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Robby's mental health in s6 part 2

Also titled: Robby is the underdog - Part 9, The start of The Resurrection stage in Robby's Hero's Journey

A lot of disappointment wrt Robby's story in s6 part 2 has been around his behavior, lack of focus, and losses. However, with his so many unresolved traumas, the addition of new traumas in part 2, and the lack of a proper support system, Robby's mental health has continued to decline. Robby's underdog story is about his poor mental health, which contrasts the typical Karate Kid underdog trope of having poor physical strength or karate skills. As I've talked about at length, Robby's Hero’s Journey is about finding balance by starting to cope with his traumas in a healthy way and developing a healthy relationship with himself.

Given that part 2 is the start of the Resurrection stage of his Journey, it's important to note that this stage is going to be Robby's final "battle" in the story. This battle is going to be his biggest one yet and with the most stakes. Robby's battles aren't just against his karate rivals/opponents. His battles are also against his poor mental health and how he copes with his traumas. After all, his poor mental health makes him the underdog in this story:

"This fight is not about him. The biggest battle is always the one within. Okay, concentrate, defense, focus, power. You find your balance, and those points will come. All right?"

In part 2, Robby started going down the path that he didn’t want to go down. He drank for the first time to cope with his traumas and poor mental health. He also fought using his anger in his match with Kwon and didn't fight with balance. (I'll talk about these more below.) In s4e4, Silver told Robby that to become a champion, he would have to face his fear. Later, Robby admitted to Johnny that Robby’s fear is that he would end up like Johnny. In s5e5, Robby "let go" of his anger, because of his fawn trauma response, and in doing so believed that he’d found balance. That was the ending of his Ordeal stage, at which he obtained his "want" (a relationship with Johnny) while unknowingly giving up his "need" (finding balance and developing a healthy relationship with himself). In s6e5, it was shown that Robby hasn’t found balance, nor does he have a healthy relationship with himself ("It's still better than always coming in second"). He doesn’t believe in himself or his future. He’s also still fawning (self-abandoning), and in part 2 his mental health continued to worsen due to various reasons. Robby is close now to the moment in his Hero's Journey that his "resurrection" will take place. He will have an internal "death and rebirth". He's going to have to make important decisions wrt himself, his future, his relationships, and the people around him. He must choose his "need" over his "want" in order to succeed in his Journey.

In ATLA, during his Ordeal at the end of book 2, Zuko chose his want (going home, his "destiny") over his need (standing against his father, helping end the war). In CK, at the end of his Ordeal in s5e5, Robby "chose" his want (a relationship with Johnny and everyone) over his need (believing in himself and who he is). Characters oftentimes do choose their wants over their needs during their Ordeals. When Zuko did so during his Ordeal, it was a total backslide. He had a choice at that moment, and he chose wrong. (This all literally took place in a cave! The Ordeal takes place in the "inmost cave" in the Hero's Journey. For Robby in CK, that cave was metaphorical.) When Robby made his "choice" at the end of his Ordeal (the baby news scene), it was a total backslide. He gave up who he is entirely. (This was a subconscious, defense mechanism.) Neither Zuko nor Robby could find inner peace. Zuko was shown discontent and silently grappling with his decision. Robby's mental health (his self-worth, his self-blame) is shown to have worsened, and he's become more off-balance since.

In this post, I'm going to talk about Robby's traumas, mental health, and behavior in s6 part 2 and how those were affected by other characters (primarily Tory, Miguel, Zara, and Kwon). To start, I'll revisit the state of his mental health at the end of part 1.

Robby's mental health has continued to worsen since s5

(You can read about the Robby's traumas and the impact on his mental health from s1 to s6 part 1 in these posts: The Neglect of Robby Keene (s1-s5), The college essay scene (s6 part 1), and "Second place, second place" (s6 part 1))

In s6e5, it's shown that Robby still doesn’t believe in himself or his future. However, Tory encouraged him that he could win the tournament. To do that, he had to first win the captaincy match. For the first time since the s1 tournament, Robby's flashbacks were shown: He keeps coming in second place, and it's eating him up inside. Miguel then tried to gaslight Robby that Miguel's future matters more, but Robby didn't back down.

During the captain's match, Robby struggled at first because he couldn't focus. Tory wasn’t there, and no one there was supporting him specifically. Johnny and Sam both stood on Miguel's side. Miguel quickly scored two points on him. Then, Tory arrived. Robby gained his focus and was able to score on Miguel, coming back from 0-2 to win 3-2. Robby, who is usually perceptive of others' emotional states, didn't even notice Tory's emotional state. Robby at the time was struggling so much with his own trauma and mental health (and relief that he'd won despite his struggles) that he simply wasn't that aware or perceptive of Tory's state. It was after she started fighting more aggressively that he started to notice it.

Tory: "Sorry I was late." Robby: "You came just in time."

Robby's behavior in this scene fit his state of mind at the time. Like how s5e1/2 showed Robby fawning with Johnny before Robby starting fawning completely in s5e5, s6e5 showed how deteriorated Robby's mental health was going into part 2.

Robby and Tory’s relationship in part 2

As frustrating and disappointing as it is, Robby’s part 2 arc (like his previous season arcs) is all about how poor his mental health is because of his lack of stable, genuine support and new traumas that he experienced. Tory had shown him that support in s6e5, but her behavior in part 2 also affected Robby’s mental health greatly.

It goes without saying that in part 2 Robby’s and Tory’s mental healths were at their worst. I’ll be primarily focusing this section on Robby’s mental health when it comes to his relationship with Tory, but I’ll talk about Tory’s mental health a bit first.

Tory’s mental health obviously worsened because of her mother’s death. She also didn’t believe she’d get a fair chance at Miyagi-Do to become captain, which she needed assurance of because she needs the benefits from winning the tournaments. Although she had shown up at the captain’s match in s6e5, Daniel stopping the match and then Johnny egging her on that she wouldn’t get a fair chance really made her believe Kreese’s words about her not being given a fair chance at Miyagi-Do. She had joined Cobra Kai knowing that she had the captain’s spot there. She has also never been against Cobra Kai in general. She was specifically against Silver in s5, which she had clearly stated. She also told Robby in s6e1 that Miyagi-Do is against everything she’d been taught. Tory had made her decision to ensure she was a captain.

After s5, I said that the biggest issue in Robby and Tory's relationship is their communication. This continued in s6. In s6e5, after her mother died, Tory didn’t answer Robby’s calls. After the captaincy match was cancelled and Johnny made things worse, she left the dojo saying she was done. Although there is no context given for what happened between Tory leaving the Miyagi-Do dojo in part 1 and when they all arrived at the tournament, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Robby probably tried to get in touch with her but she likely didn’t respond, like the day her mom had died. (I’ve seen criticism that Robby didn’t go to Tory’s home. However, in s6e1, it sounded like Robby hadn’t gone to Kenny’s home to speak with him either and had only tried to call and text him. But, since Kenny was at the arcade, Robby decided to try in person. Given Robby’s characterization, I took this as Robby respecting their boundaries. If Tory has never invited him to her home, he likely would not go.) Tory continued to behave this way after arriving at the tournament. According to the timeline, it was soon after the captaincy matches that they had left for the tournament. (From what I’ve seen mentioned, the date on Daniel’s phone in one scene in part 2 is a continuity error. That date is the day they had filmed the scene; not the date in canon.)

Robby tried to talk to Tory in the lobby, but she purposely ignored him and walked right past him. During the captain’s pictures, he smiled at her but she didn’t smile back and turned away. Then, he approached her in the aquarium while she was alone. He asked her if she planned on avoiding him the whole tournament. She claimed no, and then said that she didn’t know what he wanted her to say. She had purposely been avoiding him—a defensive mechanism called stonewalling (characterized by behaviors such as refusing to respond to texts or phone calls, abruptly cutting people off and ending conversations, ignoring others outright, etc.). Robby and Tory did end up having a somewhat proper conversation until Sam showed up some feet away, watching and listening to them. When Tory noticed Sam, Tory ended the conversation and walked away. Robby understood why when he turned and saw Sam there. (I didn’t like that Sam came and stood there and listened in on them. Robby and Tory are dating, and it’s not Sam’s place.)

