#jarmen

COBRA KAI (2018 - 2025)

pt1 pt2 pt3

Johnny Lawrence

Anti-Hero

Clara Bow

Daniel Larusso

marjorie

Cassandra

Chozen Toguchi

Dear Reader

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

Amanda Larusso

dorothea

Safe & Sound

Carmen Diaz

Never Grow Up (Taylor's Version)

I Know Places (Taylor's Version)

+Ships

Jarmen

Sparks Fly (Taylor's Version)

Dress

Lawrusso

I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor's Version)

Call It What You Want

Damanda

Timeless (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)

Snow On The Beach

Carmanda

Cruel Summer

Jarmen (Johnny x Carmen)

Stats:

Compatibility: 4/5

Dynamic: 3/5

Cuteness: 4/5

Wholesomeness: 4/5

Awkwardness: 2/5

Horniness: 3/5

Squishy-ness: 1/5

Iconic-ness: 2/5

Stupidity: 3/5

Jealousy: 2/5

Toxicity: 2/5

Aura Power Level: 3/5

Yearning Level: 2/5

Violence Level: 0/5

Can They Raise and Nurture a Child?: Yes

Do They Make Each Other Better?: Yes

Do They Make Each Other Worse?: No

Should I Try This At Home?: Yes

Should They Exist?: Yes

Summary:

A canon ship, one that’s highly criticized for being written poorly.

Which, yeah.

It is.

But it doesn’t mean I don’t really like Johnny and Carmen together.

Carmen is DEFINITELY the catch of the two, no disputes there. And, of course, Johnny’s a dumbass who probably doesn’t deserve her. But I do ultimately think they’re good together and for each other.

Johnny has many, MANY faults, but I ultimately see him as the most well meaning version of himself as he can be. Some people give Johnny a lot of flack for being problematic or toxic, of which he is both. But he still tries to be better and he does change! We got from ‘Great more immigrants’ to ‘You’re my son too’ which is absolutely astonishing. That amount of love and willing to better himself is not an exclusive feature to Miguel either.

He does love Carmen and Miguel with his whole, himbo-ass being and the man tries to be a good father figure and husband. He’s not perfect at it, but he does it in his own special Johnny Lawrence way. Carmen is also just really good for Johnny, straight up; she’s intelligent, assertive, and makes sure Johnny is doing the right thing. Plus she (and Miguel) soften him up a lot. Johnny is a hard-ass, so it takes someone with the patience of a saint to crack him. Thankfully, Carmen never loses hope for anyone, even when she had all the reason to do so. She gives Johnny the benefit of the doubt and see the good in him.

I think that’s really sweet.

HOWEVER, when I do write them in fanfiction, I tend to use the version of them that exist in my head. It’s not that far off from the show, but hindsight is 20/20 and I tend to stay clear of their worse traits as a couple. I do think Johnny respects the shit outta Carmen, she’d kick his ass if he didn’t. But the show doesn’t really respect her and that leads to problems with them just from a writing standpoint.

The story itself doesn’t let Carmen have a lot of agency or say in what happens, which is a massive problem. She isn’t treated with the same respect that Amanda is treated as an example. It’s shitty but it’s what we got. However, that doesn’t mean that Johnny does this; Johnny lets Carmen do as she pleases, hell he’ll do anything the woman says. Johnny treats Carmen like a person even if the story doesn’t, which means that, in a vacuum, their relationship is still relatively healthy!

I’m just a sucker for found family stuff tropes. I like them a lot, more than a-lot, I just wish the writers respected them and Carmen specifically more than they did.

Conclusion: Does This Ship Sink or Sail?

Answer: Sail!

They’re not perfect, not at all. And maybe they’re a little vanilla. LawRusso is definitely more interesting than Jarmen on a bad day even.

But I think they’re sweet! I love Johnny stepping up to be a dad and I love that he loves Carmen so earnestly. He just wants to be a decent guy to her and I think that’s lovely.

So, even if they’re boring and not well written, Carmen does cross the finish line in being a good ship!

They Could Never Make Me Hate You, Sitcom Mom and Sitcom Dad!

See my ratings of other ships here! Ship Masterlist

Change my mind.