Demetri Alexopoulos....
yes, we finally know his last name now.
Demetri's arc in Season 4 shows that he is still a voice of reason as a student of Miyagi-Do
and anchors himself as someone who does a decent job of following those principles.
His character has become more likable as the seasons have gone on, and as I mentioned in
my prior video, is a stark contrast compared to his attitude in Season 1.
Although he was more in the background again in Season 4, he still had some shining moments
that ultimately led to Miyagi-Do being successful in winning the Male Division.
This is Why Demetri is Still Relatable.
Let's talk about his continued loyalty and relationship with Eli, his character growth,
and more.
Let's recap on what we know about Demetri so far.
Since this is a continuation of my previous video "Why Demetri is Relatable," I'm only
going to recap the events of Season 4.
Feel free to skip to the next chapter to avoid the recap, but be warned – you may miss
some important details that I may cover in later parts of the video.
Demetri, along with the rest of Miyagi-Do students, struggle to mesh their style with
Eagle Fang after the events of the LaRusso House Invasion.
Witnessing Hawk admiring artwork in the dojo, Demetri educates him about the sparring deck
that is pictured.
After pitching the idea to the rest of the students, Demetri helps Hawk present the idea
to Johnny and Daniel, noting that he double checked the schematics' physics.
After Johnny and Daniel begin to understand the value in each others' philosophies, Demetri
begins to train under Johnny's tutelage again after he takes the Miyagi-Do students for
the day.
After getting hit in the primary target during a day of training, Demetri is present during
the standoff at the Drive In.
Following this, Demetri starts to dig up research on who Terry Silver is when he and Kreese
show up to the dojo and explains what he finds out to Hawk.
He also goes on to tell Hawk that Moon is single again while finding out that Johnny
and Daniel are going to have a rematch for control of the dojo.
After watching the match end in a draw, Demetri witnesses Hawk show off his new haircut and
the alliance disbands as Johnny instructs Eagle Fang to leave.
When Daniel tells the students about the new divisions, Demetri tries to recruit Eli to
join Miyagi-Do.
Eli explains that he quit karate, but Demetri reminds him that at the end of the day, he
needs to embrace who he is.
After sparring with Mr. LaRusso, Eli returns to Miyagi-Do and Demetri is reunited with
his Binary Brother.
At the prom, Demetri is surprised by Yasmine who came back in time for the prom, as Eli
looks on, proud of his friend.
When the All-Valley rolls around, Demetri helps Miyagi-Do lead initially in the skills
division.
Thanks to his training, he advances to the Semi-Finals by defeating Robson from All-Star
Karate.
In the semi finals, Demetri faces former friend and dojo teammate Robby Keene.
Although he loses and doesn't manage to score a point, Demetri is coached by Eli and Daniel
to try his best and is complimented for doing so.
When Eli wins the finals, Demetri and his teammates congratulate him for winning the
championship.
Although Cobra Kai wins the Grand Championship for the All-Valley, it is assumed that Demetri
and Eli will continue training together at Miyagi-Do.
Let's first talk about the most endearing quality about Demetri – his loyalty and
how that affects his relationship with Eli.
As I mentioned in my latest video about Hawk, one of the growing pains of Miyagi-Do and
Eagle Fang combining their dojos together was the reluctance to initially accept Hawk
due to his past actions as a Cobra Kai.
This is shown right off the bat in Let's Begin where Hawk doesn't feel accepted by either
team, and we can see how conflicted Demetri is when Nate and Chris tell him to go back
to Eagle Fang.
I believe that Demetri as he mentions in "Kicks Get Chicks" that he has long since forgiven
Hawk, he also had to respect that Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang weren't going to readily accept
Hawk so quickly.
It was a difficult position to be in as Eli is his best friend, but he's also loyal to
Miyagi-Do as they took him in when no one else would.
However, this is changed when it's implied that building the Okinawan Sparring Deck is
Hawk's idea, and he pitched it to the team.
We can also assume that since Demetri told Johnny and Daniel that the schematics all
check out, behind the scenes Demetri helped Hawk convince both dojos to work together
to build the deck.
One subtle nod to the friendship of Demetri and Hawk being back to normal (or an example
of their bond being at their strongest) is when they both back-to-back praise Miguel
for getting them out of the drive-in fight, with Demetri patting Hawk on the arm.
After the Silver confrontation at the dojo, the next day at school, we see Demetri and
Hawk talking about Terry Silver before running into Yasmine and Moon.
When Demetri tells Hawk what little information he's found on him, the conversation implies
that both of them put their heads together again to see what they could to help the dojo,
going back to their roots of being genius-like Binary Brothers.
