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Samantha "Sam" LaRusso (Mary Mouser; Reese TinLee as a young child) is Daniel and Amanda's teenage daughter, who was taught karate by her father at a young age. Her relationship with her father is strained by his meddling in her new friendships, but they reconcile after Sam sees Kyler bully Miguel's friend group and subsequently ends their relationship after he tries to grope her in a movie theater. When Kyler begins spreading rumors about her, Sam is left briefly friendless, with Yasmine, Moon and Aisha refusing to allow her to talk to them or to sit with them at lunch. Miguel eventually defends her and defeats Kyler's clique in an all-out fight, impressing her. Sam is smitten with Miguel but feels pressured to keep their relationship a secret from her parents because of her father's negative history with Cobra Kai during the 1984 and 1985 All-Valley Tournaments. A series of assumptions and misunderstandings leads Miguel to believe that Sam is ashamed of him and is involved with Daniel's student and employee and Johnny's estranged son Robby Keene, whom she had befriended earlier. During a party at a beach, Miguel attempts to pick a fight with Robby but accidentally hits Sam instead. Sam is upset with Miguel and breaks up with him. After a second confrontation with Miguel at the All-Valley Tournament, a depressed Sam returns home and resumes her own karate training, although she does reconcile with Aisha after she apologizes to Aisha for her former association with Yasmine and laughs about Yasmine's front wedgie incident.
In Season 2, Sam blocks Miguel from her social media feeds on Instagram and bonds with Robby as they continue their training at Miyagi-Do. However, her friendship with Aisha sours after Daniel indirectly slights Cobra Kai in his Miyagi-Do Karate commercial and Cobra Kai crashes Miyagi-Do Karate's presentation at the Valley Fest in retaliation. She eventually starts a relationship with Robby but continues to have lingering feelings for Miguel. This leads to a heated rivalry between her and Miguel's new girlfriend, Tory Nichols. During a party at Moon's house, Sam beats Tory in a drinking contest, but she ends up in a drinking binge and ends up cheating on Robby with Miguel when he approaches her in private, after learning from Aisha that he had returned Miyagi's Medal of Honor (which Hawk had stolen, and Robby withheld from her), which is noticed by Tory. When the police arrive to break up the party, Robby brings her to Johnny's apartment to sleep off her hangover, infuriating Daniel and causing Daniel to cut ties with Johnny and Robby.
On the first day of school, an enraged and vengeful Tory furiously challenges Sam to a fight in retaliation for the kiss, which sparks a karate war between both Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do members that ends with Robby accidentally kicking Miguel over a balcony railing and sending him falling off the second floor. Despite sustaining broken ribs and injuries during the fight, Sam defeats Tory, but not before Tory manages to slash her right arm with a spiked bracelet while trying to disfigure her face. When Miguel is subsequently and accidentally knocked over a balcony railing by Robby and paralyzed at the end of the school brawl, Sam is one of only two combatants (the other being Hawk) to run to his side. She is hospitalized and when her parents show up, is only concerned about Miguel's well-being and cries about Miguel's injuries accidentally caused by Robby at the end of the school brawl.
In season 3, due to fighting in school, Sam and all the other participants are suspended for two weeks (except for Tory and Robby, who are expelled for their actions against Sam and Miguel, respectively). While Sam has recovered from her physical injuries, she still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor's guilt from her confrontation with Tory during the school brawl and watching Miguel's fall accidentally caused by Robby at the end of the school brawl, having regular flashbacks and nightmares. She is also ostracized by most of the student body with the exception of Moon and the Miyagi-Do students.
