel. She has blamed, explicitly or implicitly, Johnny whenever Miguel has been violent and been in fights---s1 Halloween fight, s1 avt, and s2 school fight---in which Miguel himself had chosen to behave that way. He picked the fight with Kyler on Halloween. He chose to fight dirty in the avt although Johnny even told him not to. Miguel also started the school fight between him and Robby and provoked Robby to his limit. Miguel was even going to break Robby's arm for no reason at all. He also used what Johnny had told him in confidence against Robby. Carmen has never once considered that her son is to blame. She is the mature adult and Robby is a kid who was attacked and antagonized by her son multiple times (including in s5). Carmen cannot be so self-righteous as to act like she and her son have the moral high ground in this situation. Also, she has willingly chosen to be in a relationship with Johnny who is Robby's father and to encourage Johnny to gradually take on more of father-figure role to Miguel since the school fight and now of course to the baby she and Johnny are going to have, regardless of Johnny's negative past and present behavior with Robby. She is the one who has chosen to intertwine their lives more. In s3e8, when Johnny talked about his failure with Robby and not wanting to fail with Miguel, Carmen talked about everything Johnny had done for Miguel and specifically told Johnny that he is a sensei and that is his calling. She is the one who later went to him and made the first move, and they slept together. In s4e4, she offered to get Johnny pills when he became impotent over Miguel hanging out with Daniel, changed the subject to telling Miguel about them, and then told Johnny in a motherly way that he can tell Miguel when he himself is ready because he said that kids can be weird about their mom's dating someone new (projecting his own past onto Miguel). She told Johnny it would make him feel better. In s4e7, she pressured him to play "dad" to Miguel and got annoyed with Johnny for botching it. In s5e1, she was aware that Johnny took Robby down to Mexico to look for Miguel. Miguel's father is a dangerous person so the whole situation was dangerous for Robby as well, but she was okay with Johnny risking Robby to get Miguel back. In s5e3, she did ask Johnny about how things were with Robby, but she didn't show more interest or encouragement that he do more with Robby than checking the status of their relationship, like encouraging Johnny to have breakfast with Robby instead of him having rushed over to have breakfast with them. Later, when it came to Johnny being a father to her kid with him, she scolded Johnny like a parent would and told him to figure out how to not be "that guy again" when they were buying the pregnancy test. He later gave her a speech that as long as he's doing this parent thing with her---their child---he'll do whatever it takes. She said that she knows he would. He then said that he may screw up from time to time, but he won't run away, and she then gave him the news that they're having a baby. In s5e5, she was only okay with Robby having dinner with them after Miguel said he was okay with it. Robby is Johnny's son! Why is Carmen in a relationship with Robby's father?

In s4e8, when Shannon showed up, Carmen immediately got territorial about Johnny. Shannon, recognizing Carmen's reaction to her, made her place in Johnny's life known: Robby's mom. Carmen kindly excused herself. Shannon then told Johnny to be Robby's dad and take care of the Silver situation. In s5e4, when Shannon came over to get Robby's things and she realized that Johnny had knocked up Carmen, Shannon was actually supportive and tried to help Johnny so that he wouldn't screw up again. While Carmen has never encouraged Johnny to do right by his first born from another woman but has steered his focus towards her own son who is not Johnny's, Shannon wanted to help Johnny not screw up with his upcoming child with another woman. Also, whereas Carmen simply scolded Johnny to figure out how not to be "that guy again", Shannon did something to help Johnny not be "that guy again". She gave him helpful advice and actually helped him set up a means to earn an income. (She also doesn't know that her coming over when she did saved him from being scammed, but that was just coincidence.) Back in s3, when Shannon was in rehab, she did to try tell Johnny that rehab would help him too. Carmen, despite being a nurse, has never encouraged or offered to help Johnny with overcoming his alcoholism and instead ignores it, even being fine with them celebrating their pregnancy at a club with Johnny ending the night drunk and commiting a crime. Oh, but in s4, she did offer to get him pills to help with his impotence because as a nurse she has access to certain medications. Carmen had shown more concern about Johnny's impotence than she ever has about his alcoholism.

The contrast between Shannon and Carmen is actually quite interesting and noticeable. Had Shannon and Johnny not been addicts/alcholics, it's likely they would have been more supportive of each other over the years. Shannon has always shown a rightful bitterness towards Johnny because he had abandoned her, in addition to abandoning Robby. Of course, Johnny and Shannon didn't have to actually be in a relationship to be supportive of each other while they co-parented Robby, but Johnny's and Shannon's poor decisions have lead to Robby's life and mental health being what it is. And, regardless, sadly they continue to emotionally neglect Robby, like not caring how the baby news would affect him, not caring who he wanted to spend the summer with, and not caring about the lifetime of trauma that they have given him because they were "young and dumb", as Shannon put it.

Seriously, though, go back and rewatch the Johnny impotence scene in s4e4. The level of dysfunction portrayed in Johnny and Carmen's relationship is as bad as Johnny's dysfunction in bed. Their scenes in s5e3 are also enlightening, as Carmen's annoyance of Johnny's stupidity and emotional immaturity is dripping in those scenes. I still can't believe that people cheer on this dysfunctional blended family built on Johnny neglecting and abusing Robby to prioritize Miguel and the Diazs, and Johnny having impotence over Miguel hanging out with Daniel while Johnny didn't care that Robby was training with Kreese. It's like "Come on, people! We, as an audience, can at least have better standards for healthy parenting and relationships." smh...

(These are general thoughts and not directed at anyone in particular.)

[purpleheartskies]

Robby's the only kid shown to get the bonsai tree lesson from the OG Karate Kid. One of many indications throughout the series that Robby is the underdog in the story and the new generation Karate Kid.

In s5, Robby's the one who was needed to convince the OG Karate Kid to rejoin the fight against Cobra Kai. This conversation took place in Mr. Miyagi's old room, connecting these 3 generations of Miyagi-Do and hinting at Robby's place amongst the LaRussos. Then, outside, Robby took his place amongst the students, front and center and across from the OG Karate Kid. s5 continued to portray that Robby is the underdog and the new generation Karate Kid. (Note: Miguel had waited outside with everyone else.)

[purpleheartskies]

This is such a fucking weird question but I really need your help with it 😭 What colours do you associate the most with Robby and Tory? I keep coming with different combinations and I can't decide! I really love your analysis, so I wanted to hear your opinion 🥹

Hi! Thanks for your question! I assumed that you're talking about color theory for personalities, which I'm not too familiar with, so I looked into it. If you meant something else... Well, this was still fun to do, and I hope this still answers your question. 🙂

I get what you mean about coming up with different combinations. There are different color theory charts out there lol, and I was also unsure at first.

This is the first one I found, and I immediately thought of Robby as blue and Tory as orange. Of course, neither is a 100% fit.

Robby as Blue Compassionate and caring - The blue personalities are brilliant at identifying and gauging the feelings of those around them. They thrive when in relationships and they are pretty social and always show compassion towards others. Blue personalities are always trying to ensure that their group is successful and comfortable. If they find someone struggling in their group, they do not hesitate to offer a helping hand.  A blue person is faithful and loyal. You can count on them to stand by you through thick and thin. They have a big heart and are not afraid to show generosity because they want others to follow their lead as well. They are trustworthy and have an enthusiastic nature. Blue personality types tend to put others first and work hard to ensure that they take care of those around them.  They avoid conflict at any cost. If any conflict arises, their basic instinct is to defuse the situation and find a peaceful solution to the problem. They have a sensitive soul and can easily get upset over small things.  People-oriented - Blue personalities love getting praise and appreciation from others. The validation of other people gives them confidence and happiness as it lets them know that they are being heard. They look for opportunities to interact with others as it helps recharge their energy and provides the inspiration they need. Careers that require a high level of collaboration and coordination are best suited for them.  Traditional and rule followers - Blues are not a big fan of change and prefer to do things their way. They are traditionalists and like to stick to their old and tried ways even though they are not the best and most efficient way of doing things. Their inflexibility can often lead to conflict with others. They are unlikely to suggest a new way of doing things or volunteer a fresh idea. They respect things that have endured the test of time and find them reliable. (This part makes me think of Miyagi-Do and how Robby seems to uphold the Miyagi-Do teachings the most. Although Robby also said to fight whichever way works, that's still a Miyagi-Do teaching that Robby adopted.)

Tory as Orange Orange personalities are known for their adventurous nature. Action takers - Orange personalities have too much energy and they are always looking for action so they get to use their boundless energy.  They don’t bother over-analyzing situations and worry too much about optimal direction.  Instead of relying on evidence or facts, they prefer to base their decisions on gut feeling. They are most inclined to go for a riskier path because they find safe options boring. They are ready to take risks because they believe that they can reap bigger and better rewards.  Orange people like to be in control of situations and don’t appreciate being bound by rules and commitments. Spontaneous - Orange people don’t like structure as they find it confining. They get a lot of excitement and energy by living in the moment. Their true joy lies in the present and they don’t spend much time contemplating the past.  Oranges believe that planning dampens the thrill of things as it takes out the spontaneity they crave. Their desire for a thrill can often lead to risky behavior as well.  Orange personalities want freedom in life. They can easily get bored and often seek thrill by competing in dangerous activities. These individuals find it hard to work in one place for a long time and change jobs a lot. Whenever their current job starts being less challenging, they switch in hopes of finding a more challenging workplace.  Social butterflies - Orange personalities love meeting people and being part of a group. They are extroverts and find it easy to mingle with others, especially those who have the same view of the world as them. They have charming personalities that attract others. Their charismatic optimism is contagious and gets them attention without even trying. Their carefree nature makes them popular among people.  Orange personalities do have trouble establishing deep relationships. They don’t have the stamina to commit to a relationship and give it time. (A lot this fits for Tory, outside her rivalry with Sam and Cobra Kai brainwashing.)

Then, I came across this chart below. I also read that people are a combination of all colors but 1 or 2 are dominant in each person, all of which makes sense. I immediately drew a line down the chart for Robby and Tory: Robby is blue and green, while Tory is red and yellow (apparently there's no yellow font option). This one confused me though. It was as common as the chart above, but the blue and green descriptions are switched compared to the chart above.

I kept searching to make sense of it. I came across color theory based on primary colors (Red, Yellow, and Blue) and secondary colors (Orange, Green, and Purple). And looking more, I found some things about warm colors and cool colors. So, like, in the pic below, I think the cool colors blue, green, and purple at the bottom define Robby well, and I think the warm colors red, yellow, and orange at the top define Tory generally well ("sensible" definitely doesn't apply when she's brainwashed though).

Robby Blue represents calmness, intelligence, and trustworthiness. Individuals who exhibit this color tend to be analytical, logical, and detail-oriented. Green represents stability, balance, and harmony. Individuals who exhibit this color tend to be empathetic, compassionate, and nurturing.  Purple is often associated with creativity, spirituality, and imagination. (The blue and green descriptions are switched in the pic and in the descriptions below the pic. I found more than one article that had it this way. Still... confused lol)

Tory Red represents passion, excitement, and high energy. Individuals who exhibit this color tend to be confident, outgoing, and competitive.  Yellow represents optimism, creativity, and enthusiasm. Individuals who exhibit this color tend to be imaginative, expressive, and spontaneous.  Orange represents fun, excitement, and adventure. Individuals who exhibit this color tend to be adventurous, spontaneous, and daring.

And all this made me think about the costume designer's interviews were he mentioned warm colors and color palettes and what he's thinking about when he's picking the wardrobe for the characters. He didn't talk about Tory or Robby much, but he does seem to choose more warm colors for Tory and more cool colors for Robby.

For neutral colors, Tory wears a lot of black.

Black is a classic color that is often associated with elegance, sophistication, and power. People who wear black are often seen as confident and stylish.

She also wears beige sometimes. Maybe it's more a light brown. Both colors seem to have similar descriptions:

Brown is a warm and earthy color that is often associated with stability, reliability, and comfort. People who are drawn to brown are often seen as dependable and trustworthy. They are also seen as practical and down-to-earth.  Beige is a warm, earthy color that is often associated with stability, reliability, and practicality. People who wear beige are often seen as down-to-earth and dependable. 

Tory wears gray occasionally, but it's always paired with red.

Robby wears a lot of gray, mostly paired with blues or greens and occasionally paired with reds. He especially wears grays in scenes were things aren't going good for him, like when Daniel kicked him out both times, when he was arrested, and the whole day of the apartment fight, his shirt inside was gray.

Some interesting notes about gray: Gray positive traits are intelligence, emotional control, wisdom, balance, elegance, objectivity, modesty. Gray negative traits are indecisiveness, isolation and detachment, indifference, and sadness. Neutrality - Gray is impartial and dispassionate, it doesn’t take sides, representing neutrality.  The color gray is subdued, quiet and reserved. Gray is usually an unresponsive color. It truly is unattached, neutral, impartial and also indecisive. Coming from a color mindsets perspective, gray is the color regarding settlement – being neither dark nor white-colored, it does not take changeover between those two colors. It can also be considered as representing balance (being the balance between white and black). Conformity - Gray conforms – it is conventional, dependable and practical.  It is a color of maturity and responsibility, associated with the gray hair of old age.  It will never be the center of attention or the dynamic leader – it is too safe and toned down. Gray is the color of conformism-not having any personality of its own. Humans too show this quality as they adapt to the situation they are in. Compromise - Gray is the transition between two non-colors, neither black nor white.  It takes the middle ground, neither one way nor the other. Control - It has a steadying effect on other colors around it.  Gray is controlled.  Being both motionless and emotionless, gray is solid and stable, creating a sense of calm and composure, relief from a chaotic world. Being both still and emotionless, gray is strong and steady, making a feeling of cool and self-restraint, and alleviates you from a riotous world. It doesn’t invigorate, empower, revive or energize. Gray looks moderate, exhausting, dull and discouraging, but at the same time it looks exquisite and formal, yet never captivating. As gray reaches dark, it becomes extraordinary and also mysterious. Ones who love gray are the ones who try to protect themselves from the world around them. Those peoples prefer a safe and balanced existence, don’t want to hurt their emotions, and control their emotions to avoid an emotional pain.

The first and last pics of Robby above are interesting. When he meets Amanda for the first time (first pic) she is wearing purple and he's wearing a gray button down outside and a red shirt inside. When he meets Carmen for the first time (second pic), she is wearing purple and he's wearing red/black button down outside and a gray shirt inside. It's quite a switch. In both scenes, he's putting on a front. In the first scene, he's confident and in control of the situation (that is the dominant one) as he's choosing this front and the red is inside not outside. In the second scene, he's not the one in control though he's trying to gain some semblance of control over the situation he is in. (At least that's my take on it. Can't be a coincidence that Amanda and Carmen both are wearing purple (also a color symbolizing royalty and these are women he needs to impress) when they meet him for the first time, while he's wearing gray and red but switched.)

In s1, Robby was wearing dark green in his first scene. In his 3rd scene, he's wearing red and black. It's the only time he's wearing red before s4. Then he's goes into more warm colors (maroon, yellow-ish) and neutral colors (black, white, and gray) and eventually starts wearing blues after he starts training with Daniel.

In s4, unlike the other Cobras, he barely wears reds and blacks on their own, other than the Cobra Kai uniforms, during the head shaving incident, and his red suit for prom. Sometimes he doesn't have any reds but just darker shades of blue and green with black, or his reds are always paired with blue or green and sometimes has some browns. The first and only time Robby is wearing a full pink shirt is when he goes to Kenny's house and agrees to mentor him. Robby barely has pinks in his wardrobe. In his s4 finale scene with Johnny, Robby's button down has brown in it and his shirt inside is a maroon.

Pink is a soft and feminine color that is often associated with love, compassion, and nurturing. People who are drawn to pink are often seen as caring and nurturing. They are also seen as sensitive and compassionate. Maroon is often associated with ambition, confidence, and strength. Maroon can also represent wisdom and maturity. Although pink is softer than maroon, the color combos in these scenes are somewhat similar: shades of blue and brown on the outside, pink or maroon on the inside.

The pink in the Kenny scenes and the maroon in the Johnny scene fit the nature of those scenes and the relationships. Robby's weakness is his compassion, especially towards Kenny. Robby will always be more wise and mature than Johnny.

In s5, Robby wears reds at Miyagi-Do and blues at Cobra Kai, which is opposite to the colors that represent those dojos. Definitely some color symbolism going on with these two distinct choices. In s2, for example he always wore blues and grays at Miyagi-Do.

Overall, I think I'll go with the costume designer's choices because they also match how I view Robby's and Tory's personalities: cool colors (blue, green, and purple) with a neutral gray for Robby and warm colors (red, orange, yellow, and brown) with a neutral beige and black for Tory.

What about you? What colors were you thinking of for them?

[purpleheartskies]

Robby is the underdog - Part 4

Follow-up post to:

Robby is the underdog - Part 1

Robby is the underdog - Part 1.5

Robby has a Hero's Journey (Robby is the underdog - Part 2)

Robby is the protagonist (Robby is the underdog - Part 3)

Miguel is the bully in the rivalry

Robby has had 3 sets of bullies in the series: Trey and Cruz, Miguel, and Shawn and his friends. Interestingly, Miguel and Shawn both taunted Robby about Johnny and Sam not wanting him because they prefer Miguel.

Robby: "You can't cheat your way out of this one." Miguel: "Like that move. Learned it from your dad."

Robby: "That's for taking advantage of Sam." Miguel: "I would never." Robby: "Then why did it happen?" Miguel: "She doesn't love you. She loves me!"

In the school fight, Robby commented about Miguel's actions. Miguel had cheated in the avt. Robby had tied it 2-2, so Miguel pulled on Robby's injured arm between rounds to ensure his own win. Miguel had taken advantage of Sam at Moon's party. Sam was obviously drunk when Miguel had approached her and eventually kissed her.

Miguel in turn commented about Johnny teaching him and not Robby. Miguel knows that Johnny had abandoned Robby and that it's the most painful thing in Johnny's life. Miguel knows himself what it's like not to have a dad, and he purposely taunted Robby about Johnny.

