We Finally Know What Happened To Aisha In Cobra Kai
Contains spoilers for "Cobra Kai" Season 4
Aisha Robinson (Nichole Brown) serves a key role in the first season of "Cobra Kai" as the former best friend of Sam LaRusso (Mary Mouser), one of the show's principal teenage leads. Sam is trying to fit in with a group of popular girls upon the series' opening, and fearful of losing her newfound social status, she mistreats the dorkier Aisha in spite of their longstanding friendship. In response to the bullying she faces at school from Sam and others, Aisha joins the Cobra Kai karate dojo led by Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). The "strike first, strike hard, no mercy" philosophy she learns there ultimately compels her to stand up to her No. 1 bully, Yasmine (Annalisa Cochrane).
From that point on, Aisha steadily becomes one of the core members of Cobra Kai. However, the start of Season 3 reveals that following the schoolwide brawl that closed the prior season, Aisha's parents transferred her to a new school. In practice, this means that Aisha is absent from Season 3 entirely, disappointing many fans of the character. That said, in an interview following the season's release, showrunner Jon Hurwitz revealed that Aisha might not be gone for good.
As it turns out, Aisha's tenure on "Cobra Kai" Season 4 is limited to a single scene. Nevertheless, she reveals some key details about what happened to her in the time since her last appearance.
Aisha is living confidently in Santa Barbara
Partway through "Cobra Kai" Season 4, Sam's rivalry with bad girl Tory Nichols (Peyton List) intensifies when her mom, Amanda LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler) sympathizes with Tory and signs off on her return to West Valley High in spite of the trauma Sam suffered during their bout at the end of Season 2. In Episode 6, Sam visits Aisha to ask for her advice on how to handle attending the same school as Tory once again. As it turns out, Aisha now lives in Santa Barbara, California, about an hour and a half north of the series' primary San Fernando Valley setting.
Aisha decides to share an anecdote from her own life in response to Sam's inquiry. She reveals that, soon after starting at her new high school in Santa Barbara, she identified a student she felt was likely to become her bully. However, she followed what she learned at Cobra Kai and figuratively struck first, approaching the prospective bully to compliment her shoes — which, Aisha notes, she didn't really like, but felt offered her a good opening. Now, she explains, they're best friends.
So while Aisha may not be attending a new dojo in Santa Barbara, the strength she gained through Cobra Kai karate continues to improve her everyday life in the nearby city she now calls home.