History PoorCommunicationKills / CobraKai

* While Kenny explains to Robby from the start that he needs to learn karate due to being bullied at school, he never actually mentions the names of the bullies. Thus, Robby has no problem with taking Kenny under his wing and having him join Cobra Kai to defend himself, but fails to teach Kenny that fighting isn't always the answer and might doesn't make right. When Robby finally learns that Anthony was Kenny's bully, he's horrified that he accidentally turned Kenny into a thug that just gave Anthony a beatdown. Season 5 makes it clear that, had he known Anthony was the bully from the get go, Robby would've used his pre-existing relationship with him to nip it in the bud and it would've kept Kenny free from Cobra Kai's corrupting influence and turning into a bully himself.

** Robby does not talk with Sam, neither about the cheating or about the Brawl. This leaves her unsure if his attack on Miguel was an accident, which she reveals in an interview on the News. His refusal to talk makes her question if he wants to stay together following her cheating and the school fight.

* At the water park, Kenny and Kyler go after Anthony again. Anthony proceeds to play the victim by treating his half-hearted apology as genuine and saying he should be forgiven as Kenny got his revenge even though Robby was there to stop it. This furthers Kenny's belief that he was never really sorry and just sorry he got caught, causing him to double-down.

** When Robby finally goes to respond to Sam's messages, another kid in Juvie unplugs the computer while he is typing a reply. Much like when Sam got grounded in Season 1, there's no way for him to answer her messages. This leads Sam to thinking he wants nothing to do with her, she assumes the relationship is over, and decides to reconcile with Miguel after his off-the-cuff speech to save the tournament.

* It's revealed in "December 19" that this is why Ali and Daniel's relationship ended. Daniel saw Ali with a UCLA student, who was an old friend of hers. In a similar vein to how he handled Johnny kissing Ali, he immediately assumed the worse starting a fight between them. Ali's fault was egging Daniel on in her anger despite the situation being NotWhatItLooksLike.

* Apparently, Mitch never even spoke up about his irritation being called "Penis Breath" by his peers, which contributes to him betraying the Miyagi-Fangs for Cobra Kais. Clearly, the use of the nickname was a means of endearment from his now-former teammates (unlike, say Kyler, who uses it as a means of degrading), but who knows what could happen if Mitch either simply told someone like Bert or Hawk to stop calling him that, or even report to his senseis if they don't listen (Daniel at least, as a former bullying victim, would ''definitely'' understand the desire not to be called a derogatory name). Instead, Mitch defects to Cobra Kai all the way to the FinalBattle which becomes AllForNothing when Silver gets exposed as a fraud and a cheater, and ''his old sensei, Daniel'' beating him to a pulp. As he'd revealed his defection just prior to the final battle, and fought on Cobra Kai's side, neither group will want him back.

** In part, this comes from the fact that Daniel doesn't tell Johnny about the events of the third movie until Season 4. Johnny sees Daniel being determined not to let what happened to him happen to other kids, and interprets it as him being a jerk unwilling to give Cobra Kai a second chance. Daniel sees Johnny opening a new version of Cobra Kai to empower kids rather than teach them to hurt others, and interprets it as Johnny doing to the next generation what Barnes, Silver, and Kreese did to him. Had Johnny known earlier about the events of the third movie, he might well have kicked Kreese out earlier.

* A rare instance of the recipient being at fault. Johnny half-jokingly suggests Daniel is treating Sam like a GenerationXerox, turns out Sam actually felt this way but never told her dad. Johnny gives a speech telling her how proud he is that he took his own path in life not following his own parent's desires when she accuses of being a JadedWashout. Unfortunately, Sam took this to mean embrace her true self even her own worst qualities and starts acting out like rubbing Tory's difficult life in her face and cutting class.
* While Kenny explains to Robby from the start that he needs to learn karate due to being bullied at school, he never actually mentions the names of the bullies. Thus, Robby has no problem with taking Kenny under his wing and having him join Cobra Kai to defend himself. When Robby finally learns that Anthony was Kenny's bully, he's horrified that he accidentally turned Kenny into a thug that just gave Anthony a beatdown. Season 5 makes it clear that, had he known Anthony was the bully from the get go, Robby would've used his pre-existing relationship with him to nip it in the bud and it would've kept Kenny free from Cobra Kai's corrupting influence and turning into a bully himself.

