Laura Lawrence was a minor character of the Netflix series Cobra Kai. She is portrayed by Sharon Spelman and Candace Moon.
She was the mother of Johnny Lawrence, the wife of Sid Weinberg, the ex-wife of Mr. Lawrence, and the grandmother of Robby Keene and by Baby Lawrence-Diaz.
Biography[]
At some point, Laura met and married Mr. Lawrence. On August 20, 1967, she gave birth to their son, Johnny Lawrence.
While Johnny was in kindergarten, his father left him and Laura for unknown reasons. Laura did her best to raise Johnny on her own during this time, as there were implied hardships during these early years.
At some point when Johnny was still very young, Laura returned home from a night out and found Johnny was up playing despite his babysitter, Mrs. Wilson, putting him to bed. She told him that Sid Weinberg had proposed to her and they were going to get married. She promised her son that things were going to be much better for them, but an upset Johnny stormed off into his room. When Laura followed to convince him, she found her son seeking comfort in a large box of keepsakes that had belonged to his father. Laura got very upset, saying Johnny should not have saved these things and that they both had to move on from his father. She angrily told Johnny that his father had left them, and he was going to have a new father from now on. Laura then took the box of these items and said she was going to destroy them despite her son's protests.
Laura would go on to marry Sid, a very wealthy yet cruel man who was a high-level television producer in Hollywood, and would move her and Johnny into his mansion in the Encino Hills. Despite Laura's efforts, Sid treated Johnny poorly throughout his life, endlessly ridiculing him for his many failures in school and in social settings.
One day in 1979, Johnny returned to the mansion for lunch and excitedly told his mother about how he wanted to take karate classes as the Cobra Kai Dojo he had just found. Laura was supportive but Sid at first ridiculed Johnny and and cited his failures at drums, with a magicians set, and other things. However, Laura defended Johnny and convinced Sid to pay for his karate lessons.
Sid's churlish ways affected a young Johnny who turned to the head sensei of the Cobra Kai Dojo, John Kreese, for guidance instead of to Laura and Sid. It's not entirely known if Laura ever actually met Kreese or saw the man in action with her son and his students. She would have almost certainly attended Johnny's karate tournaments, and she would have almost certainly met Johnny's Cobra Kai teammates, both at tournaments and in social settings. It is doubtful that she ever witnessed Johnny or his Cobra Kai teammate's in their bad-boy behavior, as Johnny and his friends often put on one face in front of adults and one for others they were tormenting.
Karate Kid[]
Laura has dinner at the country club with Sid and Johnny and also meets Ali Mills and Mr. and Mrs. Mills. While she is sitting with Sid at the table Johnny is dancing with Mrs. Mills, who then hands him over to Ali. Johnny then tried to kiss Ali which is seen by Daniel LaRusso, who stumbles upon the restaurant staff, resulting in Daniel being covered in spaghetti. Laura along with the other people proceed to laugh at Daniel leaving him humiliated.
After 1984[]
After high school, Johnny continued to rely on Sid's financial support, and it was implied that it was only because of Laura that Sid continued to do so. By Johnny's own words, he partied his 20s and most of his 30s away, and still had access to the Encino Oaks Country Club as recently as the mid 1990's. Sid would accuse Johnny of freeloading off him later in life.
When Laura unexpectedly died in 2002, her family disintegrated as only Johnny and Sid were left - they never considered each other family to begin with, and the already-poor father-son relationship devolved further into nasty hatred. Sid grew to detest Johnny even more, as prior to Laura's death, she made him promise that he would watch out for his stepson. Despite his hatred of Johnny, Sid would keep his promise to Laura for the next 15 years, bailing Johnny out of jail on many occasions. It was the fall of 2017 when Sid, tired of Johnny's many transgressions, bought him out of his life.
It is apparent that Johnny loved his mother very much, as he keeps a framed photo of her in his living room alongside a picture of a younger Robby Keene, and looks at both often. Laura's death even caused him to miss his son's birth, and Johnny was also heartbroken because Robby will never know his grandmother.
Cobra Kai[]
Season 1[]
Laura's photograph is seen and she is briefly mentioned by her widower Sid Weinberg.[2]
In a flashback to Johnny's formative years, she argues with Sid about Johnny taking Karate classes when Sid berates him for his interest in the sport. Even if she spoiled Johnny a little bit, Laura provided much needed love, understanding and encouragement to her son. She also did her best to protect Johnny from his abusive and uncaring stepfather, encouraging him to explore his interests and make friends.[3]
As Johnny reminisces about his mother, he cleans off her photo that he keeps in his apartment.[4]
Season 2[]
Johnny tells his top student Miguel that Laura passed away right before Robby was born, and his depression over this is what led him to abandon his family.[5]
Season 4[]
Johnny has a flashback to when he was a little boy and Laura announces that she will be getting married to Sid. Johnny is very resistant and refuses to accept this. He runs off to his room, where Laura discovers a large box of keepsakes that belonged to his father. Laura is very angry at her son for having kept this stuff that she had believed had already been thrown out. She decides to destroy these mementos of her former husband, telling Johnny his father left them both and he needs to accept her marriage to Sid, before leaving with the box.[6]
Season 6[]
After Daniel stops Sam and Tory's fight for female captain due to Tory being unstable after her mother passed away that resulted with her quitting Miyagi-Do, an upset Johnny, who was coaching the fight and wanted it to continue, privately argues with Daniel for his decision and brings up Laura's death as he relates to what Tory's going through. He explains to him that when Laura died, fighting would've help him with his loss which is why the captain's match would've helped Tory with her grief.[7]
Gallery[]
.png "Download (4).png (547 KB)")
.png "Download (3).png (371 KB)")