Following this, Tory purposely put Robby in a situation that caused him issues with the others. In s6e5, she had told Robby not to tell anyone about Kreese approaching her because the others wouldn’t trust her. She obviously hadn’t told Robby all the details of her conversation with Kreese because, in this conversation in s6e6, Robby implicitly asked her if her joining CK as their female captain was why Kreese had approached her. Later, when Sam approached her to talk, Tory threw Robby under the bus and said that she had told him about Kreese coming to her. However, she had earlier admitted to Robby that she hadn’t told him why Kreese had come to her because she knew that he would try to stop her. Later in s6e6, when Robby came to Tory at night, Tory told him that she would just be making things harder for him if the others knew he came to talk to her. Well, she had already made things harder for him when she purposely told Sam that Robby knew about Kreese. It has made me wonder if Tory was purposely sabotaging their relationship because she then used this reason and the tournament as her excuse to put them on a pause. It’s also important to note that Tory hadn’t cared about them being in a relationship in s6e5 when they had first made their deal to be on the podium together. But now Tory decided for both of them that being on a pause would be best. She repeated Kim’s words to Robby about owning her decision to be there and what’s best for them is what’s best for their dojos. Tory then told him that it’s best for both of them and to trust her. He rightly pointed out that she doesn’t trust him or anyone. She didn’t respond and got a contemplative expression, which indicated that she doesn’t trust him, so he walked away. Her behavior with him up until that point had already indicated this. Her behavior after this conversation continued to indicate this.

Tory’s mother had died, but she shut Robby out. Like he had told her, he would have been there for her. Tory’s and Robby’s traumas have resulted in both of them having insecure attachment styles. Robby tends more towards an anxious style (characterized by traits such as feeling unworthy of love, fear of abandonment/rejection, and difficulty trusting others), while Tory tends more to an avoidant style (characterized by traits such as strong sense of independence, difficulty trusting others, being uncomfortable expressing feelings, and being dismissive of others). They were already prone to these styles when they first started dating. For example, in s2, Robby hid the truth about medal of honor because he had felt insecure, and Tory went no contact with Miguel after witnessing him cheat on her. Robby’s and Tory’s traumas have worsened by this point, and this has made their relationship more unhealthy.

Robby was unhappy but was understanding of her decision to join Cobra Kai when he came to speak to her that night in s6e6 and wanted to stay a couple. However, Tory just wanted to focus on her own goals. Tory has always put herself and her own goals above their relationship. Tbf, in s5, Robby had put his need to distance himself from Cobra Kai above their relationship too. That had been in s5e4, before Robby had started fawning. (And, as I talked about earlier, Robby’s mental health has been in further decline due to this trauma response because of his situation with Johnny and the Diazs.) At the time, Tory had been hiding staying in Cobra Kai and working with Kreese, which had been the first instance of her choosing Kreese and Cobra Kai over Robby. Joining Kreese and Cobra Kai for this tournament is the second instance.

It's important to note that she claimed it was best for them, but she was really only doing it for herself. Some say that Robby didn't understand Tory's request for a pause or that he shouldn't be against her wanting one. However, he did understand, but she didn't ask it just for herself. She specifically said that it would be best for both of them and that he should trust her, although she is one who had gone no contact and joined Kreese behind Robby’s back. At that point, she was trying to control their relationship. She didn't care for his feelings and decided to dictate what was best for him too. She then followed that with telling him to trust her. He countered with the fact that she doesn't trust anyone else including him. She didn't deny that, so he walked away. After this point, she has no right to get angry with him about their relationship. She can't under any circumstances dictate what is best for him while also dismissing his feelings and not trusting him. She doesn’t trust him but wants him to blindly trust her yet again. Tory became yet another person who tried to dictate to Robby what was best for him while dismissing and disregarding how he feels and asking for his trust (while not trusting him in return), like Johnny does with Robby repeatedly and like Daniel did when he claimed to be helping Robby wrt to the school fight. Tory reignited those wounds for him.

(gif on left) Robby was upset and trying the process when she first said that they should focus on karate while they're there and that she needs to own decision to be there. He asked if that means a break up and she said it's a pause. He had the same expression on his face. (gif on right) She then said that it's the best for both of them. His expression after she said this had a noticeable bit of anger.

Having grief is not an excuse to treat someone like they or their feelings don't matter or like you can dictate what is best for them. The same goes for when someone has trauma. Johnny, Daniel, and Sam have all treated Robby as if his feelings don't matter and what they want is best not just for them but for him too.

There are two more instances that I want to bring up in which Tory continued to make their relationship solely about herself and her feelings. Before I go over these, I want to mention again that he did acknowledge to Sam that Tory had put them on a break. After Robby believed that Tory had started hooking up with Kwon, then Robby also believed that she’d actually broken up with him.

One incident is in s6e9 after Tory confronted Robby about Zara. Robby defended himself by saying that Tory had broken up with him. Tory then said that she had said a pause and not sleep with their enemies. Robby then called her out for hooking up with Kwon and that being okay. She then told him that his "dumbass got played". Tory insulting Robby like that is pretty messed up. She had refused to have a proper conversation with him and refused to trust him with what she was going through, but she wanted him to fully trust her decision as being best for both of them, although she had kept her choice of joining Kreese and Cobra Kai a secret and kept stonewalling him. He had still respected her decision to want to go on a break. Her not caring at all about his feelings makes the relationship more one-sided than it should be… and a lot like his relationships with the other characters. Tory had made that decision to solely benefit herself. Robby isn’t entitled to Tory, but Tory also isn’t entitled to Robby or to make decisions for what’s best for him. She needs to realize this.

The second incident was while Robby tried to talk to her in the lobby. Robby tried to give her a proper apology and explain his side of the story, but she shut him down. She then started talking about herself and her feelings. So again, it was all about her and her goals. Her mom had died, but she had made her own choice to join Cobra Kai. Robby had kept trying to talk to her but she had been stonewalling him. Tory expected him to feel sorry for her after Cobra Kai lost and got knocked out of the tournament. I am curious if, going into the match, she had expected that Miyagi-Do would lose that match. It was going to be either her team or Robby’s team that would advance to the next round. She would have justified it to herself, and no doubt to Robby too, if she'd helped Cobra Kai knock Miyagi-Do out of the tournament because that would have meant she would advance to the next round and have her chance at the podium. That in turn would have meant that Robby would have lost his chance at the podium. When she'd started that match, she'd been angry with Robby about Zara, so she went into that matching with the intention of winning and knocking him out of the tournament. Again, she can't expect to him to wait around, blindly trust her, be okay with her keeping major secrets (like Kreese's offer), and do whatever she says is best for him, while she focuses on achieving her goals. In a way, I'm happy that he did get the win against Cobra Kai in this regard. He didn’t put her or their relationship above his own future and goals of beating Cobra Kai (and Kwon, specifically) and having a chance at the podium.

I think that someone wanting to go on a “pause/break” is understandable. But expecting the other person to wait around is unfair to them, especially after that someone dismisses what the other person has to say, dismisses their feelings, and dictates to them what is best for them. Just make it a clean break. It's the other person’s choice if they don’t want to see anyone else while they wait for the “pause/break” to be over. Like I said, Robby is not entitled to Tory, but Tory is also not entitled to Robby. In a way, Tory had decided to string Robby along and wanted him to be okay with that. In s5, Sam had been upset in the moment after seeing Miguel kiss that other girl. However, Sam had been okay with it in general after that. Miguel had been the one who kept bringing it up, wanting her to be upset about him kissing that other girl, and gaslighting her about Tory, which is Miguel's go-to method to tear/wear Sam down.

Robby’s abandonment and rejection trauma

A huge part of Robby’s poor mental health is his abandonment and rejection trauma. In s6e5, his “second place” scene wasn’t just about karate but about his life and relationships as well. Remember, finding balance also isn’t just about karate but about life as well. However, Robby’s poor mental health acts as his internal Shadow and as an internal Threshold Guardian in this Hero’s Journey.

