Hibachi Chef: My favorite part, man. You ready?
Tanner Buchanan: Wait, really? Okay.
Hibachi Chef: On two, you’re gonna catch it. Ready?
Jacob Bertrand: Whoa!
Tanner Buchanan: No, I’m not ready.
[laughter]
Hibachi Chef: One, two, three.
[rock music plays]
Group: Oh!
[screaming and whooping]
Johnny Lawrence (Voiceover): Let’s begin! Are you ready to learn the way of the fist?
Xolo Maridueña: Who remembers getting the call that you had been cast for the show?
[CLIP] Xolo Maridueña (as Miguel Diaz): If you’re sick of getting bullied, my karate dojo’s looking for recruits.
[CLIP] Gianni DeCenzo (as Demetri Alexopoulos): Yeah, right. You hear that, Eli? A little karate training, and you're gonna kick some major ass.
Gianni DeCenzo: I mean, I literally did one audition ’cause they were filming that week. And I think less than a day, they were like, “Yeah, we want you to fly out to Atlanta.”
[CLIP] Gianni DeCenzo (as Demetri Alexopoulos): I think we’d rather spend our afternoons playing Crucible Control than getting hit in the face.
Gianni DeCenzo: Jacob was the first person I ever met.
Jacob Bertrand: I taught you how to hide snacks.
Gianni DeCenzo: How to hide snacks?
Jacob Bertrand: When we were filming.
Gianni DeCenzo: You drank all of the chocolate milk.
Jacob Bertrand: The Yoohoos.
[CLIP] Gianni DeCenzo (as Demetri Alexopoulos): I don’t care if Yasmine is the meanest girl at school. I’d kill both of you just to get her to spit in my face.
[CLIP] William Zabka (as Johnny Lawrence): Which one of you has the balls to take on the champ?
[CLIP] Peyton List (as Tory Nichols): I’ll take him on.
[CLIP] William Zabka (as Johnny Lawrence): Oh, you will, huh?
Mary Mouser: Yeah, Peyton, you’re the last one to join us. I'm actually curious—
Peyton List: You know what’s funny? I’m laughing about my mind because I just remember getting the calls leading up to it, where it was saying, you know, “You’re down to the final…” however many. “You’re down to the final two.”
Gianni DeCenzo: Really?
Peyton List: And I remember just hoping that I would get the role.
Mary Mouser: We were all, like, dying to find out who was gonna be Tory.
Peyton List: It was down to me and one other girl.
Xolo Maridueña: I thought Tory was supposed to be a boy.
[CLIP] Xolo Maridueña (as Miguel Diaz): Look, are you sure that you want to do—
[grunts, rock music plays]
[CLIP] Xolo Maridueña (as Miguel Diaz): All right. Game on.
Peyton List: What?
[laughter]
Group: No.
Peyton List: I'm so gullible.
Mary Mouser: I remember getting a call. I was so nervous.
Xolo Maridueña: We both got our calls with Ralph.
[grunting]
[CLIP] Mary Mouser (as Samantha LaRusso): What is going on?
[CLIP] Ralph Macchio (as Daniel LaRusso): You want to finish this? [pants]
[CLIP] William Zabka (as Johnny Lawrence): Bring it on.
[grunting]
[CLIP] Mary Mouser (as Samantha LaRusso): Dad, stop!
Mary Mouser: I was, like, shaking.
Tanner Buchanan: I usually don’t answer phone calls that I don’t know, but for some reason, that day, I answered that phone call.
Gianni DeCenzo: Who has the next question?
Jacob Bertrand: DeCenzo, Gianni. “In what way are you trying to evolve your acting game?”
Gianni DeCenzo: What are they trying to say?
Peyton List: That’s not the question.
Gianni DeCenzo: Thank you!
Jacob Bertrand: “Tell us about your first day on set.”
[CLIP] Crowd: Oh!
Gianni DeCenzo: You were the first person I met.
Jacob Bertrand: What’d you think of me?
Gianni DeCenzo: I was like, “**** Kirby Buckets.”
Jacob Bertrand: Really?
Gianni DeCenzo: Yeah.
[Jacob] You knew it?
Gianni DeCenzo: Yeah, I was a big fan.
Xolo Maridueña: Ever auditioned for Kirby Buckets?
Gianni DeCenzo: No.
Tanner Buchanan: Don’t.
Gianni DeCenzo: I don't think I—
[laughs]
Gianni DeCenzo: Did you?
Jacob Bertrand: You don’t know the story?