I think it's also safe to say that since Hawk wanted to take charge in proving his loyalty
to both dojos, Demetri had no problem in helping Hawk as this is his best friend since Kindergarten,
and it would also result in potentially helping the dojos against Cobra Kai.
After parting ways from the girls, Demetri tells Hawk that Yasmine became his girlfriend
when “he was himself, and it somehow worked,” (as we see this play out for Hawk near the
end of the season).
This also echoes back to a conversation they had in Season 2 when Hawk was still (not)
over Moon dating Piper – Demetri tells Hawk to let it go as “she's moved on.”
When he responds that “defeat does not exist,” Demetri tells him that attitude “is what
pushed her away in the first place.”
This comes full circle because Hawk strayed from who he truly was (and even went against
his friend's advice), he pushed Moon further away.
But because of Demetri and Miyagi-Do's help, he starts to attract Moon once again by listening
to Demetri's advice.
Demetri even encourages this when he feels the chemistry between his best friend and
Moon by indirectly telling him to pursue Moon again.
One of the greatest examples of Demetri's loyalty and friendship to Eli is the pep talk
he gives in "Kicks Get Chicks."
When Hawk becomes a recluse after losing his Mohawk, Demetri lets himself in to find out
where he's been.
During the first half of the conversation, Demetri expresses his belief that Hawk is
the champion that Miyagi-Do needs (which he is right about).
In a reversal of roles where Hawk didn't care about what people thought and allowed himself
to be free while Demetri was still nervous about who he is, Eli is now the one who is
embarrassed while Demetri is confident.
He states that he shouldn't care what others think (as before he did care about what other
people thought) and his hair will always grow back.
It's also better than the WWF haircut that he had before.
He also reminds Eli that he was forgiven a long time ago, echoing when Miyagi forgave
Sato in Karate Kid Part II.
What also proves how deep the loyalty runs is that Demetri is offended at the possibility
that his best friend would go to Eagle Fang instead of Miyagi-Do, proving that he's always
cared about his friend.
During the second half of their conversation, Demetri brings up that it was Eli's idea to
take karate.
Even when they were on opposite sides, it was the best thing to happen to him because
he “got stronger, became confident, and gained the girl of his dreams,” because
he wanted to be just like Hawk.
Hawk was able to do all of these things before Demetri could, and even when Hawk tried to
give him advice on how to do it, Demetri was still reluctant to apply it.
This is also relevant because Demetri took karate to defend himself against Hawk, but
now is even looking forward to the All-Valley Tournament because his best friend would be
there to fight alongside him, in contrast to prior seasons where he would run from a
fight.
When we finally see the infamous Binary Brothers video, Demetri uses this to show Eli that
no matter what his hair looks like, whatever his name is, or whatever his popularity level
is, he will always be his best friend and be there for him.
To Demetri, Eli is not defined by his haircut or his past actions because he knows deep
down, Eli is a good person.
This pep talk pays off as we see Eli being welcomed by Demetri and the rest of Miyagi-Do,
further strengthening the loyalty between the Binary Brothers.
Initially when both don't have dates, Demetri stays by Eli's side, echoing back to the Halloween
Party in Season 1.
During the All-Valley, Demetri and Eli can be seen cheering for each other's matches
in both the qualifying and quarterfinal matches.
Eli also shows his support for Demetri by advising that he has the “high ground”
against Robby, which thanks to this and Daniel's coaching about fundamentals that Demetri takes
his time and begins to focus more.
Another important piece of the conversation Demetri and Hawk have at the party in Season
2 is also relevant - “I think you need a healthy dose of inner peace.
It's worked for me.”
And well... he was right.
Let's also talk about his character growth and why he is still a relatable character.
From Season 1 to Season 4, in my opinion Demetri is one of the characters with tremendous growth
in the series.
A lot of the things he's said in Season 1 have either already happened different from
how he said they would happen, or are a complete different parallel from where he was then
compared to where he is now.
For example, when Miguel sits with Eli and Demetri for the first time, the 3 of them
are considered outcasts in comparison to their crushes of Sam, Moon, and Yasmine.
All 3 of the guys would go on to date these girls at different times, even if considering
Season 1 alone how outrageous it seemed for Demetri to date Yasmine at the time.
When the two interact at the canyon party, this is even further proven in how outrageous
it seems, considering Demetri is awkward towards Yasmine.
However, this soon turns around in Season 3 due to a number of different factors – Yasmine
still being bullied because of the wedgie incident (as karma for being cruel to students
like Aisha), Demetri being popular for defeating Hawk during the school fight, and Yasmine
slowly warming up towards Demetri because of how smart he is and feeling sympathetic
towards him being bullied.
