- "You're the one that got me into karate, remember? I mean, I was perfectly happy playing Dungeon Lord after school, but you put me in a situation where I had to join a dojo. And you know what? It was the best thing that ever happened to me."
- ―Demetri to Eli[src]
Demetri Alexopoulos is one of the two tritagonists alongside Tory Nichols in the Netflix series, Cobra Kai.
He served as a recurring character of Season 1, supporting character of Season 2, the tritagonist of Season 3, one of the two tritagonists (Alongside Tory Nichols) of seasons 4 and 5, and one of the two tritagonists during parts 1 and 2 of Season 6. He is portrayed by Gianni Decenzo.
After being the victim of bullying for years, Demetri joined Cobra Kai Dojo alongside his friend Eli, though Demetri left after disagreeing with the dojo's ethics. He later joined Miyagi-Do Karate in the hopes of learning self-defense. He often serves as the moral compass of the group, believing that violence should be a last resort.
Biography
Demetri was born likely at some point in 2002. It is likely he is of Greek descent because of his surname is of Greek Origin. He was best friends with Eli Moskowitz, whom he knows since kindergarten, and they were both stereotypical unpopular nerds. The pair even donned themselves as "binary brothers" and excelled in academia together, winning a coding competition at a computer camp. Their nature as outcasts didn't bother them until high school, when the bullying that they had endured worsened.
Cobra Kai
Season 1
Demetri is still friends with Eli. He soon meets and becomes friends with Miguel as well, despite warning Miguel about his lowly social status. He is regularly bullied by Kyler, but doesn't feel like there is anything he can do about it. After Miguel beats up Kyler and his group, Demetri decides to join the Cobra Kai Dojo but soon quits after he is embarrassed by the sensei Johnny Lawrence. Miguel tries to convince Demetri to rejoin Cobra Kai but won't listen and tells him that he doesn't need to learn Karate because he has Miguel when he points to Kyler who walks in different direction when he saw Miguel. In the episode "Different but Same", he is shown to have a crush on Yasmine. After Miguel wins the All Valley Karate Tournament, he tells Miguel he might possibly join Cobra Kai again.
Season 2
Demetri celebrates Cobra Kai's victory in the All Valley tournament with Miguel, Aisha, Eli and other the Cobra Kai members. He soon decides to join again. When he goes back to the dojo to enroll he sees Johnny's sensei, John Kreese, though he does not know who he is. He is happy to see him instead of Johnny as his last encounter with him ended badly. He first tells Kreese his conditions and expectations, but after looking at his tattoos he tells him how anatomically incorrect they are and even touches them. However, an annoyed and angry Kreese hits him. Demetri complains to Eli about what Kreese did, but Eli shows no sympathy for him and tells him to man up.
Demetri joins Miyagi-Do
Having had enough with the bullying, Demetri joins Miyagi-Do Karate and writes a negative Yelp review of Cobra Kai, which angers Eli. However, Demetri initially struggles and does not look interested. When its sensei, Daniel LaRusso asks him why he is here, he talks about how he has been bullied, and now he lost his best friend because of Cobra Kai, and now wants to prove he can fight back. Daniel tries to give him encouragement, but Demetri is not confident.
While Demetri, along with Miyagi-Do students Robby and Samantha LaRusso (Daniel's daughter) are eating in the mall, he goes to the comic book store. While there, Eli and a few other Cobra Kai members surround him and force him to take down his Yelp review of Cobra Kai, but when Demetri refuses, Eli attacks him. Demetri runs away, but is soon cornered by them. However, Robby and Sam defend him and beat up the Cobra Kais.
Demetri training
When Chris, one of the Cobra Kai's who bullied him in the mall, join Miyagi-Do along with four other former Cobra Kais (Nathaniel, Frank, Abe and Lil Red); Demetri, Robby and Sam are unhappy, but Daniel lets them join. After Demetri gets into an argument with Chris, Daniel decides to tell them the time he joined Cobra Kai in order to show how everyone Cobra Kai can corrupt people, and people can change. Demetri then starts to get along with Chris.
Over time, Demetri is able to apply his intelligence to his training, which boosts confidence. During a party at Moon's house, Demetri attempts to bond with Eli again by talking to him about "Doctor Who"; his attempt seems to work as Eli is interested. However, after he suggests to Eli to have inner peace, Eli dumps beer on his head. Fed up with his treatment, Demetri gets back at him by taking a mic and announcing to everyone all the embarrassing stories about Hawk. An angry Eli tries to attack him along with Mitch and Aisha, but Robby and Chris stop them, and the cops arrive. Eli threatens Demetri that he will beat him up at school.
