Spoilers for a just-dropped series, Hawkeye, follow. Beware. This is my first time Enneagram-blogging a show I’ve never seen before. I’ll be interested to see how my impressions change as the season rolls out.
ONE
Over a cityscape we get “2012”. We’re inside a very upscale child’s room as she listens at the air vent while her parents argue downstairs. It appears the father is the legacy money here: He grew up in the penthouse.
Dad is clearly Kate’s preferred parent; Mom gets in a dig over lunch about that. When Kate goes to her room to grab the checkers game, a flash explodes outside her window. As she runs among the wreckage, we see through the skylight the alien ship that the Avengers will fight against. Her destroyed balcony is rushed by aliens, but an arrow disrupts their transport. We see Hawkeye fighting, shooting arrows, and parkouring on the opposite building. (It’s well-shot, using slowmo to emphasize his action and heroism, and Kate’s reaction.) Mom embraces Kate as she calls for her father.
TWO
A cemetery. Kate and Mom, weeping, wear black at the burial. A portrait of Dad stands behind the plot. “What if they come back?” Kate asks, referring to the aliens. I need a bow and arrow, she concludes.
THREE
Roll credits.
In stylized cut-out illustrations, Kate’s life, basically, is presented. She studies archery, judo, fencing, and gymnastics. She wins competitions and trophies. At the end of the credits she’s a young adult.
FOUR
Transition to present day, and we get our introduction to grown-up Kate. She’s pursuing a bet: will an arrow make the bell in the far tower ring? She succeeds, but somehow the bell falls and the tower collapses. The scene is played for humor, but it’s a tone that doesn’t carry forward.
An overhead shot of a train depot takes us into New York City. It’s obviously Christmas time. The “Rogers” musical plays on Broadway, and attending the performance are Hawkeye and his three children. The musical is hilariously horrible, with Cap singing some anthem showstopper, Stark lifted on wires, and Black Widow jazz dancing. The daughter catches Hawkeye with his hearing aid turned off. An actor in green makeup, carrying a styrofoam faux-stone, repeatedly sings “Smash”. When Hawkeye gets out of there, a man follows him to the urinals and asks for a selfie.
Outside the theater, the daughter (probably my favorite character in the episode) tells Hawkeye it’s okay to not want to see the fake Black Widow. The sons come out, too, and they all say they’ll call their mom now.
However, the phone call we see is Kate, exiting the train terminal and calling her own mother. She walks home, and again we have a beautiful sense of NYC at Christmas. The doorman greets her — “Miss Bishop” — and she breezes past him without much recognition.
Her mom, in a formal red gown, gives her a hard time about paying for the broken clock tower. The family’s wealth is again emphasized. And now we meet Jack, a good-looking man with a whiff of skeezy.
Back to Hawkeye at a Chinese restaurant with his kids. They’re doing the tourist thing and having a good time. Mom calls and it’s friendly and close. (Why isn’t she with them? Not clear.) It’s six days until Christmas, and they plan to return home tomorrow, I believe. The waiter gives them dinner on the house because Hawkeye saved the city. He’s definitely uncomfortable with all that.
And now Kate, in a ladytux, attends the charity benefit her mother roped her into attending. That she looks like the waitstaff is a plant. Someone named Armand, a sort-of pampered jerk who knows things, tells her that her mother and Jack are engaged. His dislike of Mom is pointedly made.
SWITCH
Upset, Kate steps outside for air. Santa rings his bell. A one-eyed golden retriever gives Kate a stare. It’s strange, actually, and almost magical. (It’s a nice Switch, but the tone, again, doesn’t match the rest of the episode.)
FIVE
Back inside, Kate ends up eavesdropping, this time on her mom arguing with Armand. He threatens her, still antagonistic, and we have no idea why.
Kate follows Armand through the back hallways and the kitchen. Meanwhile, Jack leaves his table with Mom. Hitting that waiter plant, Kate takes a tray to justify following Armand into the wine cellar where she can spy on an elusive basement gathering. It’s an auction, and Jack sits next to Armand, their paddles ready. They don’t like each other, or only Armand dislikes Jack because of Mom. Again, motives unclear. A real waiter catches Kate, and she runs and hides among the wine racks.