Miguel also commented about Sam loving him and not Robby. In s1, Miguel had become a "paranoid asshole" because he thought that Sam had been cheating on him with Robby, so Miguel purposely hurt Robby in the avt after Sam got upset with him for acting like a paranoid asshole at the lake party. He spent all of s2 trying to get Sam back, and he kissed her at the party knowing that she was drunk and that she was now dating Robby (and he himself was dating Tory). Here, Miguel basically said that he kissed Sam while she was drunk because she loves Miguel and not Robby.

" 'But, Robby, your my son. But I hate you, Dad.' Your girl left you, your dad hates you, you got nobody. And now you got nothing."

In juvie, Shawn taunted Robby because Sam and Johnny both chose Miguel over him. In her tv interview, Sam threw Robby under the bus, saying that she hoped that it was an accident, and then she said "We love you, Miguel." Shawn then taunted Robby about Sam liking different flavors of boys and beat Robby up. Later, Johnny came to see Robby and made a scene, getting pissed off at Robby for rightfully calling him out for choosing Miguel over Robby again. That is, Johnny failed Robby as a father again. Johnny then got in Robby's face and said, "I'm not the one who put him in the hospital." Shawn is shown in the background laughing about what he'd overheard, before Robby even knocked over the soup. Afterwards, Shawn made fun of Robby's argument with his dad and said that his girl left him, his dad hates him, and he has nobody and nothing.

Miguel and Shawn both taunting Robby about Johnny and Sam is an interesting parallel and one that adds to Miguel being the bully in the rivalry.

Miguel has a false sense of entitlement over Johnny and Sam. In s1 and s2, Robby became the guy who took Miguel's place at the LaRusso's dinner table, who took Sam from him, who could have taken the avt win from Miguel if Miguel hadn't cheated, and who was revealed to be Johnny's actual son after Johnny got upset with him for hurting Robby. Tory told Miguel about "no mercy": "The world shows no mercy. So why should we? Some people have it good, but the rest of us, we have to fight for every inch of what's ours." Like Tory fought Sam in the school fight for what was Tory's (Miguel), Miguel fought Robby in the school fight for what Miguel believes belongs to him (Johnny and Sam). After all, during the fight, it was Miguel, not Robby, who brought up Johnny and Sam choosing him over Robby. Miguel's jabs and behavior towards Robby indicate that Miguel is envious and insecure about Robby being Johnny's "real" son and Robby having any sort of relationship with Sam.

After the school fight and before prom night, Miguel eventually got everything back from Robby: Miguel first got Johnny devoted to him completely, then he got Sam back, he was eventually recognized by each of them as a legit champ (first Johnny and later Sam in s3e8, then Daniel in s3e9), and he finally got his seat at the LaRusso dinner table (in s4). During this time, his insecurities about Robby subsided because his entitlement over Johnny and Sam, his "rightful" place with the LaRussos, and his title as a "real" champ were validated. Not to mention, he was celebrated by everyone, including the school and the city council, as the "hero". In turn, Robby was scapegoated by everyone, including the school, as the "villain". (In s3e8, Miguel told Johnny that he had to prove that he could win again, and not that he needed a clean win. He has always been fine with his win in the s1 avt, but the other characters didn't recognize his win as a "real" win until after the school fight.)

Before I continue to go more into Miguel's insecurities and false entitlements over Johnny and Sam, I'm going to talk about Robby in this regard.

Robby's insecurities over Johnny and Sam; Robby's entitlement over Johnny

No doubt, Robby is insecure and hurt about Johnny and Sam choosing Miguel over him, but Robby has never acted aggressively against Miguel when it comes to Johnny and Sam. There is usually more context involved when Robby does act against Miguel. For example, fans like to claim that Robby having anger about Johnny giving Miguel the gi and hug played a role in starting the rivalry. However, Robby only made a move against Johnny (by getting a job at LaRusso Auto) and not against Miguel. It was clearly Miguel only who started the rivalry and kept attacking/bullying Robby. Fans also project onto Robby that he believes that Miguel "stole" Johnny and Sam from him so Robby kicked Miguel over the railing during the school fight because of jealousy. But, fans purposely leave out that Robby had been viciously physically attacked by Miguel, while Robby was trying to protect Sam, and Miguel was even going to break Robby's arm for no reason at all. At that point, Robby literally had a reason to be filled with anger at Miguel that had nothing to do with Johnny or Sam choosing Miguel over him. Miguel did taunt Robby about Johnny and Sam and that added to Robby's anger, but those taunts were not the only reason for Robby's anger in the fight. Robby has never once referred to Miguel as "stealing" Johnny and Sam from him. Robby has always recognized Johnny's and Sam's agencies when it comes to Miguel. Robby directs his anger and words at them and has described their behaviors as choices:

to Johnny (s3e4): "You chose Miguel over me again." to Sam (s4e1): "There's nothing complicated about it. You had a choice, and you chose."

In s2e10, Robby admit his insecurity about Miguel trying to "score points" with Sam when Robby came clean about hiding that Miguel had returned the medal of honor. This implies that Robby acknowledges Sam's choice to choose Miguel because she has to be won over by Miguel. Robby also didn't try to turn Sam against Miguel but instead willingly admit his own fault to her, essentially opening up the possibility of losing points with her.

When it comes to Johnny, Robby has actual entitlement over Johnny because Johnny is Robby's actual father. Robby has every right to expect Johnny to choose him over Miguel. Robby having abandonment and rejection trauma due to Johnny and having insecurity and trust issues due to his trauma is understandable, as these are from years and years of trauma. ("All those years you were there, I blamed myself.") Despite this, Robby has still usually chosen to keep his distance from Miguel or to act against Johnny and not against Miguel.

One exception can be prom in s4e8, though the intention was throw Sam and Miguel off-balance before the tournament. Robby's tactic was to do a show-stopping dance with Tory. Robby did nudge Miguel on the way to the dance floor, but that was to get their attention. Later, the prom fight was not started by Robby or Tory, and Robby only intervened because he found Tory struggling with Miguel on the floor and telling him to let go of her. This situation was different than the start of the school fight: No announcement had been main over a loud speaker that Sam was going to attack Tory, and Tory was literally struggling against Miguel and telling him to let her go. Robby had no context of what was going on other than arriving to the scene and seeing Tory struggling to get away from Miguel.

For the Miyagi-Do scene in s3e8, Robby didn't immediately attack or show open hostility towards Miguel when Robby first saw Sam and Miguel together. He stayed mostly focused on Sam and kept his distance from both of them, despite his hurt slowly turning to anger. When Miguel interjected, Robby stepped forward and told him to stay out of it, but Miguel stepped forward challenging him. Robby then struck first before Miguel could. Sam stopped Robby and pushed him away. Miguel acted shocked about this, as if he had just then done nothing to provoke Robby and as if Robby had no reason in general to be distrusting, defensive, or angry at Miguel. To be clear, Robby shouldn't have tried to strike first against Miguel. However, as I've talked about before, Robby was hypervigilent after getting out of juvie, and Miguel is definitely not someone Robby feels or is safe around, especially if Miguel himself is hinting at a fight. Robby even said that he was hoping Miguel would want a fight. Meaning, Robby wasn't going to attack unless given a reason to. Yes, this was the first time Miguel was seeing Robby after the school fight. However, Miguel himself stepped forward with a challenge, indicating that he was ready for a fight. Not to mention, he has not shown humility or remorse and has yet to acknowledge and take accountability for his own faults against Robby since s1 and still hasn't by the end of s5. Miguel acts like he has never done anything wrong to Robby and like Robby has always been the problem between them, which I'll talk about in detail later. Miguel has proven to be the type of person who provokes someone and then plays the innocent victim after they react. It's also important to note that Robby walked away from Sam after it became clear who she had chosen. Robby has never shown any entitlement over her. In fact, in s2e2, before they started dating, when Miguel had stolen Aisha's phone to call Sam and she was hanging up the phone, she said Miguel's name as she approached Robby. She tried to explain why she was talking to Miguel, but Robby told her that she can talk to whoever she wants.

In s4e4, Robby did taunt Miguel about the last time they fought, which was wrong. Robby had gone to Johnny earlier that day to tell him that his students were bullying a kid, and Johnny just accused him of wanting to do something stupid, bringing up that he had gotten (himself) kicked out of school, as if Robby was the only one in the wrong that day in school. Robby clarified that Miguel had attacked him in the school fight while he was trying to stop the fight, but Johnny brushed Robby off. The rest of their conversation didn't go well, and Johnny eventually dismissed Robby. No doubt, Robby was still carrying that hurt and anger from earlier with him later at the drive-in when he stopped Hawk from bullying Kenny again and the Miyagi Fangs including Miguel intervened. Nathan also hypocritically called Robby a traitor, while he and the other Miyagi-Dos, Robby's former dojo mates, stood shoulder to shoulder with Miguel, the person who had attacked Robby and caused their fight in school for no reason and who the Miyagi-Dos befriended and chose over Robby after the school fight and before Robby even joined Cobra Kai.

Miguel's insecurities and false entitlement over Johnny and Sam haven't changed

In s4, Sam telling Robby that he broke her heart and Johnny saying "I love you too Robby" after giving a speech about really wanting to be a father (to Robby) were main reasons that Miguel ran away at the end.

"You think I broke your heart. You broke mine, too."

"I love you too, Robby."

Johnny was so wasted. Johnny had spent months devoted to Miguel and his family, and obviously not devoted to Robby. Miguel had just scraped Johnny off the floor. Johnny was obviously having a bad night too, yet Miguel had no empathy for him at all, even though Miguel knows that the most painful thing in Johnny's life is failing Robby as a father. Miguel wants to fill the Robby-shaped hole in Johnny's heart and not just be a "surrogate" or "do over", which he is. Robby's words to him earlier have been true since s1e4: "You think my dad cares about you. He's just trying to make himself feel better for screwing up with me." Note, even with this statement, Robby is making clear Johnny's agency in choosing Miguel over him. (I also want to note that fans that proudly claim that Johnny loves and cares about Miguel genuinely as a son, which Johnny doesn't, don't even realize how horrible that claim they project onto Johnny makes him seem. He literally shows no genuine love and caring towards his actual son. It makes no sense to be proud about him loving and caring about a random kid while he actively doesn't show love and caring to but instead traumatizes his actual kid while he chooses the random kid over him. It would be an even worse look for Johnny if what fans claim were true.)

Johnny

In s2, when Miguel had first become suspicious of Robby being Johnny's son, Miguel pried into Johnny's personal life by having Hawk look into it. Miguel even confronted Johnny about it with Hawk. Miguel was upset the whole time confronting Johnny. Johnny told them that it wasn't their business. Tbf to Johnny, Hawk and Miguel had themselves chosen to hurt Robby in the avt, but Johnny still acted like a sensei to them during the avt and made a good point of steering them away from fighting dirty after the avt. Instead of reflecting on their own behavior, they both felt that they weren't wrong to hurt Robby and that Johnny was wrong for being upset that they had hurt his son for no reason. After Hawk walked away, Miguel wanted to ask Johnny more, but Johnny refused. Later, Johnny took him to dinner, and Johnny started telling him about Robby's birth. As Johnny started emotionally talking about how he has failed Robby as a father, Miguel interrupted and said that it was personal stuff so he didn't have to tell him. Johnny then said that he should have told Miguel a long time ago (which honestly Johnny didn't have to) and that it's one of the most painful things in his life. Johnny then said that teaching Miguel has been the best thing in Johnny's life and that he'll always be on Miguel's side. This reassured Miguel and reinforced his false entitlement over Johnny, and Miguel thanked Johnny. Then, Miguel got the text about the Miyagi-Do demonstration, and he made a plan with Johnny to ruin Robby's demonstration (that is, to hurt Robby using karate).

In s2e3 and in s4e8, Johnny talked about failing as a father, but Miguel thought that Johnny was talking about him the second time and got upset that Johnny wasn't talking about him, although he knows that Johnny has a son who he has failed. Like a mistress believes that the married man she sleeps with will be faithful to her, Miguel believes that Johnny will be a real father to him despite knowing that Johnny isn't being a real father to his real son (which they had talked about once again in s4e7).

I failed my kid on his very first day in this world, and I've been failing him everyday since... It's the most painful thing in my life. (s2e3)

I wanna be a father to you. I really do. I try to protect you. Try to be there for you. I just suck at it. I really suck at it, but I want to so bad. (s4e8)

At the s4 avt, although Johnny was acting like a sensei to Miguel like he had told Johnny to before and Johnny was still not being anything to Robby, Miguel felt like he wasn't Johnny's priority anymore so Miguel ran off to Mexico to look for his real dad.

In s5, Miguel still couldn't tolerate the idea of Robby having an important, especially a more important, place in Johnny's life. After returning from Mexico, Miguel told Hawk and Demetri that he's not going to let Robby being with Johnny get to him, as if Miguel has a right to be upset that Johnny has his son with him (to save Miguel's dumb ass in Mexico, no less). This also shows that Miguel still doubted his importance in Johnny's life despite Johnny coming to another country to look for him and bring him home safe. Later, Miguel had to hurt Robby first before Miguel would even consider becoming "friends" with Robby. After the fight, in which Robby had stopped fighting back at one point, Miguel gaslit Robby, saying that Miguel didn't learn karate to hurt people but to be badass and find balance. Okay... So, why did he say yes to fight out it with Robby? Miguel got the green light from Johnny to hurt Robby, and Miguel took it and hurt Robby like Miguel has wanted to since before the school fight. Also, Miguel didn't even know about finding balance until he learned Miyagi-Do in s4. Miguel continued to gaslight Robby when Miguel asked Robby why he didn't hold back that day in school, acting once again like Miguel himself had done nothing wrong that day in school. Miguel asked this right after a fight they didn't even have to have, but Miguel chose to have without hesitation. Robby was uneasy about the fight, but unlike Miguel, Robby fears Johnny abandoning him and agreed to fight only after Miguel did.

Miguel: "I didn't get into karate to hurt people." I did it to be badass and find balance." Robby: "Yeah, I understand that." Miguel: "Last time we fought like this, how come you didn't hold back?"

Robby was the only one between them that took accountability for his previous actions and acknowledged how his actions affected the other person. Miguel was satisfied with this conclusion. Miguel then became more satisfied after hearing the news that Johnny is going to have a baby with his mom. After the "I love you too Robby" incident, Miguel was unsure about his importance in Johnny's life, but now with the apartment fight and the baby news, Miguel's importance in Johnny's life was cemented. Miguel not only got to hurt Robby with Johnny's permission, meaning Johnny completely walked back being upset with him for hurting Robby in the s1 avt. Miguel also continued to be blameless and validated in the rivalry, and he and Johnny are now going to be family in a more concrete way. Robby in turn is at the bottom of Johnny's list of priorities, something which both boys now know for sure, and Robby is completely scapegoated for the rivalry and the fights that Miguel had caused.

Sadly, Robby had no choice but to submit to Miguel completely after the apartment fight because of Johnny. Robby's submission and the baby news have staved off Miguel's insecurities for now, like how Miguel later told Hawk that he and Robby are cool now and then not-so convincingly acted like he has no problem with Robby and Sam talking.

Robby hesitating and thinking twice before saying that he's good now too, but only doing so after Miguel said that they're good now.

(I share some of these thoughts and more about Miguel's false entitlement over Johnny and their relationship in this post.)

Sam

In s5, at the restaurant before the apartment fight, when Johnny said, "You'll forget why you were ever mad at each other in the first place," Miguel said "I'm never gonna forget." Well, Miguel was mad at Robby in the first place because of Miguel's delusion about Sam cheating on him with Robby, which he still believes he was right to have.

Robby asked Sam if this is her boyfriend, which is proof to Miguel that Sam had told Robby that she has a boyfriend, but Miguel had deluded himself into believing that she was cheating on him with Robby and that she'd actually show up at a party he'd be at with a guy she was supposedly cheating on him with. He had already been calling and texting her like crazy before he decided to get drunk and fuel his rage more. His rage-filled expression at Robby here is intense and unreasonable.

At the restaurant in s5, Robby even looked knowingly at Miguel after hearing that he had broken up with Sam.

Robby knows that Miguel's issues with him started over Sam. Miguel had recently started getting on Robby's case again.

Later, after they started training at Miyagi-Do again, Miguel tried to act like he didn't care about Sam and Robby talking when Hawk commented that Robby was making his move on Sam. Miguel has no right to have a problem if Sam and Robby are talking, regardless if Miguel and Sam are dating.

"Robby and I are cool now. Besides, I'm pretty sure they're just, uh, catching up."

A little while later, Miguel gaslit Sam about the rivalry he himself had started with Robby. Miguel and Sam being together should have no bearing on Miguel being able to deal with his own issues with Robby, but Miguel has always gaslit Sam about his issues with Robby: "You bring some guy to the party and expect me to be okay with that" (s1) and "I should be the one pissed off. You made me think I acted like a paranoid asshole, but you're on a date with Robby" (s2).

"And honestly, I think us not being together helped Robby and I get along for once, so thanks."

This is in addition to how he doesn't respect her boundaries, like going to her house uninvited after she had said she wasn't ready for him to come over (s1) which she doesn't know about, calling and texting her after she broke up with him and even stealing Aisha's phone to do so (s2), and approaching and kissing her while she was drunk at Moon's party (s2). Earlier in s5, he'd also gaslit her on the phone. She told him that he knew what it meant for her to face Tory in the tournament, but he minimized her trauma from Tory to just "karate" because he wanted her to be focused on him and feel sorry for him about the dangerous situation he had created for himself for no urgent reason at all and without thinking things through or caring about his loved ones.

By the end of s5, Miguel has won the rivalry again. He got confirmation that Johnny will put him above Robby and that Johnny is now going to be family in a more permanent way. He "won" the fight to end the rivalry, and Robby took all the blame between them. And, finally, he got the "I love you" from Sam.

