Ralph Macchio Recaps 'Cobra Kai' in 20 Minutes | Vanity Fair - VoiceTube: Learn English through videos!

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- Yeah, yeah, you don't want that, Huey?
You want me to come across
with a nice roundhouse on the floor?
It takes me me six hours to warm up.
[crash]
[punches]
- Dad, stop!
- Hi, I'm Ralph Macchio,
and I'm here to explain everything you need to know
for the next season of Cobra Kai.
Daniel LaRusso is the protagonist
from the original Karate Kid films.
He and his mom moved from Newark, New Jersey
out to Reseda, California.
He'd befriended a maintenance man
by the name of Mr. Miyagi,
who taught him martial arts.
He needed that because he was being bullied
by his nemesis, Johnny Lawrence.
Johnny Lawrence was the ultimate bully
in the Karate Kid film.
He would pummel Daniel LaRusso any chance he got.
He struck first, struck hard, with no mercy.
- [Group] Strike first, strike hard, no mercy sir.
- I can't hear you.
- [Group] Strike first, strike hard, no mercy sir.
- And he and Daniel LaRusso met
at the All Valley Under-18 karate tournament,
for the ultimate showdown martial art battle,
which I won, Daniel LaRusso.
The Cobra Kai series really kicks off
when Johnny saves a Miguel Diaz from a group of bullies,
and it's kind of ironic in our story,
because Johnny being the ultimate bully,
back in the day, is now kind of flipping the script on that.
So for the past 30 years,
Johnny Lawrence has been going further and further downhill.
Ironically, the crane kick to the face
that happened in 1984 was probably the best thing
that happened to Johnny in the last 30 years,
that's how tough it's been for him
as he's tried to find his way through his adult life,
and he has spiraled further and further down,
and now he's at a low point
in which this kid Miguel Diaz comes into his life
and actually is the spark that motivates him
to get his crap together.
Miguel Diaz is what we call our millennial Daniel LaRusso
in the Cobra Kai series.
He is a fatherless kid with a single mom,
trying to fit in, not necessarily well liked in school.
Miguel winds up being somewhat of a thorn in Johnny's side.
Johnny wants to be left alone, to just have his life,
and wallow in his own misery,
and this kid, this nagging, questioning kid in Miguel Diaz,
keeps coming along, looking for answers,
and Lawrence can't help but take action.
Johnny does become a bit of a mentor to Miguel.
The difference is, he is unorthodox
in all his ways of teaching.
He is politically incorrect.
One of my favorite beats is when Miguel asks
how should he clean the windows at the dojo,
- No, I don't give a [beep].
- and that's the exact opposite
of the way Daniel LaRusso was taught.
- Wax on, right hand make circle.
Wax off, left hand circle.
- There's always that spin,
the teachings in Miyagi-Do,
versus the Cobra Kai line of thinking,
which is what Johnny Lawrence has grown up with.
Johnny Lawrence.
- Hey man.
- Well, you still got those golden locks, hey?
So the first time Johnny and Daniel see each other
after 34 years time is at Daniel's auto dealership,
when Johnny is coming to get his car
which was just in an accident.
- Oh, this is the guy whose ass you kicked.
- Listen, it was a really close match,
but if you want to get technical, I kicked his face.
[laughter]
I'm just busting your chops.
Daniel's all successful, happily ever after,
Johnny is down and out on his luck.
Johnny has a totally different perspective of LaRusso,
who's been haunting him
on auto dealership billboards and commercials.
For LaRusso, this is just a blast from the past,
even though this guy beat the crap out of him
like 10 times when he was 17 years old.
So this scene is one of my favorites,
because of all the perspectives,
and how different they are at that moment.
You know, there's such a chemistry
between Billy Zabka and myself
that I always felt was there,
but never to the level after having 34 years
of life lived as the actors,
and also as these characters.
Stepping in those shoes, with all that time gone,
it was like yesterday times 10.
All the energy, and what was underneath,
because we both lived and walked
in the shoes of these characters through the films,
and in life and pop culture,
that we had so much going in,
that it just amped up that sort of level
of chemistry and rivalry from the get-go.
This guy really had it in for me.
- Yeah, well you did move in on my girl.
- Well, she actually wasn't
really your girl anymore, was she?