Tanner Buchanan: It was between me and him.
Xolo Maridueña: Wait! You were Kirby?
Jacob Bertrand: It was between me and him.
Tanner Buchanan: I was second option for that show.
[CLIP] Tanner Buchanan (as Robby Keene): Leaving early to fix that stupid haircut?
[grunts]
[CLIP] Referee 1: Stop!
[CLIP] Ralph Macchio (as Daniel LaRusso): Hey, what the hell is that?
[CLIP] Referee 1: Illegal contact. You're disqualified.
[groans]
[CLIP] Referee 2: You all right, kid?
Jacob Bertrand: This is a random tangent. I remember my first kiss scene. Tanner, to make me feel better, he goes, "Hey, man. It's fine." "I've had to do kiss scenes where I walk across the room, make out with somebody, then walk across the room, and make out with another person." "If I can do that, this is easy, bro." It really made me feel better.
[laughter]
Jacob Bertrand: I was like, “You know what?” "That sounds horrible."
[laughter]
Jacob Bertrand: “I would hate to do that.” "This doesn't seem so bad."
[laughter]
Xolo Maridueña: This was the same day that Jacob was like, "Kissing isn't sacred anymore."
[laughter]
Group: Whoa!
[cheering]
Jacob Bertrand: Slide 'em up, slide 'em up.
Mary Mouser: "Who is someone on the cast or crew that you've loved working with over the years?" Oh my God. I have the longest list. Are you kidding me? Jamie Cline.
Xolo Maridueña: This shirt was given to me by our makeup artist, Brittanie Cruz.
[cheering]
Xolo Maridueña: She's my fav.
Mary Mouser: Suko, Kevin Berg.
Jacob Bertrand: Cody!
Xolo Maridueña: Kevin Berg, Cody.
Mary Mouser: Oren, Cody.
Peyton List: Michelle Adams, the double.
Tanner Buchanan: Dustin.
Jacob Bertrand: Curtis.
Gianni DeCenzo: Frank, wardrobe.
Jacob Bertrand: Frank.
Tanner Buchanan: Oh, look, a cute little heart. It's a love fest.
[Jacob laughs]
Peyton List: Do you have a best day ever on set?
Jacob Bertrand: My birthday. When I turned 21 on set.
Xolo Maridueña: Oh yeah.
Mary Mouser: That was a good day.
[laughter]
Mary Mouser: This year, my fight with Peyton, episode five, season six.
[both grunting]
Peyton List: That was fun. That was really fun.
Mary Mouser: That day was really meaningful to me. I … I got to see you in your element in a new way. I never get to spend that much time in a scene with you. Usually, like, we come into a room, we're angry at each other, then we leave.
[CLIP] Mary Mouser (as Samantha LaRusso): I'm coming for you, *****.
Peyton List: Exactly.
Mary Mouser: This is my first time getting to see you do your thing. I'm still just so impressed by what you accomplished.
[CLIP] William Zabka (as Johnny Lawrence): Point, Nichols.
[grunts]
Gianni DeCenzo: On the flip side, what was the biggest challenge that you had to overcome?
Peyton List: Working with Jacob.
Jacob Bertrand: We don't even work together!
Gianni DeCenzo: That's a wrap!
[laughter]
Tanner Buchanan: Honestly, balancing all the fights with trying to memorize the lines.
Jacob Bertrand: Dude, having beats of choreo, line, beats of choreo is impossible.
Tanner Buchanan: But not even that. It was, like, learning 120 beats of choreo the day before. Combining everything was so hard.
[CLIP] Jacob Bertrand (as Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz): What do you want?
[CLIP] Mary Mouser (as Samantha LaRusso): Payback.
[all grunting, rock music playing]
Gianni DeCenzo: They changed our fight in the brawl.
Jacob Bertrand: Oh my God. And changing it…
Gianni DeCenzo: Three different times.
Jacob Bertrand: You know what, actually? The stunt team designed five. We only learned three.
[rock music continues, all cheer]
Jacob Bertrand: We all acted before this, but it being like, "All right, now learn a whole new skill…"
[laughter]
Jacob Bertrand: "…that everyone judges you on."
Tanner Buchanan: It's a whole new skill that it's like, it's gotta be perfect.
[crowd gasping]
[CLIP] Jose Miguel Vasquez (as Principal Lopez): This is out of control! Get me security in the main corridor right away!
Peyton List: On the first day of learning a big fight, and I would just cry. And I knew I had to cry, and I knew that was part of the process. So I started going, "I'm about to learn a fight for the first time." "I'm gonna cry today."
