Despite having very little involvement in the epic showdowns of Cobra Kai, Amanda LaRusso is still an
important character in the series. Although not a fan of the initial war between Daniel and Johnny,
it is when Kreese steps in to reclaim Cobra Kai that Amanda starts to get more involved.
One of Amanda's best character traits is that despite the absence of Mr. Miyagi, she helps
her husband stay grounded at times and tends to be the voice of reason that he needs. This is
my character analysis, opinion, and theory on why that is, including what makes her a strong partner
for Daniel, a theory involving her and Robby, and what we could possibly see from her in the future.
Let's recap on what we know about Amanda so far. Although we know very little about her
life before Cobra Kai starts, including how she met and how long she's been with Daniel,
they opened up LaRusso Auto together shortly after being married and right before Sam is born. We
first see Amanda at Encino Oaks Country Club when Daniel tries to relay to Amanda about running into
his rival and Johnny re-opening Cobra Kai, until they are interrupted by Anthony's demand for a
drink. She advises Daniel not to embarrass Sam in front of her friends when they arrive home
and also reassures Daniel to not be suspicious about Kyler (although later on we see Daniel being
right about him). Amanda also tries to calm Daniel down about Johnny's graffiti but to no avail,
and supports his idea to re-paint over the billboard. When Daniel confides in her that
he's about to shut down Cobra Kai thanks to his influential relationship with Armand Zarkarian,
Amanda expresses her disappointment in his convoluted plot because of him not considering
the other stores in the strip mall. She also advises that he needs to not let Johnny turn
him into an asshole and to do something to make the old Daniel come back, which goes on
to influence Daniel to train in Miyagi-Do once more. Amanda also goes on to hire Robby Keene,
Johnny Lawrence's son who wants to make his Dad angry for him working at LaRusso Auto. Amanda
declines to train with Daniel and later is shown to help mediate things between Robby and Louie,
who convinced Robby into starting the car in a crowded showroom. She also grows fond of Robby,
noting the mentorship that Daniel is providing him and Robby's willingness to go the extra mile
when it comes to working at the dealership. It is shown that Amanda and Daniel's mother Lucille
do not always get along, especially with Lucille indirectly making Amanda feel not good enough for
Daniel because she was also able to raise Daniel while also working full time. Things get heated
at first, but Sam eventually manages to cool the two down while Robby and Daniel are away training.
When Johnny shows up to confront Daniel about Louie and his biker friends trashing Johnny's car,
Amanda tries to mediate between the two and keep things neutral. She advises Daniel that if he
really wants to be rid of Johnny, to give him a car and have him be done with Johnny once and
for all. Because of Johnny letting on that Sam was involved (indirectly) with Johnny's Firebird being
rear-ended, she grounds her and also unknowningly prevents Sam from communicating with Miguel,
causing a rift into their relationship. After the lake party and Daniel finding out Robby is
Johnny's son, Amanda tries to get them to cheer up and eventually accompanies the family to the
All-Valley Tournament. Although Daniel doesn't want to cheer for Robby at first, Amanda makes
it clear that if it was a scheme between Robby and Johnny, Robby would not be fighting Johnny's
students. Because of Sam's conversation with Miguel, she leaves early with Sam and Anthony,
leaving Daniel to coach Robby in the finals. She is also wary of Daniel opening up Miyagi-Do to
combat Cobra Kai, and this grows during the summer the more time Daniel spends away from
the dealership. On the first day of training, Amanda contacts Daniel to help with sales at
the dealership and they work together to meet the quota. She also gives some sound advice to Daniel
nervous about teaching, reminding him he doesn't need to be Mr. Miyagi, but rather Mr. LaRusso.
When Daniel ends up making a commercial without letting Amanda know (especially when it was half
of the sales quarter's budget), she begins to show concern even more when Daniel starts to lose
balance between both the dealership and training, citing it to be the root of a midlife crisis. At
Valley Fest, her sarcastic advice actually gives Daniel the idea to put on a demonstration with
Robby and Sam, but this soon backfires because of Cobra Kai crashing the festival. At the Country
Club, Amanda sticks up for Robby (who used to pull scams with Trey and Cruz at this country club),
not knowing that he used to work there. When Robby confides in her about this, she offers her
own Miyagi-like advice that what you do next is what matters more than the mistakes of yesterday.
Her wallet is one of the ones stolen by Trey, Cruz, and Derek, which also becomes a source
of conflict between Sam and Tory and inspires Robby to take on his former companions (who is
later saved by Daniel). After Kreese advises Hawk and others to trash the dojo, Daniel confronting
Johnny at the dojo allows him to poach students which soon keeps Daniel busy with Miyagi-Do.