In the early part of Cobra Kai season one,
Daniel is sort of the antagonist for Johnny Lawrence,
because we are entering the world
through Johnny's eyes, and LaRusso, in his defense,
when Johnny comes in for the car,
he offers to take care of it, he offers to pay for it,
he is doing good, but he can't help himself
with his sort of cocky East coast-ness,
but I think that adds to the longevity
and the depth of the Cobra Kai series.
That ignites something in Johnny Lawrence's brain,
and he goes back to Miguel, and Miguel says,
"Are you gonna be my karate teacher?"
And it pushes into a closeup,
and Johnny Lawrence says, "No, I'm gonna be your sensei."
And hence, this begins the passionate drive
of Johnny Lawrence to get his life together,
to carry forth the legacy of Cobra Kai
in the San Fernando Valley,
which is gonna be a problem.
[punches]
Amanda LaRusso, she is Daniel LaRusso's wife
and partner in their LaRusso auto dealership empire.
- What do you say we let Anthony play with his thing,
and you and I get a couple drinks.
- Dirty martinis?
- Yes, ice, ice cold.
- Perfect.
She is supportive, she is grounded,
she is the voice of reason
to Daniel LaRusso's knee jerk temper,
and they balance each other, if you will.
- Holy [beep] Sam, that was amazing.
- Sensei Sam.
- Who is Samantha LaRusso?
She is Daniel LaRusso's daughter, his pride and joy.
They have a great, great close relationship,
and she is going through her own struggles,
not unlike what her father went through back in 1984.
There's a connection to martial arts,
as Samantha trained when she was young,
but then abandoned it, and is now getting back into it.
It's a big part of our story.
This is actually the first scene I shot With William Zabka.
This is when Daniel goes to the dojo
to confront Johnny Lawrence after learning
that Tyler, Samantha's boyfriend,
receives injuries from Johnny Lawrence in the fight
outside the mini mart.
It's a great standoff scene.
It sort of sets up the rivalry, and where it's going,
and lays down the line in the sand
from LaRusso's perspective of you cannot put forth
this negative form of martial arts, and open this up.
I mean, it really is the kryptonite.
He cannot allow the contamination of Cobra Kai
in the San Fernando Valley.
The big pivotal turning point
in the middle of the first season
is a scene that takes place in the lunchroom,
when Kyler embarrasses Samantha, Miguel stands up for her,
and attacks him and his friends,
defeating them all in an impressive display,
and gaining Samantha's respect.
Kids record the fight and it goes viral,
and then it prompts all these kids
to then sign up for Cobra Kai,
and make it bigger, better, and more popular,
which turns out to be the worst case scenario
for Daniel LaRusso, but in any event,
you see Miguel take the teachings of Johnny Lawrence
and carry it forward into that generation.
- No need fight anymore.
You prove a point.
- What point, that I can take a beating?
I mean every time I see those guys again,
they're gonna know they got the best of me.
Miyagi was the grounding force.
Miyagi would always take LaRusso,
and bring him back to the center, you know?
He would always offer those simple teachings
that seemed so clear to a young student.
You know, I always say, just because you have knowledge
of a subject, doesn't necessarily mean you can teach it,
and Miyagi was a master at that,
and he knew where LaRusso was going,
even before LaRusso did.
So he is a big void in Daniel LaRusso's life
without Mr. Miyagi there for that guidance.
- Choose.
- Oh no, no.
- Ah, hey!
Hurt old man feelings.
- At a pivotal point in the middle of season one,
when Daniel LaRusso is completely off focus
and off the rails as far as his perspective,
he pays a visit to Mr. Miyagi's grave,
and there is a scene that sort of realigns his mind,
in finding his balance,
and he heads back to his house, and his home dojo,
and rebuilds it, and begins training again,
to not allow Cobra Kai
to contaminate the San Fernando Valley.
Putting the headband back on after 30-something years
was one of those special moments.
We made it like a religious moment for LaRusso,
and it felt powerful in its way,
because the headband was something
that became more and more famous and prevalent over time,
and for LaRusso it meant training,
and he hadn't done it in a while,
and to put that back on,
it was like a piece of youth back on his head.
Johnny's estranged son is Robbie Keene,
and he begins working at Daniel's auto dealership,
and then begins training in martial arts with LaRusso,
Unbeknownst to LaRusso that he is Johnny Lawrence's son,
so in essence, a piece of the dark side is in LaRusso's lap.
