- "You know what I mean. But, no matter what, I'll wait for you."
- ―Betsy to John Kreese[src]
Betsy is a flashback character in Cobra Kai and John Kreese's former lover.
She only appears in flashbacks.
She is played by Emily Marie Palmer.
Biography[]
One day in 1965, Betsy went to a diner with her boyfriend, David. On the way to finding their seats, David purposely bumped into the busboy, John Kreese, who was annoyed by that. Quickly composing himself, Kreese dutifully proceeded to provide them with silverware, and briefly caught the eye of Betsy, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend. An Army recruiter congratulated David on his performance in the football game and handed him a recruiting brochure, saying David would be the ideal recruit. When the recruiter left, David scoffed and threw it away, which was then claimed by Kreese. As Kreese went to carry a tray full of dirty cutlery into the scullery, David tripped him up. This caused all the patrons to laugh at Kreese, with the exception of Betsy, who knew David was responsible and began to regard him with disgust. Kreese's boss reacted with anger, not seeing what transpired and accused John of being clumsy.
Shortly thereafter, Kreese was taking out the trash when he spotted the jocks from before, with David and Betsy arguing. He was upset that she had made eye contact with Kreese in the diner. he grabbed her firmly and told her never to do it again, and brutally smacked her across the face when she told him to let her go. Kreese was angered at the assault and dropped everything to confront him, demanding to know if David had ever learned to "keep his hands to himself." The men fought with Betsy being pushed aside when she tried to intervene. Exhausted and bruised, but ultimately victorious, Kreese caught Betsy's eye once more, and offered her a lift home. In the time that followed, Betsy and Kreese dated and were in a serious relationship. He enlisted in the United States Army, and soon departed for basic training. Right before he shipped out, Betsy kissed John goodbye, where he promised he would return to her safely.
She wrote to him diligently and he did the same, keeping the spark of hope alive for them to be reunited when Kreese returned to America. Betsy went to visit her Grandmother in Pasadena when she was in a car accident - her car wrapped around a tree and she was killed. Her family informed Kreese of her death, but his Captain, a cold man named Turner, kept the information from him as he thought it would distract Kreese from their impending mission and would get him killed. Kreese's unit was kidnapped and forced to fight one another to the death. Turner chose the moment before he and Kreese were supposed to take the platform to inform him of Betsy's death. Kreese fell to his knee in grief but was forced to fight Turner anyway. It was because of Turner's withholding of Betsy's death that Kreese ultimately chose to kill Turner when he could have saved him.
Season 5[]
When an older Kreese is talking to Dr. Emily Folsom in prison, he briefly sees her as Betsy.
Trivia[]
- Kreese's nickname for Betsy was "Dollface". This was actually alluded to in season 2 episode "Mercy Part II", when Kreese referred to a waitress as "dollface".