Because of this new busy schedule, this causes Amanda to note that he's now missed two meetings
back to back. This is compounded further when Daniel starts to leave earlier in the morning,
and although she tells him Anoush is considering leaving the dealership because of Tom Cole's offer
(and his confrontation with Johnny), Daniel unfortunately misses this meeting and causes
Anoush to leave the dealership. Amanda confronts him about this when he is too
late and expresses that Daniel is unbalanced between his commitments to the dealership,
training, and his marriage. While Daniel tries to win her back over with grand gestures at first,
she notes that these are temporary and it won't solve the problem. It is not until Lucille tells
Daniel about a memory when his father was still alive when they went to Coney Island. Daniel's
father made her feel that he was in it and loved her, no matter what happened. This inspires Daniel
to have a one-on-one with Amanda reminiscing about the opening of the dealership, remembering that it
was a great night for their marriage. She voices that she doesn't want him to give up karate,
but Daniel counters that Mr. Miyagi would tell him to focus on what's important. Not too long after,
they attend the same restaurant where Johnny and Carmen are having dinner, and because of
how full the restaurant is, they are forced to sit with Johnny and Carmen. Although both start
to bicker back and forth at first, Amanda puts her foot down on how ridiculous they are acting
(with Carmen subtly feeling the same way) and the girls leave the two alone for a brief period
of time so they can resolve their differences (for the time being). The next day, Anthony lets Daniel
know that he hasn't seen Sam since yesterday. Amanda logs into Sam's computer and they discover
messages from Aisha, who indicates that Sam was drinking and cops showed up. This leads to Daniel
tracking Sam down at Johnny's apartment. After the school fight, Amanda is called by the school
and they rush up to the hospital to see Sam. When Sam is taken for X-Rays, Amanda states that this
rivalry has gone too far and pushes for Daniel to close Miyagi-Do. Two weeks later, things have
gotten worse for the LaRussos – they are being blamed by a lot of the parents for Robby's action
and sales are declining at the dealership. Amanda is not a fan of Johnny and Daniel tracking down
Robby due to their unconventional methods, but advises them to be careful. After Robby is turned
into the police, Amanda tries to comfort Daniel telling him that he helped him, and that he will
come around. When Anoush informs Louie and Daniel about Cole's plan with Doyona, she is at first
reluctant to continue with the dealership, knowing that they can't compete. However,
Daniel comes up with a plan and Amanda stands by it, saying that there is no turning back.
While Daniel is away, Amanda finds out that Sam has been training everyone in Miyagi-Do again, and
her soccer field fight at the school, expressing her disappointment. However, Sam starts to get
through to her when she responds that karate isn't the problem and finding out that Cobra Kai
broke Demetri's arm. This leads Amanda to confront Kreese directly at the dojo, and after an intense
conversation, she slaps him and warns him that Cobra Kai will get shut down. When Daniel returns,
Amanda brings him up to speed and they go to the police to put a restraining order on Kreese,
only to find that Kreese beat them to the punch. Amanda resorts to a nuclear option and convinces
Armand to evict Cobra Kai (mirroring Daniel's actions of Season 1). However, this backfires when
Kreese takes out Armand and his nephews, and also retaliates by unleashing snakes in the dealership.
Amanda realizes that karate may have to be the answer and stands by Daniel's decision to re-open
Miyagi-Do, and encourages him to spend time with Sam to figure out what she's going through.
She also advises Daniel to lighten up on the first week of training and that Robby has to
figure out what he wants to do, and Daniel can't change that. She also voices her opinion when
Kreese tries to appeal to City Council about the All-Valley tournament. At the Christmas Party,
Amanda meets the famous Ali Mills, and she informs Ali of Johnny and Daniel's rivalry,
while Ali tells old school stories about both Daniel and Johnny. Ali brings some closure to
both Johnny and Daniel, and after finding out that Cobra Kai invaded the house, Daniel
goes and confronts Kreese at Cobra Kai, leading them to settle things at the All-Valley in May.
One of the things that cannot be overlooked and what I find to be one Amanda's greatest strengths
is keeping Daniel grounded by being the voice of reason. This not only applies to Daniel's rivalry
with Johnny but also in other aspects of their lives. The first example of this is that while
yes, Sam should've asked to have friends over while they were gone, embarrassing Sam will do
no favors in his relationship with her. She also reminds Daniel that he is not the only who has
had experience with bullying and notes a very similar situation to what Sam is going through.
