Dutch

"Points or no points, you're dead meat."

Dutch is a supporting antagonist in the original Karate Kid. He is a student of the Cobra Kai Dojo and a member of Johnny Lawrence's gang, as well as a prison inmate in adulthood.

He is portrayed by Chad McQueen.

Biography[]

Dutch joined the Cobra Kai Dojo at some point and befriended Johnny, Bobby Brown, Tommy and Jimmy. Dutch was a fan of Mr. T. when Rocky III came out in the summer of 1982, so he and Johnny went to check it out in the theater. While at the theater, Dutch threw milk duds at some girls sitting in front of him, but this resulted in one of the girls named Ali Mills to stand up, and angrily yell at him and dump popcorn down his shirt. On one day or night Dutch along with Johnny, Bobby, Jimmy and Tommy went to a bar where Dutch broke a dartboard, which resulted in him going to Juvie (short for juvenile hall) for the first time.

Film series[]

The Karate Kid[]

Dutch is first shown coming to the beach on a motorcycle along with his Cobra Kai friends. When Johnny notices his ex-girlfriend Ali Mills talking to Daniel LaRusso, Johnny goes to the beach to talk to her and Dutch along with the others follow him. When Johnny beats up Daniel, Dutch is shown restraining Ali and laughing.

While Daniel is riding his bike on one night, Dutch, along with the gang, surround him with their motorcycles and knock Daniel down the hill.

On Halloween night, Dutch, along with the gang, chase Daniel down and corner him at the park. While there, they beat him up, where Dutch is shown hopping up and down in excitement. After Johnny renders Daniel unconscious, Dutch picks him up. Bobby Brown tells the gang to leave him alone but Dutch tells him to shut up and is bent on beating Daniel up. Dutch is ordered by Johnny to hold Daniel up so he can perform a flying kick on him. However, Mr. Miyagi swoops in and frees Daniel from Dutch's grasp. Miyagi then beats up Dutch and the rest of the gang.

Prior to the start of the All Valley Tournament, Dutch along with the gang comes into Daniel's locker room, where Dutch begins taunting Daniel. When Daniel ignores him, an angry Dutch pushes Daniel and tries to goad him into attacking him, which nearly results in a fight. Unknown to Daniel or the Cobras, the referee, who was standing nearby, orders Dutch and the other Cobra Kai's to leave the locker room or else he will see to it that they are disqualified from the tournament. While he is leaving, he threatens Daniel, and then starts laughing. He faces Daniel during the quarterfinals round. At first, he gains the upper hand by kicking Daniel in the face. However, Daniel recovers and beats Dutch.

When his instructor John Kreese instructs Bobby to put Daniel out of commission before the start of the semifinals round, Dutch is shown smiling, while the other members of Cobra Kai disapprove Kreese's actions.

The Karate Kid Part II[]

Following Johnny's loss to Daniel at the tournament, Johnny argues with Kreese after his sensei berates him for his loss. After Johnny insults Kreese, the sensei chokes him. Despite being present, Dutch's back is turned the other side, and he does not even attempt to stop Kreese.

The Karate Kid Part III[]

Despite not making an appearance, it can be implied that Kreese's actions following in the tournament resulted in Dutch leaving the Dojo along with the other Cobra Kai members.

Interim Years[]

Dutch would continue to hang with Johnny and his friends from high school throughout the 1980's and at least into the mid 1990's. Johnny has alluded to wild parties and events with his allies into the 1990's with all of his friends. In 1993, Dutch hot-wired a golf cart and drove it into the Encino Oaks Country Club pool and got arrested for it as well as banned from the club.

Sometime after that, Dutch was arrested for committing an unknown crime and sent to Lompoc Federal Prison. While it is unknown when exactly he was sent to prison it can be implied he was sent there 5 to 10 years before the episode "Take a Right". Comments were made that implied that this term became 10 to 20 years in prison, indicating some serious crimes were involved.

Cobra Kai[]

Season 1[]

Despite not appearing, he is shown in a few flashbacks, and Johnny tells his student Miguel Diaz about the time Dutch threw Milk Duds at Ali while at the theater.

Season 2[]

In "Take A Right," his Cobra Kai friends Johnny, Bobby, Tommy and Jimmy talk about the time Dutch smashed the dartboard which resulted in him being sent to juvenile hall, and one of the others remarked that was not his only time. Johnny remarks how Dutch's criminal career continued into adulthood, as he is currently remanded to Lompoc Federal Prison. Bobby, now a pastor, has frequently written letters to Dutch to show he is not forgotten and hopes he can minister to him inside the prison. The four men then toast to Dutch's memory in a seedy bar.

Season 3[]

In Johnny’s original Facebook message to Ali, he mentions that Dutch got arrested in 1993 for hot wiring a go-cart and driving it into a pool at the country club.