While Daniel goes on a trip to Japan to save his and his family's dealership, Sam decides to restart Miyagi-Do in response to continued attacks from Cobra Kai, much to her mother's disapproval. To show forgiveness to the enemy, she organizes a car wash fundraiser to pay for Miguel's surgery after she learns from him that his family cannot afford the bills. Hawk's gang takes offense at Miyagi-Do's gesture due to Robby's actions against Miguel at the end of the school brawl and retaliate by mugging Nathaniel and stealing the fundraiser money to donate in their own name. Sam retaliates by encouraging the Miyagi-Dos to foul the Cobra Kais during a soccer match, but Hawk and his gang catch onto them and foul them back, culminating in the referee sending both groups to the principal's office. Sam is enraged when Hawk exploits Counselor Blatt's fixation on political correctness to talk her into letting the Cobra Kais off with no consequences while punishing the Miyagi-Dos twice, yelling "This school sucks!" before storming off, reminiscent of her father.
Sometime later, Hawk's gang decides to harass a Miyagi-Do student, Chris, while he is working at the Golf 'n Stuff. Chris texts Sam, who brings the Miyagi-Dos to ambush the Cobra Kais in the adjacent laser tag arena. The Miyagi-Dos initially have the upper hand until Tory suddenly arrives with reinforcements. She calls out to Sam, who abruptly suffers a panic attack and withdraws from the fight. Frozen in terror, she is helpless to prevent the Cobra Kais from turning the tide of battle and can only watch as Tory and others goad Hawk into breaking Demetri's right arm in retaliation for Robby's actions against Miguel during the school brawl. Sam is confronted by her mother after taking Demetri to the hospital, who stops short of lecturing her again when she breaks into tears and explains what happened, prompting an enraged Amanda to storm into Cobra Kai and slap Kreese.
Sam's PTSD begins to worsen in light of the attack on Demetri, with her nightmares now including one where Tory drowns her in the Miyagi-Do pond. She initially refuses to help her parents when they decide to reopen Miyagi-Do to combat Kreese. Stunned by the rejection, Daniel realizes that he has fallen out of touch with his daughter, and at Amanda's suggestion, takes Sam on a fishing trip. After getting her to open up, he later brings her to the All-Valley Sports Arena, the venue of the All-Valley Tournament, and describes how his fear nearly cost him his victory in his match against Mike Barnes in the 1985 All-Valley Tournament, and how Miyagi's encouragement helped him overcome said fears. Now in better spirits, Sam rejoins Miyagi-Do, training with her father using a new technique she learned from the fishing trip, sparring with bo staffs.
When Miguel returns to school, Sam runs into him in the halls and decides to renew their romance upon learning he has disassociated himself from the Cobra Kais in light of Demetri's injuries caused by a vengeful Hawk during the laser tag fight. When word gets out that the city has canceled the All-Valley Tournament in the wake of the recent karate violence and the school brawl, Sam is outraged, thinking that the tournament is the best means for Miyagi-Do to restore their reputation, which has been tarnished by Robby's actions against Miguel at the end of the school brawl. When Miguel takes the podium to make an impassioned speech to convince the council members to let the tournament go on, she goes to his side to provide moral support.
While celebrating their victory at Miyagi-Do, Sam and Miguel share a toast before engaging in a playful bout of sparring, which soon becomes intimate. However, as they are about to kiss, Robby shows up looking for a place to crash and furiously accuses Sam of dumping him for Miguel the moment he went off to juvie. When Miguel tries to insert himself into their argument to defend Sam, Robby tries to attack him, but Sam steps in and shoves him away. Robby furiously ends his relationship with Sam by sarcastically telling her that she and Miguel deserve each other and storms off to Kreese's Cobra Kai dojo for help, while Sam is left devastated and questioning how well she knew Robby.
The next day, Daniel catches Sam and Miguel making out on the dojo floor in the midst of a friendly sparring session. While embarrassed to be caught, Sam stands her ground and encourages her father to get to know Miguel when he brings up her past failed relationships with Kyler, Miguel, and Robby. After doing so, Daniel gives Sam his blessing for her to continue dating Miguel but half-jokingly warns them to keep their "sparring" to a minimum.