[laughter]
[screaming]
Jacob Bertrand: I still, to this day, the hardest fight that I've had was season two at Coyote Creek with Xolo.
[both grunting]
Jacob Bertrand: It was so slippery, it was wet, it was freezing.
[both grunting]
Jacob Bertrand: And it was also at when, like, I didn't feel that confident fighting. Like, I didn't feel that good.
[grunting]
Xolo Maridueña: But we did it, and they didn't use that take.
[laughter]
[CLIP] Xolo Maridueña (as Miguel Diaz): That's all I've got.
Mary Mouser: "Is there an early fan encounter that you remember, or one that stays with you to this day?" I think it was when we were in Liverpool. Um, you know the account, "Cobrawords"? And she, like, writes poetry about Cobra Kai from the perspective of each of our characters. She brought me pieces of Sam's poetry that was, like, really… Like, stories about her, and, like… I don't know, it was really cool.
Jacob Bertrand: Could you imagine it's all just from Miguel's POV, like, "Sam and Tory are around, but all I wanna do is be with Robby."
[CLIP] Xolo Maridueña (as Miguel Diaz): I'm not here to fight, I just came to give something back. We're not all assholes.
[laughter]
Tanner Buchanan: I was waiting for that. I was waiting for that though.
[laughter]
Peyton List: The thing that makes me most happy is when all these little boys wear the mohawk.
Mary Mouser: Oh, yeah.
Peyton List: It's so cute.
[CLIP] William Zabka (as Johnny Lawrence): Nice cut, bro.
Jacob Bertrand: When kids come with a mohawk, I'm like, "You're doing it right, kid."
Mary Mouser: That's always my question. "Who's your favorite character?" And they go, "Hawk!" And I just look at the parents.
[hawk calls]
[CLIP] Xolo Maridueña (as Miguel Diaz): Oh ****.
[CLIP] Nichole Brown (as Aisha Robinson): Are your parents okay with that?
[CLIP] Jacob Bertrand (as Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz): They have no idea. Please don't tell them.
Tanner Buchanan: Do you know how many times I have tried to FaceTime you because I meet somebody who you're their favorite character. I try to FaceTime you all the time.
[rock music playing, grunting]
[groans, screams]
[CLIP] Jacob Bertrand (as Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz): Yeah!
Jacob Bertrand: I can't do FaceTime.
Tanner Buchanan: You gotta get a new phone.
Xolo Maridueña: "When the show came to Netflix, what did that feel like?" It felt crazy.
Mary Mouser: Oh my God, do you guys remember that FaceTime? Or that Zoom call? We were all in lockdown.
Xolo Maridueña: From one day to the next, like, when the show dropped, it was over Covid, locked inside of our house.
[CLIP] William Zabka (as Johnny Lawrence): You've trained hard. You've gotten stronger. You've done your best. You're ready for this tournament. Am I right?
Jacob Bertrand: I remember joking around with you, going, "Ha ha, what if it went to Netflix?"
Tanner Buchanan: When it went to Netflix, it was kind of like a joke of whether or not--
Mary Mouser: We've had a loyal fan base, but then we had a whole new fan base. I love the people who are like, "I've been there since day one." I'm like, "Yeah, you have. Me too." '
Peyton List: The second I got the show, I binged it, and I loved it. Then I was nervous.
Jacob Bertrand: Who was your favorite character?
Gianni DeCenzo: There's money on the line.
Mary Mouser: Don't say Hawk.
Peyton List: Probably Johnny.
[yells, grunts]
[CLIP] Gianni DeCenzo (as Demetri Alexopoulos): No hard feelings. [grunts]
[grunts, groans]
[Jacob yells]
Mary Mouser: That's a good answer. That's a good answer, actually.
Peyton List: I had a guy who told me that watching, uh, Miguel, Robby, and Johnny's relationship helped him heal his relationship with his son.
Mary Mouser: Oh, wow!
Peyton List: And he was really emotional about it, and it made me really emotional too.
Tanner Buchanan: I've had a few people come up to me, "I didn't have a relationship with my dad," or, "I didn't have a relationship with my kid." "And by watching the show, we actually, like, have a relationship now." "A good relationship, 'cause we talk things over." I was like, "That's incredible."
Mary Mouser: That's beautiful.
[CLIP] Tanner Buchanan (as Robby Keene): I had all this hate inside of me. For you and for Miguel. I'm sick of blaming you, Dad.