She also states that while she doesn't want Sam to become a bully or a brat either, he can only do so
much to prevent that. Amanda brings this up again when Daniel states that he will be chaperoning at
the high school dance, noting his experience with his mom driving him to dates. One of the greatest
examples is her dislike of Daniel raising Johnny's rent without considering the other stores.
Amanda doesn't know the full experience of what Daniel dealt with, but says that he shouldn't
be influenced by someone else's actions to inadvertently become like them. It is this
comment that inspires Daniel to seek balance. It is also Amanda who has to mediate between
Johnny and Daniel when a fight is about to erupt at the house. Indirectly, Daniel was partially
responsible for Louie to go after Johnny, and Amanda gives the best advice to get rid of Johnny
by giving him a car. Amanda is also the one to get through to Daniel that if Robby was truly on
Johnny's side, he would not be fighting Cobra Kai students. In Season 2 during the summer, Amanda
has to grow into this role even more because of Daniel's obsession of getting even with Cobra Kai.
One of my favorite parts is that although it is very light at the surface, her advice to Daniel
about becoming Mr. LaRusso and not becoming Mr. Miyagi is one of the greatest Miyagi-isms that
she could've told him. Daniel's obsession with trying to be so much like his sensei does become
a problem with his self-righteous attitude and not considering some of the circumstances about
Cobra Kai's sitaution. Amanda is also the one who pushes Daniel to get in contact with Johnny.
Despite their rivalry, it is Johnny at this point that needs to be contacted regarding
Robby's situation. Although it does not involve Daniel, Amanda sticking up for Robby also leads
to another one of her own Miyagi-isms: “We all make mistakes, it's what we do next that counts,
right?” With everything that's going on it is Amanda that has to get through to Daniel when he
is neglecting the dealership and their marriage. “Sometimes when you focus on one thing, you lose
focus of everything else that matters.” Another great example is when Amanda tries to push Daniel
to be civil at the restaurant, especially when he starts to act condescending towards Johnny,
and the fact that they have to compare their dojos. Amanda and Carmen leaving the two alone
is also what they needed to do for Daniel and Johnny to work out their differences.
When the rivalry goes too far with Sam being in the hospital (and Robby severely injuring Miguel),
Amanda has to have a tough conversation on how deep the rivalry has affected them.
She even goes so far as to point out how LaRusso and Miyagi-Do are poisonous now with the declining
sales at the dealership. She also compares to how Robby may come around because of Louie ultimately
being there for the family, despite what has happened in the past. Although she was hesitant
to believe how dangerous Kreese was at first, she notes that fighting him will make things worse
and also has to resort to a nuclear tactic of what Daniel used to force out someone that is
dangerous to the community and their children. She also notes that Daniel is being way too hard
on the students on the first week, and it is up to Robby to decide what he wants to do with his life.
Ali also confirms what Amanda knows about Daniel already – the fact that he does jump
to conclusions and he needed people like her, Mr. Miyagi, and Amanda to keep him grounded.
What also makes Amanda special is that like his previous relationships (both romantic and
platonic), she is a strong woman and what she can bring to the table is needed in his life. Daniel
historically has had relationships or friendships with women who were no pushovers by any means:
Ali, Kumiko, or Jessica. Amanda does possess some intellect at times: because of Daniel's past,
she is able to deduce that Daniel is using Miyagi's unorthodox methods of training to
get Robby to develop muscle memory, especially when he voices his dislike of doing mundane work.
Amanda's ability to be a proficient sales person is also noted when she helps Daniel
meet the quota for the day, using her very business-savvy sales tactics.
Although Daniel struggled to try to get into Sam's computer in Season 1, at the end of Season 2 it
is revealed Amanda knew her password all along or was able to figure it out on her own terms.
When Louie shows them that the van is missing from the inventory and also notes how long it has been
gone, Amanda is the first to deduce that Robby could've possibly stolen a van to be on the run.
Amanda has always been reasonable whether it comes to the dealership, family, or their marriage.
She is not afraid to speak her mind, even if it involves Daniel's family (especially when Lucille
has no real knowledge of Louie's contributions at work). She went as so far to confront Kreese
and slap him in the dojo because of the danger and threat he posed to her family. Even when
Kreese tried to shift the blame in a manner that it was the fault of Miyagi-Do at the arcade,
Amanda put her foot down for him to keep Sam's name out of it. Although the joke
of “on the mat” which led to Anthony's creation could've been a joke in passing,
it is very possible that Daniel also taught Amanda some Miyagi-Do to defend herself from danger.