The auctioneer puts Ronin’s retractable sword up for the bid. Jack makes a comment about inheriting money, presumably after he marries Mom. (And kills her? It’s a jumbled spew of information.) Thugs with Slavic accents are in the cellar now. An explosion shakes the building. Kate hides, then finds the Ronin suit, which was to be next in the bidding. Thugs get a close-up to let us know they want a watch. Jack sticks the Ronin sword hilt in his tuxedo pocket. These are all the little details we are to observe before the action sequence breaks out.
And here it is. (Hmm. This is the weakest part of the episode. Kate’s in a hood, which is movie-speak for an actor not able to do any of their own stunt work. Editing is rapid, camera movement is shaky, and lens flares abound. It’s poorly done, confusing, and boring. A young woman with multiple trophies in physical disciplines grunts a lot, takes some hits, and flails about. It’s actually horrifically bad.)
Skip past that, and we get one of the thugs finding the watch, and our one-eyed dog coming in to attack his leg. (Did the dog retrieve the watch? Unknown.) Seeing the dog, Kate chases after, and ends up saving it from a car in the street.
SIX
Hawkeye and family return to their hotel. The youngest is asleep, and the daughter pops the TV on. A breaking news story. Cell phone footage shows a ninja saving a dog. Freeze frame of Kate, unidentified, in the Ronin hood and face mask. Now Hawkeye flashes back to his own footage as Ronin. The TV announcer says, This is the first Ronin sighting in years.
SEVEN
Kate, still in the Ronin gear, takes the dog to her apartment and feeds it pizza. There’s a bit of awkward monologuing, and then Kate finds Armand’s address via phone tracking (I think). She leaves the dog, who for some reason wears a leash suddenly, and heads out.
EIGHT
Coming through Armand’s window, Kate finds him dead in his living room. Blood on the carpet. A maid enters the house, and Kate escapes as the body is discovered.
As she runs away, Kate’s cornered by the thugs. They call her “bro” and “Ronin”. Battle in the streets, until Kate finds an unlocked car and hides inside. Thugs punch the windows, smashing in the driver’s side. (Is that even possible?) It looks like Kate’s doomed, but a shadowy figure begins to take out the thugs. Quick movements, flashes of action. This new assailant pulls Kate from the car and removes her hood. Of course it’s Hawkeye, come to see who’s pretending to be him. They eye each other. “You’re Hawkeye,” Kate says. He replies, “Who the hell are you?”
Roll credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
Who’s show is this, Kate’s or Hawkeye’s? Who leads the structure? And why is Hawkeye’s alter ego Ronin named so confusingly like the Ronan villain of Guardians of the Galaxy? (I know, it’s canon. It’s also annoying.)
My first thought? This thing is a mess. Every Disney Marvel show has, in my opinion, been slow to start. At least, though, the titular characters drove the action in Wandavision, Loki, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Kate and Hawkeye share the poster, and they share this episode, but that’s not a strong structural choice. Too many cooks. Like the other shows, Hawkeye leads a post-Avengers life. His story is a continuation of a familiar world. Kate is an origin story, something very different. Which tone are we to experience? Which feelings do we bring to the watch? This first episode throws everything, including the kitchen sink, into the viewing. We are to remind ourselves of who Hawkeye is, all while meeting a new character. And throughout all this, amazingly, the plot is fairly boring and the action sequence is shot poorly.
Oh, boy. This is so grinchy for a Christmas review. I’ll try to bring more cheer.
I’ll count this Three/Six as legitimate. It’s a bit odd at first glance — a credit sequence as the Three — but basically each beat is the background of a character. What Kate brings to the action hero table is established at the Three, Hawkeye’s Ronin credentials are established in the flashback at the Six. It answers the question: whose episode is this? It’s both. They play off of each other and are interconnected, or at least that’s what this Three/Six suggests.
Structurally, this episode is sound. For me, the biggest problem is tone. Sometimes Kate plays an ironic banter, sometimes she’s super-spy serious. And Hawkeye is playing something completely different, a world-weary superhero just trying to have a normal family. It feels disconnected. The second biggest problem is the action. It’s truly terrible, B-grade stuff in a Marvel tentpole. Is it the casting, the stunt choreographer, the lighting crew? I don’t know, but I hope this first episode was an aberration.