Samantha LaRusso (often called simply "Sam") is a main character in the first season of Cobra Kai. She is the daughter of Daniel LaRusso. She becomes one of the main protagonists in the second season of Cobra Kai.
Fictional Character Biography
Pre Karate Kid
Samantha is the daughter of Daniel and Amanda LaRusso. At the age of 8, she was taught karate by her father, but as she got older she lost interest and quit. However, she retained her knowledge and skill based on how she was able to fend off Kyler at the movie theater and when she flipped Miguel on their date.
Cobra Kai
Season 1
In her teenage years, she hangs out with the other rich, popular girls at her high school. Her relationship with her father is strained by his meddling in her potential romance with a fellow student named Kyler, but they reconcile after Samantha sees Kyler bully Miguel's friend group and subsequently ends their relationship. When Kyler begins spreading lies about her, Samantha is briefly friendless. Miguel eventually defends her and defeats Kyler's clique in a lunch room fight, after which he and Samantha begin dating. Samantha really likes Miguel but hides their relationship from her parents because her father disapproves of Cobra Kai. A series of assumptions and misunderstandings lead Miguel to believe that Samantha is ashamed of him and involved with Robby Keene. Between that and Robby's resentment over his father's Johnny Lawrence karate tutelage of Miguel, antagonism sparks between the two boys when they meet at a beach party. Samantha is upset with Miguel's behavior and breaks up with him. After a second confrontation with Miguel at the All-Valley Tournament, Samantha returns home and resumes her own karate training.
Season 2
Sam, upset over her breakup with Miguel blocks him on social media. At first she decides not to join Daniel's Miyagi-Do Karate training because she does not want to fight her Cobra Kai friends, but soon changes her mind.
She tries to patch things up with Aisha but the latter is upset with her when Daniel insults Cobra Kai in his commercial. She develops a dislike to new Cobra Kai student Tory. When her mom's wallet is missing during a pool party she immediately accuses Tory who angrily denies having it. She then grabs Tory's hand but Tory knocks her down. This incident starts their rivalry.
After struggling to get more students at Miyagi Do for several days Sam's Daniel's and Robby's luck changes when Cobra Kai's ruthless teaching cause several students to join Miyagi-Do. Overtime she and Robby develop feelings for each other. While Robby at first thinks it is a bad idea for them to date, he soon eventually changes his mind and the two start dating but don't tell Daniel.
When Sam and Robby go to a skating party together they run into Miguel and Tory who are a couple. While she and Miguel wait in line to get more skates Sam asks him why he is dating Tory which offends him and the two have a brief argument. When Tory intentionally knocks her down, Sam, fed up with her behavior, knocks her down, but this angers Miguel and causes both she and Robby to get kicked out despite Miguel and the possible manager being unaware that Tory started it.
When Sam and Robby go to Moon's house for a party she gets revenge on Tory by beating her in a drinking contest, but she gets too drunk which makes her woozy. After finding out from Aisha that Miguel returned Miyagi's medal of honor which Hawk stole a while ago she goes outside to get some air. When Miguel checks up on her she thanks him for returning the badge and the two share a kiss but immediately regret it. However, they are unaware that Tory saw them kiss.
After the cops arrive everyone leaves the party and Sam tells Robby not to take her home because she does not want her parents to see her drunk. So, Robby takes her to Johnny's house and the two spend the night there. The following morning however Daniel arrives at Johnny's door, and both he and Johnny have a brief fight until Sam and Robby stop them Daniel then angrily takes her home.
While Sam is in class on the first day of school she is threatened by Tory over the intercom. When She and Tory meet in the hallway, Tory viciously attacks her. Robby attempts to stop the fight, but Miguel, unaware of Robby's intention, attacks Robby. Sam and Tory resume the fight and a huge brawl between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai soon breaks out. Sam tries to get Tory to stop fighting but the latter won't listen. Despite struggling for a while, Sam is eventually able to get the upper hand. However, Tory then attacks Sam with her spiked bracelet and manages to injure Sam's wrist with it. Tory is about to stab her with the bracelet but Sam kicks Tory off her and then kicks her down the stairs, winning the fight. However, after Robby kicks Miguel off the railing, resulting in Miguel being badly injured, Sam screams "Robby what did you do?"
Sam is rushed to the hospital. When Daniel and her mom Amanda LaRusso visit her in the hospital Sam tearfully says that she hopes Miguel is ok, and then starts crying and blaming herself for what happened. When Daniel returns to the hospital and notices Sam isn't in the room Amanda tells him she is getting x-rays and that the doctor says she may have a broken rib.
Fighting Style
Samantha trained in martial arts with her father as a child, and it is shown in season 1 that she has retained that knowledge when she performs a takedown on Miguel. In season 2 she shown training, sparring, and fighting, and we see that she is a quick, acrobatic, and elusive fighter. Thanks to their tandem training she fights extremely well alongside Robby, holding off several Cobra Kai students during the brawl at the mall. She has more trouble in her one on one fight with Tory during the school brawl, however, barely defeating her after a protracted contest.
Gallery
Add a photo to this galleryTrivia
- Samantha LaRusso is somewhat compared to the following characters:
- Ali Mills - Both are broken up by their ex-boyfriends for a series of misunderstandings and conflicts and later gained their male friends in which would eventually lead into their relationship. Both also have shallow friends (In Ali's case, Barbara and Susan. In Sam's case, Yasmine and Moon).
- Daniel LaRusso - both are being trained in karate.
- Julie Pierce - Both are teenage girls being trained in karate. Both were taught karate by their fathers at a young age.
- Despite breaking up with Miguel, Sam may still have feelings for him as she kissed him during Moon's party, though she was drunk at the time, so it is unclear whether or not she still truly has feelings for him. Miguel still has feelings for her.
- It has not been stated whether Sam ever met Mr. Miyagi, but considering she was around 9-10 years old when he died and how close he and Daniel were, she more than likely did and would have been old enough to remember him.