Even though he's taken this kid under his wing,
Cobra Kai does that so well.
We interlock characters in different directions,
from different prisms and perspectives,
and in this case it's one of the richest story points
in season one, that Johnny Lawrence's own kid
is training in Miyagi-Do's style with Daniel LaRusso.
The plot thickens.
So after Daniel and Johnny reconcile in episode nine,
what happens is they go back to LaRusso's house,
and they run into Robbie,
who as I mentioned is Johnny's estranged son.
Johnny had no idea that LaRusso was training Robby.
Daniel has no idea that Robbie is Johnny's son.
Fireworks.
What the hell is wrong with you?
- What the hell is wrong with you?
- I mean, it was just, what, what?
Their rivalry is at its peak.
That's what's so woven into this show,
at the point you think it's all gonna be okay,
a bomb drops, and in this case,
this is one of our biggest plot point shifts
towards the end of season one.
- Fight.
- Robbie and Miguel face off at the 50th anniversary
All Valley Under-18 karate championship.
Miguel exploits Robbie's injured shoulder,
and wins the match, and Johnny then realizes
that his methods have corrupted Miguel.
That the Cobra Kai teachings,
the negativity that is associated with that,
have taken over these kids,
and in Miguel's case, brought out a bad side,
and Johnny has to second guess all that he's been doing.
Daniel reacts to this match as expected.
He believes in truth that the negativity of Cobra Kai
is hurtful, and damaging, and makes sure
that he takes Robbie with him to Mr. Miyagi's old house,
to let him know that he's opening up Miyagi-Do Karate
to combat the negative teachings of Cobra Kai
with the positive teachings of his master, Mr. Miyagi.
Johnny Lawrence is down and out, and drunk,
and miserable at his dojo,
because not only has he taught Miguel negative teachings
that have gone too far,
he has lost the opportunity to reconcile
with his son, Robbie.
And just at the moment
when he's internalizing all this pain,
he hears the door open, and it reveals John Kreese.
His sensei from back in the day comes back into his life,
praising him for resurrecting Cobra Kai,
but being the ultimate hurdle in his adult life,
and they fight in the dojo.
Besides being the Darth Vader of the eighties,
he is the mastermind of Cobra Kai,
and the ultimate antagonist and sociopath in our story.
- Now who's the loser?
- Johnny runs into Daniel and Robbie at a hardware store,
and when Daniel sees father
and son standing apart from each other,
he takes a moment and steps away
to allow them to try to patch things up.
Johnny attempts to patch things up with Robbie,
who believes Johnny
had his students fight dirty against him.
When Johnny calls Daniel a [beep],
Robbie then states that Daniel is a better man
than Johnny will ever be.
After the events of the All Valley,
Johnny has taken a look at Cobra Kai,
and tried to figure out, okay,
how can he better move forward
and not create such negativity?
So he's amended the strike first, strike hard, no mercy
to be a little bit more strike first,
strike hard, show a little mercy.
It's arguably Cobra Kai light, if you will.
- I saw his picture on your refrigerator.
I wasn't snooping, but we know he's your son.
- That's why you got mad at us after the tournament, right?
- Miguel finds out that Robbie is Johnny's son.
- I failed my kid on his very first day in this world,
and I've been failing him every day since.
- Johnny tells Miguel that he abandoned Robbie
when he was born, and why it's so important
for Johnny to have Miguel in his life.
It's interesting how he takes Miguel on
as the son he never had,
when in essence he does have a son,
and he just hasn't figured out a way
to connect and reconcile with him.
Very rich storytelling.
The plot continues to thicken.
After Robbie and Sam protect Dimitri from Hawk
and the other members of Cobra Kai
at the big fight at the mall,
Kreese then goads Hawk into attacking the Miyagi-Dos,
and they vandalize Mr. Miyagi's house,
moreso the 47 Ford Convertible.
The wax on, wax off car gets graffitied,
and LaRusso goes off the rails.
He heads over to Johnny Lawrence's dojo,
and he confronts him on it,
and Johnny Lawrence has no idea that this happened,
but to LaRusso, he talks about respect as a teacher,
respect as a sensei,
and at that point, many of the Cobra Kai students
follow Daniel LaRusso outside the door,
as they see the light,
and it adds another layer, and heightens the stakes
of the Cobra Kai, Miyagi-Do rivalry.