Parental rejection, general childhood rejection, social rejection by peers, and other forms of abandonment can cause rejection trauma—a form of complex trauma resulting from abuse and neglect that can cause a fear of rejection… Childhood abuse and neglect… can leave people at risk for rejection trauma. A person might also experience poorer mental health and rejection sensitivity due to perceived rejection, longstanding emotional pain, or instances of romantic rejection that trigger abandonment fears.

During the matches in s6e7, when Robby lost focus/balance, he was triggered; as in, he was having a trauma response. When you’re triggered, you don't think. You feel. It hits you hard and overwhelms you.

Robby was experiencing “freeze” trauma responses. It's not about Tory specifically, but about his trauma from abandonment/rejection hitting him. He has no control over these responses.

Wrt Tory, this trauma was so new. It was also a confusing situation for him. On the one hand, she is the only person who believes in him. On the other hand, she essentially rejected him by not trusting him and by putting them on break, telling him what's best for him while dismissing how he feels and not hearing him out. Her behavior made the relationship unstable/unsafe. Like how Robby can’t predict Johnny’s, Miguel’s, Daniel’s, etc behaviors with him, Robby also can’t predict Tory’s behavior with him now too. This wasn’t the first time that she had chosen Kreese and Cobra Kai over him and their relationship and had kept it a secret. Both times, he had found out in some way that didn’t involve her directly telling him.

It’s striking that in s6e5, Robby seeing Tory at the match caused him to gain balance because he was able to find the strength to believe in himself due to her belief in him. Whereas, in s6e6/7, Robby seeing Tory triggered him and caused him to freeze up. In s1e10, when Robby looked at Johnny during the avt match with Hawk, Robby lost focus too, but in a different way. Back then, Robby’s traumas weren't as bad as they are now due to all of his experiences since then. In s4, Robby also had a freeze response when he looked at Kenny during the match with Hawk. (That's Robby losing focus in both of his matches with Hawk at a tournament). At the time, Robby was already feeling remorse over his match with Kenny and his decision to have Kenny join Cobra Kai with him. Of course, at that point, Robby was already dealing with the trauma of the school fight and other related traumas, such as everyone abandoning, rejecting, and scapegoating him because of it.

Freeze responses can occur "when the situation confronting you overwhelms your coping capacities and leaves you paralyzed in fear."

Robby is constantly in survival mode due to his fawn response around those closest to him. He was already living in survival mode before s5e5 because of his unstable home life (including not even having a home at times) and unpredictable, neglectful parents hif whole life. His mental health has gotten to a point now where his coping mechanisms are overwhelmed.

In the ongoing life and development of the trauma survivor, the freeze response can continue to emerge in response to the perception of threat, with the brain and body moving into a state of high alert (e.g. heart racing, sweating, breathing accelerated) when triggered. However, when observed, the individual might appear shut-down or withdrawn. This generally occurs in the survivor in response to a trigger that is reminiscent of past traumatic experiences.

Clearly, Robby lacks focus in general, which is why he wasn’t able to fight as properly in s6e5 until Tory showed up. She had become the only person to believe in him. In his matches in s6e7, he would start out somewhat balanced, but would freeze up when he looked at Tory. The bullying and scapegoating by the others was not helpful either. In s6e8, he even commented that she wasn’t affected at all by being on a break and she was fighting better than ever. He was upset because of her initial rejection (not trusting him and suddenly putting them on a break) and was so frustrated with himself because of his freeze responses, that he had started thinking about drinking.

It’s not that Robby’s story with Johnny, the Diazs, and the LaRussos has been replaced with his relationship with Tory as the main focus of his story. It’s that Robby’s relationship with Tory is being used to explore and show how Robby’s situations with Johnny, the Diazs, and the LaRussos have been affecting his mental health. He is suffering in silence. He is not accepted by them for who he is. He has had to change himself and people-please, putting aside all of his justified issues with them, in order to be accepted by them. He had to self-abandon and put them first. He is still not trusted by them, is still scapegoated by them, and is still not genuinely wanted by them. This has all resulted in his abandonment/rejection trauma worsening and his insecure attachment style due to all of his childhood trauma and the other traumas he’s experienced worsening too. Robby is so overwhelmed with trauma, stress, and anxiety that he is now experiencing triggers and freeze responses more frequently due to this new trauma from Tory’s behavior with him.

Notice that Robby was showing the same signs of anxiety when he went to speak to Tory that night in s6e6, as he showed when he spoke with Daniel in s3e2 and when he went to speak with Johnny in s4e10. He couldn’t sleep so he went to speak with her.

In s3e2, Robby starting fidgeting with his fingers when Daniel showed up. In s4e10, Robby was tapping his fingers on his legs as he walked into the dojo to talk to Johnny. In s6e6, Robby couldn't sleep so we went to talk to Tory. When she opened the door, he was standing there fidgeting with his hands.

Of course, Robby is constantly filled with anxiety. He’s in a family, friends group, dojo, and environments that are constantly reinforcing his abandonment and rejection trauma. He still has no genuine, consistent support system, not even one adult. The people around him will not only take away their support without notice. They will also invalidate, scapegoat, and/or bully him, depending on the person and on the circumstance. He has to fawn in order to survive. He’s also worried about his future and sees no prospects for it, other than by winning the tournament. By s6e8, he was failing at that too now.

In s6e7, when Daniel found Johnny packing, Johnny told Daniel that he told Miguel about Carmen. But, Johnny made no mention of Robby. Johnny told Daniel to tell the others. That means Johnny himself didn’t tell Robby and wasn't planning on telling Robby about what was going on. Johnny left Robby out. In s6e8, when Robby wondered how Carmen was doing and asked Sam if she'd spoken to Miguel before he left, it seemed as if Miguel hadn’t spoken to Robby either before leaving. Robby has always been an outsider in this family, and behaviors like this continue to send Robby the message that he is an outsider in this family. (As a juxtaposition, the hospital scenes also reinforced this, as I talk about in my post about the family in part 2.) This added to Robby's abandonment/rejection trauma.

It was after all this that he told Sam that he wanted to drink. She reminded him that he doesn’t drink, and he said that maybe he should start. He then brought up that Tory put them on a break and that she wasn’t even affected by it, that she was fighting better than ever. Like I’ve mentioned before, Robby had mentioned wanting to drink because of his counter-dependence. He had wanted Sam to stop him. Sam then told him that they shouldn’t let Tory get into their heads like that. Right after Sam said this, Tory walked in with Kwon. Sam immediately left, and Robby eventually ended up at the bar. He ordered his first drink after seeing Kwon put his arm around Tory. Robby turned his head away, and that’s when Tory shoved Kwon away, which Robby didn’t see. A little later, Robby was still glancing over at them. Tory decided to leave because of that. Kwon noticed and went and taunted Robby, telling him that he’d keep her warm that night. Robby stood up and was slightly unsteady on his feet. Kwon taunted him more, and Robby looked like he couldn’t focus enough to put words together. Kwon then left. Robby sat down and unsteadily picked up his drink. Zara then approached him, as if she’d been watching him.

Although Tory's behavior of stonewalling Robby played a huge role in him believing that she had broken up with him and moved onto Kwon (essentially abandoning and replacing him like some of the others have), it should be said that Robby’s belief that Tory had moved on from him and replaced him so quickly was also rooted in Robby’s low self-worth and his belief that he is unlovable. His own father had abandoned him and then replaced him with another kid. In s5, his father had even abused him to prioritize that other kid. Those two had just ditched Robby again, as they went home in an emergency (that also affected Robby because the baby is his sister too) and didn’t even talk to Robby before leaving. In fact, in juxtaposition to Robby drinking because of his trauma, Robby’s father called that random kid his son after that random kid had complained that Johnny was “disregarding” him and called Robby “messed up”, which Robby doesn’t know about. This contrast matches the juxtaposition of the “Johnny chooses Miguel over Robby” storyline throughout the story.

