I’ve combined Episode 3 with Episode 4.
Echoes
Finally, Hawkeye hits its stride. We’ve got a real show here!
ONE
A child at school in 2007. It’s not Kate, it’s someone new. Her world is silent. As the teacher’s lips move, subtitles appear. Seeing the child writing in a workbook, the teacher comes over and taps it. We see her name on the teacher’s lips: Maya. She’s a good student.
Now we have sound. Shadow puppets. It’s little Maya signing with her dad. Their relationship is absolutely charming. (Kudos to both actors.) She asks about dragons, and why she isn’t in a school with kids like her. Dad is sorry, he can’t pay for deaf school. She must learn to jump between two worlds.
In judo class little Maya watches as a larger boy shifts his weight and scores a takedown. Her dad observes class, then says her uncle will take her home. We see a black suit coat and a hand that lovingly pinches her cheek. (Subtle Easter egg there, for anyone looking.) Maya steps onto the mat, and now we see she’s also a right leg amputee with a prosthetic. Watching for the shift, she takes down the bigger boy.
Time passage, and it’s the Woman In The Red Light from last episode. In case we had any doubts, we see her leg prosthetic as she spars in a boxing ring. (I already totally love Maya.) She’s fierce as she watches for the shift again.
On a motorcycle, she arrives at a warehouse. Sneaking, she can see Ronin through the window stabbing and attacking. She runs inside, but it’s too late. Among the people dying is her dad. They sign with each other, and she cries. “Fly away from here, little dragon,” he says to her.
Run title logo.
Establish the parking lot of a derelict KB Toys. Inside, we’re back where we left off last episode, with Clint and Kate tied to bouncy animals. Adding insult, the Tracksuits have fed coins into the machine, so the animals vibrate. Clint tells Kate he was clearing her name until she crashed through the ceiling. She tries a friendly chat with one of the gang, until another comes over to shut her up. I’ll rip out your throat, he says, or maybe she will.
TWO
Reverse angle, and here’s Maya coming down from the office. She immediately notices Clint’s hearing aid, and indicates that her second-in-command (the sign language interpreter named Kazi) should cut Clint’s hands free so he can speak. She signs at him faster than he can understand, obviously out of his league. Clint signs back at her: More cookie please thank you. (It’s wonderful. A perfect phrase to indicate he only has a toddler’s vocabulary.) Maya motions for Kazi to tie him up again, this time with his hands behind his back.
THREE
During this, he translates for her. “You rely too much on tech,” she says. You’d be better off without that hearing aid. Clint immediately tries to clear the air about the suit. Kate put it on by accident. “She’s nine, and spoiled rotten.” Ronin’s dead. Maya asks: Who got him? Black Widow, Clint says. Convenient. Both are now dead, and you’re lying.
FOUR
Insert a shot of Clint’s hands as he rubs the duct tape over a rough piece of metal. Kate talks, again just chatting in that friendly manner that says nothing. Maya, who can only see the vapid face, flashes back to her dying father and grabs Kate by the throat. Kate strains out the truth — she really does know nothing — and Kazi pulls Maya off of her.
While Kazi mollifies Maya, Clint whispers to Kate: wait for my signal. He breaks free and runs, with all the Tracksuits following. Stuffed animals are thrown as weapons, and shelves fall over.
And then Maya attacks Clint, kicking him in the ear and knocking his hearing aid across the floor. Now he’s deaf. With her boot heel she grinds the aid apart. They fight on.
In the office Clint retrieves his bow and arrows, all while fending off Maya. Rolling and diving, he shoots an arrow that cuts Kate loose. (The whole bit is a clever fight sequence, and all three actors look great.) Clint grabs his hearing aid and they run out.