Demetri defeats Hawk
When a school brawl between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do occurs the next day at school, Demetri gets Mr. Palmer and asks him to stop the fight, but he refuses after watching Cobra Kai student Doug Rickenberger taking down a teacher (which even Eli is shocked by). When Eli spots Demetri, Demetri runs away and Eli chases him. Demetri tries to hide in the computer lab, but Eli finds him. Demetri runs away again. However, Eli eventually catches him and starts attacking him. After being hit twice, Demetri uses Miyagi-Do Karate to block and counter all of Eli's attacks before kicking Eli into a trophy case. Demetri then sarcastically apologizes to Eli and calls him by his real name.
Season 3
Chris and Demetri arrive at school
Demetri is still at odds with Eli. However he is becoming friendly with Yasmine, due to her lack of popularity. In the cafeteria he shows off his dinosaur valley project/diorama, which impresses Moon and to an extent Yasmine. Eli then destroys his project, upsetting Demetri, who mocks his sleep enuresis. Later that day (most likely), he gets revenge on Eli in a soccer game by calling him a loser that lost the 'hottest' girl (Moon) in the school, and then pushing and leg sweeping him. However, he is then headbutted by Eli. Unfortunately for Demetri, Sam and two other students, they get detention, but skip it and do karate training which Sam runs while Daniel is at Okinawa, while Eli and his friends are off the hook.
One day, when Eli, Mitch, Mikey, and Doug are causing trouble at the arcade where Chris works, Demetri, Sam, Stiven and an unnamed Miyagi-Do student arrive to help Chris stop the Cobra Kais. Then, a fight emerges between both dojos. While Chris is beaten to the ground by Mitch and Doug, and Samantha freezes and suffers a panic attack over her past fight with Tory in the West Valley High karate war, Demetri kicks Mikey to the ground, before facing Eli, who easily pins him to the ground and grabs his arm. The other Cobra Kai's encourage Hawk to break his arm, including Tory, while Demetri pleads with him not to and tries to get Hawk to remember their old friendship. After momentarily hesitating, Eli breaks and dislocates Demetri's arm after being peer pressured by Tory and the other Cobra Kais, causing Demetri to scream in pain, but Eli shows some discomfort as Demetri screams in pain, showing remorse for taking this out of hand with his former best friend.
Demetri gets his arm broken
Demetri shows up to school with a cast, and tells Miguel what Eli did. However, he is bullied by Kyler as he vandalizes his cast with a obscene drawing and shows it to everyone, causing them to laugh with the exception of the other Miyagi-Do students, and smacks his head. However, Kyler's bullying earns Demetri the sympathy of Yasmine, who knows how it feels to be a laughingstock since the wedgie incident, as she was mocked on the first day back by Nate and Chris. Yasmine then signs and counter-graffitis his arm cast and covers Kyler's vandalism, making him happy. One day Demetri and Yasmine are caught kissing by Miguel and Sam. Yasmine walks away embarrassed, while Demetri tells Miguel and Sam he is in love, and reveals that he and Yasmine are dating.
Hawk and Demetri team up
On one night, when Demetri (who is no longer wearing the cast) and other Miyagi students are at Sam's house, Miguel and his fellow Eagle Fang Karate students show up via Sam's invitation, where Sam tells everyone that they should all work together. However, the group sans Sam and Miguel don't agree with this. When Mitch and Bert attempt to leave, Demetri convinces them to stay by making a speech about they need to work together and stand up to Cobra Kai. Then, several Cobra Kai's show up and attack them. Demetri is able to hit and fend off a few Cobra Kai's, but is soon cornered and and attacked by Doug and another Cobra Kai, with the former grabbing his arm (same arm that was broken by Eli). Doug encourages Eli to attack him.
- "Tory: You better watch your back.
Demetri: He won't have to. He's got friends watching it for him." - ―Demetri defending Eli[src]
Demetri warns Tory about coming after Hawk.
However, realizing that what Kreese is doing is wrong and that Johnny was correct about making Eli who he was, as well as that Kreese doesn't care about him and Miguel telling him about how he's gotten in his head, he saves Demetri by knocking down the two Cobra Kai's. Demetri is reluctant to trust him but Eli then apologizes to Demetri for everything, resulting in their friendship being rekindled, and the two work together to defeat several of Eli's now former classmates. Then, Demetri, Eli and Miguel run to the Miyagi Training Building in the back of the house after defeating the Cobra's, where Sam has just disarmed Tory. Eli tells Tory that the fight is over. Tory stops and threatens Sam that their rivalry will never end and tells Hawk to watch his back, to which Demetri says Sam and Hawk have friends watching out for them.