In addition, Sam had abandoned and replaced Robby with Miguel after the school fight, after having used and cheated on him. It also stood out to me that Sam started telling Robby about all the plans that Sam and Miguel had made for Barcelona. When Sam talked those plans to Robby, I couldn’t help but think how tone deaf of her it was. She has never even taken accountability with Robby nor admit Miguel’s faults in their rivalry. Sam still continues to disappoint in this regard. It also sticks out then that she did leave immediately after Tory walked in, although Robby had admitted to Sam that he was going to drink for the first time because he was so upset. I’ve said before that counter-dependence is hard to interpret, so I understand her not realizing he was hoping she would stop him. Overall, though, it does seem like she’s just his friend at a surface level and still doesn’t understand him. In s6e6, twice she questioned his loyalty: right after they found out that Tory had joined Cobra Kai and when she announced to everyone that Robby had known that Kreese had come to Tory, without even talking to Robby first. Meanwhile, she continues to overlook her past and present acts of disloyalty to him. (Continuing to scapegoat Robby for the school fight and acting like Miguel's past actions towards Robby never happened are disloyal.)

For Robby, all of these abandonment/rejection traumas were compounding. This situation in the bar was the combination of Johnny rushing off with Miguel, without even telling Robby as if he doesn’t exist and as if wasn’t his baby sister too, and Sam sitting and talking about her romantic plans with Miguel, as if she and Robby didn’t have the unresolved history that they have. Robby was also already upset that Tory didn’t care at all about their "break", as in her not having his support didn’t affect her at all. Robby was also performing really poorly in his matches because his mental health was affecting him. Because of all this, Robby was already thinking about drinking. So, after Tory walked in with Kwon, she continued to stonewall Robby, and Kwon later put his arm around Tory, Robby wasn’t in a good mindset at all and was pretty immersed in his own trauma, self-hate, and low/non-existent self-worth. Robby decided to take this first drink.

In s3, Robby told Hawk that Robby doesn't need to drink to pretend to be cool. Robby grew up with alcoholic parents. He never wanted to drink because he didn’t want to end up like them. But, now, he took his first drink to cope and forget, just like his parents do (or did, in his mother’s case). As I mentioned in another post, Robby being SA’d after he drank and got drunk for the first time is a dark irony. This is also something that may/likely have happened to his mother (more than once) before she had gone to rehab.

Miguel is still Robby’s bully and foil

In part 2, Robby continued to check with Miguel that things were still good between them. In s5, Robby made sure to be friends with Miguel and Hawk after Robby started fawning in s5e5. Robby kept initiating conversations with them. Hawk only initiated once and that was to tell Robby that he would shut Kenny up in their match.

In s6e5, although Robby had stood up for himself in the courtyard scene, Robby confirmed with Miguel that they were still good right after their match. In s6e6, Robby checked with Miguel twice to make sure he was on Robby’s side, during the conversation about Tory and Kreese. In s6e7, before their match with Cobra Kai, Miguel told Robby to stay back and stay focused. Robby asked him why he wouldn’t be focused, and Miguel said that he saw him leave the hotel room the night before. After the match, when Robby was in the shower, he didn’t know that Miguel and his sidekicks were talking about him behind his back, saying that they think Miguel should be captain. When Robby came out, they lied about what they’d been talking about. As Robby passed by Miguel, Robby patted Miguel’s shoulder in a friendly manner, again trying to confirm that things were good between them.

Next, after Miguel commented in the locker room about Robby’s lack of focus, Robby confronted him telling him to say whatever it is he has to say.

Miguel told Robby off, saying that he didn’t care about winning and had taken this opportunity from Miguel. Robby said that it hasn’t actually been easy for him and called him out once again for making it all about himself. Robby stood up for himself again, as he had in s6e5, because Robby still believed in himself and his future. Miguel told him that he’d be the reason they’d go home with nothing and he should either man up or admit that Miguel was fighting better and hand it over. After Miguel walked away, Robby looked at the captain’s headband in contemplation.

Miguel: "Sure, but you're also going to be the reason we go home with nothing." Notice the look on Robby's face after Miguel said this. This is scapegoating. (I'll talk more later about how this statement affected Robby.)

Before the platform match, Robby tightened his headband, when Miguel looked at him, to reinforce that Robby wasn’t going to hand it over. However, Robby had another freeze respond while fighting and was knocked off the platform more quickly than he should have been. Miguel ended up winning it for them after a 2 v 1, but before he went up there he told Robby, “Watch how it’s done.” After this match, Johnny got the call about Carmen, and he and Miguel took off without even talking to Robby and definitely not taking him along.

Johnny heard Miguel bully Robby, but Johnny said nothing to Robby to encourage him or make him feel better. Johnny didn't say anything to Miguel in the moment either. Johnny is so useless to Robby. After Miguel had his hissy fit on the plane and called Robby "messed up", Johnny defended Robby for a like a second... Then, to appease Miguel because he started stonewalling Johnny, Johnny called Miguel his son and basically defended why he's "supporting" Robby (which he clearly isn't) as captain.

Robby isn't wrong to perceive Miguel as a threat, even if Robby is doing this subconsciously. Robby needs to understand where he stands with him. Robby knows from past experience that he must stay on good terms with Miguel. In s5e4, Robby had told Tory that he and Johnny still have some issues that are too big to solve. Robby looked toward Miguel. Johnny's unhealthy obsession with Miguel is one of those "too big to solve problems".

In s6e7, Robby was trying to appease Miguel and his anger towards Robby, while Robby was also still trying to believe in himself and his own future. Robby wasn’t wrong about Miguel, though. In s6e8, while Miguel and Johnny had left Robby behind to go to Carmen, Miguel threw Johnny’s alcoholism and failures with Robby in Johnny’s face and even called Robby “messed up” to attack Johnny. Miguel then stonewalled Johnny, until Johnny came begging and appeased him. Johnny assured Miguel that he is Johnny’s son too and basically apologized for “supporting” Robby as captain.

Because of Johnny’s codependency with Miguel, Robby has to also gauge and be aware of his status with Miguel (and no doubt with Carmen too). After all, Johnny had forced Robby to do the apartment fight with Miguel so that Miguel could take his anger out on Robby and become friends with Robby. In order to have a relationship with Johnny, Robby has to have a good relationship with Miguel. Also, because of Miguel gaslighting Robby after the apartment fight as well as everyone continuing to act like Robby has always been the problem between them, Robby has settled with the belief that he had to be the one to let go of his "hate" in order for their rivalry to be resolved, like he indicated in his conversation with Kenny in s5e8.

When Miguel “apologized” to Robby in s6e9, Miguel didn’t actually apologize. Miguel didn’t admit why he had been acting that way. In s6e8, Miguel had already made sure to undermine Johnny’s support of Robby over Miguel because of his jealousy of Robby being Johnny’s real son and Miguel’s own false entitlement over Johnny. In s6e9, Miguel now showed support to Robby after having gotten what he’d wanted from Johnny—confirmation that he will still be Johnny’s priority over Robby. Miguel was now also motivated to win because of the promise he’d made to his mother that the baby’s older brother (just him, not her other brother) would win. Miguel made sure to give Robby the reassurance that he needed in order to lead with confidence and help the team win.

Miguel had known all along that Robby had been struggling with his focus. Miguel had called out Robby’s lack of focus a few times, and Robby had also told him that it hasn’t been easy for him since getting there. Miguel could have given him the support he’d needed any time. Miguel had instead chosen to be a bully and hindrance to Robby (as the Threshold Guardian that Miguel is) because of Miguel's petty jealousy, instead of being an ally to Robby (which Miguel shapeshifted into). I’ll discuss their s6e9 conversation in more detail in the next section.

Note that a big difference between Robby and Miguel is that Robby has never torn down another student, not unless provoked. And even then he makes pointed remarks in response, and not some rant about everything being about himself. Miguel on the other hand tore down Robby out of jealousy and made it all about himself. Miguel is not a supportive “brother” or “friend” to Robby. Miguel is not to be trusted, as he will turn on Robby whenever Miguel feels insecure or threatened by Robby’s presence and Miguel will continue to undermine Johnny's relationship with Robby.