A beautiful red 1972 Challenger sits in the parking lot. Instead, Clint hotwires a Lincoln, something he’s willing to crash. He and Kate escape, the Tracksuits in their trucks right behind. (Of course, Maya drives the Challenger.) A chase sequence follows, with Kate hanging out the passenger window shooting arrows at their pursuit. (This is another clever bit, with trick arrows, including a Pym arrow, and some deaf miscommunication.) They end up using a grappling arrow to swing under the freeway and onto a passing subway train.
And the Challenger, breaking hearts everywhere, crashes into the freeway concrete barrier.
Riding the subway, Clint credits Kate with indeed being one of the world’s greatest archers. More miscommunication as they both independently decide the dog needs to be walked. (Again, great character details and camaraderie.)
At the aunt’s apartment, Clint cleans up. His phone buzzes, and he answers, but he can’t hear who’s talking. Kate comes in with a notepad and translates for him, writing his son’s words. It’s the youngest, Daniel, who’s being brave that his father won’t make it home for movie marathon night. “I love you,” Clint signs off. We only hear murmuring noises as Daniel answers. Without even understanding him, Clint knows to reply: I love you more. (We’ve seen this established earlier.)
The Tracksuits are moving out of the warehouse. Their location is blown. Kazi tries to convince Maya to keep a low profile. Uncle won’t be happy, he says. Maya’s in charge, though. Look into Clint Barton, she signs.
Clint and Kate have found someone to repair his hearing aid. After, they breakfast at a diner. They talk about the sacrifices you must make if you want to help people. She tries to convince him to update his Hawkeye look. Throughout, the camera is close, intimate. They’re both vulnerable with each other now.
As they walk through the park, Clint wonders if the Tracksuits were after anything else at that black market auction. Kate doesn’t know, and she’s very concerned about Jack. She wants to go to her mother’s house and break into her computer security database.
The penthouse is the same as we saw in her childhood. It’s a palace with a private elevator. While Kate’s using her mother’s laptop to get past the encryptions, Clint looks about the house. Kazi is an employee of Sloan, Ltd, Kate finds. The name is familiar to Clint. And then the computer becomes disabled, and Jack is holding the Ronin sword to Clint’s neck.
Roll end credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
When this episode ended I was lucky enough to have the next episode available. I rolled right on, excited. As I look at this write up, I realize that this episode is only half of the Enneagram structure. That’s why I had to keep watching! Let’s do the same.
Partners, Am I Right?
SWITCH
Here we are with Jack holding the sword to Clint’s neck. Kate comes in, and Mom joins them. They recognize Hawkeye. Run title logo.
FIVE
At the dining table Kate explains why she and Clint are in the penthouse. She says, He’s my partner. He says, We’re not partners. (They go back and forth like an old couple.) Mom is notified of the laptop break in, and Kate admits it was her. But they’re working together on something important. Mom wants him to leave. “I’ll get my coat,” Clint says. At the elevator, Mom speaks her fears and Clint hears. But he can’t forget this case. As he rides down, he pulls the collapsed Ronin sword from his coat. He messages his wife, Laura, and asks her to run a check on Sloan, Ltd.
Mom (her name is Eleanor) makes a mysterious phone call.
Outside, Clint now talks on the phone with Laura. She uses code so the children won’t understand (which they immediately do) that she’s talking spy business with Clint. Jack, she’s discovered, is the CEO of Sloan. Then she switches to German to ask about the watch. She’ll check its tracking signal to make sure it’s still safe.
Back in the penthouse Kate listens as Eleanor and Jack discuss her. He goes for tea, and Eleanor asks Kate to help with the office holiday party. Jack returns and mentions dancing. “My mother doesn’t dance,” says Kate. He takes Eleanor, starts singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” and twirls her about the room. Mom giggles and blushes, Jack dips her, and Kate has never seen her mother look so light-hearted.
Now Clint’s at the aunt’s apartment, collecting bags of chunked fruit to use as ice packs. Kate arrives with pizza and a handful of movies for a marathon night. They each put on ugly sweaters and start to drink cocktail slushies. Again they talk like people who’ve known each other for years: trick arrows, flicking quarters as weapons, Jack as a money launderer. Are they a team yet? Possibly not, but they are well on their way.