* Apparently, Mitch never even spoke up about his irritation being called "Penis Breath" by his peers, which contributes to him betraying the Miyagi-Fangs for Cobra Kais. Clearly, the use of the nickname was a means of endearment from his now-former teammates (unlike, say Kyler, who uses it as a means of degrading), but who knows what could happen if Mitch either simply told someone like Bert or Hawk to stop calling him that, or even report to his senseis if they don't listen. Instead, Mitch defects to Cobra Kai all the way to the FinalBattle which becomes AllForNothing when Silver gets exposed as a fraud and a cheater, and ''his old sensei, Daniel'' beating him to a pulp.

* After the events of last season, Robby decides he's done with Cobra Kai and tries to get Kenny and Tory to leave with him. However, unbeknownst to Robby, Tory has also become disillusioned with the dojo but has decided to take it down from the inside by being TheMole on Kreese's behalf. The problem is, Tory can't tell Robby this because it would mean blowing her cover. So when Tory tells Robby she's not leaving the dojo even after Cobra Kai causes trouble at the water park, Robby thinks she's beyond saving and decides to end their relationship.

* While Kenny explains to Robby from the start that he needs to learn character due to being bullied at school, he never actually mentions the names of the bullies. Thus, Robby has no problem with taking Kenny under his wing and having him join Cobra Kai to defend himself. When Robby finally learns that Anthony was Kenny's bully, he's horrified that he accidentally turned Kenny into a thug that just gave Anthony a beatdown. Season 5 makes it clear that, had he known Anthony was the bully from the get go, Robby would've used his pre-existing relationship with him to nip it in the bud and it would've kept Kenny free from Cobra Kai's corrupting influence and turning into a bully himself.

** Robby does not talk with Sam, leaving her unsure if his attack on Miguel was an accident, which she reveals in an interview on the News. His refusal to talk makes her question if he wants to stay together following her cheating and the school fight.
** When Robby finally goes to respond to Sam's messages, another kid in Juvie unplugs the computer while he is typing a reply. Much like when Sam got grounded in Season 1, there's no way for him to answer her messages. This leads Sam to thinking he wants nothing to do with her, and decides to reconcile with Miguel over him disassociating from Cobra Kai and his off-the-cuff speech to save the tournament.
** Then when Robby finally meets Sam in person, it is just as she is having a romantic moment with Miguel, where she points to his lack of communication as an issue. His [[NeverMyFault refusal to listen to her explanations]] makes it worse and the two part on bitter terms.

** Robby does not talk with Sam, leaving her unsure if his attack on Miguel was an accident, which she reveals in an interview on the News.
** Then when Robby goes to finally respond to Sam's messages, another kid in Juvie unplugs the computer while he is typing a reply. Meaning that much like when Sam got grounded in season 1, there's no way for him to reply to her messages, leading her to think he wants nothing to do with her, and deciding to reconcile with Miguel over him disassociating from Cobra Kai and his off-the-cuff speech to save the tournament.
** Then when Robby finally meets Sam in person, it is just as she is having a romantic moment with Miguel, where she points to his lack of communication as an issue.

** Sam hides her relationship with Miguel because she is worried that Daniel will dislike him on principle due to being a member of Cobra Kai. However, she fails to explain this to Miguel, increasing his insecurities. It's also likely that if Sam had introduced Miguel to Daniel he would have seen what a NiceGuy Miguel is and realized he was wrong in his prejudice against the dojo. Sam learns from this mistake in Season 3, defending Miguel from Daniel's distrust when they get back together, and Daniel and Miguel discover that they are aren't so different when they finally get a chance to talk.