Miguel is not an underdog in anyway, and his victories have come at Robby's expense. Johnny used Robby to get Miguel back and handed Robby over for Miguel to hurt him like Miguel has always wanted to. Sam used Robby in her drive to win the dojo war, which she blamed for why she had broken up with Miguel. This is in addition to neither Johnny nor Sam acknowledging or apologizing for their wrongs towards Robby.

Miguel wants some control over Robby's place in the dojo war

In s5, Miguel also acted like he's the decider of Robby's place in the dojo war. After Miguel heard that Sam had already left the waterpark to get away from the karate drama, Miguel claimed he didn't want any part of it either, although he himself had chosen to take part in it. He then set his sights on Robby and struck first against him, pushing him and arguing with him for no justified reason. Miguel believes that Robby has to answer to him about whether Robby is still in Cobra Kai and who Robby's friends are. Miguel also claimed that Robby's not a "good guy" now just because Robby came down to Mexico. That is, Miguel believes that he gets to decide if Robby is a "good guy" and believes that someone doing something that benefits him makes that person a "good guy". Later, Miguel also acted like he actually has a right to accept or reject Robby being back in Miyagi-Do.

Miguel: "Hey! I could've sworn sensei said that you were out of Cobra Kai." Robby: "I'm not in Cobra Kai." Miguel: "Yet, you're on their side every time they start fights." Robby: "You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Miguel: "I know you think that just because you came down to Mexico you're a good guy. Well, guess what? You're not." Robby: "Look who's talking. Let's get clear about one thing. I didn't come down to Mexico for you." Miguel: "Nobody asked you to go anywhere!" (Uhhh.. yeah, Johnny did ask him to go, Miguel. Maybe get over yourself and check your facts first, you bully.)

So, Miguel not only believes that he is entitled to Johnny and Sam over Robby. Miguel also believes that he should have some control over Robby and his alliances.

Despite his own situation, Robby took a stand for those he cares about like no one has taken for him

Robby submitting to Miguel and Johnny out of necessity, and later giving in to Sam and Daniel by dropping his issues with them too, makes Robby's move against Silver later in the season even more powerful. As the other teens made their own plans to take down Silver, Robby went behind their backs and directly took a stand against Silver for Tory and Kenny. Robby took a stand for the people he cares about, no matter the consequences.

Since the school fight, none of the "good guys"---Johnny, Daniel, and Sam in particular---have fought for Robby or took a stand for him. They all chose Miguel's side after the school fight and essentially validated all of Miguel's wrongful actions against Robby. They enabled Miguel and scapegoated Robby completely. They chose Robby's bully's side, so Robby chose someone who he himself didn't care about, trust, or expect any caring from, because he didn't trust the people the "good guys". At the time and throughout s4, Robby took a stand for himself.

In s5, Robby stopped taking a stand for himself so that Johnny wouldn't abandon him again, but Robby took a stand for the people he cares about and said to them what no one said to him in s4:

"I came here to apologize. I let you down. Turned my back on you. I didn't understand at the time but I realize I was wrong. I shouldn't have just left. I should have taken you [all] with me."

Robby didn't have to do this for Tory and Kenny. He did it because he cares. After the school fight, Johnny had an obligation to do this for Robby, regardless, as Robby's parent. Daniel and Sam should/could have done this for Robby as well. Robby had been in their dojo, helped bring it back into existence, was called family by Daniel, was a caring and good boyfriend to Sam, would own up to and wouldn't deny his own faults, was loyal to them, and was protecting Sam that day in school when he had been attacked by Miguel. However, Johnny, Daniel, and Sam had a choice, and they chose Miguel over Robby. In s4, when Daniel and Sam each approached Robby to talk about the dojo war, neither of them considered the issues in their relationships with Robby as relevant enough to discuss, although Robby either indirectly commented about or openly tried to discuss them. Johnny didn't even bother approaching Robby, choosing to move on with Miguel and his family instead, and Johnny dismissed Robby the one time he came to Johnny (before the finale) to tell him that his students were being bullies. Robby told Johnny that Miguel had attacked Robby in the school fight, but Johnny didn't care. Also, before the school fight, Johnny, Daniel, and Sam were upset with Miguel for having cheated in the avt, but after the school fight, they all happily call him the "champ" and act as if his win is no longer a dirty win that came at Robby's expense, which of course it still is.

Will the writers "pull a Keyser Soze"?

I really hope Miguel and the others get knocked down a few pegs in the final season. The seeds are all there. When Johnny and Sam realize and when Daniel remembers that Miguel's been the bully since the start and that Robby's been the underdog all along, it will be a wake up call for them. Not only would they realize that Miguel has been the bully all along, but they will also realize that they themselves have been in the wrong wrt Robby since the school fight. That is, it will bring about an external shift and an internal shift for the characters.

Many stories do this. Lay breadcrumbs for a big plot twist that recontextualizes the whole story up until that point. This is known as a retroactive plot twist and can many times come in the form of a character reveal. Two popular examples of this are in The Sixth Sense and Shutter Island. A most recent experience I had with this was while watching s1 of the Kung Fu Panda series (still mindblown by the effective and unexpected plot twist in this kid's cartoon).

The Usual Suspects is of course another example in which the big plot twist at the end recontextualized the whole story because it's revealed to be told by an unreliable narrator. Interestingly, a little while before Miguel first apparently displayed his entitlement and possessiveness over Sam through his behavior at the lake party, Sam had made a reference to this movie to Robby: "Did you just pull a Keyser Soze?" Robby had pretended to have a sprained ankle and need a ride home to get Sam out of house arrest. Given how much foreshadowing is used in the show, it's reasonable to assume that this line was not just a reference to Robby faking an ankle injury, but also a narrative hint that the writers are going to "subvert expectations" (as they have promised) and will "pull a Keyser Soze" with Miguel's character.

Miguels' traits of entitlement, possessiveness, being controlling, gaslighting, being self-serving, and lacking remorse, empathy, self-awareness, and humility have been consistent and have been in contrast to Robby's character traits throughout all 5 seasons. And as I described in my Robby is the protagonist post, separating the main pov character (Miguel) and the protagonist (Robby) roles is one way to tell a story through an unreliable narrator (Miguel) and set up for a big plot twist / character reveal.

Sam believes that Cobra Kai caused Miguel to act this way in s1, but Miguel's traits and behaviors haven't changed since. He called Robby the "enemy" in s1 and still claimed Robby wasn't a "good guy" in s5, until he got to hurt Robby in s5 like he did here in s1. Johnny had gotten upset with Miguel for hurting Robby in s1 but now allowed Miguel to hurt Robby in s5. Miguel has never once acknowledged or taken accountability for his own actions against Robby, but Miguel and the majority audience have consistently viewed Robby as the "bad guy" in Miguel's own story since s1, even before their fight in school, which Miguel himself had started and escalated to the point of wanting to break Robby's arm for no reason at all and which Miguel has shown no self-reflection or humility about since. In s3, Daniel also gave Miguel a chance after Sam brushed off Daniel's concern about Robby's feelings about her getting back together with Miguel. Sam claimed that Daniel should trust her because she is his daughter and should give Miguel a chance because he isn't Cobra Kai's number one bully anymore. Johnny and Miguel also believe that they're no longer Cobra Kai because they are now Eagle Fang. But Eagle Fang is essentially just Cobra Kai with "no mercy" replaced with "show mercy sometimes". Johnny had told Miguel that Johnny was never taught the difference between honor and mercy, and clearly Johnny and Miguel still don't know the difference between honor and mercy. Johnny and Miguel also both fall back on "Johnny classic", aka Cobra Kai, teachings when they feel like it, like for the apartment fight. Hayden once said about Miguel: "You can take Miguel out of Cobra Kai, but you can't take Cobra Kai out of Miguel." This is supported by canon.

The Miyagi Fang characters, except Robby, believe that being in Cobra Kai makes someone a "bad guy" and a "bad person" and being in Miyagi Fang makes someone a "good guy" and a "good person", but Robby's perspective of the characters would reveal that being in Miyagi Fang, that is being a "good guy", doesn't necessarily make someone a "good person" from someone else's perspective. (I plan to do a post to elaborate on this more.)

Once the other characters understand Robby's perspective as part of a plot twist that involves the reveal about Miguel being the bully, a philosophical shift will occur for the characters. The combination of an external shift (Miguel is not the victim/underdog but the bully), an internal shift (the realization that they themselves chose wrong and supported the wrong person), and a philosophical shift (leaving Cobra Kai and joining Miyagi Fang doesn't mean someone is no longer a bully and automatically a "good person") make for a meaningful plot twist. As I said, the seeds have been consistently planted, including in s5, for this character reveal.

The writers have included small plot twists including character reveals throughout the series, so the idea of the writers doing a greater, overarching subversion via a character reveal isn't impossible. For example, in s3e5, Chozen duped Daniel and the audience by pretending to be uptight and serious the whole time until he beat Daniel in a fight, honked his nose, and burst out laughing. In s5e3, Daniel overheard Barnes' phone conversation that was intentionally written to have a double meaning so that Daniel and the audience would get the wrong idea about Barnes, but then it was revealed that Barnes had changed his ways for the better. Of course, a great little plot twist, though not a character reveal, was when Kreese was arrested at the end of s4 and it was revealed that Stingray had falsely accused Kreese of assault for Silver.

Another type of plot twist is a trajectory plot twist, which changes the direction of the story, like the Stingray twist did for Kreese's character, Cobra Kai's future, and the dojo war. This type of plot twist is more common. Sometimes, these two types of plot twists (retroactive and trajectory) are combined in a character reveal, so the audience not only sees a character's truth but the twist also charts a new course for the characters moving forward.

Miguel is the strongest hold out in a fading Eagle Fang. He's is a true Cobra. He took to the teachings very quickly, with little to no brainwashing. He still strikes first when he feels entitled to. He only "shows mercy" because Johnny told him to, and "showing mercy" is the one thing he regrets doing in the school fight. He still doesn't acknowledge or take accountability for his wrongs because he doesn't comprehend what he does wrong. He gets upset when anyone calls him out for his wrongs, like when Robby did in the school fight in s2, when Sam did at the s1 avt, when Johnny did after the sprinkler prank in s4, and when Sam did over the phone in s5.

Since s4, I've wondered if Miguel would rejoin Cobra Kai as Silver's student/protégé. In addition to Miguel's consistent character traits listed above, the parallels between Miguel and Silver in the story are interesting:

In s4e8, Silver and Miguel each realized that they aren't the most important person to the person they're most loyal to. Silver realized Johnny is more important to Kreese. Miguel realized that Robby is more important to Johnny.

In s1e10, Miguel wanted to show no mercy to Robby and reminded Johnny about their lesson when Johnny tried to stop Miguel from showing no mercy to Robby. In s4e8, Silver wanted to show no mercy to Johnny and reminded Kreese about their lessons when Kreese tried to stop Silver from showing no mercy to Johnny. Though, Miguel did follow through with showing no mercy while Silver didn't.

In s4e10, Silver and Miguel each undermined and gave up on the person they were most loyal to. Silver framed Kreese and got him arrested. Miguel walked away from the tournament, making it a sure loss for Johnny.

At the end of the s4 avt, Silver was enjoying his dirty win while Robby stood behind him upset and Johnny sadly watched from the side. At the end of the s1 avt, Miguel was enjoying his dirty win while Johnny stood behind him upset and Robby sadly watched from the side. 

In s5e5, Daniel was coaxed into a fight with Silver, and Silver showed mercy in the end. Robby was pressured into a fight with Miguel, and Miguel showed mercy in the end.

In s5e10, although Daniel got his victory over Silver, Robby is yet to get his victory over Miguel. Given that Robby and Miguel's rivalry is linked to Johnny's story and the root of this parallel is really between Kreese-Silver-Johnny and Johnny-Miguel-Robby, the real conclusion to the Miguel-Robby rivalry will come next season. (The director who did s5e10 said in an interview that Kreese's escape was the cliffhanger indicating that there is more story to tell, which was pretty obvious given how the season ended. Like Daniel got his victory over Silver, Johnny needs his final victory over Kreese by wiping out Kreese's legacy (payoff), as Johnny said he would (setup). The writers have also confirmed that the feelings are all still there, things aren't resolved, and the teen rivalries have yet to be explored.)

Cobra Kai is all about the character stories. The dojo war is just a setting to explore these stories. The consistency of the characterizations and character motivations throughout all 5 seasons holds. What's left is at least one big plot twist. The writers have promised that they'll "subvert expectations", which they have yet to do in a meaningful way, especially given the layered story that they've built out. Although the baby plot can be considered a "subversion", it doesn't fit the criteria. The audience, at least the majority, weren't subverted by it. Also, the characters behaved consistently, except for Robby, who immediately became a different person. This seems more like a red herring. Although Robby himself changed (as this was a plot twist in his own story), the other characters and their perceptions and motivations didn't change. Everyone still views Miguel and Robby as the "underdog" and "bully" respectively, Johnny used the baby as another chance to feel better about screwing up with Robby and continued to fail with Robby, the other character's perceptions of themselves or anything else didn't change, and the fans now believe without a doubt that Johnny will end up with the Diazs and with Robby tacked on as an afterthought.

Johnny and Miguel are unreliable narrators, and the context of the story works against them throughout the series, including in s5. This is a story, and anything within the realm of plausibility within this story universe can happen. For example, with the right combination of events and incentive for Miguel, like for example Johnny, Daniel, and Sam finally waking up and taking Robby's side (if this truly is Johnny's redemption story, and Daniel and Sam are to end on long-lasting positive notes) and Silver offering to pay for Miguel's college as sponsorship to fight for Cobra Kai, it's still very possible for Miguel to rejoin Cobra Kai. (There's also a theory that the baby isn't Johnny's because of the timeline of the pregnancy and Johnny's impotency in s4. This could be another plausible plot twist that the writers could use to "subvert expectations". A reveal like this would also stoke Miguel's insecurities again about his importance in Johnny's life.)

The story has to come to its resolution now. Being a Karate Kid story, the underdog will win in the end. The subversion wrt to the underdog winning would be the reveal of the true identity of the story's underdog (Robby) and not dropping the franchise's theme of the underdog winning against all odds. "Pulling a Keyser Soze" with Miguel's character would not only "subvert expectations" for the other characters and for non-Robby fans, but it would also "subvert expectations" for Robby fans who like Robby have lost all hope of anything changing for the better for Robby:

"But it just made things worse, and now it's never gonna get better." -- Robby fans about s5

SPOILER WARNING!!! The s6 leaks of Johnny, Daniel, Robby, Sam, and Miguel in Barcelona for a Sekai Taikai event are also interesting. As I said, Johnny, Daniel, and Sam are the ones who have to realize that they have chosen the wrong side between the boys. The mystery guy at the beach looks like Robby from far away (the height being the main difference, but from far away and at the right angle, it can look like he's Robby). Given Miguel's traits and past behavior, if he were to see Sam talking and laughing with some shirtless guy on the beach who is doing kata and who looks like Robby, Miguel will not like it and his insecurities will flare up again. This itself can lead to some drama. Maybe Miguel will accuse Sam of cheating on him with Robby again and Miguel will start things up with Robby again, so Daniel and Johnny will have to intervene. Daniel will believe Sam that she wasn't cheating and it wasn't Robby, while Johnny will have to make a choice: believe Miguel's accusation or believe Robby that it wasn't him. Would Johnny project his own past onto the situation and take Miguel's side? After all, Miguel is the Johnny in this new generation, Robby is the Daniel, and Sam is the Ali. Or, will Johnny finally step up and choose Robby, which Johnny should have always done (and because Johnny has to grow wrt Robby if Johnny is to be redeemed!). Miguel will likely remind Johnny that he said that he would always be on Miguel's side. But, with Sam and Daniel insisting that Miguel is simply wrong with his accusation, Johnny might choose right and choose Robby. Though, that would come with the caveat that Johnny didn't simply believe Robby. Regardless, this type of scenario would definitely lead to more drama between these 5. Johnny taking Robby's side over Miguel's will be like prom night all over again for Miguel, stoking his insecurities even more. But, hopefully this time, things will start moving in the right direction for Robby.

(Regardless of what will be in s6 or what payoffs we'll get in the story, this is an analysis of what is in canon so far. Please don't reblog or reply with any dismissive comment or tag expressing negativity towards the show writers, the writing, or the serious aspects of the show. Such comments/tags minimize the contents of the post, which discusses the serious topics (such as trauma, bullying, neglect, and abuse) that are explored in the show and should be respected.)

[purpleheartskies]

The Neglect of Robby Keene

This post focuses on how neglect, abandonment, and emotional neglect are constants for Robby and how these led to Robby's behavior in s5. Interestingly, I'd written a draft of this post for s1-s4 before s5 came out. I didn't post the draft at the time because s5 was going to come out soon and the spoilers/leaks had started. After s5, I was easily able to update the draft to include the relevant content from s5 because Robby's story in s5 fit right into the post, sadly.

A recurring punishment for Robby is abandonment and neglect. Johnny bails for months from Robby's life whenever Johnny and Robby argue. Both of his parent's responses to him quitting school and giving them attitude about it was to just abandon him to his decision. And after he was dumped into juvie, neither Johnny nor Shannon made genuine efforts to be there for Robby as he needed them to be.

"You know, all those years you weren't there, I blamed myself."

Really, Robby doesn't even have to do anything to be abandoned or neglected by his parents, as is the case with situations like Robby's. Johnny walked away before Robby was born, making the decision then not to be there for Robby as a parent should be. Shannon constantly bailed and probably left Robby with no food or money often. Robby's sigh when he was going to fill his bowl of cereal with water was so telling.

Robby acts in no way surprised by Johnny and Shannon's behavior, and when he calls it out, he uses phrases like "it took 16 years", "same as it always goes", "again", "all those years", indicating the consistency of their behavior. Even when Shannon was leaving for Mexico in s2, Robby wasn't surprised that she was leaving but was worried about the bills and rent. He had also commented that she had been gone for days and he thought that someone had been breaking in, indicating that he hadn't been expecting her to return so soon. She had no concern for his well-being. Instead, she asked him what was wrong with him because he had attacked the guy with her, who had been entering the apartment, even though she had been gone for days with no obvious communication with Robby about when she would be returning. She was gone for months after this, and Robby ran out of money and food. Daniel took Robby in, and then months after, when Shannon returned from Mexico and said that she was leaving again, Robby asked her where she was going "this time".