In the morning they decide to retrieve the trick arrows. The tracker for them has stopped at the NYPD. Clint sends Kate to the park to negotiate with the LARPers for help. When she gets there, the role-players train with soft quarterstaffs and rubber swords. She introduces herself as Hawkeye’s “partner-slash-best friend,” and they agree to help retrieve the arrows from the evidence room.
SIX
Meanwhile, Kazi crosses a car lot to climb into his SUV. Clint, holding all the weapons, sits in the back seat. He tries to persuade Kazi to convince Maya to drop the vengeance. “She’s chasing a ghost.”
SEVEN
When Clint returns to the apartment, all the LARPers are there with Kate trying on costumes. She negotiates material for new costumes, including two extra, in exchange for the arrows. Laura messages Clint where the watch is transmitting from, and he takes off with Kate following.
A rooftop at night. Across the street is the location of the watch ping. While Clint looks through the binoculars and explains his access, Kate, taking the initiative, crosses the street and enters with a resident.
EIGHT
At the designated door Kate breaks in and shines her flashlight about. Strobe lights start up, and Kate shoots them with putty arrows. She finds the watch and is preparing to leave when she notices a notebook with information written about Clint’s family. She and we see a framed picture of Maya and her dad on the bureau. It all comes together at the same moment: the photo, Clint realizing that the lights are a silent alarm for a deaf person, and a squeaking floorboard as Maya arrives and attacks Kate.
Kate says, “Maya’s here,” and Clint says he knows, he’s fighting her. No, she’s in here with me. “Then who am I fighting?” A woman in black gear and a full face mask with yellow goggles attacks him. He manages to send a zipline across the street for Kate’s escape. She slides over, and Maya follows. Now all four are on the rooftop. Mystery woman hits Maya with a red electrical web that knocks her down. Then the woman throws Kate over the roof edge. Terrified, Clint runs forward. Kate hangs by a line and demands to be pulled up. Instead, Clint cuts it, sending Kate tumbling into some Christmas light strings that break her fall. Angry, Kate recovers and heads right back up.
Kate starts firing pulse arrows that blow people back and impact their hearing (even though two of the four people are already hearing impaired). When Kate hits Maya with an arrow in the shoulder, she yanks it out and leaves. The mystery woman has her mask and goggles impacted, and pulls the headgear off. It’s Yelena, Natasha’s sister. (We get a juicy, gasp-inducing beat to appreciate who she is, assuming we’ve seen the movie Black Widow.) Using her own zipline, Yelena jumps from the roof with the poise of a professional diver.
NINE
Who the hell was that, Kate asks. You don’t want to know, Clint says. You’re not my partner and I’m doing this alone. When Kate protests, Clint tells her: someone has hired a Black Widow Assassin. Go home. It’s over.
Run credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
So pretty. So enjoyable. When I speculated that these two episodes actually formed one Enneagram structure, I didn’t know how that would play out or if it would prove true. Look at that Three/Six, though! Wow. Kazi as intermediary. At the Three he’s only the translator. Clint doesn’t directly appeal to him for help. At the Six, Clint does. Isn’t that just lovely?
The structure speaks for itself in my opinion. It’s really good. With the introduction of Echo — Maya — this show jumped to a new level for me. Alaqua Cox is mesmerizing. Marvel has already put her own show in development, which pleases me no end.
Also, Florence Pugh is magnificent in everything. That Yelena is included in the Hawkeye story is another pleasure point. Good structure, great acting, focused plot: this is the show I’ve been waiting for Disney to put forward. (Don’t mess it up, I beg you.)
Let me also give a shout-out to Renner and Steinfeld. The directors have chosen to go in close and linger while these actors work. They earn every beat. Really well done. I can’t wait to see what comes next.