The following morning at Miyagi-Do, Demetri and Eli high five and hug, same with Chris and Mitch, and Bert and Nathaniel, who all become friends again and unite in one dojo being run by both Daniel and Johnny.
Season 4
Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang merge
Demetri and the rest of Miyagi-Do are training with Eagle Fang for the upcoming tournament. He and Sam are circling each other much to Johnny's confusion. He tells him that they need to be provoked in order to go on offense. Johnny then throws a bottle in order to get mad. While Eli is having a water break, he notices a painting in Miyagi-Do and Demetri explains it's a sparring deck in Okinawa. After Eli is scolded by Nathaniel and Chris, he looks at Demetri but leaves. Demetri, Sam, Eli and the others then build an Okinawan sparring deck, helping the dojos work together.
During training, Johnny brings them to a rooftop and has them jump from one roof to another. Knowing how dangerous it is, Miyagi-Do refuses. However, after Daniel texts Sam, she then jumps to the next roof, impressing her and the others.
Demetri is used as a punching bag in retaliation for kicking Johnny.
In another training session, Miyagi-Do is doing combos with Johnny but when he gets distracted watching Miguel train with Daniel, Demetri accidentally kicks him. In retaliation, he ties up Demetri and his classmates use him as a punching bag. He is then hanging out with Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang at a drive-in where they end up in a confrontation with Cobra Kai. He, Miguel, Hawk and Sam leave after drenching the Cobra Kai's with sprinklers.
Demetri is also in attendance watching the rematch between Johnny and Daniel. When Eli arrives, he sees his mohawk nearly removed. After realizing the merge didn't work, Eagle Fang leaves.
Demetri reflecting on his friendship with Eli.
He visits Eli to explain about the updates of the All-Valley tournament and shows nervousness about fighting former Miyagi-Do student Robby Keene. Eli then reveals he cut out the remains of his mohawk, reverting back to his original personality an he tells him that his former personality made him ruthless to Miguel, Moon and even Demetri. However, Demetri tells him he already forgave him; Eli replies that it doesn't matter, as he quit karate. He then tells Eli that he was the one that got him into karate, which has helped him gain confidence, strength and also win Yasmine. Demetri shows his excitement for the tournament but he tells Eli it won't be as exciting if he doesn't participate. Left with no choice, Demetri then shows Eli their old binary brother video and tells him that regardless of his name, they will still be binary brothers, while also telling him that his mohawk never defined who he was. Inspired, Eli then returns to karate and joins Miyagi-Do. During a tournament simulation, Miyagi-Do is cheering for Demetri when he is sparring with Daniel but ends up getting hit. The rest of Miyagi-Do are happy when Eli joins the dojo.
Demetri examining sai
Due to the updates of the All-Valley Tournament, Demetri needs to participate in the weapons display section of the skills competition, so he's given a pair of sais and starts to train under the tutelage of Sam.
Demetri and Eli are at the prom where Eli tells him that going to prom without a date is embarrassing. Yasmine reunites with Demetri, and he dances with her and Moon. They both go to Stingray's afterparty where he and Yasmine are making out, much to Eli's sadness.
Robby vs Demetri
On the day of the All-Valley, Demetri shows off his weapons skills in the skills competition. Before Eli's match against Miguel, he tells Eli is that it's not helpful how no one has beaten Miguel. He advances to the semifinals where he faces his former classmate Robby Keene. In the first two rounds, Robby easily scored two points. After this, the ref gives both fighters a timeout to go talk to their sensei's. After being advised by Daniel to go back to his fundamentals, Demetri fights better and takes Robby down in the third round, but Robby recovers and defeats Demetri. He watches the sudden death match where he's holding Eli's gi and then celebrates with Miyagi-Do after Eli wins the boys division.
Season 5
Demetri and the rest of Miyagi-Do meet where his sensei Daniel LaRusso says that he is adhering to the bet and is closing down the dojo. Daniel says that regardless of what happens, Miyagi-Do will remain inside of them. After, Demetri says that he will work a summer job.
Demetri on his summer job
The next day, he goes with Miguel and Eli to a tattoo shop where Eli gets a new tattoo. Eli sympathizes with how awkward it was for Miguel to share a ride with Robby. When his girlfriend Samantha LaRusso texts back, the binary brothers get nervous when El Serpiente tells the two about Sam's messages. Later, the two go to a jewelry store where Miguel buys an octopus tattoo.