Yasmine even subtly hints that Demetri “USED to be a thorn,” when Miguel comes back to
school, implying that she likes him.
And as we see in Season 4, this comes full circle as Yasmine is now the “admirer from
afar,” and even flies all the way back from Australia to be at the prom with Demetri because
of how much she really likes him.
The after party also parallels what happens at the canyon in Season 1, as now it is Demetri
who has the girl and Eli is nervous to talk to Moon, in comparison to Hawk being the one
with the girl and Demetri still reluctant to talk to Yasmine.
Despite what he says in "Different but Same" that he would only get a girlfriend as a result
of “the long game,” within a year's time he was able to be himself to get his dream
girl.
When Miguel tells Eli that he could join Cobra Kai if he's sick of being bullied, Demetri
is the first to dismiss karate as being effective and would rather play video games.
Even after trying Cobra Kai at first, he quits and realizes he can lean on Miguel if he were
to get in trouble, and even reconsiders joining Cobra Kai when Miguel wins the championship
for the “safety in numbers aspect.”
As mentioned before, when the situation escalates into a dojo war between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do,
Demetri is forced to learn karate to become stronger and self confident to instead of
leaning on others, he eventually stands up for himself, defends others, and even is excited
to compete in a karate tournament, which is a 180 from his former train of thought.
Even though he admits he's a “Rudy” in "Kicks Get Chicks", he manages to make it
to the semi-finals which is way better than what one might expect he would do in Season
2 or 3.
You can't help but cheer how far he's come as a person, especially when he was able to
apply karate the right way and instead of being inspired by Hawk to do better, he now
inspires Hawk to do better when he's at his lowest.
Another relatable aspect of his character is how he continues to be the voice of reason
and also being there for his friends.
For example, Demetri tries to clear out the doubts in Miguel's head about Sam, pointing
out that he's overreacting and that Sam hasn't given Miguel a reason not trust her.
And he was right – if Miguel had listened, Sam wouldn't have been hit by Miguel (accidentally
of course) and the rivalry between him and Robby could've gone in a different direction.
Notice that he's also the one in Season 3 to unite Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang, even going
so far as to lead the meeting in coming to an agreement on terms.
In the earlier part of his arc, I think it's safe to assume he would've not been a good
recruiter or capable of giving decent pep talks.
But in Season 4, he takes the initiative to recruit for Miyagi-Do, and at the same time
check on and motivate his friend.
While it can be argued that it him not being confident in being Miyagi-Do's champion is
counteractive against his character, ultimately him seeking out Eli was the best thing he
could do as they were able to be there for each other in both training for the tournament
and during the tournament itself.
After hearing advice from his Binary Brother and sensei, Demetri is clearly more confident
in his ability and gets close to landing a point on Robby, going so far to not only put
him on defense but to even TAUNT Robby to try to strike him.
This is something we would've never seen from Demetri before, and is one of the reasons
why is arc is so satisfying, considering the earlier parts of his character development.
Demetri has managed to “flip the script” in his own unique way – he's come to terms
with who he really is, go beyond his own expectations, and be a rock for his friends.
In my opinion, he's definitely a friend you would love to have rooting for you in your
corner.
Here are my final thoughts on Demetri and what we could expect from him in the future.
Like Season 3, at the end of Season 4 we got to see (albeit for a short amount of time)
how awesome a dojo can be when the Binary Brothers are on the same team.
Behind Hawk and Sam, Demetri is clearly the 3rd best fighter that Miyagi-Do currently
has at the moment.
This is saying a lot considering how slow he initially progressed, his lack of natural
athleticism, and although he lost to Robby, managed to contend with him in the Semi-Finals
to the point where he realized he just had to wait out Robby's attacks and could even
taunt him.
With Chozen in the picture, Demetri will only get stronger and could maybe one day be on
the same level as his peers who made it to the finals.
When it comes to Miyagi-Do principles, Demetri has done a great job at holding on to those
core principles – forgiveness, compassion, inner peace, and balance.
I would love to see how Chozen interacts with Demetri and also more screen time of Demetri
and Eli training together.
I do love how Season 4 also subtly hinted that the Binary Brothers took initiative to
bring the dojos together with the sparring deck and to find out what they could on Terry
Silver.
Perhaps in Season 5 we could see a scene where Demetri is able to uncover what Terry has
planned for the valley through his tech savvy skills; hacking into Silver's secret hard
drive and leaking some illegal business operations he has fronts for.
Either way, I can't wait to see how the Binary Brothers hold down the fort.
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Let me know what you guys think down below – what's in store for Demetri in the future?
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