Shannon: "Robby, what is wrong with you?!?" Robby: "What is wrong with me? You haven't been here in days. I thought someone broke in."

In fact, since s1, Johnny's abandonment and neglect of Robby has involved Johnny replacing him as well. Johnny not only gave up on Robby so easily after Robby said that he didn't want to go back to school and told Johnny to leave. Johnny also told Robby that he didn't care if Robby went to school, simply because Robby made some pointed comments and gave him some attitude. Johnny then went and dedicated himself to a random kid to put all of his efforts into, instead of going back to Robby and making a firm commitment to change and do better with him.

Robby seeing Johnny share a father-son moment with a random kid, after Johnny had affirmed Robby's comment that Johnny hasn't cared for 16 years by saying that he doesn't care if Robby goes to school.

Abandonment/neglect is so often a punishment and a constant for Robby that, when Daniel disowned Robby, Robby was generally accepting of this punishment. The first time Daniel kicked Robby out, Robby did try to explain himself in the moment, but the next day at the avt, he was back to his usual quiet demeanor, not saying anything to Daniel and just leaving him be. And when Daniel came to speak to him, Robby apologized and explained himself, not making the slightest mention of the harshness of that punishment without being given a chance to explain. Daniel had told Robby after he had fallen for Louie's first prank that Daniel would listen to Robby's side next time, which Daniel didn't do. The second time Daniel disowned Robby, not just as his student but as part of his family too, saying that it was all a mistake and once again not giving Robby a chance to explain, Robby was quietly sad about it but had no anger towards Daniel about his words or disownment. Instead, Robby defended Daniel's overall kindness to him and told Johnny that he and Daniel can learn from each other. Robby was still quietly accepting of the disownment later when he was talking to Sam in school. In fact, he took the situation as inspiration to confess a secret he had been keeping from her.

"Wait. Don't even start. I gave you a second chance. This whole thing was a mistake. You know, you wanna end up like him [Johnny], that's up to you." Robby doesn't know that, the next day, Daniel told Sam about Robby, "I thought I could help him, but... but he's got his own family. I need to focus on mine." Daniel had truly given up on Robby without even giving him chance to explain.

A couple weeks after the school fight, when Daniel ambushed Robby with the cops, Robby panicked and then threw up his emotional walls ("Don't bother") pretty quickly. He was being completely open and vulnerable with Daniel in that conversation, because he had believed that Daniel actually cared about his feelings and what he'd experienced, but when the cops showed up, Robby realized that Daniel, like Johnny and Shannon, no longer cared about his emotional or psychological needs, especially during such a crucial, traumatic time for him. Robby had wanted Daniel to be in his corner and have his back, to believe in him, which Daniel didn't do. Daniel once again didn't give Robby a chance to explain. In juvie, Robby was back to his usual quiet demeanor. Daniel had promised to visit Robby every day, but Daniel never did. Daniel did call and Robby hung up on him, but Daniel didn't make the effort to actually come to Robby like Daniel had promised, proving to Robby once again that Daniel's commitments to Robby, like Johnny's and Shannon's, can't be trusted. (Robby did try to open up to Sam via email, but he was stopped from writing the email. He later didn't write to her because she had stopped trying to reach out to him after her last email, "If you're okay, please answer". This had also been after her tv interview saying that she "hoped" it was an accident. This was yet another instance after the school fight of someone indicating that they thought the worst of him, and then abandoning him.)

Robby and his emotions are cast away so often that he puts up emotional walls to shield himself and pushes people away or he just puts his emotions away because, well, who is there to truly care about him and for him to trust and rely on? Johnny and Shannon have always put themselves, their feelings, and their needs above his, never truly caring about him and his feelings, thoughts, and needs. Like, when Robby wanted to hangout and watch a movie with Shannon in s1, she guilt tripped him into understanding that her wants and needs are more important than his. Or like when Robby genuinely told Johnny in s2 that Robby needed time to forgive him, Johnny made it about himself and accused Robby of continuing to train with Daniel just to torture Johnny, even though Johnny himself had been torturing Robby by replacing him with a random kid and continuing to train that kid even after that kid had purposely pulled on Robby's injured arm just to win a plastic trophy. Robby is so traumatized by Johnny that Robby had believed that Johnny had told that kid to fight dirty against him. Also, like in the car later in s2, Johnny asked Robby if he was nervous about his first day of school, but right when Robby started talking about the LaRussos, Johnny became dismissive of Robby's feelings, so Robby said, "I know you don't want to hear it". Robby knew that Johnny's feelings about the LaRussos matter more to Johnny than Robby's feelings about them, despite everything the LaRussos had done for Robby while Johnny had done essentially nothing for him. And after Johnny had abandoned Robby in juvie for months, knowing that he was being beaten and providing him with no support, Robby's big confession to Johnny that Robby has blamed himself all these years for Johnny abandoning him was met with no response or corrective action from Johnny, although Johnny had also accidentally hurt Robby in their confrontation. Johnny left Robby with a mark on his head with Kreese, and Johnny left with Miguel and didn't return. Johnny didn't care that Robby was homeless and had been homeless since getting out of juvie.

In s4, Robby said that Johnny now wants to make up for lost time just to feel better about himself. This is an accurate assessment of Johnny's intentions, which played out in s5. All these years, Robby's feelings have never mattered to Johnny. Only Johnny's feelings about their relationship matter to Johnny. Every speech Johnny gives about his failing with Robby is about how Johnny feels about it and how it's affected iim, with no acknowledgement at all about how Robby feels about it or how it has affected him. For example, Johnny tells others "I didn't know how to be a dad" as his reason for abandoning Robby. However, just because he didn't know how to be a dad doesn't mean that Robby didn't need a dad and didn't need Johnny to try to be one to him. Johnny himself was abandoned by his bio dad but he has had no empathy for Robby, instead leaving Robby with no dad and to be his own dad. Johnny could have at least made sure that Robby was being well taken care of, but Johnny didn't care to do that either. Johnny knew Shannon's habits before she went to rehab, like her often being at happy hour somewhere, where to track her down, and that she dated a lot of random men. But, like Robby had said in s1, Johnny hasn't cared about Robby his whole life.

In s5e3, Johnny said that things were now good with him and Robby, even though Robby told Tory in s5e4 that he and his dad still had issues, some that are too big to solve. Earlier in s5, Johnny had manipulated Robby into the "father-son" trip to Mexico and continued to manipulate him to get him to stay because Johnny admittedly needed help finding Miguel. Johnny had only looked for Robby for a few hours the two weeks he had been on the run, but Johnny gaslighted Robby and made it sound like he had searched for Robby with Daniel for those whole two weeks. Johnny then minimized over 17 years of failures with Robby to Johnny's non-"failure" with Miguel. And, because Robby was unhappy about Johnny tricking him into the trip, Johnny told Robby that he could go home on his own and ditched Robby at the bus stop, not caring if Robby could/would get home safely. It's in that moment Robby started fawning with Johnny on that trip. After having been abandoned by Johnny for years, especially whenever Robby would speak out against Johnny's mistreatment, Robby now switched tactics to avoid this punishment. Not to mention, Johnny was going to ditch him in another country after dragging him there with a lie, while Johnny had also told Carmen that it was unsafe for her to be there. Johnny obviously didn't care about Robby's safety or well-being and was willing to sacrifice him, while Johnny did what he could to keep Miguel and Carmen safe.

Johnny told Robby the bus schedule and handed him some money: "Sorry I dragged you into this, Robby." Johnny abandoned Robby at a bus stop in another country after tricking him there in the first place under the guise of a "father-son" trip...

Later, Robby told Johnny that he wanted to help Johnny because Johnny was trying to make things right. This is an example of Robby fawning and putting Johnny's needs above his own. Johnny obviously wasn't trying to make things right with Robby though, which Robby at least realized subconsciously so went on the defensive by fawning throughout the trip and which Robby acknowledged consciously in some way when Tory later asked him about the trip.

When it came to Johnny wanting Robby to be friends with Miguel, Robby clearly told Johnny that he didn't want to be friends with Miguel and that Johnny and Miguel have their relationship and Robby wants his space from that. Robby made his boundaries clear, but Johnny has no respect for them. Johnny eventually gave Robby no choice but to "fight it out" with Miguel, and Robby eventually surrendered completely to Miguel near the end of the apartment fight and surrendered completely to Johnny after the baby news, so that Johnny wouldn't abandon him again. Now that Johnny is going to have a baby with Miguel's mom, they're going to be Johnny's family for real, and Johnny already proved to Robby with the Mexico trip that the Diazs will always be more important to Johnny. The atrocious apartment fight followed by the baby news, firmly established Miguel once again and now this coming baby as priorities over Robby, as Johnny admitted that he wanted Miguel and Robby to get along because the baby was coming. Robby gave up who he is completely to appease Johnny for the rest of s5. At dinner, Robby had to ask Carmen's permission if he could join them, once again firmly establishing her priority above Robby as well. As Johnny's son, Robby shouldn't have to ask to be included, but as the kid who was scapegoated for the rivalry and for the school fight, Robby had to ask permission from his attacker's mother if he could have dinner with his own father, who had also sided with his attacker. If Carmen has an issue with Robby, then she shouldn't date his father. But, Robby the kid is put in the position of having to navigate the situation as if he has to earn his place in his father's life. Later in s5, Robby had to laugh off his own comment the one time he spoke up about Johnny's failures with him, after overhearing Johnny speaking with Miguel about his feelings and not wanting to fail him again. Robby still had to be careful expressing himself around Johnny, or Robby would be shut down and likely abandoned.

These quotes explain it well: "Having an emotionally immature parent often means you're pretending: pretending you're not resentful, pretending to agree with their opinions, and pretending you don't have needs and boundaries..." "It wasn't just people pleasing to please people. It was survival to keep unpredictable behavior away. The fear of not being able to make someone happy isn't about their happiness but how they use power in harmful and unexpected ways."

Sadly, Daniel no longer cares about Robby's feelings anymore either, although Daniel had cared before he'd disowned Robby the second time. This is especially noticeable in s3 when Daniel ambushed Robby without giving the slightest consideration as to what Robby's emotional and mental state would be. Daniel had called the cops before showing up at the rehab center and talking to Robby first. After Robby hung up on Daniel when he called Robby in juvie, Amanda dismissed Robby's anger as "he's a teenager" and that he'd come around, so Daniel let it go. Being a teenager doesn't make Robby's feelings invalid, especially given how Daniel had him arrested without even a proper conversation between them. After Robby got out of juvie, Daniel cared for a second about Robby's feelings when Daniel heard that Robby saw Sam and Miguel at Miyagi-Do, but then Daniel forgot about it as soon as Sam convinced him to give Miguel a chance. When Robby had gotten out of juvie the day before, Daniel had told Robby that Miyagi-Do would always be his home. Robby showing up at Miyagi-Do later that day meant that he had been open to taking Daniel's offer of a home, after walking away from Daniel outside of juvie. Daniel didn't even consider this after he had heard that Robby had come to Miyagi-Do. By then, Daniel had "let him go", like Amanda had told him to the day before.

In s4, both times Daniel talked to Robby, it was about Cobra Kai and related topics. When Daniel approached Robby the first time, Robby accused Daniel of coming to use him for the dojo war, and Daniel didn't even register what Robby's accusation meant wrt Robby no longer trusting him. That is, Daniel didn't care about Robby's feelings about him or their relationship, and Daniel just started talking about what he had come to say to Robby, similar to Sam's approach with him earlier in s4. Daniel had only thought to talk to Robby because Amanda had talked about teens with anger issues being lost causes in need of wake-up calls. In the second conversation in s4, Daniel used Robby's trauma against him when he taunted Robby about wanting to get back at his dad, a reference to their conversation at the s1 avt. Daniel was also dismissive of any negative feelings that Robby has towards him, and Daniel just focused on tearing Robby down for interfering with Daniel's goals to take down Cobra Kai and did't care for what Robby was saying to him. Daniel also overlooked that he had taken sides and teamed up with Johnny and Miguel, two of the people who had hurt Robby the most.

In s5, Daniel repeated exactly what he'd said to Robby in s3 wrt how Daniel had handled the aftermath of the school fight, so Robby avoided talking about his issues with Daniel. Instead, Robby put Daniel's feelings and needs above his own and told Daniel exactly what he wanted to hear. Robby said that Johnny and Sam had filled him in on what was going on (which implies that they had told Robby that Daniel had talked earlier about how he had failed with Robby). Here, Robby claimed that Daniel hadn't failed him. Robby told him all the ways he had helped Robby, and Robby talked about how Daniel had been right about Cobra Kai. Robby said what he needed to in order to lift Daniel's spirits and make him feel like he hasn't failed Robby, even though Daniel has been failing him at least since kicking him out before the school fight. Robby also called himself a "messed up" kid when he talked about how Daniel had given him a purpose. When they had met, Robby had been a kid who had been abandoned and neglected and living in survival mode, which he still is in many ways. At the time, Daniel himself told Amanda that Robby is a "good kid. He's just had a rough go of it." Sadly, Daniel didn't correct Robby here and didn't tell Robby what he needs to hear: he was never a "messed up kid"; he is a "good kid who's had a rough go of it".

Daniel: "Robby, the things I did, juvie, I was... I was just trying to help you." Robby: "No, I'm... I'm sorry. I mean, I should have listened to you about Cobra Kai..."

Robby's feelings and side of the story don't matter. This is a significant part of how Robby has been treated by the other characters and the narrative itself. Robby's generally closed-off demeanor is the result of years of abandonment and neglect. He puts away his emotions and rarely speaks about them because he has had no one who consistently and unconditionally cares about how he feels. In fact, when Robby expresses his emotions, he is often shut down. Like, Shannon dismissing him when he wanted to hang out with her, dismissing his concern that someone had been breaking in after she had ditched him for days, and dismissing him when he tried to remind her about all the rent and bills they have to pay when she said that she was leaving with that random guy. Or, like Johnny getting upset that Robby needed time to forgive him, dismissing Robby's sadness about Daniel kicking him out, telling Robby that choosing Miguel over him was making things right, brushing Robby off when he told him that Miguel had been the one to attack Robby and escalate things in school that day, and ignoring Robby wanting space from Miguel and from Johnny's relationship with Miguel while Robby was stuck staying with Johnny for the summer, which was something else that Johnny and Shannon had decided for Robby without caring how he felt about it.

The quote about emotionally immature parents continues as: "... This act of pretending becomes so ingrained that you can spend several days together in the same room and yet still feel profoundly invisible and deeply insignificant to them, as if your feelings and needs do not faze them at all."

After Johnny had tricked Robby into a "father-son" trip and manipulated him more so that he would stay to help find Miguel, Johnny shared a profound father-son moment with Miguel right in front of Robby as if he wasn't there. Johnny hugged Miguel with more love than he has ever shown Robby.

Robby has had no one who would validate him and help him properly understand and process his emotions, especially those related to his traumas of abandonment, neglect, replacement, the school fight, juvie, and his other traumatic experiences. Instead, the one person he found for a short time in s1 and s2 who seemed to care just told Robby to "let go" of all these negative emotions related to his abandonment, neglect, and replacement by his father, which is not the correct way to handle these emotions. Fawning is also described as self-abandonment. In s5, Robby was now disregarding his own feelings and side of the story to appease everyone around him.

The school fight is one of many situations of Robby's feelings and side of the story don't matter, which occurs in different ways throughout Robby's story with the various characters, especially in s5 when Robby swallowed all of his emotions to be around the "good guys" as they all ignored or dismissed his issues with them. Even the other teens, Miguel, Sam, Demetri, Hawk, and the Miyagi-Dos, ignored or dismissed Robby's side of the story.

Demetri dismissed Robby talking about Hawk's wrongs toward the Miyago-Dos and called Robby an asshole, comparing him to Hawk. Demetri has never once acknowledged that Robby had protected him from Hawk, who had lead a gang assault against him over a yelp review, and had been protective of Demetri when some of the Cobras had first joined Miyagi-Do.

In general, Robby has never been given the support and time he has needed to process the events of the school fight and his experiences after that. He had been viciously attacked, stopped from protecting his girlfriend, and taunted about people he cares about not wanting/loving him in return (because the person taunting him knew that the taunts were extremely hurtful and grounded in truth). His attacker was about to break his arm for no reason but then suddenly stopped and said "I'm sorry". However, in such an intense situation and having been attacked by that person without provocation multiple times before, Robby reacted with a "fight response" and accidentally things went horribly wrong. After being frightened and on the run for days, Robby went to his mom for help. This is important. He went on his own to an adult, after being on the run and being well hidden. He wanted help, real help, to solve the situation. (Up until the end of s4, Robby was mostly counter-dependent because of his traumas. He rarely directly asks for help, so him coming to his mom and talking like he was going to go on the run was him genuinely wanting to stay and get her help. After all, he had been hidden and on the run until then.) Instead, Daniel, who Robby thought would help him and give him the psychological and emotional support he needed while solving the legal situation, didn't even care about his mental or emotional state, making rash decisions on Robby's behalf (calling the cops on him instead of first speaking to him, understanding from him what had happened, preparing him, and letting him make the decision to turn himself in) as well as judging him by his mistakes (kicking Miguel as well as running after the school fight), while simultaneously telling Robby that his mistakes aren't who he is. Daniel's actions were counter to his words, thus setting in Robby's distrust of Daniel. Daniel only cared about the legal situation and not about Robby's side of the story or his mental and emotional state, and so Daniel acted accordingly. Daniel also acted based on his earlier experience with Johnny wanting to kill someone purposely in the garage fight, after which Daniel told Johnny that maybe Robby has too much of Johnny in him. Before the school fight, Daniel had told Robby, "You wanna end up like him, that's up to you." When Daniel talked to Robby at the rehab center, Daniel still believed that Robby is like Johnny and not his own person.