Sam realizes that the best way to defeat Cobra Kai will be to convince their dojos to merge, but this will be difficult when their senseis are at odds with one another. To do this, Sam gathers the Miyagi-Dos at her house under the false pretense of a Christmas keg party while her parents are having a dinner reunion with Ali at the Oaks Country Club and has Miguel bring the students of Eagle Fang over under the same pretense. While Sam has difficulty convincing Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang to cooperate, Demetri manages to convince Eagle Fang to hear them out by pointing out that their division is exactly what Cobra Kai wants.
The two dojos have finalized a table meeting to discuss the details of their merger when Tory and Kyler lead a gang of Cobra Kai students in an attack on the house at the suggestion of Kreese. Sam initially retreats out of fear of Tory, only to be cornered in Daniel's dojo. Tory kicks Sam to the ground before attacking her with a pair of nunchaku. When Tory breaks a portrait of Mr. Miyagi, however, Sam regains her resolve and fights back with a bo staff, borrowing a lesson Miguel mentioned learning from Johnny that "the best defense is more offense". After a drawn-out duel, Sam is able to disarm Tory and holds her at bay while Miguel, Demetri, and Hawk arrive to help Sam. Tory retreats, but not before telling Sam their fight isn't over.
Realizing her dad is likely on his way to kill Kreese in response to the attack, Sam grabs Miguel and rushes to Cobra Kai, arriving just as Daniel is about to finish off Kreese. Both teenagers are as dismayed as their senseis to find that Robby has firmly sided with Kreese.
In the aftermath of the house fight and Daniel and Johnny's fight with Kreese, Sam and Miguel are seen together training with the other Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students to prepare for the tournament against Cobra Kai to determine which dojos will remain in the Valley.
In season 4, Sam continues to train with both dojos, but Daniel becomes concerned about Johnny's influence on her, as she takes a liking his way of fighting more aggressively than passively and starts adopting his mannerisms. When the two dojos split, she remains with Miyagi-Do, but continues to train at Eagle Fang behind Daniel's back. During the finals, Sam fights against Tory once again using only one style at a time which proves to be insufficient, so Daniel encourages his daughter to fight her own way, even if it means going on the offense. Sam's combination of offense and defense allows her to hold her own against Tory who is caught by surprise, but hits Sam in the eye, limiting her vision. Tory's hit on Sam is a genuine accident, but the referee refuses to call her out on it. Tory wins the fight fairly otherwise despite Silver's encouragement to cheat and much to Sam's surprise, Tory expresses genuine concern over Sam's injuries afterwards, having apparently agreed to honor Amanda's request that she end her rivalry with Sam once and for all. Unknown to everyone except for Tory, Silver had secretly bribed the referee to favor Cobra Kai which is the real reason why Tory didn't get a point deduction for hitting Sam in the eye and the referee had used an excuse to not give Sam a point earlier in the match. Nevertheless, Sam is still devastated about how she could've lost, despite all her hard work.
In season 5, Sam experiences an identity crisis after her loss at the All-Valley tournament. To find out who she is, Sam goes on a spa day with Moon and Yasmine in order to find out who she really is, in which she confronts her own past, including a dark version of herself. She decides to take a break from Miguel after he returns from Mexico. After Silver humiliates Daniel in a fight, she along with her mother and fellow Miyagi-Do students encourage him to fight back. During the Sekai Taikai tryouts, Sam fights Devon after Tory flees the dojo. Despite the referee being bribed in Cobra Kai's favor, Sam manages to beat Devon, resulting in Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang being invited in along with Cobra Kai. Sam later finds out from Tory that Silver had rigged their match in Cobra Kai's favor, leaving Sam furious. She eventually comes to a truce with Tory after witnessing her mother's sickness, with Tory admitting she felt like a fraud after learning Silver fixed their match. Sam and Tory, along with the students of both Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang form a plan to try and expose Silver to the Cobra Kai students after finding out that Stingray had been assaulted by him. The students end up fighting off Cobra Kai after Mitch exposes their plan. During the ensuing brawl, Sam defends Tory from Kim Da-Eun. After Silver and Cobra Kai's defeat, Sam and Miguel reconcile, admitting their love for each other and kiss.