While Johnny is having lunch with Ali, Johnny reminds her that Dutch ran over her radio during their encounter in the beach in 1984, even though it was actually Johnny who ran over her radio, because Dutch wore a gray jacket instead of a red jacket.

Personality[]

"Come on, Come on, make a move!!"

―Dutch to Daniel LaRusso^[src]

Dutch was a vicious bully. However, he was a lot more cruel and vicious than the other Cobra Kai members among his batch. Some instances of his cruelty include unwilling to show mercy to Daniel while beating him up at the park, taking pleasure in taunting and intimidating Daniel prior to the all valley tournament by calling him Danielle, and approving of Kreese telling Bobby to put Daniel out of commission. The fact that he was the only Cobra Kai student that approved of Kreese instructing Bobby to put Daniel out of commission shows how vicious and cruel he is (even Johnny disapproved of Kreese's actions).

Not only was Dutch a bully, he was a troublemaker as well. When he was a teenager he broke a dartboard at a bar which resulted in him going to Juvie for the first time. During his adulthood he committed a serious and unknown crime which resulted in him being sentenced to anywhere between 5 and 20 years in prison.

Dutch can be considered one of the most aggressive Cobra Kai member due to his hot headed attitude. Dutch could be considered the stupidest member as well, whereas the other four heeded Kreese's orders to stop harassing Daniel; Dutch was willing to attack Daniel in the locker room of the All-Valley Sports Arena, even in plain sight of a referee, nearly risking his disqualification until the referee forced him to back away. However, it is possible that he was not planning to fight Daniel in the locker room, and was instead just trying to intimidate him. He could be considered also the most mean Cobra Kai students due to his vicious behavior, and him being one of the few Cobra Kai students not to have a redemption. All five of the Cobra gang had some inkling how their behavior in their youth mirrored their adult lives. As Dutch apparently had a total lack of moral compass, he suffered the unhappiest ending of becoming a felon. It is possible that before joining Cobra Kai, Dutch was a bullied child with anger issues and the Dojo may have turned him into a bully.

Dutch's violent nature and influence is also implied to have gone on to haunt Johnny for the rest of his life despite Dutch being one of his friends.

However, despite Dutch's headstrong monstrous attitude towards people, he does seem to care about his friends, even though he did nothing to help Johnny when he was being choked by Kreese, as he only just stood in his spot and even turned his back when the situation began. There could be an indication that he only did this because he was conflicted about Kreese's teaching methods. He could have also been scared of Kreese and thought Kreese would attempt to kill him as well if he intervened. After this incident, Dutch begins to doubt Kreese's teachings and actions, which leads to him walking away from the situation as well as the dojo. However, despite all this he is still affected by Kreese's teachings after 30 years as he still commits crimes.

Dutch has had some good times with his friends, from when they go biking together, to having fun at arcades and piers. This shows that Dutch does have some humanity and enjoys spending time with the few people he actually does care about.

Fighting Style[]

Dutch is a very strong fighter and follows the Cobra Kai motto to the letter as seen during his match against Daniel. He managed to land a strong crescent kick to Daniel's face, hurting his eye, but he was then kicked after going for a punch. Despite showing some skill, Dutch's cockiness seems to get the better of him, as he's shown to attack without thinking first.

Trivia[]

Dutch, although being his display name, is the character's last name. It is also the only name in Johnny’s gang that does not rhyme with the others.
While Johnny was the leader of the gang, Dutch is by far the meanest Cobra Kai member among Johnny's batch, as he showed no redemption, whereas Johnny knew when things were going too far.
He is the only member of the original students of Cobra Kai to make a turn for the worse in adulthood.
Chad McQueen is one of two children and the only son of actor Steve McQueen.
Dutch so far is the only member in Johnny's gang not to make an appearance in the Cobra Kai series.
In March 2019, Martin Kove (John Kreese) revealed that McQueen was asked to reprise his role as Dutch in Cobra Kai; McQueen had not been involved in show business for the past 30 years. Both Kove and William Zabka (Johnny Lawrence) spoke with McQueen several times over the phone to try and get him on the show, but commitments to his company, McQueen Racing, ultimately prevented things from working out. This culminated into Dutch being written in as being in prison.
A deleted scene during a rehearsal for the original The Karate Kid film in 1983 shows how Dutch attacked Darryl Vidal in anger after he beat him in the tournament, which shows how hot-headed he really is.
Some future characters that can be compared to him are:
- Mike Barnes: Both are aggressive, hot-headed and intimidating
- Hawk: Both are aggressive and hot-headed, as well as the most corrupted by the unethical and ruthless teachings of Kreese.
- Doug: Both are aggressive and intimidating