Robby got so hopeful after Daniel said that he'll "help" Robby learn from his "mistakes". But, Daniel's "help" came in the form of Daniel having called the cops on Robby without first having talked to him, understanding his mental and emotional state, or caring about his side of the story. Later, Robby even commented that Mr. LaRusso wasn't in his corner and didn't have his back. Daniel never fought for Robby as Daniel should have. Instead, part of Daniel's "help" was a police ambush and a traumatizing place like juvie, where Daniel didn't even visit Robby as promised. Daniel has never once acknowledged Robby's side of the school fight, and instead told Amanda and Sam right after the school fight that he couldn't believe that Robby would do this, implying that Daniel believed even then that Robby had injured Miguel on purpose. In this scene in the rehab center, in the scene when he got out of juvie, and in their one-sided reconciliation scene in s5, Daniel repeated that this was all Daniel's way to "help" Robby. Daniel still doesn't even consider Robby's feelings wrt their relationship as relevant, so Daniel doesn't try to talk through and understand Robby's side of the story properly. After Robby had walked away from Daniel outside of juvie, Amanda had told Daniel to "let him go", and sadly Daniel did.

Johnny and Shannon were of course utterly useless and uncaring towards Robby in this whole situation following the school fight. Johnny and Shannon once again put their own needs and feelings above Robby's in what was probably the worst situation of his life, and neither helped him nor was there for him as a parent should have been. In s5, they continued to put themselves first, not even caring who Robby wanted to spend the summer with, but deciding for him. Shannon not wanting Robby for the summer is par for the course for her and shows that rehab may have helped her with her alcoholism and drug addiction, but not with her tendencies to cast Robby aside. Though she did raise the alarm about Silver in s4, her dismissive "Cobra Kai or whatever" and her absence from the tournament continue to show her lack of interest in Robby's life and in being there for him. Wrt Johnny, Robby had said in s4, Johnny just wants to make up for lost time to feel better about himself. In s5, Johnny proved Robby right with Johnny's self-centered dialogue about Robby, Johnny prioritizing his relationship with Miguel and Carmen as well as his efforts for the baby plot device over Robby, and Johnny continuing to dismiss Robby's feelings the whole time while still wanting to keep him around like a prop as long as he didn't speak out against Johnny.

Johnny and Daniel deny Robby's identity as his own person with his own feelings, needs, and experiences when they project their view of Johnny onto Robby. Daniel has been doing this since before the school fight in s2e10. Johnny started doing this after Daniel's comment to Johnny in s3e2 that maybe Robby has too much of Johnny in him. Johnny and Daniel doing this adds to the emotional neglect that Robby experiences due to them. Not to mention, before they allied together at the end of s3, they each put their rivalry with the other above Robby. Now that they are okay with each other, Daniel expects Robby to be okay with Johnny, and Johnny expects Robby to be okay with Daniel. Daniel dismisses Robby's feelings about Johnny and claims that Johnny cares about both boys, despite seeing the evidence otherwise. Johnny was dismissive of Robby's gratefulness to the LaRussos before the school fight, but in s5, Johnny filled Robby in about Daniel's situation and wanted Robby to show his gratefulness to Daniel because now Johnny believed it mattered.

After the school fight, to add to Robby being discarded and thought the worst of by the people who "care" about him, there was also Robby's experience of juvie, with the beatings and bullying that Robby endured on his own, including the reminder that his dad and girlfriend hate him and don't want him. The guards turned a blind eye of course, and only Kreese and his advice had come through for Robby.

" 'But, Robby, your my son. But I hate you, Dad.' Your girl left you, your dad hates you, you got nobody. And now you got nothing."

Johnny had seen Robby's bruise in juvie but immediately accused Robby of starting fights, not caring to ask Robby what had happened or if he was even okay, and then never coming to see Robby again. In s4, Johnny also dismissed that Robby had been attacked by Miguel that day in school, saying that he himself wasn't there, implying he didn't care for the details. Johnny ended the conversation by turning Robby away and slamming the door on Robby's retreating back. Johnny then went back to his life of being a constant loving and caring support towards Robby's attacker, and not towards Robby, as Johnny had been for months. (Johnny's decision to choose Miguel over Robby in the aftermath of the school fight was wrong. Child abandonment and neglect should never be condoned, especially in a situation like this. Johnny is Robby's parent first and foremost, and Johnny failed Robby and continues to fail him in all ways.)

This quote is so relevant:

"It can clear up a lot of confusion around childhood trauma, when you realize abandonment is not only when someone walks away. It's also when someone who is meant to protect you, allows others to hurt you."

This has been Johnny wrt Robby throughout the series. Johnny continues to abandon Robby, not just by walking away but by leaving him in dangerous situations and allowing others to hurt him. Johnny knew about Shannon's lifestyle and about the random men she brought around Robby, but Johnny didn't care. Johnny knew that Robby's friends in s1 were not good people for him to be around, but Johnny still walked away. Johnny hasn't fought for Robby and his side of the story since the school fight, and instead took his attacker's side and has continued to show him support since. Johnny ignored Robby's bruise in juvie, victim blamed him for it, and never went back to support him. Johnny left Robby to train with Kreese and Silver in s4. In s5, Johnny dragged Robby to Mexico and then ditched him at a bus stop to get back home on his own. After Robby stayed, Johnny allowed Robby to take risks that he didn't need to. Later, Johnny handed Robby over to Miguel for a beating. After the s1 avt, Johnny was upset that Miguel had shown no mercy to Robby during their match, but since the school fight, Johnny has walked that back. In s5, Johnny allowed Miguel to hurt Robby as he has always wanted to, and Johnny no longer acknowledges what Miguel did to Robby in the avt. Johnny truly doesn't care about the details of the rivalry. Miguel is the one who started the rivalry and is the bully in the rivalry.

It's also important to note that, until s5, Robby's side of the story regarding the school fight still remained largely unheard, and even then we only now know his side of the start and end of the school fight. We were never shown Robby's thoughts during the entire fight, especially the moments between his attacker randomly letting go and saying "I'm sorry" and Robby's "fight" trauma response (which Robby described as wanting to "finish the fight"). Robby had every right and reason not to trust Miguel in that moment and not to realize that Miguel had genuinely decided to stop fighting. After all, Miguel had a history of attacking Robby and had attacked Robby twice in that fight, even choking him, kicking him into the railing intentionally, and wanting to break him arm, all for no reason. In s3, Robby had tried talking about the school fight to Daniel, but Daniel ambushing him was like Daniel shutting him down and saying that he didn't care or want to hear it. After that, Robby stopped talking about the school fight. Even when Kreese and Tory showed him empathy about it in s3 or when Sam said she was angry with him about it in s4, Robby didn't say anything in response. The first time he talked about it again was later to Johnny in s4, and Robby got shut down again. Robby was trying to deescalate another situation and rightfully corrected Johnny about what had happened in school that day. Johnny is Robby's father. He is one of at least two people that Robby should be able to rely on for protection and help, which Robby can't do.

"abandonment is not only when someone walks away. It's also when someone who is meant to protect you, allows others to hurt you."

What adds tothese extremely sad aspects of Robby's story is how much Robby still loves his parents, despite how they treat him, and how much he of course still hopes that they'll care about him. Like, in s2, how sweetly Robby talked about watching Shannon's favorite movie with her when he was younger, even though at this moment she was still gone, after having ditched him for so long that he had run out of food, lost electricity, and would have been evicted. That even though she didn't care if he had what he needed to survive, he still spoke of her and those memories fondly. And when she finally returned months later, the moment she said that she was going to get help for herself and for him, he became happy for her and no longer showed her any anger.

In s5, Robby mentioned that he and his mom watch "Hot Ones" together, indicating that they still watch movies and shows together. But, Shannon once again ditched Robby for the summer against his will. Although this time she didn't leave him all alone, she did leave him with someone who she knows is unreliable when it comes to properly caring for Robby. One thing Robby doesn't know is that Shannon brushed off all of her and Johnny's failures with Robby as the two of them being young and dumb, and Johnny happily accepted this. (Johnny was in his 30s when he gave up on day 1. Johnny is now in his 50s and still keeps screwing up with Robby.) Shannon and Johnny once again dismissed all of Robby's negative experiences because of them, just to feel better about themselves.

With Johnny, Robby became hopeful the times Shannon told him that Johnny wanted him to move in (s1) or that Johnny wants a relationship with him (s2), even though Johnny himself had shown no genuine indication to Robby of either. In juvie, Robby smiled a little in disbelief, overwhelmed when he found out that Johnny had scheduled to visit him, even though Johnny had not tried to contact Robby for "over one month" after their "one good day" together. Johnny sadly missed this visit and chose Miguel over him again, which Johnny should not have done. (Even, Bobby didn't approve.)

In s4, Robby went to Johnny to tell him about his students bullying Kenny, but Johnny didn't care. Robby also told Johnny about his fear of becoming like Johnny and said that he wouldn't because he is better than Johnny. Instead of telling Robby that he can be better than Johnny, like Johnny had once told Miguel, Johnny just got upset and dismissed Robby so that Johnny could get back to making Miguel's favorite dinner to get him away from Daniel while Robby went back to being trained by the pyscho that had strangled Johnny twice, once when Johnny was about Robby's age and once just a few weeks prior while Robby was lying unconscious nearby. After the avt, Robby followed Johnny to tell him about how much he is struggling with all of his "hate", which he doesn't understand is how his trauma due to Johnny manifests itself. Robby told Johnny that Robby took Kenny under his wing because Robby wanted to be the mentor he wished he had when he was younger, a quiet acknowledgement that Johnny had never been a mentor to Robby as Johnny should have been. Robby eventually told Johnny that he's sick of blaming Johnny. Sadly, Robby keeps putting hope in the person who has abandoned and hurt him the most and who has no true will to fight his inner demons and treat Robby better.

In Robby's conversation with Johnny after the avt, Robby is so devastated by how much "hate" he feels, as if he has no right to have "hate" and that it is wrong for him to feel the way he feels, regardless of why he feels it or how others have treated him. Robby has been raised to reject his own emotions, like his parents reject them. And being told to just "let go" of that hate by his first mentor didn't help either. Not to mention, Johnny guilt tripped Robby in Mexico, low key making him believe that his "hate" is wrong and that he should sacrifice his well-being to help search for Miguel. Johnny continued to dismiss Robby's "hate" for him and for Miguel after that and eventually forced Robby to fight Miguel, that is to use a "Cobra Kai" method, to resolve his issues with Miguel for Johnny's own benefit, even though in this s4 conversation, Robby had told Johnny that using "Cobra Kai" had made everything worse for Robby.

"And I had all this hate inside of me, for you and for Miguel. I thought I could use Cobra Kai to control that. But it just made things worse and now it's never going to get better."

In s5, Robby switching to fawning with Johnny and everyone was a sad culmination of all the trauma Robby has experienced, especially due to Johnny.

Abandonment, neglect, and emotional neglect can't be seen. These describe things that aren't done for a person. This is the silent context of Robby's story. You can see all the good times Johnny has with his replacement kid and grow fond of their bond, but you can't see the empty void that is Johnny's absence in Robby's life or the emptiness of a dark apartment or a lack of food that isn't there. You can't see the absence of psychological and emotional support, especially when those who should be giving it don't give it. Robby's relationships with Johnny, Shannon, and Daniel aren't just the moments he has with them, but also consist of all the things they didn't do for him that he had needed them to do as the adults in his life.

s3 and s5 showed what a great difference a support system can make, though a support system shouldn't come at anyone else's expense, like Johnny's support of Miguel has always come at Robby's expense. In s3, Johnny put all his time and effort into helping Miguel with his recovery. While Johnny was building Miguel back up, Johnny ignored all the hardships Robby was facing. Robby was alone and was being torn down and eventually went to Kreese of all people because he was the only one who had been there for Robby at a desperate time. Later, Robby knew that he couldn't trust Kreese, but like Robby told Johnny, he couldn't trust Johnny either. Daniel, as Sam's father, rightfully put his time and effort into supporting Sam, repeatedly telling her that he is there for her. Daniel, however, never did the same for Robby, despite having taken on the role of Robby's mentor and parental figure. Robby expectedJohnny and Daniel to care about him and didn't expect Kreese to care about him, so Robby stayed with Kreese because he was the more predictable one between them. In s5, Daniel lost in his fight against Silver, like Robby lost in his fight against Miguel. Everyone rallied around Daniel after his loss, while no one other than Johnny and the Diazs knew about the Robby and Miguel's fight, and no one other than Johnny and Miguel knew of Robby's loss. Given that Robby became people pleasing towards all of them, it seems Robby didn't trust any of them to care about him so he didn't tell anyone about the fight. This itself adds to Robby's trauma. While Daniel was lifted up and supported by those around him, Robby has been dealing with things alone for a long time, especially since the school fight, and feels that he can't trust the same people who supported Daniel.

Robby has had no consistent parental/adult, psychological, and emotional support for a very long time, probably his whole life. By the end of s5, Robby needs that support as well as time to heal more than ever. Robby needs the support of someone who is truly committed to helping him and who won't give up on him and/or tell him that helping him was a mistake or ignore his mental/emotional state, regardless of whether he has screwed up.

As I mentioned, the narrative also emotionally neglects Robby. Robby's pov and side of the story aren't just overlooked by the other characters but are also overlooked by the narrative as well. His side of the story hasn't mattered to the other characters, at least so far, and the story is told more from their povs.

The other characters, the narrative, and most fans are like Kyler in this conversation: acting like Robby's traumas and feelings aren't anything to acknowledge.

Despite this narrative emotional neglect, Robby still exists in the narrative and still is such a central part of it. Robby is the protagonist and underdog in the story. As I mentioned in another post, the protagonist isn't always the main pov character. However, the protagonist's pov is eventually revealed. With that revelation, I hope Robby gets a proper support system, especially someone who will sit with him repeatedly, listen to how he feels, tell him that it's okay for him to feel what he feels, and help him process in a healthy way all the feelings that he's been holding in for so long. Someone who will help him to trust again and to love himself as he should, and not to self-abandon in response to others' behaviors towards him. He needs someone who will be there for him, have his back, and be in his corner unconditionally.

(Please don't reblog or reply with any dismissive comment or tag expressing negativity towards the show writers, the writing, or the serious aspects of the show. Such comments/tags minimize the contents of the post. Regardless of what will be in s6 or what payoffs we'll get in the story, this is an analysis of what is in canon so far. Robby's story is so important because it portrays abandonment, neglect, and emotional neglect consistently through Robby's experiences throughout the series. Robby's character and story represent various people in society and their struggles, and these topics should be respected.)

[purpleheartskies]

Tory - "I'm becoming someone I don't wanna be. I'm hiding the truth from someone I care about." Robby - "There are some others in there that I care about too, and we need to stop Cobra Kai."

Robby - "I let you down. Turned my back on you. I didn't understand at the time but I realize I was wrong. I shouldn't have just left. I should have taken you [all] with me." Tory - "I broke up with him because of this dojo, you bitch!"

keenry in s5 ❤️💔❤️

[purpleheartskies]

In a recent post, I shared some thoughts I have for s6. I have some more thoughts to add. Possible s6 spoilers!

In that post, someone made a good comment that the writers may want to keep Robby with Johnny so that they have more interactions, and so it's likely that Robby won't be back living with Shannon when s6 picks up after summer has ended. This got me thinking about my other ideas for s6. (I have many ideas lol.)

One of my ideas about Shannon is that, while on her trip, she decided to move to Bainbridge Island permanently and didn't want Robby to move with her. She came back, they packed up all their things from their apartment, and she moved away while Robby moved in with Johnny. Like she had just left Robby with Johnny over the summer without discussing it with Robby first, she told Robby that she's moving away permanently and that he can continue to live with Johnny. In s1, Shannon said that he'll leave her when he turns 18 so she has to find a man before then. But, she was always the one doing the leaving those days. So, it's possible that she's finally decided to move on with her life and leave Robby behind, like she seemed to hint at with her comment. She's cleaned herself up, Johnny claims he's ready to be a dad to Robby (which Johnny really isn't), and she can make a life for herself elsewhere.

Also, in s5, Shannon's comment about her parents' place was vague enough that there was debate amongst the fandom about if her parents are still alive, and if so, why haven't they ever done more for Robby especially given Shannon's lifestyle before rehab. If her parents are alive, there's some speculation that they're rich. Another idea I have for Shannon is that her parents have always lived in Bainbridge Island and she moved to LA when she turned 18 (which is something she projects onto Robby when she says that he'll leave when he turns 18). Her parents didn't approve of her choices and didn't approve when she had Robby, and they cut her off years ago. But now that she'd cleaned herself up, she had gotten back in touch with them and they were open to her visiting them over the summer. She'd also convinced them that she'd bring Robby with her, but after Johnny suggested Robby stay with him for the summer, she just left Robby with Johnny because it was easier for her. Either way, the idea is that Robby is now stuck living with Johnny because Shannon decided to move away permanently and leave Robby behind.

Based on the group bts pic at Miyagi-Do, Robby is still in the dojo when the season starts so one of my ideas in the previous post doesn't fit. Here's another idea for how the votes go for the girls leader and boys leader.

Maybe the girls don't take a vote. With everything that has happened in the dojo war, the girls from Cobra Kai being new to Miyagi Fang, and Sam technically winning the avt, the girls in the dojo come to the conclusion that Sam is the obvious choice. She's also been the leader of Miyagi-Do for a while, and she's the one who the senseis will support the most anyway because she's Daniel's daughter.

For the boys leader, at first, they plan on taking a vote. It's going to be Miguel vs Robby, but Johnny and Daniel pull Robby aside before the vote. They start by telling Robby that they all want to make the best decisions for the dojo, and ask him that that's what he wants too. He nods yes, but he's watching them carefully. They then say that Miguel as the boys leader would be a better for the dojo. Miguel is an avt champion, is going to school, has great grades, has no record, and is going to go to college, maybe even to a university like Stanford. Meanwhile, Robby has lost two avt championships, was expelled from school, has a criminal record and has gone to juvie, and may get his GED but may not even go to college. On paper, Miguel's the better choice for leader. It would be better for PR and for gaining sponsorships for the dojo for the tournament. Robby quietly agrees.