While his friends are spending their day at a waterpark, Demetri is at work and goes to Johnny Lawrence's apartment to offer him new phones. He buys one with a cracked screen and sets him up to start his ride-share services.
During their first class session, Chozen is training with Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang. He gives the students eggs but are picked off by the Japanese assassin. Anthony gives them an idea to protect the eggs, comparing the situation to Dungeon Lord. Demetri and Eli agree and after the plan works, Chozen surrenders.
Wanting to know more about Terry Silver, Demetri then goes with Bert, Miguel, Eli and Sam to talk to Stingray. Stingray talks about his incident with Terry Silver by demonstrating it through Dungeons & Dragons.
Demetri and his friends at the Cobra Kai Dojo.
Now ready to put things to an end, Demetri alongside Robby, Miguel, Eli, Sam and Tory go to the Cobra Kai dojo to expose Silver. When the others arrive, they fill in the rest of their classmates about the situation. They try to upload the video clip of Silver admitting to Tory he cheated in the All Valley Tournament. While the binary brothers are in the office, the Miyagi-Fangs are in a confrontation with Cobra Kai. Unfortunately, Mitch betrays the merged dojos and rejoined Cobra Kai when he reveals he tipped off Kenny Payne and Kyler Park. While the Miyagi-Fangs are fighting the Cobra Kai students, Kyler confronts Eli and Demetri. Eli mocks Kyler about all his bullied victims beating him up, prompting Demetri stating he hasn't, to which Eli says he'll get his turn. Eli then fights Kyler and his friends, while Demetri initially is trying to get the video clip uploaded. However, when Kyler lands a hit on Hawk, Demetri joins the fight and kicks Kyler. Demetri then knocks down Kyler's friends and Kyler; satisfied he beat his bully, he shows excitement.
The binary brothers head back to the others with the uploaded video on the laptop, while fending off a few Cobra Kai's along the way. While Kyler knocks the laptop out of Eli's hands, Anthony gets it, and Demetri and the Miyagi Do's protect Anthony while he checks the upload progress; the video successfully uploads and Anthony plays it on the TVs. In the end, Daniel defeats Terry Silver.
Season 6
On the first day back at school, Demetri and Hawk are greeted by their friends. At training, Demetri and Eli reveal to Daniel, Chozen and Johnny their dojo name. They decided that the name should be Miyagi-Fang.
During a college fair, he and Hawk tell Miguel that the school they want to go to is MIT. When they go to College of the Valley for a tour, the binary brothers and Miguel are shocked to see Kyler and Brucks, but the latter two are nice to them. Demetri and Hawk are even more shocked when Kyler tells him that Brucks goes to "MIT". They later go to a fraternity house where he and Hawk find out what "MIT" stands for, and he and Miguel learn that the fraternity is planning to disqualify Kyler. Kyler then gets into a fight with the fraternity member, leading to Demetri, Miguel and Eli defend him, with Demetri managing to take on and defeat three people. After they win, they flee the house.
The qualifying rounds for the Sekai Taikai begin and Demetri is one of the twelve students to move on to the next round. He initially feels content as he does not believe he could go further, but a pep talk from Yasmine makes him more confident. After making it to the final cut, he, Hawk, Devon and Kenny later have to participate in a tiebreaker to earn the final two spots. Prior to the tiebreaker, Demetri learns that Hawk did not apply to MIT, much to his anger, and the two begin bickering.
During the tiebreaker, Demetri inadvertently goes in Hawk's lane. After seeing Hawk grab the flag, he kicks it out of his hand. After a brief argument, the two fight for the flag, with Demetri holding his own and even putting Hawk in the same armlock Hawk did to him a year ago. However, Hawk escapes by doing a flip and then kicking Demetri to the ground, making the latter groan in pain. While he is helped up by Hawk, Demetri takes advantage of this by aggressively kicking him. Despite being shocked at what he did, he takes the flag, and he and Devon earn the final two spots.
Prior to the fight to decide who would be the team captains the next day, Demetri confirms he got into MIT and mocked Hawk for not applying. After the captains are decided, he alongside Miguel, Hawk (who replaced Tory after she left the team following her mother's death), Sam, Robby and Devon head to Barcelona. When they arrive, Demetri and Miyagi-Do are shocked to see that Tory rejoined Cobra Kai.