Robby’s self-worth, self-esteem, and self-blame

Trauma greatly affects these traits. I’ll first talk about Robby’s self-worth and self-esteem. Then, I’ll focus on his self-blame.

Self-esteem describes your thoughts and feelings about yourself. It is usually based on judgments you make about yourself in the moment… Because self-esteem involves your thoughts and feelings about yourself and your level of confidence, it isn’t stable or consistent. Instead, it depends heavily on the outer world of people, tasks, and external information used to compare, judge, and evaluate yourself.

Self-worth is a broader, more stable form of self-esteem that is less influenced by outside or inside factors. Instead of focusing on specific traits, skills, circumstances, or achievements, self-worth describes the core beliefs you have about your worth and value. Core beliefs tend to be consistent over time, which is why self-worth is less likely to change in response to feelings, thoughts, behaviors, or experiences.

Robby generally has low self-worth due to all of his traumas, especially his trauma from abandonment/rejection. Fawning also diminishes a person’s self-worth as they put the needs of others above their own. Over the course of the series, Robby’s self-worth has decreased immensely.

In contrast, Robby’s self-esteem has wavered throughout the series. From s1e2 to s1e7, it was low as Robby had no proper support system and didn’t believe in himself or his future. From s1e7 (after the bonsai tree lesson) to s2e10, his self-esteem was high. From s2e10 (after the school fight) to s4e1, it was low again. From s4e1 to s5e5, it was high again. From s5e5 (after the apartment fight and baby news) to s6e4, his self-esteem was pretty low again. In s6e5, after Tory showed belief in him, his self-esteem increased again. Robby stood up to Miguel in s6e5 and in s6e7 because Robby believed in himself and his future. For a short time, after the SA, Robby’s self-esteem was low again. Miguel’s conversation with Robby and winning the team match after that improved Robby’s self-esteem again. In their s6e10 conversation, Tory said that she shouldn't have believed in any of it. Robby asked if that included him too. He wanted to know if she believed in him.

In s6, the scapegoating continued to affect Robby’s self-worth and add to his self-blame too. Of course, the scapegoating for the school fight has continued. The college essay scene in s6e2 no doubt added to Robby's poor mental health. In s6e6, all the Miyagi-Dos ganging up on Robby and blaming him for Tory joining Kreese and Cobra Kai was uncalled for. When they first found out that Tory had joined Kreese, Sam had immediately asked Robby if he knew. He said that he didn’t, which was true. Sam later threw him under the bus, without even talking to him first, after Tory had told her that Robby knew about Kreese going to Tory. Hawk was also hypocritical about Robby losing the bet with Kwon. Hawk had egged Robby on before the bet and then turned on him after he lost. In s6e7, Miguel told Robby that he would be the reason that that team would go home with nothing. This is also scapegoating. (As a side, the others being upset with Robby for talking to Tory is uncalled for. She is his girlfriend. She had just lost her mom, and she made this choice. Regardless, it is his choice who he dates and talks to.)

Scapegoating is a destructive behavior that can have long-term psychological effects on both parties involved. In the target of this behavior, feelings of worthlessness, guilt, isolation, and even conditions like depression and/or anxiety can arise. They may also begin to doubt themselves since the other person is typically denying their experiences, or making them feel as though they are not worth listening to.

Self-blame also leads to low self-esteem and low self-worth. Scapegoating, abandonment, rejection, fawning, and SA all lead/add to excessive self-blame.

Blaming one’s self is a common response to having a traumatic experience. This is especially true even when the traumatic event occurs through no fault of our own -we didn’t ask for it, we didn’t want it and we certainly weren’t okay with it happening. And while this self-blaming response isn’t logical, the self blame can run deep, cold and hard to shake. There are many reasons why we take on this blame whether it’s a single event or prolonged childhood trauma. 1) We don’t have the capacity to see the flaws and wounds of our caregivers when we’re young. Developmentally, we do not possess the ability to step out of our own experience and perceive that our caregivers aren’t capable of meeting our needs. We can’t see beyond ourselves, so blaming someone else isn’t even possible. Because we are not capable of assigning blame elsewhere, that pain has to be directed somewhere, and that is often inward. 2) Self blame is a survival response. If we blame the caregiver at the root of our trauma, it undercuts our perception that they can provide for us. That, in turn, implies that we are alone in this world without the ability to take care of ourselves. By blaming ourselves, we maintain the perception that we’re still in control of the situation and ultimately safe -even when we’re not. That message of self-blame commonly travels with us into adulthood, manifesting into thoughts such as, “I’m not good enough” or “I’m unlovable”. 3) When a traumatic event occurs, we are hard wired to respond rapidly on an unconscious level. Unknowingly, our nervous system is constantly scanning the environment for potential danger. It’s like a personal alarm system. When the alarm goes off, we assess the situation with a rapid fire response: “Do I escape, fight or hide?” Because we are not aware of this near instantaneous assessment, it often leaves one thinking that more could have been done. The truth is that we likely did everything that could have been done in an attempt to keep ourselves safe -even if bad things still happened. Not being aware that this action unconsciously takes place leads us to conclude that we could have done better or more, thus placing the blame on ourselves.

In part 2, Robby’s exaggerated self-blame increased immensely after the SA. Usually Robby’s exaggerated self-blame is paired with his hopelessness. I’m going to look at two other examples alongside the SA.

In s3e2, after the school fight and being on the run, Robby needed validation that he could change. He told Daniel, “But I caused all this. I’m the one who kicked Miguel… You were right. It was a mistake trying to help because I can’t change.” There is a lot of context to the school fight that Robby ignored. He focused solely on what he himself had done, not the context in which it happened, and then expressed his hopelessness about himself. Daniel then said that we all make mistakes but our mistakes aren’t who we are and he can learn from his mistakes, and that Daniel would help him with that. Robby became visibly hopeful. However, the cops showed up and whatever trust and belief Robby had in Daniel and his words fell away. Robby also stopped believing in himself after that. Not to mention, the circumstances he was in were so dire, and no one cared about his side of the story, his experience or mental health, or had faith in. He was all alone.

In s4e10, when Robby came to Johnny, Robby told Johnny “I screwed everything up. I had all this hate inside of me… 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… I’m sick of blaming you, Dad.” Robby needed to hear that it would get better. For these few moments, Johnny gave Robby the emotional support he needed. Notice that Robby again solely focused on what he himself had done, not the context in which it happened, and then expressed his hopelessness about himself, and moreso, his situation.

In s6e9, when Robby spoke to Miguel, Robby expressed that exaggerated self-blame and hopelessness again: "I'm completely screwing it up out there… Tory ended things. She hooked up with Kwon… Then I got drunk and did something stupid. I'm blowing it on and off the mat. You were right. You should have been captain." Interestingly, although he had said that Tory ended things and "hooked up with Kwon", he described what had happened between him and Zara as him "doing something stupid". This means that he doesn’t actually look at it as some casual hook-up, although he thought of Tory and Kwon’s hook up as casual. What happened with Zara was eating him up inside. Notice that, in this conversation with Miguel, Robby did the same things as in the two conversations above: Robby solely focused on what he himself had done, not the context in which it happened, and then expressed his hopelessness about himself, and moreso, his situation.

"I got drunk and did something stupid. I'm blowing it on and off the mat."

Notice also the context in which all these things happened: Robby did something related to his trauma due to Johnny. This is coupled with a traumatic event or trigger and that in turn made him believe even more that he can't change or succeed. This is also coupled with a negative interaction before the traumatic event with the person who he later talked to about his actions, the traumatic event, and his self-blame and hopelessness:

In s3e2, Robby believed that he couldn’t change (that he would end up like Johnny). He hadn’t just lost his balance and his anger had taken over (understandably having a "fight" trauma response in the moment), but he had accidentally injured someone severely. In s2e10, before the school fight, Daniel had told Robby, “This whole thing was a mistake. You wanna end up like him. That’s up to you.” After the trauma, as Robby spoke about it, Robby told Daniel that he had been right about what he’d said. Robby now believed that what he had done / what had happened had proven Daniel’s words right. In this s3e2 conversation, Daniel had also told Robby that Daniel’s words before the school fight had been wrong to say.