Obviously the slap may not indicate this at all, the possibility cannot be ruled out that it
also gave Amanda confidence when it comes to her personality in general. Amanda's semi-Miyagi-like
wisdom at times also indicates that she has a fair amount of balance in her life, and because of Mr.
Miyagi being around Daniel up until his passing, his influence may have rubbed off on her for
the better. Amanda is also stern when she has to be, when it comes to Sam's soccer fight and also
trying to get Daniel to calm down for overreacting to the students. Although she completely disliked
Daniel's tactic of using his relationship with Zarkarian, she also had no choice but to use the
same tactic if it meant protecting her family. Because of her previous high school experience,
this could've also led her to being such a strong personality because of the previous encounters
that she's had with her own share of bullying. Last but not least, Amanda is supportive of her
family and especially Daniel. Even though she didn't like the fact that Daniel was unbalanced,
she ultimately saw that karate did bring some balance to his life and she did not want Daniel
to completely quit Miyagi-Do, despite it being part of their conflict. When Daniel really needs
to talk to Sam to find out what's going on, she has no problem taking over the dealership for a
day because her daughter's concerns are important than being short-handed at the dealership. Amanda
also finally realizes how severe things are when she comforts Sam at the hospital.
Here are some of Amanda's mistakes that she's made, and as like any other character,
she has her flaws too. Although Daniel rightly jumps to conclusions a majority of the time,
there were a few instances that he was right about, and Amanda did not trust him.
Daniel was right about his initial judgment of Kyler, especially with the front he put on
(and now even more so when probably learning Kyler was in Cobra Kai and invaded the house).
Kyler lied about the confrontation with Johnny to Daniel, and also about the bracelet he tried
to give Sam. Amanda also did have some sort of justification to doubt Daniel about Cobra Kai,
especially because of how far he went to get back at Johnny; however, he was right about
Kreese being involved (with Amanda dismissing the thought of a geriatric karate coach being deadly).
Kreese goes so far as to train his students to get back at Miyagi-Do, and to also show no
mercy by breaking Demetri's arm, and staging a home invasion. When Amanda finally realizes how
far Kreese will go, she starts to believe Daniel about his past experiences with Cobra Kai (though
realizes Johnny is not as bad as he says he is). One of other detail sticks out to me is that the
end of Season 1 could've been vastly different when Robby showed up to visit Daniel while he
was away with Johnny. Amanda started to explain what Daniel was dealing with but at the time,
it didn't matter because it was a business-related matter between Daniel and Amanda. However,
if she would've indicated who the person was, this could've prompted Robby to let Amanda know that
Johnny was his father and to explain that while initially his plan was to get back at his Dad,
he stuck around because he enjoyed the philosophies of Miyagi-Do. This could've
prevented Daniel from jumping to conclusions when he and Johnny show back up, and possibly even
prevented Robby compounding the situation with Sam further. A possibility would've been that Amanda
may have told Daniel about Robby over the phone, and while Johnny and Daniel were out, Daniel
would've relayed what had been going on. I don't think they would've been suddenly best friends,
but the approach would've been at least somewhat smoother compared to what have actually happened
in Season 1. This could've also allowed Sam to call Miguel back on what was going on while Amanda
was busy on the phone, and patched up what had been going between them. I would go as far to say
that they would've never broken up and the Cobra Kai timeline could've been changed dramatically.
Here are my final thoughts on Amanda and what we could possibly see in the future. Amanda is one
of the closest things to wisdom Daniel has in his life right now as he strives to be a better
sensei. She is exactly what Daniel needs when it comes to keeping him grounded and to focus
on what matters, not to mention being supportive of his training and what he does to provide for
her family. One thing that does stick out to me is that we hear very little about her family.
While I do not suspect or have the basis to think she would be related to somebody from the movies,
it is very odd that not much is mentioned about Amanda's family at all. When Daniel is away,
Amanda sends Sam and Anthony to visit Lucille; we have never heard much about Amanda's family at all
in the series. It could be a simple case of maybe her parents not being alive or that she doesn't
maintain a close relationship with them, but we also do not know much about her early life either,
aside from her stating she also had some run-ins with cruel girls in her high school. It would be
interesting in future seasons if Lucille and Amanda's parents clashed, much how Amanda did
with Lucille. I think Amanda will continue to be a strong source of support for Miyagi-Do and
Eagle Fang going forward, and only time will tell how Amanda's role will play out in the future.
Let me know what you guys think in the comments down below: what do you like about Amanda?
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