Upon arriving to Barcelona, he and Eli are still at odds. He and the others struggle at the Sekai Taikai and vents about situation. Later, he then goes with his classmates at a bar where he dances with a girl despite being in a relationship. This infuriates Yasmine, who breaks up with him and confronts Eli for showing her. After Kenny joins the tournament, both he and Eli distrust him, especially after Eli caught him talking to Silver (who had avoided going to prison and had bought a dojo that had been dominating the tournament). During a critical elimination round, Demetri constantly told Robby not to tag Kenny. While Robby did so anyway, Kenny shocked Demetri and Eli by winning the round for them. After Kenny's victory, Eli and Demetri have a heart to heart, with Eli apologizing to Demetri for hurting him and Demetri saying he didn't want to lose his best friend, leading to them reconciling their friendship, with Miguel joining in. Back at the tournament, the reformed binary brothers and Kenny perform the tag team strategy to overwhelm Cobra Kai student Yoon, leading to them defeating him and earning a point for Miyagi-Do. Robby's subsequent victory leads to them making the semi-finals. He and Eli fight the Tiger Strike students in the all-dojo brawl alongside the Furia de Pantera students. The girl from the bar says hi to him and Demetri knocks out his opponent.
Personality
- "Oh, I say a lot of things. Which tends to be a polarizing attribute of mine."
- ―Demetri to Eli Moskowitz[src]
Demetri is a sarcastic and awkward person with low self-esteem. He considers himself a jaded realist who is painfully aware of his social status and physical demeanor. He hates confrontation, fights, and finds arguing to be a waste of time. He doesn't tolerate insults or overtly masculine environments. He has low-self esteem and doesn't see himself as more than what he appears - social pariah and a nerd. He has a sharp wit, keen sense of sarcasm, and provides intellectual commentary.
He quickly tires of the bullying he receives from Eli, his former best friend, and joins Miyagi-Do to learn self-defense. It helps him grow as both a fighter and as a young adult, with his confidence and self-esteem growing. When he is humiliated by Eli at Moon's party, Demetri takes a stand by telling humiliating stories about Eli as a child. He exposes their secrets and shared memories, knowing the truth of Eli's formerly "nerd" days would embarrass Eli far more than any physical fight. Demetri also refuses to call Eli with his nickname, instead, always using his real name to remind the teen where he came from.
Demetri's most admirable trait is his capability for forgiveness and ability to let go of grudges. Despite the horrendous actions that Eli inflicted onto Demetri, the latter accepted Eli back as his friend with open arms. He was there to support Eli, help him assimilate back into Eagle Fang and later Miyagi-Do, as well as, helping Miguel do the same thing after his Cobra Kai stint earlier in the year. Demetri is also a kind and generous boyfriend, loyal to those he cares for, and fiercely protective of his friends.
Unfortunately, his friendship with Hawk begins to be strained again when Demetri becomes obsessed with applying to MIT during their senior year, which annoys Hawk. After finding out from Hawk that he did not apply to MIT, this greatly angers him and the two bicker. During the tiebreaker, Demetri aggressively and angrily fights Hawk, even saying "how do you like it"? when putting Hawk in the same armlock he put Demetri in over a year prior. After he cheap shots Hawk, he looks shocked at what he did at first but then notices the flag, leading to him running back and earning one of the two spots.
Demetri starts to become more selfish and cocky throughout Season six, to the point of him not seeing a problem with cheating on Yasmine. While his and Eli's friendship continues to be strained, they eventually reconcile their friendship, and subsequently the binary brothers make use of their partnership to help Miyagi-Do.
Fighting Style
- "Okay. He's pretty good."
"So are you." - ―Demetri Alexopoulos and Daniel LaRusso[src]
Demetri is not a natural-born fighter. He is never seen fighting until he joins Miyagi-Do, and even there he struggles with technique. However, he does benefit from his sharp intellect, instantly deducing that Daniel's painting and sanding chores are muscle memory exercises. Daniel eventually makes use of Demetri's intelligence, presenting a blocking drill as a puzzle to be solved. This helps Demetri become a fairly solid defender, making him the opposite of the aggressive Hawk. During his fight with Eli, he successfully uses the Miyagi-Do technique to counter all of his former friend's strikes, finally defeating him by kicking him into a trophy case. Demetri's lack of strength is compensated by his speed; he is a very fast runner. Demetri is able to consistently outrun people, including five physically fit Cobra Kai students.