In s4e10, Robby talked to Johnny about screwing everything up and making things worse by joining Cobra Kai to control his “hate”. This was a reference to their conversation in s4e4 in which Johnny had told Robby that Cobra Kai is a poison and that Kreese had brainwashed him. Robby then told Johnny that Johnny had trusted Kreese but Robby didn’t trust anyone anymore and that Robby was using Kreese. After hurting Kenny because of listening to Kreese and after having that moment of self-reflection, Robby now admitted to Johnny what he had been using Kreese/Cobra Kai for and that it did make things worse. Johnny then admitted that he had screwed things up for Robby with Larusso and that Robby should blame Johnny and not himself.

In s6e9, Robby told Miguel, "I'm completely screwing it up out there… Tory ended things. She hooked up with Kwon… Then I got drunk and did something stupid. I'm blowing it on and off the mat. You were right. You should have been captain." This was a direct reference to Miguel’s words to Robby in s6e7 that he would be the reason they go home with nothing so he should either man up, or admit that Miguel was fighting better and hand it over. In s6e9, when Robby said that he was completely screwing up out there, Miguel responded that that was a team loss. This countered his previous words that Robby would be the reason they would go home with nothing. Miguel then asked what was going on and what happened while he was away. Robby explained and said that Miguel had been right and should be captain. Miguel then told Robby that that’s bullshit and so on. These conversations were before and after Robby had gotten drunk to cope with this poor mental health, just like Johnny does, and then Zara SA’d Robby. Just like the other two events I talked about above, the SA has affected him immensely.

Robby: "You were right. You should have been captain." Miguel: "That's bullshit."

All 3 of these situations are approached the same way. Robby had an interaction in which the other person demeaned Robby and he had rejected their words (Daniel’s words had been really harsh and were more due to his anger at Johnny; Johnny hadn’t even listened to what Robby had come to talk to him about and had been dismissive of whatever he had said in that conversation, while Johnny had also projected his own past onto Robby; and Miguel had been jealous about Robby being captain and Johnny “supporting” Robby over him). Robby then experienced a traumatic event (the school fight; hurting Kenny coupled with Kenny embracing Cobra Kai completely despite Robby teaching him Miyagi-Do; the SA) that (1) involved him behaving like Johnny in some way (losing his anger and injuring someone; trusting and being brainwashed by Kreese; getting drunk) and (2) made him believe that that person’s words had been right. In each situation, Robby only focused on his own actions and self-blame and ignored important context. Robby then had a conversation with that person about their words being right. That person then told Robby that their previous words had been wrong and/or that he shouldn’t feel the way their words now made him feel.

Putting aside Hayden’s tweet about the SA, in an interview for part 2, Jon had gone into detail about Robby’s mental state in s6e8 and then merely ended with “Robby made a regrettable mistake”. Like in the story itself, Jon provided no further perspective about what had happened between Robby and Zara. He simply framed his answer the way Robby talked about it in the story. The only information “told” in canon is Robby’s words “I did something stupid”. Robby later provided no perspective on what had happened, not even in his conversations with Tory. In s6e10, when he tried to explain his side of the story, Tory cut him off. This also matches how Robby’s side of the story for his other traumas have been obscured and have yet to be explored. In canon, Robby believes that he and Zara had sex, and he can barely remember what happened. That is the most important pov when looking at the SA.

Although I’ve said that Johnny and Miguel are the two main pov characters, we do get a little of Robby's pov. However, we don't get much of his side of the story for almost all things he experiences. That is, we don’t get much exploration into his side of the story unless he or the other characters say something about it. Because no one advocates for him and instead most times others vilify him and because he rarely speaks up for himself or people stop him when he tries to explain, the “tell” is oftentimes that of the other characters’ or the fallout of the events, which usually aren't in Robby’s favor. The rare times he says something, it's still important to consider his words in the context in which he says them. Robby himself can be an unreliable narrator at times. His exaggerated self-blame, low self-worth, and self-hate frame his own pov, not just of himself but of others as well. As I talked about in a previous post, it’s hard to ignore that this situation with Zara is depicted as another trauma for Robby from the setup to the dialogue to the execution (all the subtext), which I’ll talk about more next. (Note, I know about the episode writers’ interview with CKK. The writer’s demeanor and lack of confidence indicated she was trying to come up with an answer on the spot. She really fumbled it. The other writer's agreement with her was also subdued. As I’ve pointed out, the framing and marketing for Robby’s traumas don’t match the subtext in canon.)

The SA is another trauma for Robby and its impact on Robby’s mental health is depicted

To recap, leading up to the SA, there are no indications of Robby’s interest in Zara. He barely noticed her existence other than watching her fights alongside others’ in a crowd. They’re not even shown having a conversation until after the SA. However, Zara took notice of Robby first. As she stood next to Tory during the captains’ pictures in s6e6, Zara commented about cute boys to Tory and nodded in Robby’s direction. When Tory turned to look, Robby smiled at her. It’s at this point that Zara showed her first signs of jealousy towards Tory, as she commented about Tory having dibs. In their first match, which was after this exchange, Zara purposely leaned over Tory after Zara won and taunted, “Welcome to Barcelona, bitch!”, enjoying her victory over Tory.

While many claim that Zara later targeted Robby because of her rivalry with Tory, Zara had actually taken issue with Tory because of Zara’s interest in Robby; Zara didn’t take an interest in Robby because of Zara’s issue with Tory. Zara had clocked Tory as a threat to what she had first wanted: Robby. Zara’s behavior with Robby during their conversation in s6e8 is one of entitlement over him and his body. Before this, in s6e7/8, the threat that Tory posed to Zara expanded to Zara’s status as the best female fighter because people were praising Tory as a badass fighter for knocking someone's tooth out. In s6e8, Zara confronted Tory at the bar to knock her down a few pegs, but Tory didn’t feel threatened by her at all. This is reminiscent of Miguel in s1 taking issue with Robby in s1e8/9 because of Miguel’s possessiveness/entitlement over Sam and that fed into Miguel’s rivalry with Robby at the avt in s1e10. Like Tory, Robby had not reciprocated in any way.

In s6e8, some time after Zara confronted Tory, Tory left the bar. Kwon then confronted Robby, who was drinking and couldn't even focus. Zara approached Robby with intention, as if she’d been watching him. Zara knew what state Robby was in. In this case and in s1, Robby was the one targeted by the jealous party: Miguel saw Robby as a threat to Miguel’s entitlement over Sam, so Miguel acted against Robby. Zara saw Tory as a threat to Zara’s entitlement over Robby, but Zara acted against Robby.

In s6e8, the next morning, Robby and Zara exited her room as Robby was putting on his hoodie. He told her that his head is pounding and he can barely remember anything. That is, he had been too drunk to remember what they had done and didn’t feel well at the moment. She in turn didn’t care at all about his hungover state and offered no caring or empathetic statement. Instead, she mockingly said “Well, good thing I do”. She had been sober and remembered all they had done. She then kissed him as if she’s entitled to. He barely responded as she did. After she stopped, he stared at her, shell-shocked, slowly turned, and walked away from her.

Robby: "I can barely remember anything." Zara: "Well, good thing I do." This kiss is SA, no matter what happened in that room.

It should be noted that Tory seeing Zara and Robby kissing is written as a coincidence. A question remains if Zara would have said anything if she hadn't seen Tory or if Tory hadn't seen them. Robby wouldn't have said anything. He simply told Miguel that he "did something stupid", and he was later shocked that Tory had found out. The point is this isn't written as Zara purposely doing this to Robby to mess with Tory because there's no indication that Zara would have said anything otherwise. She later assumed Robby would choose her over Tory because of what she had done to him.