Johnny and Daniel then announce to the kids that Robby has decided not to run and, because Sam is uncontested as well, Miguel and Sam will be the respective leaders for the boys and the girls.

The third thing in that other post was about Robby's support system. In addition to seeing Bobby take on a primary role in Robby's support system, I'd like to see Chozen and Kumiko play some roles too. Chozen is still around, helping them train for the tournament, so it's possible he can help Robby. I assume right now he's not privy to how Johnny has treated Robby his whole life. For Kumiko, well, maybe they'll go to Okinawa for a visit or she can come for a visit. It depends on the situation (which I also have different ideas for). Either way, she can keep in touch with Robby online. So, Bobby, Chozen, and Kumiko are my hopes for Robby's support system. Johnny isn't capable, and may never be. Daniel and Amanda are iffy, but they can grow if they're open to recognizing their faults. Daniel sticks to "no bad teacher, only bad student" when it comes to Robby because "maybe he has too much of [Johnny] in him", while Amanda dismisses Robby as a teenager and thinks of teens with anger problems as lost causes who need wake-up calls. Robby needs compassionate and understanding adults in his support system, which Bobby, Chozen, and Kumiko seem to be.

[purpleheartskies]

"LaRusso..."

"Lawrence..."

"Toguchi..."

"The next time an unwanted pest lands on our arm, we will swat them."

Silver loves to toy with Daniel, and Silver doesn't take Johnny that seriously, but Silver took Chozen seriously. He saw a real opponent in him. What really sticks out though is just how much Silver was seething at Robby's open defiance. That Robby had walked into his dojo and pointed right at him and told his students the truth: Silver is their enemy. Something that LaRusso, Lawrence, or Toguchi didn't even do. While Daniel and Chozen, and eventually Johnny too, kept taking more indirect approaches to undermine Silver, Robby took the most direct approach to undermine him right in front of his students.

Silver immediately took action to respond to this threat and swat him down. "They heard you. But they listen to me." It's interesting to see that Silver actually viewed Robby's move as a threat in this moment. Instead of laughing Robby off after doing his evil villain clap, Silver stood his ground and took his own stand against Robby, as if Robby were an equal. Maybe Silver didn't want to leave anything to chance, but still... the fact that he did view Robby as an unwanted pest equivalent to LaRusso, Lawrence, and Toguchi shows how insecure Robby made Silver feel in the moment.

[purpleheartskies]

I recently came across these quote:

" 'Be the bigger person' is bullshit advice. My bigness is not determined by my capacity to quietly absorb bullying, degradation, and abuse."

"In the toxic family, we're often told to be the better person... with someone who is refusing to be the better person."

After s5, Robby's popularity grew a lot because many fans started "liking" Robby more. The thing is, before s5, many didn't "like" Robby at all, as in empathizing with Robby and understanding all of his nuances as a character. So, now it's seems that they just "like" that he's seemingly not going to be a problem in the obviously toxic blended "family" that they've always wanted for Johnny and Miguel.

Even some of the fans that have generally "liked" Robby the whole time, proudly say that Robby decided to be the "bigger person". Again, it seems to be about wanting Johnny and Miguel to keep their relationship intact, while Johnny gets Robby in whatever form Johnny can. A compliant, people-pleasing Robby is the Robby of choice, especially because Johnny and Miguel haven't changed so of course Robby must become the compliant, "bigger person".

As if people don't see the blatant psychological, emotional, and even physical abuse that Johnny subjected Robby to in s5 for his own gain. s5 was another season that Johnny very obviously chose Miguel and his family over Robby. It really is a choice to ignore Johnny's toxic behavior in s5 and throughout the whole series. In fact, some even agree that Johnny mistreated Robby in s5, but also say that Robby is okay with it now so they're okay with it too... and then they happily talk about what they hope to see next for Johnny and the Diazs. Like I said, it's a choice to brush it all off.

And it's not like Robby didn't speak out at all in s5. Robby tried to, but Johnny kept putting him in situations that he eventually complied. People-pleasing (fawning) is not being the "bigger person". People-pleasing is a trauma response and a defense mechanism.

Robby got upset with Johnny for lying and tricking him into a father-son trip, but Robby stopped speaking out because Johnny dumped him at a bus stop to get home on his own, while Johnny went off to make sure Miguel got home safe while Carmen stayed home safe, even though Miguel had chosen to go to Mexico on his own while Johnny had lied and manipulated Robby into going there and even admitted he did it because he needed Robby's help finding Miguel.

After they returned from the trip, Robby made it clear that he didn't want to be friends with Miguel. He clearly defined his boundaries and said that Johnny and Miguel have their relationship and he just wanted his space from it, but Robby stopped speaking out because Johnny has no respect for Robby's boundaries and put himself, Miguel, the baby, and Carmen above Robby. Johnny doesn't care about who is at fault for the rivalry or the school fight (Miguel) and who continued the rivalry in s5 (Miguel). Robby had no choice but to fight so that Miguel could hurt him, like he's always wanted to, before accepting him. Robby had to be excited like Miguel was about the baby so that Johnny wouldn't abandon Robby again. Robby had to ask for permission from Carmen to have dinner with his own dad. Later, when Robby indirectly commented about Johnny not giving fatherly advice to him but only to Miguel, Robby had to pass the comment off as a joke because Johnny immediately got upset and dismissed him.

Robby stopped speaking out because he's not allowed to. Johnny chipped away at whatever resolve Robby had. Robby had to be the perfect son so that Johnny would allow Robby to continue to be in Johnny's life.

(These are general thoughts and not directed at anyone in particular.)

[purpleheartskies]

Kenny (talking about his bullies) - "... One of them even know karate." Shawn - "Karate, huh?... Hey, don't worry about it, little bro. I know a guy who can help."

I love how the audience just knows that Shawn was talking about Robby. The moment they showed Shawn, you just knew this would somehow be connected to Robby's story too.

This one moment in s4e2 set up yet another important arc for Robby that sets him apart from the other teens. He became the first teen to mentor another kid. In s3, Robby's juvie arc was independent from the other teens and, at the time, introduced Shawn's character exclusively for Robby's story. In s4, Kenny was introduced as a rival to Anthony, but Kenny being connected to Robby through Shawn led to Kenny joining Cobra Kai and becoming part of the dojo war.

And interestingly, both brothers played important roles in Robby's Cobra Kai arc. Shawn pushed Robby to the point where he decided to "strike first", after Shawn said that he'd never leave him alone. Robby's match with Kenny made Robby reject Cobra Kai completely because Robby had showed "no mercy" in their match. In a way, Robby's Cobra Kai arc started with Shawn and ended with Kenny.

In fact, Kreese's direct influence played a role in Robby's decision each time. Kreese had visited Robby in juvie and told him that he's in the real world and he needs to strike first. Kreese reminded Robby during his match with Kenny that Robby's fighting his opponent and not his friend and that he wants to be a champion.

I hope we see Shawn again in s6. I'd love a scene where he and Kenny interact with Robby. I also wonder what it would be like if Shawn were to meet Sam. Shawn knows about Robby knowing about Sam's tv interview: "It was an accident... at least I hope so... We love you, Miguel." I'd love for Shawn to call her our for it. (Though it's been like a year's time in the story, it'd be great to see Sam called out for it and for her to gain some self-awareness in how she's treated Robby.)

[purpleheartskies]

Robby is the protagonist

... in terms of the role a protagonist plays in a story

Also titled: Robby is the underdog - Part 3

Other posts in this series:

Robby is the underdog - Part 1

Robby is the underdog - Part 1.5

Robby has a Hero's Journey (Robby is the underdog - Part 2)

Robby is the underdog- Part 4

Putting Johnny and Daniel aside for now, I'm going to first focus on Robby as the protagonist amongst the younger generation. Then, I'll go into Robby's importance in Johnny's and Daniel's stories, followed by Robby's importance and role in the dojo war. I'll be making comparisons between Robby and Miguel, specifically.

Protagonist vs main pov character

The protagonist of a story isn't always the main pov character, or may not be a pov character at all. By definition, a protagonist has a specific role in the story compared to a pov character. It's not often that the protagonist and main pov character are separate characters in a story, but there are stories like this. Popular examples include Sherlock Holmes, The Great Gatsby, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

There are different reasons writers may do this:

One reason may be because the perspective of the protagonist isn't as easy to understand and relate to. The Cobra Kai writers have said that Johnny and Miguel are archetypal characters that fans can relate to.

Another reason is to allow for observation, and moreover, to disguise the motivations and intentions of the protagonist. The role of any pov character is to provide the view into the story. They are the audience surrogate. By keeping the protagonist's pov hidden, writers can provide an air of mystery to them, until the writers want the protagonist's view to be known. They can do this either by shifting to the protagonist's pov or by having the pov character(s) learn the protagonist's pov. Interestingly, the CK writers have said that the story is from the bully's perspective. Johnny and Miguel are two of the main pov characters. Miguel has provided the perspective of his and Robby's rivarly so far.

The third reason may be to create irony and juxtaposition. This is in the case that the pov character and the protagonist have opposing characteristics, some that aren't always explicitly portrayed. Although Miguel seemed to be the "good kid" and Robby the "bad kid" at the start of the series, their true characters are weaved into the story. For example, throughout the series, Miguel is entitled, lacks empathy, and doesn't take accountability, whereas Robby exhibits humility, is empathetic, and takes accountability.

The irony can be stretched to outright unreliability. The pov characters' views of the protagonist may be entirely wrong. This is definitely the case for Robby. The story is being told mainly through Miguel's and Johnny's povs, and they are "unreliable narrators". Their povs and the povs that other characters have of Robby are skewed because of how they perceive themselves and how they perceive Robby.

Ali: "You both think there's only one side to the story." Johnny: "I know. There's two." Ali: "No, there's three. There's your side and your side, and then there is the truth."

The purpose of dramatic irony is to present a juxtaposition between what is presented on the surface of a story and what is really occurring under the surface. Doing this adds layers of meaning to the story, offers deeper insights into the thematic principles, and shows the audience something that the characters themselves are missing. In Cobra Kai, these additional layers in the story are present throughout. For example, the contrast in Johnny's behavior with each boy is presented with this juxtaposition in all 5 seasons. Some examples of juxtaposition in s5 include the scene where Johnny calls out Daniel for reeking of booze and then hands him a beer, which Daniel thanks him for later. In this same scene, Johnny claims to have gotten Robby out of Cobra Kai, which is far from the truth. Daniel also said that Johnny cares for both boys, which doesn't match what's portrayed in all 5 seasons. After the apartment fight, Miguel told Robby that he learned karate to find balance and not hurt people, which isn't true. He learned Cobra Kai first, which doesn't involve finding balance. He's also used his karate to hurt Robby multiple times, including choosing the apartment fight so that he could hurt Robby again as he's always felt justified to. Afterwards, Johnny said that the boys beat each other into submission. Also not true. Submission means that one party becomes compliant to the other, and the audience was shown that Robby submit to Miguel. The list goes on. All of this is intentional as it's meant to show the audience that, for example, Johnny hasn't changed---he just believes that he has and tries to present to others that he has---, and that Miguel is the bully and not the underdog character between him and Robby.

If the role of the pov character is to provide the view into the story, what is the role of the protagonist?

The protagonist in a story is the character who offers the most conflict in situations, has the longest emotional journey, and has a primal goal to root for. Their transformation shapes the story's theme. Their choices and motivations affect the direction of the story. They're at the center of the conflict and their decisions push the plot forward. In a story with multiple characters with journeys, there is ultimately one character who is the primary driver of the overall story and their story tells the theme of the overall story. The other characters' can be protagonists in their own journeys but these become subplots of varying levels of importance. The protagonist is the character whose fate matters most. They have the highest stakes and the greatest obstacles.

Compared to Miguel, Robby has all the characteristics of a protagonist.

What makes Robby the protagonist of the overall story?

Robby has a Hero's Journey that is related to the story's theme of "finding balance".

Robby has a "want", "need", and "internal struggle" that drive his Hero's Journey. The "internal struggle" is usually tied to the "need". Miguel has "wants" and he probably has a "need", but he doesn't have an "internal struggle" related to that "need". In fact, he doesn't have much of an overarching emotional journey throughout the series. His injury arc and the Mexico arc for example could have been used to give his story more emotional depth, but they weren't used for this. In fact, those two arcs were used to emphasize that Johnny is willing to sacrifice his relationship with Robby and sacrifice Robby himself to maintain his relationship with Miguel, which in turn resulted in more trauma for Robby and made both his "want" and his "need" harder to achieve. That is, those two arcs served Robby's overarching journey more than they served Miguel's. Along with Miguel's lack of relevance to the overall plot (the dojo war), Miguel's lack of an overarching emotional journey is becoming more and more apparent each season. Miguel overall is a static character. For example, in the school fight, he did "strike first, strike hard, show mercy sometimes". In the apartment fight, he did the same thing, despite his injury and learning some Miyagi-Do. In contrast, Robby is a dynamic character who is constantly growing, positively and negatively, throughout his journey.

Robby's character introduction / Ordinary World for his Hero's Journey was his scenes in s1e4 to s1e5, up to the Inciting Incident. In turn, Miguel has no character introduction that fits the "Ordinary World" stage of a Hero's Journey. His first scenes are introducing himself to Johnny, being saved by Johnny while being bullied, asking Johnny to open a dojo for him, and Johnny eventually telling him that he'll be his sensei. All of those scenes are about the role he'll play in Johnny's character story. His scenes in the next few episodes continue to build on the plot and his role in Sam's story, while not building on his character or his Ordinary World.

Each season, many of Robby's decisions play a crucial role in the story. Moreover, he has a very character-driven story, where his decisions and actions as he reacts (mostly trauma responses) drives his own story, but greatly affects the plot and other characters' journeys as well. In general, Robby's character provides the most uncertainty in the story. For example, Robby showed up unexpectedly at the s1 avt, and Johnny's students using "no mercy" on Robby, specifically, changed Johnny's view on "no mercy" and prompted Daniel to reopen Miyagi-Do. Also, Robby's actions at the end of the school fight impacted all of the characters' stories moving forward. At the end of s3, the most resounding shifts in alliances occured because Robby chose to stay with Kreese at Cobra Kai and Johnny allied himself with Daniel. Even Hawk changing sides was most greatly influenced by Robby's change in alliance. In fact, Robby has played an important role in Hawk's journey despite them barely interacting throughout the series. In s4 and s5, Robby continued to make decisions that impacted the other characters, such as officially joining Cobra Kai and teaching them Miyagi-Do in s4 and deciding to stay and help Johnny find Miguel after Johnny ditched Robby at the bus stop in s5.

Robby's had independent arcs and is the only teen with side characters meant for him only and whose involvements served purposes in his arcs. In s1, he was dealing with his partners-in-crime and bullies, Trey and Cruz. In s2, he was dealing with Shannon abandoning him. In s3, he had his juvie arc with Shawn. In s4, he mentored Kenny. In fact, Kenny's introduction and character journey were created as an extension from Robby's character journey, which hasn't been done for any other kid. Robby continues to play an important role in Kenny's journey.

Robby is distinctly given the same importance as the senseis. He mentored a student, taught an entire dojo a style of karate, and was the "next one to land on their arms" when Silver and Kim were talking about Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen being pests. Robby is the only kid to fight alongside a sensei (Johnny). Robby is also the "mentor" trying to resolve the rivalry between Kenny and Anthony.

Robby is being built up as a leader / central figure for the kids. In s5, Robby was shown in a front & center position for both dojos in s5.

Robby is the only character to be in one of the conflicts in every mid-season episode and finale since s1e10:

s1e10 - avt final match

s2e5 - mall fight

s2e10 - school fight

s3e5 - juvie fight

s3e10 - dojo fight with Kreese and Johnny

s4e5 - Cobras shaving Hawk's mohawk

s4e10 - avt final match

s5e5 - apartment fight

s5e10 - dojo brawl

Robby is the most connected overall to all the other characters. For example, in s5, Robby directly influenced or interacted with the following characters: Johnny, Daniel, Miguel, Tory, Kenny, Carmen, Sam, Hawk, Demetri, Anthony, Chozen, and Silver. Robby was mentioned in important scenes by Shannon and even Kim when he wasn't present.

Robby's portrayed to have deeper connections with Sam and Tory than Miguel has with them. While Robby was in Miyagi-Do, he had the "love story" with Sam, the main girl in Miyagi-Do. While Robby was in Cobra Kai, he had the "love story" with Tory, the main girl in Cobra Kai. Robby's relationships with each of them were developed slowly as friendships first. In turn, Miguel started dating each girl soon after the first time he talked to them. Robby had the "meet cute" with Sam, while Miguel just stared at her from afar because she was with another guy. Robby got the prom entrance and main dance, despite not being a student in school, while Miguel watched Robby steal the show. Robby has fought successfully alongside each girl: Sam in the s2 mall fight and Tory in the s4 prom fight. Despite being broken up and in other relationships, Robby and Sam still have a deep connection, like Robby appearing in Sam's dream and them still being able to do the wheel technique in s5. In turn, Miguel and Tory have shared just one "moment" (during the prom fight) together since their break up.

Between Robby and Miguel, Robby has the traits of a traditional hero, rejects the toxic empowerment of Cobra Kai philosophies, and is the best example of positive/healthy masculinity in the story. Rocky is referenced a lot throughout the story as someone Johnny looks up to. Rocky is a popular protagonist, underdog character, and example of positive/healthy masculinity in film.

Throughout s5, the narrative did an interesting recap of Robby's journey. References to or redos of moments from Robby's character journey from s1 to s4 were sprinkled throughout the entire season. (This is yet another post or series of posts I can make.) This makes sense because Robby is the protagonist, and s5 was priming the audience for Act 3.