Demetri's skills continue to improve, as during the LaRusso house fight, he holds his own while also defending the smaller Bert and Nate at the same time, swings Bert around for higher kicks, and manages to take down several Cobra Kai after teaming up with a redeemed Eli. Despite the merging of Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang Karate, Demetri doesn't really take anything from this brief alliance, as he primarily uses his Miyagi-Do style. After the two dojos split due to disagreements between their senseis, Demetri is seen as one of the best shots at defeating Robby Keene at the boys division of the All Valley Tournament, showing that he is one of the best male fighters at Miyagi-Do until Eli joins. During their training for the new skills competitions of the tournament, Demetri becomes adept with the Kamas for the weapons display category. He successfully displays his skills with the kamas during the skills competition of the All Valley Tournament. During the individual fights at the All Valley Tournament, Demetri manages to make it to the semifinals and fights former classmate Robby. While he throws some solid kicks, blocks some of his attacks and even maneuvers Robby's body down, Demetri was still unable to land any hits on him, and is ultimately defeated due to the latter's superior strength, skills and experience.
Although he doesn't train much after the tournament due to Miyagi-Do being shut down, he is later trained by his new sensei Chozen, following Daniel re-opening the dojo and his offense does improve later. During the Cobra Kai Dojo Brawl, he easily takes down a few cobras and knocks out and defeats his former bully Kyler. When the Miyagi-Fangs tried to protect Anthony by forming a circle around him, Demetri was one of the five remaining fighters standing in the circle as the rest were being pulled away from the group by the cobras.
After the Cobra Kai dojo shut down, Demetri was shown to improve his offense and combine both styles during the summer. He helps Miguel, Hawk, Kyler and Brucks during the fraternity fight, with him managing to take on three people at once. Demetri’s offense, striking power, and agility has improved, as he was able to hold his own against Hawk and even briefly restrain him during their capture the flag challenge in Coyote Creek. Despite Hawk escaping the arm lock and knocking him down, Demetri wins the fight when Hawk helps him up, which Demetri exploits by kicking him.
Demetri, along with the rest of Miyagi-Do (sans Miguel) struggles for most of the Sekai Taikai. However, after reconciling with Eli, the two make use of their partnership by using the tag team strategy (along with Kenny) to overwhelm Yoon, eventually leading to the latters defeat, and later teaming up with the Furia de Pantera students to defeat several Tiger Strike students during the all-out dojo brawl.
Demetri can be considered as one of the top fighters in the second tier of Miyagi-Fang.
Relationships
Eli Moskowitz
- "You're my binary brother, whether you're a number one or zero."
- ―Demetri to Eli[src]
Demetri is Eli's brother figure. They were best friends for many years due to their similar interests and shared popularity status. They become friends with Miguel and join Cobra Kai together, though Demetri quits after being embarrassed by Johnny. When Demetri quits, he begins to vocalize his disapproval for some of Eli's new behaviors. At the All Valley tournament, Demetri is seen cheering on his best friend, but also sees firsthand how far his friend is willing to go to win. Their friendship becomes strained when John Kreese begins teaching Eli, and the mentality of the dojo shifts to be more merciless and cruel. Hawk begins to insult his friend and verbally abuse him, seeing Demetri as the culmination of everything he's being trained to hate - a weaker nerd.
Demetri joins Miyagi-Do and their friendship officially ends. Demetri writes a bad review about Cobra Kai and refuses to take it down. As a result, Eli attacks him in the mall along with some of his Cobra Kai friends. Demetri's attempts to repair their friendship are fruitless, with the pair ultimately fighting during the school brawl. Things worsen, with each taking cheap shots at one another in the name of revenge. During an arcade fight, Eli places Demetri's arm in a lock and is pressured by his dojo friends to break it. Demetri begs him not too, though Eli does it anyway. He shows some remorse as Demetri lay writhing in pain. This is a turning point, with Hawk beginning to question the teachings of his new sensei, regret for Demetri being in a cast now evident. During the LaRusso house fight, Eli is presented with a parallel moment - two Cobra Kai's have Demetri in an arm lock. They offer a free shot to Eli, who shocks everyone by saving Demetri. Though reluctant, Eli apologizes to him for the past and offers to help Demetri win the fight. Afterward, Tory threatens that Hawk should watch his back. Demetri stands up to the girl as Eli has friends watching his back for him.
Demetri helped Eli earn the trust of the two dojos again by looking over the design he created for an Okinawan sparring deck. When Eli's confidence is depleted and his ego shaken following the loss of his mohawk at the hands of Cobra Kai, Demetri is there to not only comfort Eli, but help him regain some of his confidence by saying that said mohawk didn't define who he was, and assures Hawk that they are still "binary brothers" and always will be regardless of whether he calls himself "Hawk", "Eli", or something else entirely; whether he's a zero or a one, they're binary brothers. Hawk takes this to heart and joins Miyagi-Do as a result. During the All Valley Tournament, they both cheered for each other and Eli tried to help Demetri in his fight against Robby with a Star Wars reference. All this shows that after their reconciliation, their friendship and brotherly bond is stronger than ever.