* A running theme in Season 1 is that every time Johnny and Daniel are about to set aside their grudge, something happens to put them back at each other's throats. The feud between Johnny and Daniel restarts because Daniel fails to find out Johnny’s side of the story, and Johnny is too pissed off to tell Daniel what really happened. When they are actually forced to talk things out properly, they are able to address the issues that caused the conflict and realize that they are NotSoDifferent.

** Sam hides her relationship with Miguel because she is worried that Daniel will dislike him on principle due to being a member of Cobra Kai. However, she fails to explain this to Miguel, increasing his insecurities. It's also likely that if Sam had introduced Miguel to Daniel he would have seen what a NiceGuy Miguel is and realized he was wrong in his prejudice against the dojo. Sam learns from this mistake in Season 3, defending Miguel from Daniel's distrust when they get back together, and Daniel and Miguel discover that they are NotSoDifferent when they finally get a chance to talk.

-->-- '''Samantha [=LaRusso=]''' discusses [[HeadbuttingHeroes Daniel and Johnny]].

* Neither Robby nor Johnny thinks to call the [=LaRussos=] after Moon's party to tell them Sam stayed the night at Johnny's, despite them generally being ReasonableAuthorityFigures as parents. Although Johnny says he will have to Daniel about it, he only comes to this conclusion the following morning, by which point it is too late and Daniel is already angry and worried because Sam never came home the night before. He then adds fuel to the fire by not letting Daniel into his apartment straight away, leading to their fight and second falling out and Robby blowing his second chance with Daniel.

* Johnny not telling his students about his relation to Robby and telling them to mind their own business when they find out causes them to think he's only mad at them for injuring his son, not because he thinks fighting dirty is wrong. Though later on, Johnny does admit to Miguel he should've told him and the others about Robby sooner. . . ''and'' that this has nothing to do with his dressing them down for dirty pool in the tournament.

* Robby's attempt to deescalate the school brawl by pulling Tory off Sam turns into a mess when Miguel arrives at the wrong moment and only sees Robby pinning Tory to a locker and fighting off the Cobra Kais trying to help her. He gets the wrong idea, thinking Robby was attacking her, and in turn tackles Robby, causing the entire situation to spriral out of control.

* A less disastrous example was during episode 8 when Johnny was going on dates. The first woman with kids seemed to be getting along well and had some chemistry with him. The problem was since Johnny didn't mention he was a karate teacher so his mentioning of becoming physical with his student made him sound like a psycho to the woman.
* Robby gets in Daniel's bad books a second time, blowing his SECOND chance, simply because no one thought to call the Larussos (who are very much ReasonableAuthorityFigure type parents). Instead, he took Samantha to Johnny's apartment, which is about the worst thing he could have done. Worse, Johnny adds fuel to the fire.
** Johnny didn't just add fuel to the fire. Literally right before Daniel shows up, he's telling Robby about how he had to come clean to Daniel since he sheltered his daughter. Johnny completely throws that out the window though when Daniel shows up. Like all Johnny needed to do was to open the door, let Daniel in and explain to him what happened and explained how Sam was entirely safe and fine. Johnny acknowledges he needs to communicate with Daniel, and then a minute later decides to not communicate in the least leading to that whole fight.


* Robby did make an attempt to deescalate the situation by pulling Tory off Sam. Unfortunately, when Miguel finally got there, what he saw looked like something else altogether (as Robby had pinned Tory to a locker just to keep her under control). It promptly turns into a mess.
** During the fight, they both mentioned on who loved Sam more, escalating the anger even further until Robby kicked Miguel, but Miguel accidentally fell off the second floor. This turned into MyGodWhatHaveIDone in the worst way possible; while Robby's past can be forgiven, nearly killing someone in the police's eyes could land him in jail for a long time.