The way Zara intentionally approached Robby while he was drinking was reminiscent of how Miguel had approached Sam while he knew she was drunk at Moon’s party in s2. Robby wasn't standing steadily when facing off against Kwon and couldn't muster any words. His movements were already becoming unsteady. Zara seemed to have been watching him and made her move after he was all alone. Miguel had also witnessed Sam drinking and made his move to approach her when she was all alone. She'd even stumbled into his arms, but he still kissed her. Robby had been right to call Miguel out for taking advantage of Sam. Robby had known how drunk she had been. The contrast in these situations is that Miguel and Sam had a history, while Zara and Robby had no history or interaction before this. Coincidentally, Tory witnessed both of these kisses. While Sam had been the one taken advantage of by Miguel, Robby had been the one taken advantage of by Zara.

In addition to the lead up to this scene as well as the dialogue in this scene both indicating that this was SA, there are elements in the visual storytelling that also confirm this: (1) Robby’s demeanor in the scene is that of confusion, dazedness, and shell shock. Zara’s demeanor is that of calm, arrogance, and satisfaction. (2) After Zara ended the kiss that she had entitled herself to, Robby was looking at her in shock. Tory was in the background but was out of focus. In terms of “depth of field”, this is a “shallow focus” shot. Tory is not the focus of this moment, although Tory had just been the focus of the previous shot. In fact, Zara is not the focus either, although she is also “in focus” in the frame at first. But that was because she is in line with Robby horizontally (in terms of depth of field) so she was also in focus. However, as Robby walked away from Zara and towards the camera, the focus stayed on Robby. Zara slowly went out of focus too, as the shallow focus shot stayed on Robby. Shallow focus is used to direct the audience's attention to a certain point or subject of interest. We the audience are supposed to be focused on Robby's, and only Robby's, emotional experience in these moments. Robby’s body language must not be dismissed. (3) The change in tone to the upbeat score that is Zara's theme only played after Robby was well outside of the frame. The score started playing when Zara saw Tory after turning to go back into her room. Although the shift in tone is jarring, Robby’s emotional experience in this entire situation was not underscored or associated with this upbeat tone.

Although Tory was already introduced into the scene, Robby's emotional experience is still important and remains a focus in the scene, particularly in this shallow focus shot that focuses on him only.

From Zara's pov, she had won and gotten what she'd wanted: Robby. Tory witnessing the kiss coincidentally was a bonus for Zara. From Tory's pov, Robby had cheated on her and Zara had tried to steal Robby from her. From Robby’s pov, he can barely remember what happened but his rationale due to exaggerated self-blame became "I got drunk and did something stupid."

Another aspect of this situation that indicates that it is intentionally depicted as SA is Robby’s deteriorated mental health afterwards. Whereas Robby would freeze up during his matches each time he had looked at Tory before the SA, Robby’s focus was completely off during their first team match after the SA. Robby then blamed himself for the whole team losing—a combination of his self-blame from the SA and Miguel previously telling (scapegoating) him that they’d go home with nothing because of him. In that match, Hawk and Demetri had been dumbasses about Kenny and had made things worse, but Robby just put it all on himself. In fact, Miguel had picked up on the fact that Robby was completely off-balance now and that something had happened while Miguel had been away. I explained their conversation in detail above. To add to that, Robby hadn’t been as upset that he had drank or gotten drunk; Robby was much more upset about what had happened with Zara. He specifically called the latter the "stupid" thing he "did". This is in contrast to him distinctly calling what he assumed happened between Tory and Kwon a “hook up”. This makes sense because of Robby’s confusion and self-blame over what Zara had done to him. He hadn’t intended on and couldn't remember consenting to “hooking up with Zara”. In addition to the subtext (text and context) and how it was executed, the deterioration of Robby’s mental health/focus and his increased self-blame also indicate that this indeed is another trauma and not just a casual hook up.

Another hint that Zara’s interest in Robby was purely about Robby (and not about Tory) and that Zara had SA'd him that night is Zara’s belief that Robby should choose her over Tory after what Zara had done to him. Zara was shocked during the brawl that Robby would protect Tory from her and not let her beat Tory up, which Zara interpreted as Robby choosing Tory over Zara. In s1/2, Miguel had also believed that Sam should choose him over Robby after Miguel had promised to and carried through with hurting Robby in the s1 avt. Miguel had also later attacked Robby in the school fight with the similar intentions. When Robby asked Miguel why he had taken advantage of Sam,. Miguel first said that he would never. Robby then asked why'd it happen. Miguel's response to that had been, "She doesn't love you. She loves me!" Here, after Robby threw Zara off of Tory, Zara said, “You’d really choose her over me!” Robby responded that it's not even close. Then, Zara attacked him, after Tory was attacked from behind. The difference in these situations is that Robby and Tory don’t realize the nature of Zara’s actions against Robby, whereas Sam had first acknowledged Miguel’s actions against Robby in the avt but that acknowledgement has evaporated since the school fight. Sam has also never acknowledged Miguel's actions against Robby in the school fight and has only focused on what Robby did at the end of the school fight. In s4e1, Sam also acknowledged that she hadn’t stopped caring about Miguel when she admitted that her feelings had been complicated. Regardless, Miguel had taken advantage of Sam when he had kissed her at Moon’s party. In both these situations, Robby ended up with the blame for what (the SA) Zara and Miguel (the school fight) had each done to him.

"You'd really choose her over me?" Bitch is crazy to think that he would choose her... and if nothing had happened in that room (which is highly doubtful), she's even crazier.

Robby and Zara are only shown to have two interactions: the morning after the SA and during the brawl. As I talked about earlier, the self-blame that Robby has due to what happened with Zara is an indication that this is a trauma for him. He believes that he “did something stupid” with Zara, although he barely remembers what happened. Robby’s self-blame due to this trauma was treated similarly in the narrative as his self-blame due to his other traumatic experiences have been treated. In light of this and in light of what is “shown”, including Zara believing that Robby should choose her as if she’s entitled to him and being his choice, there’s so much in the narrative itself that indicates this is SA and a trauma for Robby. (Even if nothing happened in the room, Zara still SA’d Robby when she kissed him that morning.)

Given how insidiously the writers have weaved all the neglect, abuse, scapegoating, and bullying Johnny and Miguel have subjected Robby to in s5 and s6 into the story (the Mexico trip, apartment fight and their conversation after, college application letter, and courtyard scenes) and how they’ve framed and marketed these as acceptable and wholesome (even using words like “therapy session” for the psychologically and physically abusive apartment fight), it would be surprising if this really weren’t intended as SA. (The episode writer said that her interpretation (basically her headcanon) is that Zara told Robby something had happened and kissed him to fuck with his head. Making someone believe that they had sex with you when they can’t remember or give consent is fucked up too. Nothing the writers say can redeem their handling of this or salvage Zara’s character.)

Robby took his self-blame out on Kwon

There are many parallels between Robby and Kwon. For example, both Robby and Kwon were potentially the best students in their dojos, but they were second to the teacher’s pets: in Robby’s case, that was Miguel; in Kwon’s case, that was Yoon. In part 2, Miguel and his two sidekicks were antagonistic to Robby. In part 1, Yoon and his two sidekicks were antagonistic to Kwon. In Kwon’s case, he had to fight all three of them to earn his spot as captain. He beat the sidekicks first and then had a final fight with Yoon. In Robby’s case, he beat out Hawk and Demetri for one of the top four spots and then Robby had to fight Miguel for the captain spot. Kwon and Robby were also given a similar move. In s6e3, Kwon executed a double kick on Yoon’s sidekicks. In s6e10, Robby executed a double kick on Kwon and Yoon. Both Robby and Kwon are good at mind games and throwing their opponent off-balance off the mat. Robby and Kwon shared similar insecurities. They both believed they could be the best, but they struggled to be the best.