The binary brothers get nervous for Miguel after he vents about Sam. Later, the two bring Miguel to a jewelry store to buy a necklace. They also go to Stingray's apartment in order to learn about his assault. Stingray demonstrates the crime with Dungeons and Dragons. Later that day, the binary brothers go with Miguel and Robby and the rest of the Miyagi-Fang's and Tory to the Cobra Kai dojo where they defend Anthony from the Cobra Kai's attacking them while latter uses Demetri's tablet to upload the footage of Silver confessing Tory about the ref.
Hawk's decision to not submit an early application to MIT creates a rift between the two. Demetri, who applied and was accepted, is stunned that Hawk seems ready to split up the binary brothers, while Hawk himself feels that he should be able to keep his options open. The rift between the two widens when Demetri takes a cheap shot at Hawk, securing himself a spot in the Sekai Taikai over him. Though Hawk ultimately ends up coming to Barcelona as well due to Tory bailing out at the last minute, there is no resolution between the two.
Miguel Diaz
Miguel is one of Demetri's best friends. After meeting in the cafeteria in season 1 of Cobra Kai, Demetri and Eli quickly befriend him. Miguel is something of an outcast, which helps him bond with Demetri. Halfway into the season Demetri attempts to join Cobra Kai after witnessing Miguel beat Kyler and his gang, but ends up quitting after being humiliated and physically hurt by Johnny Lawrence. Despite quitting he remains close with Miguel, and even tells Miguel that he doesn't need Cobra Kai because he has him.
After the school brawl, Demetri buys Miguel a comic book as a get better present. After Miguel got recovered, he returns to school and Demetri was happy to see him fully recovered. Miguel is concerned when he sees Demetri's broken arm and Demetri tells him how his arm got broken by his own former best friend Eli. This causes Miguel to confront Eli about this. While Miguel is arguing with Eli, he witnesses Kyler drawn a penis on Demetri's cast, this makes everyone to laugh but except for Miguel who is not laughing and feels bad for him, and shows disgust to Kyler. Also, both Miguel and Sam see Demetri and Yasmine kissing and this makes Miguel shocked to see that Demetri is dating Yasmine. During the house brawl, Eli restores his friendship with Miguel and Demetri after he defects from Cobra Kai. In the end, all three manage to stop Tory and Sam from fighting and Demetri defends Eli. By the end of the season the trio are training together with the other Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students.
Samantha LaRusso
Sam is also one of Demetri's best friends. They first meet when Demetri decides to join Miyagi-Do. Despite both being in Miyagi-Do, they don't have much interaction. The only time they are shown together outside of class is when the two and Robby are eating at the mall. Although Demetri seems to slightly annoy Sam at times with his antics, she is always friendly and supportive towards him, constantly defending him whenever he's threatened as she knows Demetri couldn't defend himself at first.
Early on, Demetri assures Sam they're on the same side against Cobra Kai. When Demetri's science project gets destroyed by Hawk and the two begin a dispute, Sam immediately goes to Demetri's side to give him support, and tells Hawk to back off or he "won't be lucky", showing her care for Demetri's feelings. Sam encourages Demetri and some of the other Miyagi-Do student to get aggressive with the Cobra Kais during a school soccer game, but this earns them detention. After Nathaniel is beaten up by Cobra Kai Sam re-opens Miyagi-Do, with Demetri rejoining. After Demetri gets his arm broken by Eli, Sam feels tremendous remorse over being unable to help her friend. In the finale, when Sam's attempt to unify Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang almost fails, Demetri gives an impassioned speech that leads to the dojos successfully merging. He then seems to take charge of the discussion. Their meeting is interrupted when the Cobra Kai students attack the merged dojos. Both Sam and Demetri defend the LaRusso house and win in the end thanks to Eli's defection. He alongside Miguel and Eli stop Tory and Sam's fight. They are then seen back at Miyagi-Do, training for the tournament against Cobra Kai. As Sam is the senior student in Miyagi-do, Demetri looks to her for leadership and backs her up when she tries to take the fight to the Cobra Kai students. Even after his arm is broken during the Laser Tag fight Demetri remains loyal to Sam.