Although the story started with Miguel as seemingly the protagonist, Robby's role as the actual protagonist becomes more apparent at the end of s1e5 and more so as the series has gone on, making Miguel a "false/decoy protagonist". In s1e5, Robby's story picked up with the Inciting Incident in his Hero's Journey.

Miguel hasn't been an underdog since he beat his bullies in s1e5. Even after his injury, Miguel has resumed his position as one of the top fighters, if not the top fighter. Robby wins important fights, but by the end of s5, he has lost two avts and lost to his bully/rival. Robby started out the series with the most odds against him. Going into the final season, he still has the most odds against him and is even worse off than at the start of his journey. He faces the greatest obstacles and has the most uncertainty and stakes for his future. The Karate Kid story is about the underdog winning in the end against all the odds that are against him/her. Robby has the greatest odd against him, making Robby the underdog in the story.

Robby's importance in Johnny's and Daniel's stories

Robby has always played an important role in Johnny and Daniel's rivalry. In s1 and s2, Robby was the link between Johnny and Daniel. He was a reason for contention between them in a lot of their scenes in s1e9/10, s2e1, s2e5 (Johnny found out that Robby was living with Daniel), and s2e10. In s2e10, Robby suggested that Johnny and Daniel can learn from each other. In s3e2, Daniel and Johnny teamed up to look for Robby. In s3e8, they both came to juvie to pick up Robby and argued. In s4e1, Sam approached Robby believing that he was needed to unite Johnny and Daniel. This was despite Robby choosing to stand against them and with Kreese the last time they saw each other. Sam even went behind Miguel's back to do this. In s4e5, Robby and the Cobras shaving Hawk's head led to Johnny and Daniel's already weakened alliance falling apart because they disagreed on how to handle the situation. In s4e10, Robby teaching the Cobras Miyagi-Do led to Daniel teaming up with Johnny to coach Sam in her match. Even though Robby wasn't physically present with Johnny and Daniel, he played a critical role in affecting their alliance in s4. In turn, Miguel was clearly used as a plot device in Johnny's rivalry with Daniel in s4. Miguel has no significance in Daniel's story otherwise. Meanwhile, Robby has deep connections with both Johnny and Daniel since s1.

Amongst the kids, Robby narratively plays the most important role in Johnny and Daniel's stories.

In the opening shots of Johnny's story and the series, Robby's picture is shown on Johnny's fridge setting up Robby's significance to Johnny almost immediately. Johnny's relationship with Robby is the first relationship introduced for Johnny's character in this series. They have very few scenes together other than the Mexico arc in s5, but their relationship overshadows Johnny's character journey. The goal of Johnny's redemption as a character is his "need" to fight his inner demons and make amends with Robby.

"I love you too Robby"

Subtle similarities are shown between Johnny and Robby throughout the series using various shots or actions. For example, Robby and young Johnny put their headphones on to block out their parents, the way Robby is dejectedly sitting and eating a sandwich in s3e2 is exactly the way Johnny is dejectedly sitting and eating a sandwich in s2e5, the shot of Robby going to Kreese at the end of s3e8 is framed similarly to the shot of Johnny stopping Kreese at the end of s2e1, Robby's fight with Kenny in s5e10 is similar to Johnny's fight with Robby in s3e10, and Robby's most used move is sweeping the leg (Johnny's iconic move from kk1) though Robby is never shown learning that move.

Johnny and Miguel's popular and seemingly generic sensei-student story has always been overshadowed by Robby's existence in the story. It makes Robby an unpopular character, however his existence is the basis of Johnny and Miguel's relationship. Robby was right when he said that Johnny is just using Miguel to feel better about screwing up with Robby. Robby's existence is one of the greatest subversions in this "deadbeat loser meets a kid who changes his life" and "underdog kid meets a mentor who helps build him into a champion" generic story. In fact, the generic layers of Johnny and Miguel's story have lost emphasis as the series has gone on, and they're both somewhat sidelined in the dojo war, Miguel much moreso than Johnny has been.

Meanwhile, Johnny and Robby's relationship continues to be a highlight. Kreese and Silver make a point to remind Johnny that Robby is his "real" son and remind him of his failures with Robby. Kreese wanted to pass down his legacy to Robby because he's Johnny's son. Narratively, Robby is Johnny's weakness, and Kreese and Silver use Robby against him. In s3, Bobby met Robby in person and experienced Johnny choosing Miguel over Robby. Ali asked about Robby specifically, despite seeing Johnny's Facebook page filled with pics and videos of Miguel.

Throughout the series, there is an overarching plotline since s1e4 that Johnny chooses Miguel over Robby. In s5, the Mexico trip and apartment fight were used to portray the continued dysfunctional dynamic in Johnny's relationship with Robby: Johnny will choose the Diazs over Robby, even if Robby is compliant to Johnny. After Johnny found out about the baby, Johnny kept bringing up his failures with Robby, even late into s5. In fact, the last statement made by a character about Johnny becoming a father again is Silver's jab that Johnny will "screw up another kid", a reference to Johnny's abysmal behavior with Robby. The statement was bookended by scene transitions between Johnny and Robby. (End of this post.)

In s5, Johnny kept mentioning his failures with Robby when it came to the baby plot device. Johnny obviously hasn't been redeemed, as he himself keeps bringing up his failures. (Another example of irony and juxtaposition in s5.) The plot device baby had the greatest impact on Robby's character journey though, not even on Johnny's. Johnny once again went through his round-about arc of trying to change but ending the same, as in previous seasons when he's tried to make positive changes. The impacts of the plot device on Carmen and Miguel were barely explored. Johnny used the baby to force a violent "resolution" to the rivalry, which Robby lost. (Again, more juxtaposition. Johnny is failing Robby more as Johnny selfishly prepares for the baby coming and tries to use the baby to make up for screwing up with Robby.) After Johnny accidentally dropped the baby new, Robby completely adopted a fawn response and spent the rest of the season people-pleasing.

In Daniel's case, Robby is the student that Daniel has the greatest attachment to, aside from his own kids of course. Robby, not Miguel, is the most connected and cared about by the LaRussos, especially the OG Karate Kid. Daniel wanted to be a Mr. Miyagi to Robby (though Daniel has failed in doing so since s2e10).

Compared to the other mentor-mentee pairs (Miyagi-Daniel, Johnny-Miguel, Robby-Kenny), Daniel offered to train Robby (Robby's Call to Adventure). In s1, Robby is shown receiving the Miyagi-style training from Daniel that Daniel had received from Miyagi in kk1. In s2, Robby helped Daniel rebuild and bring back Miyagi-Do. Daniel brought Robby into his home and called him family at one point, fulfilling parental responsibilities for Robby in addition to being his sensei. After the school fight, Daniel searched continuously for Robby for 2 weeks. After Robby got out of juvie, Daniel went to pick him up and told him that Miyagi-Do will always be a home for him. Later, Daniel was so worried about Robby that he was taking it out on his students. In s4, Daniel went to warn Robby about Silver. In s5, after Daniel gave up his fight against Silver, only Robby was able to convince him to come back to the fight, showing just how important Robby is to Daniel.

Robby played a role each time Daniel closed Miyagi-Do. At the end of s2, Daniel closed Miyagi-Do because of Robby's actions at the end of school fight. At the beginning of s5, Daniel closed Miyagi-Do because they lost the tournament. Although they lost because of Silver paying off the ref, Robby teaching the Cobras Miyagi-Do had put Miyagi-Do at a noticable disadvantange, to the extent that Daniel gave Robby a talking to about giving Miyagi-Do "secrets" away.

Although Miguel is Sam's boyfriend, he barely has importance in Daniel's story or to the LaRussos. Daniel had no conversations with Miguel in s5 despite the time they spent together in s4. Amanda and Anthony haven't even spoken to Miguel alone, while Robby has had one on one conversations with each of them. Anthony praises Robby's karate and looks up to him, while not interacting much with Miguel. Anthony was excited about karate for the first time while watching Robby fight Hawk in the s1 avt. Anthony is connected to Robby through the rivalry with Kenny, which is Anthony's most important storyline.

Robby's importance and central role in the dojo war

Throughout the series, Robby has been at the center of the dojo war between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai. In s1 and s2, Robby linked Daniel and Johnny. In s3, Robby was the only kid approached by all 3 senseis. Each offered him a place with them. In s4, Robby was the only kid to have one-on-one scenes with each sensei. In s5, he was the only one in Miyagi Fang who had people in Cobra Kai that he cared about. (I'm not counting Johnny and Devon cause Johnny forgot about her pretty quickly, while Robby kept making efforts with Tory and Kenny and had rejoined Miyagi-Do to take down Silver to help them.)

Robby is the only one of the kids to have had full season arcs in each dojo. Robby is also the only kid to have fought in a final match in both avts and for each dojo in a final match: Miyagi-Do in s1 and Cobra Kai in s4. Interestingly, both times he wasn't wearing the dojo's emblem when he finished each match. He was wearing the plain white gi in s1 and took off his gi top in s4. At the s4 avt, the two main dojos in the dojo war were introduced with reference to Robby.

In contrast, Miguel's role in the dojo war has noticably diminished since the school fight. This is another reason Miguel fails to fulfill the role of a true protagonist in the story, as many are starting to notice. Overall, he's mostly been a supporting character to other characters and is a foil to Robby's character. The injury and Johnny creating Eagle Fang effectively sidelined Miguel in the dojo war, while still giving him some scenes here and there to make it seem like he has some relevance to the overall plot in s3 to s5. Johnny is still pulled into the dojo war from time to time because of Daniel, Kreese, or Silver. Johnny also helped coach Sam in the s4 avt final, making Johnny as a sensei significant during the avt finals, while Miguel ran off to a plotline that essentially went nowhere for him.

Of all the kids, the cycle of generational trauma is being passed down to Robby specifically from all the senseis: Kreese to Johnny to Robby (as emphasized in the s3 finale flashbacks and confrontations at the dojo) and Silver to Daniel to Robby. (Daniel's history with Cobra Kai affects his view of Robby, "too much Johnny in him".)

Robby in turn has tried to mentor Kenny better and actively try to break the cycles of generational trauma from both Johnny and Daniel. In s5e4, Robby told Kenny a combination of what Johnny told Robby about Kreese in s4e4 and what Daniel told Robby about Silver on s4e6 wrt Cobra Kai. In addition to dealing with external rivals, he has the greatest internal battles out of all the kids. As Daniel said, "The biggest battle is always the one within."

Robby has been using both styles of karate to try to cope with his "hate"/traumas and "find balance", the goal of his character journey. From late s1 to the end of s2, he tried to follow the Miyagi-Do way of finding balance but failed. In late s3 and to the end of s4, he tried to use Cobra Kai to channel his anger into fighting to help him find balance but he quit Cobra Kai after his match with Kenny because of "what it turns you into".

In s5, Robby wasn't focused on finding balance but was instead focused on dealing with his situation with Johnny and Miguel and with trying to take down Silver and Cobra Kai. Interestingly, Robby rejoined Miyagi-Do, instead of Eagle Fang, in his fight to take down Cobra Kai.

Robby carries the essence of Miyagi-Do with him, wherever he goes, including juvie (The Heart of Miyagi-Do - Part 1 and Part 2). Although, this show is called Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai represents the generational trauma that is being passed down from Kreese to Johnny to Robby and from Silver to Daniel to Robby. Miyagi-Do is presented as the opposition to Cobra Kai: The goal of Miyagi-Do is to teach a better way. In fact, all the important avt final matches and the ST trial matches were Miyagi-Do vs Cobra Kai. The whole goal is to take down Cobra Kai. In s4, Robby beat the whole Cobra Kai dojo using Miyagi's teachings. Of course, the kid who carries the essence of Miyagi-Do will be the one to take down Cobra Kai for good in the end.

In a story about every character having their own pov, Robby's pov not being shown is significant. At this point, Robby has been wronged by the most characters, especially the "good guys". In s5, he had one-sided "resolutions" with these characters. So far, the "bad guys", Kreese and Silver, haven't hurt Robby to the extent that the "good guys" have. The writers have said that every character is gray. Robby's pov of the characters would support this notion. The fact that, in s5, Robby can stand up to Silver fearlessly but can't stand up to Johnny without fear of abandonment speaks to this.

s6 is Act 3 of the story. Act 3 is when there is usually a significant paradigm shift for the characters. In s5, Robby's one-sided resolutions and the "recap" of his story from s1 to s4 indicate that his side of the story is yet to be told but is now set up to be told. In s6, the writers could shift to telling the story through Robby's pov, or they could continue to tell the story through the other characters' povs and have them learn and understand Robby's pov.

Johnny's redemption as a character lies in his relationship with Robby. If Johnny were already redeemed, he wouldn't be repeatedly bringing up his failures with Robby himself throughout s5, while he is shown continuing to fail Robby. Since s1e4, Johnny has been using Miguel as a do over. Since s5e3, Johnny has been using the baby as a do over. The Diazs and the baby are plot devices to make Johnny's relationship with Robby worse. By the end of s5, Johnny has everything to lose, which he even foreshadowed in his self-centered speech to Carmen, while Robby has nothing to lose including himself, which he gave up to stay in Johnny's good graces. Miguel is Robby's bully in the story. If Johnny starts to learn Robby's pov, not only would Johnny truly realize how and how much he has hurt Robby, Johnny would also realize that he trained, supported, and enabled Robby's bully to hurt him and get away with it as long as his bully "shows mercy" in the end.

In s5, Daniel relied on Robby to get back into being a sensei. He'd told Johnny to ask Robby how much he'd helped Robby. Robby is the student that Daniel has failed the most. In s5, Daniel repeated exactly what he'd said to Robby in s3, and Robby side-stepped Daniel's apology. To repair their relationship properly, Daniel has to actually listen to Robby's pov. Daniel also has to come to realize and accept that the teaching "no bad student, only bad teacher" applies in his relationship with Robby. He has to let go of the belief: "I'm willing to admit when I fail, or maybe Robby has too much of you [Johnny] in him."

This is Johnny's redemption story, and Johnny has failed his Robby his whole life including all 5 seasons. Robby is also Daniel's most important (non-related) student, and Daniel has failed as Robby's mentor. Johnny's and Daniel's character journeys won't be complete until they start repairing their relationships with Robby, start helping him overcome the odds that are against him, and support him to win the world tournament and succeed in his future.

Robby is the protagonist in the story. He has been since the start.

Cobra Kai has always been Robby's story.

Some references:

https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/

https://thewritepractice.com/

(Note: Please don't reblog/reply with any dismissive comments/tags about the show writers, the writing, or the serious aspects of the show. Such comments/tags minimize the contents of the post. This blog (link) explains my general thoughts about posting after s5.)

[purpleheartskies]

Robby's role in Hawk's character journey

Robby has been involved in Hawk's character journey in important ways, despite them barely interacting throughout the series.

In s1, Hawk dislocated Robby's shoulder at the avt because Robby taunted him about his "stupid haircut" after he taunted Robby that that would be Robby's last point. This was the first time Hawk showed "no mercy" in the series and marked the real start of Hawk's fall to the dark side. In s2, Johnny chewed out Hawk and never tried to fix that after Hawk found out that Robby is Johnny's son. Hawk became vulnerable to Kreese's manipulation.

Hawk spiraled further into his downfall after his defeat at the mall, which opened him up more to Kreese's manipulation and led to him vandalizing the Miyagi-Do dojo. Hawk later sided with Kreese when he usurped the dojo from Johnny because Miguel "showed mercy to Robby Keene" in the school fight because of Johnny's teachings. Had Robby's action not led to Miguel becoming injured, Hawk probably wouldn't have sided with Kreese.

In s3, Kreese welcomed Robby to Cobra Kai and Kreese later praised Robby over Hawk, saying that Cobra Kai needs champions like Robby, because Robby succeeded in getting the snake. This all had a huge impact on Hawk's realization during the house fight that Kreese isn't loyal to his students and that Hawk's old friends are (seemingly) loyal to Hawk. Although Johnny and Miguel had tried to guilt and shame Hawk into leaving Cobra Kai before this, they only did so because Kreese had taken the dojo from Johnny and now, months later, Johnny needed students for his new dojo. Johnny planted the seed that Kreese doesn't care about his students, but Kreese choosing Robby proved this to Hawk. Hawk later doubted being teammates with Kyler for the first time during the house fight and then switched sides.

In s4, Robby and the Cobras shaved Hawk's mohawk (which of course was wrong). Robby did this because he knew that Hawk relied on the toxic empowerment he felt from his "stupid haircut" to bully and hurt others, and Robby wanted to protect Kenny by taking toxic empowerment from Hawk. After this, Hawk stopped being a bully and started showing some humility. He also quit Eagle Fang, and Johnny and Miguel didn't spare a thought for Hawk, which shows that in s3 they did only want him to join Eagle Fang and didn't really care about how he's been affected by Johnny, Kreese, and Cobra Kai. (tbf Hawk had first become a bully while Johnny was his Cobra Kai sensei.)

When the crowd cheered for them during their avt match, Hawk showed respect to Robby. Robby showed respect back, despite being a Cobra. In s5, at the waterpark, Hawk backed down from a fight because a kid showed that he looked up to Hawk for being the champion and Hawk wanted to set a good example.

At the trials, Robby asked Hawk not to go too hard on Kenny, reminding Hawk that he knows what it's like to be in Cobra Kai and be brainwashed. In s4e1, Johnny didn't go easy on Hawk during training, despite Johnny himself knowing what it's like to be in Cobra Kai and be brainwashed as well as Johnny never putting in any real effort to undo his own negative influence on Hawk. In s4e10, Daniel told Hawk to give all he's got against Robby in the match, despite Robby being in Cobra Kai and Daniel seeing Robby be brainwashed during his match with Kenny. Here at the trials, Robby asked Hawk to be empathetic, despite the goal being the same as that in the avt: stopping Cobra Kai. Hawk listened to Robby and went easy on Kenny, which played a role in Hawk losing (though the Silver Bullet and Silver bribing the ref were the main reasons). Robby had also never shown Hawk any resentment over the championship loss and said that Hawk had won fair and square, stepping aside to allow Hawk to represent the dojo during the trials. During the brawl, when Kyler taunted Hawk about his loss, Hawk was humble and accepting about it and said that that's life: you win some and lose some. Hawk had gone from winning the avt championship against Robby to getting the wind knocked out of him by Kenny and losing the trial match (though the match was rigged anyway).