* It's also defied in Sam and Miguel's reconciliation. The tipping point of the reconciliation appears to be Miguel's improvised speech to the council to save the tournament. Sam has absolutely no idea what Miguel is going to say when he takes the podium. But without hesitation, she comes down to stand by his side to support him in the speech. Showing Miguel that she is on his side and also probably showing her dad that she's with Miguel on that too. It's actually one of the few occasions where the communicating parties get the message across better with actions than with words. And this also gives Sam the impetus to stand up to her dad and beg him to have a sitdown with Miguel to get to know him better, which ends up paying dividends as Daniel finally realizes the parallels between Mr. Miyagi's role in his own life and Johnny's role in Miguel's life.
* Samantha also realizes that trying to get her dad and Johnny to talk will be impossible, so comes up with the idea of getting the students of the two dojos to talk.

* It's revealed in "December 19th" this is why Ali and Daniel's relationship ended. Daniel saw Ali with a UCLA student, who was an old friend of hers. In a similar vein to how he handled Johnny kissing Ali, he immediately assumed the worse starting a fight between them. Ali's fault was egging Daniel on in her anger despite the situation being NotWhatItLooksLike.

** Johnny's [[SelfServingMemory biased]] description of his rivalry with Daniel and statement that "you can't trust a [[=LaRusso=]]" makes Miguel paranoid that Sam will cheat on him based on her innocuous interactions with Robby.

** Johnny's [[SelfServingMemory biased]] description of his rivalry with Daniel and statement that "you can't trust a [[=LaRusso]]" makes Miguel paranoid that Sam will cheat on him based on her innocuous interactions with Robby.

** After their fight at the Canyon Party, Sam is still willing to talk things out with Miguel at the Tournament. Although he apologizes for accidentally hitting her during the confrontation with Robby, he fails to apologize for needlessly resorting to violence in the first place, which was what Sam was actually upset about. He needed to apologize for the "strike first, strike the enemy" mentality instead of talking. Miguel's horrible communication with Sam at the tournament is what ultimately doomed him, and not necessarily hitting her. It's telling that in season 3, Sam instantly agrees to resume the relationship with Miguel when he returns to school and says he's disassociated himself from the Cobra Kai students.
* The biggest offender would be episode nine, when Johnny finds out Robby is training with Daniel, who's unaware he's Johnny's son.
* Johnny's biggest failure in season one is his inability to properly teach his students that his version of Cobra Kai is supposed to be about empowerment and not letting other people mistreat them. However, this also large in part comes from his NostalgiaFilter meaning he cannot see the inherent flaws within Cobra Kai's philosophy until it's too late.

* Both Sam and Miguel start creating rivalries of their own, both due to the stories about how the other family is evil, and because they keep putting obstacles in their relationship. What ultimately breaks them up is when Sam gets her phone taken away by Amanda and is unable to answer Miguel's calls/texts, leading to him assuming the worst when she finally shows up at the party with Robby.
** If Sam had simply just asked her mom to text Miguel using her phone that she was grounded or had asked her mom to let her use her phone just to tell Miguel that, the whole fight would've been avoided.
** While the show is pretty ambiguous as to whether Sam and Miguel broke up at the Canyon Party or the Tournament. After the Canyon Party, Sam plans to give them some time to cool off before trying to talk to Miguel about what happened. Ultimately she ends up going to the tournament and allows Miguel to talk to her to try to make amends. He apologizes for accidentally hitting her during the confrontation with Robby, except that's not what Sam wanted him to apologize for. He needed to apologize for the "strike first, strike the enemy" mentality instead of talking. Miguel's horrible communication with Sam at the tournament is what ultimately doomed him, and not necessarily hitting her. It's telling that in season 3, Sam instantly agrees to resume the relationship with Miguel when he returns to school and says he's disassociated himself from the Cobra Kai students.