Daniel LaRusso
Although their relationship is initially strained, over time Daniel becomes a father figure to Demetri. Demetri seeks to join Miyagi-do after getting assaulted by Kreese back at the Cobra Kai Dojo. Daniel starts Demetri's training by having him do chores around the dojo, which Demetri instantly deduces are muscle memory exercises. Once Demetri completes the chores Daniel teaches him self-defense. At first Demetri complains about it because he is not used to fighting. Annoyed, Daniel asks Demetri why he joined Miyagi-Do. Demetri responds that he has been unpopular throughout his life, and now the few friends he does have are joining Cobra Kai and becoming jerks. Daniel then starts to understand him and decides to go more slow on his training that with his other students. Demetri struggles with his training, but Daniel realizes the key is to appeal to Demetri's keen intellect, presenting martial arts as a puzzle to be solved. This finally clicks and Demetri begins to gain both skill and confidence. Overall, despite their rocky start, Daniel had a lot of patience with Demetri and this ultimately paid off.
In season 3 Demetri and Daniel don't interact until later in the season but when he's informed about the fallout of the arcade fight, Daniel is angry to find out that the Cobra Kai students broke Demetri's arm. The first time they are together is when Miyagi-Do is going through basic drills and Demetri is having trouble. A frustrated Daniel tells him that if he doesn't follow what they're learning he will be back in that cast. The last time they are together is the the last scene of the finale, when Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang have merged and are now training and being run by Daniel and Johnny.
Yasmine
- "After the whole, you know... front wedgie thing... I know what it's like. Sucks to have everyone laughing at you."
- ―Yasmine to Demetri[src]
Demetri expresses an attraction to Yasmine, while the latter mocks him for being a loser. At the party in "Different but Same" Yasmine looks disgusted when Demetri attempts to chat with her. She is initially rude to Demetri, but begins to warm up to him when she sees the dinosaur model he created for their group science project. After Kyler vandalizes his cast, Yasmine shows sympathy by signing his cast and telling him she now knows what it feels like to be laughed at since the wedgie incident; when Demetri sympathizes with her in return, she looks visibly touched. Later she is caught kissing Demetri by Miguel and Sam, but out of embarrassment she insults Demetri and says she would never date him, although she gives him a flirtatious look and touches his chest before she leaves. Afterward, Demetri tells Miguel and Sam he is "101% in love."
Kyler Park
Kyler is Demetri's former bully. While at the library with Miguel and Eli, Kyler and Brucks come and start bullying them, with Kyler throwing Demetri's backpack in the trash. However, after Miguel defeats Kyler and his gang, Kyler doesn't bully him for the rest of the season, as he is afraid of Miguel. After his arm is injured, Demetri finds himself again being bullied by Kyler. When Demetri accidentally bumps into Kyler in the cafeteria, he throws Demetri's lunch to the bin and the latter draws a penis on his cast and shows it to everyone, causing many to laugh — except for Miguel, Yasmine and the other Miyagi-Do students, who feel bad for him. Later in the hallway, Kyler smacks Demetri and mocks him for the defaced cast.
While Demetri and Eli get the video of Silver's crime ready for showing the others, Kyler and a few other Cobra Kais appear, and are ready to fight. Eli reminded Kyler that although winning and losing is part of life, the important thing was to move on, which Kyler never did, as he'd just put on the same bullying act as he usually did. Eli then added that everyone Kyler bullied defeated him; when Demetri pointed out that he didn't, Eli promised that Demetri will get his turn. As promised by Eli, Demetri joined the fight and knocked out Kyler with one kick, exclaiming that it felt good, calling Kyler "bitch" afterward.
During tour at the College of the Valley, Demetri, Hawk, and Miguel runs into Kyler and Brucks. The trio comes into good terms with their former bullies when they see the treatment Kyler receives from the Theta Omega fraternity and comes to his defense, helping him fight Zenker and his gang.
Other Relationships
- Johnny Lawrence (Co-Sensei/Former Nemesis)
- Moon (Friends)
- Chris (Close Friends/Allies)
- Robby Keene (Temporary Enemy/Current Friend and Fellow Student)
- Counselor Blatt (Enemy)
Appearances
| Season 1 |
| Season 5 | Season 6 |
Trivia
- Demetri's surname was unknown in the first three seasons, though it began with letters between A-G.[2] His surname was later revealed to be Alexopoulos.[3]
- His first and last names indicate Greek origin.
- Him, Eli and Miguel have all been Kyler Park's bullying victims and have defeated him in revenge.
- He has only appeared in a season's second episode twice: Strike First and The Prize.
- Despite being a main character, he appeared in the least amount of episodes in season 5, where he had been listed as guest cast. It's likely possible Gianni had been busy doing other projects, which conflicted with the season 5 filming.
- His character was originally supposed to be named Tanzit.
Gallery
