(dramatic music)
- [Referee] Ready?
- Hi, I'm Ralph Macchio
and I play Daniel LaRusso in Cobra Kai.
- Hi, I'm William Zabka
and I play Johnny Lawrence in Cobra Kai.
And today we are going to answer a question
that has been dividing fans since the original Karate Kid
was released to theaters.
Who was really the bad guy?
- Part of me actually felt bad for you at one point,
but you make it so easy to remember who the bad guy is
in all of this.
We have clips from The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai,
and we're going to show both sides of the issue.
And now we're going to review the evidence.
- Let's watch.
(dramatic music)
(bell dings)
The summer of '82, Daniel LaRusso came to town.
Next thing I know he's hittin' on Allie.
I see the two of them flirting with each other.
- What do you do?
- Well, I walked over
to have a civil conversation with Allie.
What is your problem?
- Look, why don't you just take your little Cobra Kais
and get outta here?
- Oh, yeah right, and that's going to solve everything.
But LaRusso kept butting in.
- What's goin' on? - Careful Johnny.
(cheers)
- Told him to get lost my new business.
Out of nowhere, the guy sucker punches me.
(cheers)
I did what any dude would do. I defended myself.
(fighting)
You know, I figured that was that.
- Who is the bad guy?
Give her her radio back. What's going on, man?
Kind of chivalrous move. And then it turns sour.
So that's my defense.
- Kid comes out of nowhere.
I mean, who's this kid on the beach?
Imagine having your whole life with all these friends
and there's some new kid there
and he just comes up and takes your girl.
- It's the selective memory loss is what I love so much.
The guy sucker punches me.
Forgot to throw him down to the ground.
- But you know, listen, Johnny was trained
to have a response to those kinds of things.
If he wasn't trained Cobra Kai,
I'm sure maybe he wouldn't have had the
strike first strike hard, a little excessive response.
But clearly Daniel should not have stepped in.
He shoulda just minded his own business.
(bell dings)
- You ain't goin' nowhere.
(fighting)
You couldn't leave well enough alone.
Could ya little twerp?
No, you had to push it.
Well, now you're gonna pay.
(fighting)
- Oh, where ya goin'?
(fighting)
- It's clear Daniel LaRusso - It's a tough one.
- deserved every punch. (laughs)
Clearly Johnny's action is the more dangerous and lethal,
and Johnny's training plus his hothead could have killed him
with that kick if Miyagi didn't come in and save the day.
So I mean, Johnny was just heading for a peaceful night.
- Oh yeah.
He was always looking for a peaceful night.
- Yeah, he was just lookin' for, you know-
- He's gonna go to a poetry reading and-
- That's right.
(bell dings)
- This is Johnny Lawrence.
He and I go way back, right buddy?
This guy was the toughest dude in my high school.
When I first moved here from Jersey,
he and I, we got into it a little bit.
This guy really had it in for me.
- Yeah, well you did move it on my girl.
- Ah, all right, that's all water under the bridge.
- Wait, is this the karate guy? The guy from the tournament.
- Oh, this there's the guy who was ass you kicked.
- Listen, it was a really close match.
But if you want to get technical, I kicked his face.
(laughs)
I'm just busting your chops.
You know, for LaRusso, all Johnny Lawrence was to him
was the guy who beat the crap out of him
when he was a teenager.
- That first moment when he pulls him into,
his friends that I kicked his face.
- Antagonistic move. - That was kind of not
the nice guy, but was really a perfect Daniel LaRusso.
He's kinda like, you know, good guy and he's sometimes-
- A little prickly.
- A little prickly, yeah.
(bell dings)
What are you smiling at?
(dramatic music)
Hey man,
wanna trade cans?
What happened to our bill...
(upbeat music)
Mother...
(laughs)
I mean, I feel bad for Johnny.
- It was an improvement, it was an improvement.
- It was an improvement.
There was so much space on the right side of that billboard.
There should be something-
- It wasn't a dick anyway,
it was meant to be a rocket ship, but everybody
else took it the wrong way. - It was a rocket ship.
- It was a rocket ship.
- I know, that's what it was.
(bell dings)
- I'm just a small business owner trying to make a living.
- Oh please ask him about John Kreese.
- John Kreese is dead.
- We're very sorry for your loss.
- Give me a break.
- Daniel show a little respect.
- Respect? Are you kidding me Sue?
You don't know the history here,
John Kreese and Cobra Kai were the embodiment
of everything this tournament stands against.
And this guy, Johnny Lawrence. He was historic-
(dramatic music)
He's the worst of them all, come on.
- Look, I admit Cobra Kai had
it's share of problems in the '80s.
My sensei didn't always play by the rules.
That's why I left.
- Yes, the passive aggressive Johnny Lawrence.
- Passive aggressive? - I think- (laughs)
Daniel LaRusso is getting in the way of
Johnny Lawrence trying to redeem himself.
And we always want to root for
the down and out guy redeeming himself.
- A lot of people talk about who's the bad guy
in just the film in The Karate Kid.
I think the real bad guy in The Karate Kid is Kreese.
And I think it's the kind of the teaching that's the bad guy
and that style and that mentality.
And that's what's great about the show
is that the Johnny's trying to create a new Cobra Kai.
He's trying to, he knows there was something
not great about that and attempting to move forward,
but he's got a lot of, a lot of baggage with him.
- No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher.
- Only bad teacher.
- [Ralph] That's a Miyagi-ism.
- [William] It's how you look at it.
It's just perspective and you're rootin' for 'em together.
And then you want them to fight.
- Sometimes I hear the fans tell me,
I just want to take you two guys
and put you in a room together
because you really would get along.
It drives us crazy.
- As far as the ultimate who's bad guy, who's the good guy?
I'm way too close to it to make that decision.
So that really is up to the fans and to the viewers
and it's individual to look at it.
- They both are at times the bad guy.
And they're both at times the guy you're rootin' for.
And that's why it's awesome.
(dramatic music)