Mary Mouser: I cry every time. The thought of, like, somebody at home is sitting there, like, and the most important thing to them is that Miguel scores this point.
[grunts]
[CLIP] Referee: Point.
Mary Mouser: Like, the most important thing to them is seeing Hawk overcome this challenge.
[cheering]
Mary Mouser: The most important thing to them is this moment with Samantha. And it's intimidating. But it means everything. Like, the fans are such a part of the way we make this show. I feel like it's made all of us want to be better performers and better martial artists.
[grunts]
[CLIP] Ralph Macchio (as Daniel LaRusso): Point.
Xolo Maridueña: Yeah, it's definitely made all of us more self-conscious. I appreciate that.
[laughter]
Xolo Maridueña: But I think you're right. It's motivation.
Tanner Buchanan: It's definitely motivation.
[cheering]
Jacob Bertrand: [dramatic tone] "With this story and all your years on set drawing to an end, what will you remember most about this journey?"
Xolo Maridueña: I think I’ll just remember laughing with you guys a whole bunch.
Mary Mouser: The… It was the people.
Tanner Buchanan: We all just hang out and have fun and, like, truly enjoy each other, which is nice, 'cause I don't think that happens very often.
[CLIP] Ralph Macchio (as Daniel LaRusso): This dojo may be closing, but Miyagi-Do lives inside each and every one of you still.
Xolo Maridueña: Y'all, I wanna cheers to you all. You all have inspired me so much. I love you guys.
Jacob Bertrand: Aw!
Mary Mouser: Love you! Love you, Xolo!
Tanner Buchanan: I'm working around words so I don't cry.
[laughter]
Tanner Buchanan: Um… This has been the best experience of my life yet. And it's thanks to each one of you. We're like a big family, and it's amazing, so thank you so much for everything, and thanks for being friends.
Gianni DeCenzo: Cheers, Buchanan.
Tanner Buchanan: Cheers.
Mary Mouser: I have learned the most important lessons in my life from each one of you guys. I've learned how to love myself and love life. From you, Tanner. You live every life's moment to its fullest. Jacob, you know … [laughing] … that you taught me how to full send. [laughter] And I have taken that lesson into so many other things, and especially martial arts. It was really intimidating and really scary for me, and you made it feel accessible, and you made it feel welcome. Peyton, you've given me this wonderful nemesis-slash-friend relationship. I'm just so grateful for the person that you are, the heart that you have, and the joy that you bring.
Gianni DeCenzo: Cheers! We love you, Mary!
Jacob Bertrand: A hard one to follow. Gianni, you taught me…
[laughter]
Jacob Bertrand: This show has been super fun. We all grew up together. And I love you all. You guys rock. I can't wait to see what you guys do next. Cheers.
Mary Mouser: To the Hawk.
Jacob Bertrand: To the Hawk, yes.
Xolo Maridueña: All right, Gianni.
Gianni DeCenzo: What? Oh! Shoot. It's been awesome getting to know you guys. Y'all showed me a lot.
Mary Mouser: We taught you a lot of lessons. I don't know if you want to take all of them.
Gianni DeCenzo: I don't know if they're gonna reflect well, but they're lessons. But no, I love you. Thank you so much for a great show.
Jacob Bertrand: Yeah! DeCenzo! Wrap up us, Peyton. Wrap up the entire show.
Peyton List: I don't know what to say after all that. I love each of you so much. I'm here for you the rest of your life. Yeah! Whoo!
[reflective music playing]
[CLIP] Ralph Macchio (as Daniel LaRusso): I think we have our strongest team.
[CLIP] William Zabka (as Johnny Lawrence): I think they can handle anything.
[music fades]
Xolo Maridueña: Wait, we got a special delivery?
Gianni DeCenzo: And the winner is…
Mary Mouser: What is this?
Peyton List: And the winner is…
Mary Mouser: The winner of the Sekai Taikai house?
Peyton List: Xolo! You've won a trip to Hawaii!
Mary Mouser: What?
Peyton List: But your flight leaves in one hour.
Gianni DeCenzo: Aah!
[laughter]
Mary Mouser: Aah! Oh my God!
[cheering]
Jacob Bertrand: You only won 'cause you miscounted Johnny's snakes.
Mary Mouser: Take a bite!
Group: [chanting] Take a bite! Take a bite! Take a bite! Three, two, one!
[yelling]
Jacob Bertrand: Yeah!
[laughter]
[Mary laughing]
Mary Mouser: You have, like, whiskers.
Jacob Bertrand: Is it good?