John Kreese feels the entire generation is soft.
It's a coddled generation,
and they need the teachings of Cobra Kai,
in the true ways that Kreese believes.
So in essence, you have rivalries moving
in all different directions.
Both Johnny and Daniel's intentions in season two are good.
They both want to bring forth better teachings
to their students.
What happens is their own personal rivalry,
which they have yet to shed their high school defiance
towards each other, gets in the way,
and doesn't give off the messaging
that their intentions are.
- I like what you've done with the place.
- Daniel has been training both Samantha
and Robbie together.
Eventually Robbie moves in with the LaRussos,
and over the course of the training, they become closer,
unbeknownst to clueless dad, Daniel LaRusso.
Robby tries to avoid acting on these feelings,
but they eventually give in and have that perfect kiss.
This does complicate matters
because Samantha was dating Miguel previously,
who is the nemesis rival of Robbie,
but come on, these are two great looking guys
who are awesome in martial arts.
How do you say no?
Johnny and Carmen go out on a date,
and bump into Daniel and Amanda LaRusso.
Daniel and Johnny have a conversation
about getting rid of Kreese,
and Johnny finds out that Daniel enrolled Robbie
into high school.
The two couples have a great night out,
and in the end Daniel and Johnny shake hands,
seemingly burying the hatchet during this process.
You think.
- [Group] Three, two, one.
- So what happened at the party,
is there was a drinking game going on
between Samantha and Tory,
and Tory is currently Miguel's girlfriend.
Samantha had a little too much to drink,
and in a drunk moment, her and Miguel kissed.
This is witnessed by Tory, which sends her off the rails.
When it's time for Samantha to go home,
she is too far gone from having too much alcohol.
After Johnny and Carmen say good night,
he gets an unexpected visit from Robbie
and a drunk Samantha.
Johnny lets them crash at his place for the night.
Samantha never tells her family.
When Daniel LaRusso finds this out,
he goes to Johnny's apartment to get her,
and he and Johnny get into a fight.
After that, Daniel cuts his family off
from Robbie and Johnny.
- You kissed Miguel.
- During the first day back at school,
Tory hunts Sam down and begins to fight with her.
It ignites what was brewing underneath
between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai,
and then just escalates into another level
of Romeo and Juliet, the Capulets and the Montagues,
the sharks and the jets.
The fight ends in a total disaster,
with Miguel on life support, Sam in the hospital
from her injuries, and Robbie is now missing.
When I saw this cliffhanger, my jaw dropped.
One of my favorite moments in the final episode
of season two, is a moment with no dialogue.
It takes place at the hospital,
where Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence enter an elevator,
carrying all the weight and all the responsibility
of what has happened, and feeling all the guilt,
and the blame of what hangs in the balance.
A kid's life, a missing teenager, daughters, sons,
the next generation, it's all on them,
and though their intentions were good,
the result is very, very bad,
beyond any of their expectations.
And it's a scene with no dialogue, yet tons of story.
My favorite.
What Kreese does in the aftermath of all this,
is he sees the weakness from his perspective.
He sees the weakness of Miyagi-Do.
He certainly sees the weakness,
and that there's a crack in Johnny Lawrence.
Moves in to take ownership of Cobra Kai,
which might have been his intention all along.
He's a sinister, evil, awesome character in our universe.
So in the end of season two,
Daniel LaRusso is feeling the pain
of letting down his mentor, Mr. Miyagi,
in what has happened at the high school.
And as his wife Amanda tells him, there is no more karate,
there is no more fixing this,
so he's left in a devastated way.
I don't think LaRusso ever forgets Miyagi's teachings.
He sometimes has difficulty translating it forward.
Johnny Lawrence, on the other side,
has second guessed everything and spiraled down,
probably back to square one,
when he was down and out in Reseda
with a bottle of scotch in his hand,
and a cell phone that has been bothering him,
because he doesn't know how to work it,
that he actually throws this cell phone away,
for us only to learn, unbeknownst to him,
that on that smartphone is a friend request
from Allie Mills Schwarber.
The girl that he always felt he belonged with
back in the day wants to reconnect, but he has no idea.
Cliffhanger, cliffhanger, cliffhanger.
And that was everything you need to know
for the next season of Cobra Kai.