Although, Robby and Hawk have barely interacted and have limited connection through other characters throughout out the series, many of the intersections in their journeys have been important in Hawk's character journey. Interestingly, Miguel has had minimal positive impact on Hawk's character journey since Hawk joined Cobra Kai. Johnny and Kreese played important roles in influencing Hawk's downfall, whereas Robby has been playing an important role in directly and indirectly influencing Hawk's return from the dark side and his growth in terms of his empathy and humility. Daniel also coached Hawk with a "give him all you got" against Robby in the avt, whereas Robby coached Hawk with a "don't go too hard on him" against Kenny in the trials. In addition to trying to break the cycle of generational trauma for himself, Robby has been directly and indirectly playing a part in undoing the negative influences that the older generations have had on Hawk.

[purpleheartskies]

Some say that the "I love you too Robby" scene is the saddest scene of s4, maybe even of the series, because Miguel "just wanted a father figure".

Miguel got upset that, despite everything Johnny has done for him, in Johnny's most broken moment, Johnny was thinking of his son, the kid he's failed for so many years. The kid that Miguel had once mocked about Johnny failing him.

It's not that Miguel just wanted a father figure. It's that Miguel wanted his father figure to want him and not Robby.

I'm not trying to be unsympathetic to Miguel wanting a father figure. However, he has an unhealthy sense of entitlement over Johnny when it comes to Robby. Miguel didn't like finding out that Robby is Johnny's son. He snooped about it behind Johnny's back, and then confronted Johnny. When Johnny decided to open up about it, he said that it wasn't his business. Why did he snoop about it in the first place then? He ended up getting validation from Johnny that Johnny will always be on his side, even as Johnny keeps failing Robby. Miguel then immediately worked with Johnny to stomp all over Miyagi-Do's demonstration, aka Robby's demonstration. Afterwards, he told Johnny that he did it, that is Johnny successfully stomped on the demonstration, deflecting his own culpability onto Johnny as well.

On the first day of school, Miguel attacked Robby and then "showed mercy" after he was extremely violent and was gonna break Robby's arm for no reason at all, taunting Robby about Johnny in the process. Then, after the school fight, he took no accountability for his actions in the school fight and blamed it all on Johnny and essentially regretted "showing mercy". Johnny then completely devoted months of his life to Miguel, and obviously if Johnny is with Miguel, then Johnny is not with Robby. So Miguel got Johnny's complete devotion and caring. He also got Johnny's validation now that he's a "real" champion, and got Johnny onboard to open a dojo again and to help him become a champion again. Johnny even went and confronted Kreese because Miguel was beaten in the house attack. Johnny left Robby with Kreese and left with Miguel.

Miguel continued to get Johnny's devotion, and he was still Johnny favored student. They had "family" dinners, with Johnny cooking for them and for Miguel specifically. Johnny also attended the Diaz family dinners with the LaRussos. Johnny was there to see him off to prom. Johnny has done everything for him, all the things that Johnny obviously wasn't doing for Robby and has never done for Robby but should have been doing for Robby, which Miguel knows. They even had a conversation about Johnny not having good father figures, so Johnny doesn't know how to be a dad. Miguel asked if that is what happened with Robby. And, Johnny once again told Miguel that he doesn't want to fail him like he's failed Robby. So, Miguel believed that he is different. That he is special. That he is entitled more than Robby is. Robby did tell Miguel that Johnny's just using him to make up for screwing up with Robby. So then, after this one moment on prom night, just one moment, Miguel soured to Johnny so easily and quickly, although he knew what state Johnny was in and that failing Robby is the most painful thing in Johnny's life. Johnny's talk with him at the avt made him feel more used, so he ran off to find his real father and left Johnny and his dojo to lose because Miguel wasn't fighting for himself anymore.

In s5, Miguel got the confirmation he wanted that Johnny will put Miguel and his needs above Robby regardless. Miguel assumed that Robby came with Johnny to Mexico to find Miguel to act like a "good guy", as if doing something that benefits Miguel is what would make Robby a "good guy". Miguel even told Hawk and Demetri that he wouldn't let Robby being with Johnny get to him, as if Miguel has the right to be upset that Johnny has his son with him. But, of course, Johnny once again failed Robby while not failing Miguel with the apartment fight as well as with the baby news, not caring in the slightest how Robby felt about any of it and giving Miguel the green light to get his anger out on Robby once and for all. Johnny had also not cared to find what happened in the parking lot. Even after the apartment fight, Johnny once again showed that he cares about Miguel and not about Robby, giving Miguel fatherly advice and not giving any to Robby while also quickly shutting down Robby when he spoke up. Johnny later sat with the 3 boys across from, Miguel front and center, and Johnny recapped the avts, completely leaving out that his prized "champion" had cheated to secure the win against Robby.

In the context of the whole story, even before s5, the "I love you too Robby" scene isn't as sad for Miguel. Miguel relishes in Johnny choosing him over Robby. It is a sad scene for Johnny and for Robby. Robby knows that he and Johnny's issues are too big solve, and that includes Johnny choosing Miguel over Robby because Johnny just wants to feel better about screwing up with Robby.

In s4, it was Robby who ended the season once again without a devoted father figure. At the end of s1, Daniel was still more a mentor than a father figure to Robby. And before s1, Robby obviously never had a father figure. At the end of s5, Robby still has no father figure.

[purpleheartskies]

Some of my thoughts about Robby for s6...

First, I wonder if Robby will start out the season having quit karate again. At the beginning of s4, he had told Kreese that he didn't care about a stupid trophy after everything that had happened. He didn't want to be part of the dojo war, but he ended up joining Cobra Kai and eventually fighting in the avt. At the end of s4, he was more upset about what he'd done during his match with Kenny and about his struggle with his trauma/"hate" than about his loss in the tournament. He quit karate again. He didn't want to be a part of Cobra Kai, and there was no indication that he wanted to rejoin Miyagi-Do if it were open. In s5e6, he re-joined Miyagi-Do and the fight against Cobra Kai, along with the Miyagi Fangs, but he clearly told Daniel that there are people he cared about in Cobra Kai and that they (Miyagi Fang) all needed to take down Silver.

At the start of s6, maybe he'll be focusing on himself and his future, without karate in the mix. Although Robby is really talented, karate has brought him nothing but more trauma. I also don't see Johnny paying much attention to him or encouraging him as the Sekai Taikai champion as much as Johnny will focus on Miguel and his future. Robby was just staying with Johnny for the summer. s6 picks up after the start of the school year. Shannon should have returned by then, which means that Robby could be back living with her. Robby may not even be in Johnny's vicinity at the start of s6, and that would be good for him as his situation with Johnny is toxic. This would also open up storyline potentials for Robby. He has no real family (I assume Shannon is more like a roommate), no real friends except for Tory (and maybe Kenny), and no school, so Robby also being away from Johnny gives the writers a more open canvas to work with for Robby. Of course, at one point something would happen and Robby would re-join Miyagi-Do and continue with karate and training for the Sekai Taikai.

Next, in a recent q&a, Hayden said that the dojo will have to select team leaders from each dojo. Johnny would no doubt back Miguel for the boys and Daniel would back Sam for the girls, regardless if more girls joined. Daniel may show some support for Robby to lead the boys, but that remains to be seen. Hawk is in Miyagi-Do and won the avt. If anything, Miguel and Hawk would be supported by the senseis over Robby, and Hawk would definitely step aside for Miguel to lead.

So, most likely Miguel would be the leader for the boys, at least starting out. But, would Robby actually follow his lead completely? In s5e9, Robby went on his own to the CK dojo without the Miyagi Fangs knowing. It shows that Robby would still operate independently if he needs to. Also, in the brawl, when Miguel yelled protect the egg, everyone gathered around Anthony. But when Miguel yelled "Ais!", no one moved. Then Robby yelled it and everyone got into defensive stance. When I saw Hayden's tweet, I realized that my Robby as a leader post actually has some relevance after all. Narratively, Robby has been built out as a leader compared to all the other kids.

Of course, if my first thought above about Robby is true, then at the start of the season, Robby wouldn't even be in the dojo, so Miguel starting out as the leader for the boys would be a given anyway. However, eventually Robby would become the leader at some point because narratively he's been built out to be.

Finally, there's a certain payoff that I'm hoping we'll see. In s3e3, Bobby encouraged Johnny to be there for both boys. Bobby then arranged a visit for Johnny with Robby in juvie. Johnny missed the visit. In s3e4, Johnny was on the phone with Bobby and told him to tell Robby that he's going to make things right with Robby. Bobby obviously refused to do that for Johnny, so Johnny said he'd tell Robby himself.

Since this scene, Bobby hasn't come back. But I think it stands out that Robby specifically met Bobby. Bobby had done a pure act of kindness for Robby and for Johnny. In turn, Bobby himself experienced first hand that Johnny chooses Miguel over Robby. This was after Bobby had told Johnny to be there for both boys. Fans like to quote Bobby saying this, but they always leave out the phone call that followed after Johnny blew off the visit. After this, Bobby doesn't know that Johnny continued to choose Miguel over Robby, abandoned Robby for months, and eventually left Robby with Kreese after Johnny had a violent confrontations with both of them and Kreese tried to kill Johnny. In s2e6, Bobby was not happy with Johnny's decision to let Kreese back into his life. So, Bobby definitely wouldn't approve of Johnny leaving Robby with Kreese.

I don't think Bobby would approve of how Johnny treats Robby overall. And I think Bobby having this first hand experience may influence Bobby to be on Robby's side if Bobby were to learn more details. I've seen fans say that they want Bobby to return to officiate a Johnny-Carmen wedding, but fans ignore that Bobby wasn't happy with Johnny for blowing him and Robby off. Silver can see the Johnny-Robby situation for what it is: that Johnny screwed up Robby. Kreese even told Johnny that he should have been with his "real" son. Bobby would definitely not blindly support Johnny's behavior as is. Bobby also didn't approve of drunk Johnny disrupting his sermon. He wouldn't have approved of Johnny's dumbass drunk move at the end of s5. Bobby would encourage Johnny to work on himself and his behavior with Robby. In s3, Bobby had Johnny promise himself that he would do positive things, be a better person, and do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. Johnny didn't keep that promise. Johnny at the end of s5 is worse than at the end of s3.

Robby needs at least one consistent supportive adult, and so far, none of the adults have been that. Bobby would be a great support system for Robby. Bobby has a history with Johnny, but would still put Johnny in his place. Bobby did this act of kindness for Robby, so Robby knows of him now and knows his kindness. Bobby is also not involved in the dojo war. For Robby's story and the story overall to be complete, Robby's side of the story has to be told, which Bobby can also help do.

It's the last season, and it would be thoroughly disappointing if Bobby didn't make an appearance again. If Bobby is in s6, I would like to think that Rob Thomas himself wouldn't want Bobby to just overlook everything that is wrong with the Johnny-Robby situation and cheer on a wedding for a man who clearly needs help and who continues to traumatize his son. (Besides, in an interview, Hayden was dismissive of the idea of Johnny and Carmen getting married. Makes sense, cause nothing in the story indicates that the baby plotline (aka the "Johnny screwing up another kid" plotline) or the toxic blended "family" are part of Johnny's endgame. Johnny and Robby's story has to conclude now, and the baby plot device was obviously used to place Johnny at the top with everything to lose and Robby at the bottom with nothing to lose, including himself (which he gave up to appease Johnny after hearing the baby news). s6 will be Act 3, the final stretch of Johnny's redemption story. Robby is the person that Johnny has wronged the most overall and throughout the series. Now is the point in the story that Johnny gets the wake-up call he needs (and should have gotten a long time ago, honestly). Johnny's redemption will only come if he make things right with and for Robby.)

[purpleheartskies]

I recently rewatched Stranger Things, and some scenes in s1 made me think of Cobra Kai.

The scene in s1 when Lonnie showed up for Will's "funeral" and how he talked to Jonathan reminded me of the scene in Cobra Kai of Johnny showing up to lecture Robby after the school called Johnny in s1e4. These deadbeat dads showing up acting like they give a shit about their kids and throwing their weight around.

Then, there's the scene where Joyce was confronting Lonnie for coming just to sue the owners of the quarry, and he claimed that they can use the money they get from the lawsuit for good things like sending Jonathan to college. Joyce asked Lonnie if he even knew where Jonathan wants to go to college. Of course, Lonnie didn't know. Joyce kicked him out cause he'd come for his own selfish reasons. This reminded me of Johnny's scene with Shannon in s1e4. At one point, Shannon commented that Johnny actually knew where his son was for once.

The contexts are very different, but what's the same about Lonnie and Johnny is (1) they came when it benefitted them to / when they felt like it, (2) they're so out of touch with their kids' lives by choice, (3) they have defensive, self-righteous attitudes about it to their kids and their kids' moms, (4) they expected their kids to just do what they say and to trust them, and (5) neither came back to try to do better.

The fact that Johnny never went back in s1e4 showed that he was never committed to doing better for Robby but was just there for himself. Johnny went on a whim and decided to "try" but gave up after some push back and went to the kid who is easy to "try" with and who makes him feel better about himself.

Johnny keeps chasing that kid even more now, while actively endangering and abusing Robby. Johnny in s5 has the same motivations as Johnny in s1, but Johnny in s5 is worse in a lot of ways.

Whereas Johnny in s1 didn't approve when Miguel exploited Robby's injury during the avt, Johnny in s5 didn't disapprove when Miguel made Robby bleed after Johnny had encouraged them to fight harder. After all, the goal was to have them "fight it out" non-tournament style. Johnny made it clear that he doesn't care about what happened between the boys and just wanted things solved on his timeline. Johnny never cared to understand who had started the rivalry and what had happened that led up to the end of the school fight in s2. He didn't care about what had actually happened in the waterpark parking lot in s5e4. In s3, when Johnny saw the bruise on Robby's face, Johnny immediately accused Robby of starting fights. In s4, when Robby told Johnny that Miguel had been the one to attack him in school, Johnny brushed him off with an "I wasn't there... but I know Cobra Kai", projecting his own history with Kreese onto Robby. Johnny has been projecting his view of himself onto Robby since Daniel's comment "maybe he just has a little too much of you in him" comment in s3e2.

In s5e1, Johnny gaslit Robby about looking for him when he went on the run. Then, Johnny minimized his failures with Robby (lying and tricking Robby into the trip was one of those countless failures), projected his own guilt for his own supposed "failures" with Miguel onto Robby, and wanted Robby to follow how he himself deals with his own guilt:

"I know I haven't been there for you, Robby. More times than I can count. But I've also failed Miguel. Hell, I'm the reason he ran off in the first place. I'm out here trying to fix my mistakes so I don't have to live with the regret of making them. If you're serious about making things right, you can start by helping Miguel. I know you have your fair share of regrets when it comes to him... I'm gonna call Carmen. I'll be right back. Finish taking these off."

Johnny walked away, leaving Robby to take care of one of Johnny's own screw ups (the flat tire) while he prioritized yet another Diaz over Robby.

It's ironic that Johnny said, "but I know Cobra Kai" when Robby told him that Miguel had attacked Robby in school, but Johnny has never considered Miguel's fault in all of this. Johnny (like the fandom) doesn't want to destroy the pristine image he has of Miguel. Miguel's motivations to hurt Robby in s5 were still the same as in s1. Now, he just uses the school fight as validation and gaslights Robby in s5e5 about his own actions in the school fight, "Last time we fought like this, how come you didn't hold back?" Maybe try not attacking and baiting someone like a psycho, huh Miguel? Of course, the lesson Johnny had given Miguel since the avt is "strike first, strike hard, show mercy sometimes". So essentially it's "attack and beat my kid up as much as you want, just show him mercy in the end", which Miguel followed through with in s2 and in s5. At least, Robby was allowed to fight back when Johnny told them to fight it out. Regardless, Robby is Miyagi-Do and had told Johnny that he wants his space, but Johnny cornered him with Miguel. This was despite Robby's admission after the avt that Cobra Kai had made everything worse for Robby. This fight was Cobra Kai (Johnny and Miguel) vs Miyagi-Do (Robby), just like the school fight had been and just like Silver and Daniel's fight was later in that episode. In s5e4, Johnny had questioned Shannon if Robby would be safe with her over the summer, but after Johnny got to keep Robby, Johnny proceeded to have him beaten into submission for his own purposes. Johnny himself called it "submission".

In Stranger Things, Joyce is portrayed as an imperfect parent that's a realistic mess but no doubt loves her sons and even went into another dimension to rescue one of them. Joyce has her flaws. For example, when they first realized that Will wasn't at home, Joyce got upset with Jonathan for working instead of making sure Will got home. Jonathan is parentified because of these responsibilities, but there's never a doubt throughout s1 or later if Joyce cares about her sons. She never gave up on Will, and she cares about Jonathan. Later, when Jonathan wanted to go into dangerous situations to save Will, Joyce refused to let him. Joyce is the kind of parent that you can say, "she tries her best with what she has".

Johnny doesn't deserve the claim that he tries their best with what he has. Not in s1 nor later. In s5, Johnny just used Robby as a thing to feel better about himself and continued to prioritize other people over Robby, neglecting and abusing Robby in the process.

At the end of s5, Silver told the audience what to expect if the baby plotline continues:

Johnny's just gonna screw up another kid.

Nothing throughout s5 contradicted this statement.

[purpleheartskies]

Pretty much all the "maybe it's not gonna be a 1v1 tournament" ideas for the Sekai Taikai come down to the fact that Robby's set up for the win and Miguel isn't. The series would be incomplete if Robby, the real underdog, doesn't get a major win, especially after all of his losses. Robby isn't just any character. Robby is Johnny's real son, something that has been emphasized throughout the series. Robby's always been narratively much more important than Miguel. Cobra Kai is Robby's story as much as it is Johnny's, and maybe even more.