Since crossing paths, Kwon had been antagonizing Robby, especially using the fact that Tory—Robby’s girlfriend—was on their team. Kwon laughed at Robby as he tried to catch Tory at the elevator. Then Kwon challenged Robby to the bet. Robby shouldn’t have taken the bait, but everyone was watching as Kwon was challenging and belittling him. Robby wanted to prove that he could win and that he’s not weak. Robby has postured at times before, so this was in character for him. (Though, mature me believes he should have walked away.) He did lose the bet unfortunately and lost his and Demetri’s room in the process.

Later, Kwon beat him in a match after taunting him about the bet. Then, in s6e8, Kwon was pretending to get close with Tory, which Robby took as a sign that Tory really had moved on from him. After Tory left, Kwon taunted Robby about keeping Tory warm that night. Robby was getting drunk at that point, couldn't string together a comeback, and went back to drinking. After that, Robby was SA’d by Zara, and Robby’s focus was completely off because of that.

In their match in s6e9, Robby took his anger out on Kwon after Robby realized that Kwon had been playing mind games with him and he had fallen for them.

In truth, Robby’s anger had really been directed at himself. Kwon just became the outlet for that anger. Robby had fallen for Kwon’s games but that was on Robby. Robby shifted some of the self-blame he felt for that and for the SA onto Kwon. After all, it was the SA that Robby was really beating himself up about.

"He's making it hurt."

It’s actually quite symbolic that Robby directed his self-blame and self-hate at Kwon. Kwon was written as a mirror character to Robby, hence all the parallels.

Mirror characters tend to share several qualities and are used to complement and highlight each other’s traits. Common mirror characters embark on parallel plots, sometimes to achieve a single goal, which tests them and highlights their traits in different ways.

Mirrors in fiction are characters who reflect the main character and reveal insights into the main character's behaviors, thoughts, and motivations. A mirror allows the main character to check the state of their own being or learn lessons from their mistakes.

In s6e10, Kwon kept antagonizing Robby. Kwon’s rage at Robby had been palpable. During the brawl, Robby was one of Kwon’s two targets. In the end, Kwon chose to attack Axel and tragically landed on the knife he’d intended to use on Axel.

In s6, Kwon became the student that Kreese had wanted to mold Robby into in s3/4. However, Robby hadn’t trusted Kreese, had been using him, and is too much of a Miyagi-Do. Even Silver realized this and told Kreese that he doesn’t have control over Robby. Although many fans wanted to see Robby become Cobra Kai completely, he was never going to. Robby had his own reasons for being in Cobra Kai and those reasons didn’t include fully embracing Cobra Kai. When Robby was fighting Kenny in the s4 avt, Kreese had to remind Robby that he was fighting his opponent not his friend. s4 already revealed that Robby’s weakness is that he has too much heart. After that match, seeing Kenny fully adopt Cobra Kai (“It’s Cobra Kai. No mercy.”), and then seeing himself reflected in Kenny, Robby lost and didn’t become a champion.

Kwon in turn was driven to be Kreese’s champion. Kreese imparted the same teachings on Kwon that Kreese had imparted on Robby. Kreese had told him that he could be one of the most terrifying fighters in the Sekai Taikai, just take all that anger inside of him and give it purpose. Unfortunately, this ultimately resulted in Kwon’s death.

In Robby’s fight against Kwon in s6e9, Robby fought with his anger. He made sure to “make it hurt” and humiliate Kwon. Robby had let Kwon get in his head, and Robby now took his anger at himself out on Kwon. Robby gave his anger (his “hate”) purpose. “I had all this “hate” inside of me… I thought I could use Cobra Kai to control that.” Robby fought with anger as a Cobra Kai would, not with balance as a Miyagi-Do would.

Although Kwon is not The Shadow in Robby’s story and has the role of a Threshold Guardian, as a mirror character to Robby, Kwon plays the role of what “the hero could become if they succumb to their inner darkness or make the wrong choices”.

This is Robby’s final “battle” of the series. Compared to the others, he has the most struggles and stakes left. Part 2 showed just how bad it is for Robby. He started experiencing another type of trauma response (freeze) more frequently because his abandonment/rejection trauma worsened due to Tory’s behavior with him. Johnny continued to neglect him and choose Miguel over him. Daniel is too unfocused that he’s not rebuilding his relationship with him. He has no true friend and is still the group's scapegoat. After the SA, his mental health worsened, his exaggerated self-blame increased, and he lost more mental focus.

Throughout this, he started going down the path that Johnny—The Shadow— had gone down. Robby’s mental health has now worsened to the point that he took a drink and got drunk for the first time in order to numb himself. Then, in his second fight with Kwon, Robby became the fighter that Kreese had wanted Kwon to become: Robby combined his anger with his skills and gave his anger purpose. Although Robby was proud of his victory, he had gained it by primarily channeling his Cobra Kai side. Taking that step further to becoming like Johnny and like the 3rd generation of Cobra Kai.

Robby is Miyagi-Do. He carries the heart and essence of the Miyagi-Do dojo (post 1, post 2). He always has throughout the story. In part 2, when Robby was struggling, the whole dojo was struggling. When Robby improved, the whole dojo improved, as seen in their fight with Futura De Pantera before the fight against Cobra Kai. Robby also led the locker room chant that they are “Miyagi-Do”. In fact, when Miguel said, "We're a family. All of us", Robby got a thoughtful expression and then stood and said, "Who are we?" All the kids said, "Miyagi-Do!" — Robby's family and home have always been Miyagi-Do.

During the Resurrection stage, usually two deaths occur for the hero: an “external” death and a “internal” death. It's quite telling that Robby’s mirror character literally died in this stage while he was fighting with intense rage. Kwon's death is said to have an impact on all the characters. Of the Miyagi-Do kids, Robby will be most impacted because of his rivalry with Kwon. Kwon’s loss to Robby the day before had added to the rage that drove Kwon during the brawl. Knowing Robby, he’ll feel remorse for taking his anger out on Kwon, “making it hurt”, and humiliating him. This will likely lead to some self-reflection on Robby’s part.

It is also interesting that Robby’s next opponent said only these words to Robby, before the physical death of Robby's mirror character: “Are you going to keep defending? Or are you going to start fighting?” The “death and rebirth” of Robby's internal self should include him moving out of the defensive mode (fawn state) that he's been in since s5e5 and back into fighting for himself, especially against his Shadow—Johnny.

It’s also telling that Robby fought with balance as a Miyagi-Do against Miguel and won in s6e5. Daniel's KK1 victory leitmotif was played. That win also remains. Later, Robby fought with anger as a Cobra Kai against Kwon and won in s6e9. Although the win remains, the consequences of that win were undone when Cobra Kai were reinstated. In a way, that win was tainted because it wasn't a win using Miyagi-Do. When Robby fought Axel in the semi-final, Robby first went on offense and got nowhere with Axel. Then Axel switched to offense and was landing hits fast. Daniel reminded Robby to go on defense. Robby’s Miyagi-Do defense was so strong that Axel became frustrated. Miyagi-Do is the key to beating Axel. However, Robby has to be balanced on his own, with or without support, in order to truly win his upcoming fight against Axel.

Cobra Kai represents the generational trauma that is being passed down. It’s also presented as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Miyagi-Do represents healing from that generational trauma and is presented as a healthier coping mechanism. Robby rejects Cobra Kai because he doesn’t want to go down that path.

"Well, you are the tree, Robby. You've got strong roots. You know who you are, right? So now all you've gotta do is visualize what you want your future to look like, and then you make it happen."

Because of Robby's traumas and poor mental health, Robby doesn't know who he is. In part 3, Robby is going to have to make his final decision about which path he wants to go down. He's going to have to make important decisions about himself, his future, and his relationships. The Resurrection stage also includes a sacrifice on the hero’s part. I assume for Robby the sacrifice will be letting go of his “want” and choosing his “need” so that he can finally start finding balance.

(As always, please don't reply or reblog with dismissive comments about the nuance in the story. The nuance is part of the story, and the story is exploring important topics like trauma, bullying, neglect, and dysfunctional relationships. I'm aware of the part 3 leaks, but people also shut down conversations about all possible theories for the leaks. I’m just going to stick to analyzing canon here.)

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