Well, rats. The Hawkeye finale is not up to the standards of the last few episodes. It’s fairly generic, with obligatory fight sequences and stilted humor.
Ah, I just noticed. The episodes I liked were directed by Bert and Bertie. The ones I didn’t were directed by someone else. Fascinating. Let’s jump in.
ONE
Stepping into frame is a cane and a large body in a suit. It’s Kingpin. This is his meeting with Eleanor that was teased at the end of last episode. We get a little backstory: her husband owed a small fortune to Kingpin when he died. Eleanor, working with him all these years, has repaid the debt ten times over. Now that Kate is getting close to the secret, Eleanor wants out. Kingpin is not happy.
TWO
The video of this scene plays on Kate’s phone. We’re back with her and Clint at the kitchen table. Kate freaks — I need to talk to her — and Clint says, Your mom needs our help. When Kate tries to send him home, Clint declares that they’re partners. “Your mess is my mess.”
THREE
We’re back at Kingpin’s lair, or whatever. (It’s a small room surrounded by colored hanging beads. No idea why.) Maya arrives to apologize, declare her loyalty, and ask for time off. Kazi, who’s already there, translates for her. Slowly and deliberately, Kingpin signs to her, I love you. She signs it back. After she leaves, Kingpin says to Kazi, “Maya, my Maya, has turned on us.”
FOUR
Kate and Clint ride the subway. They’re going to need a ton of gear, which means trick arrows. Cut to a workshop where Clint solders and fashions arrow heads. (This is a fairly long bit showing us gizmos and doodads.) Kate helps him. When he asks if she’s ready for this, the dangerous life of a superhero, she tells the event from her childhood that began the series. I saw you, she says, “fighting aliens with a stick and a string.” (A great line and the only bright spot in a slog of a scene.) She’s brave enough, like him, to do what’s right, no matter the cost.
Establish the city at night. The Tracksuit trucks drive in a convoy. Kazi takes a sniper’s position across the street from the building with Eleanor’s holiday office party. Kate and Clint, in formal wear, arrive and look about. The LARPers wear servers’ uniforms, handling appetizer trays and keeping an eye on things. Jack, out of jail, openly wears a sword.
As Kazi sniper-sights the party, Yelena arrives. Kate, waiting for Eleanor, grabs her when she arrives and brings her into the kitchen. She shows her the phone video, telling her she knows everything.
Seeing the red sniper beam on a champagne glass, Clint dives. Get these people out of here! The party starts to clear. Kazi keeps shooting, Clint keeps ducking, and Yelena starts to follow him. In the crowd, Jack pulls out his sword.
Kate sees Yelena and chases after her to the elevators. We get patter — I’m just going to kill Barton, have some appetizers, and go, don’t worry — as they ride up together. Kate continues to try to hit all the elevator stop buttons, and Yelena keeps slapping her hand away. Eventually Kate succeeds, and Yelena gets off the elevator and runs.
Meanwhile, Clint’s taken a position on the unfinished twelfth floor. He shoots a fog arrow into Kazi’s room across the street. The women fight their way through their floor. At the window, Yelena drops a zip line and jumps out. On the way down she shoots at Clint. Kate tries to follow, rigging some makeshift attachment to the zip line. She free falls down the building by mistake, and only saves herself from a splat at the end. (Or Clint yanks the cable and saves her? Unclear.) Outside, while Kate’s recovering, Tracksuits arrive and attack her. Out of nowhere, Jack jumps in and defends her, calling “en garde!” I’ve lost track of your mother, he says, as he continues to parry.
The Tracksuits overrun Clint’s position. He fights with Kazi and ends up jumping out the window and landing in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. In the branches an owl hoots at him.
The LARPers decide it’s time to don their outfits.
SWITCH
At home, Maya packs. She pauses on a photo of her dad, and one with the two of them and Kazi.
FIVE
Tracksuits with guns, Kate with arrows, and LARPers with costumes. Shooting well-placed arrows, Kate topples the tree, bringing Clint back down to the ground. In a brilliant maneuver, Kate slides over the ice of the rink, shooting arrows and twirling acrobatically. Clint pulls his torn tuxedo shirt away, revealing that he, too, wears his Hawkeye costume. (Kate’s was revealed earlier in the Yelena battle.)
Here come all those trick arrows, in slowmo. A Tracksuit truck headed right for them is hit with a Pym arrow, miniaturizing it. As Kate and Clint stare at it, wondering what to do about the tiny chattering people inside, the owl from earlier flies in and takes the truck away.
Now we separate: Kate chases after her mom, Yelena takes down Clint on the ice, and Maya hits Kazi with a sliding motorcycle stunt.
While Clint is vulnerable Yelena asks him “one question”: What happened to my sister? She sacrificed herself and saved the world, Clint answers. “You’re lying,” Yelena yells.
SIX
Maya signs with Kazi. Why can’t they forget about Kingpin and be together? The way she’s talking, she likes him, possibly romantically. He, however, resents her position of power. Until Maya, Kazi was next in line with the organization.
SEVEN
Preparing to leave, Eleanor climbs into her car and finds the driver dead. Kingpin rips the door off. Coming up to rescue her mom, Kate shoots Kingpin in the chest with an arrow. He knocks it away and bashes Kate. Out of nowhere, Eleanor slams her car into him and through a building.
Back to Maya, who still implores Kazi that they can leave together. He attacks, she accidentally stabs him while defending herself, and he dies.
EIGHT
While Eleanor is unconscious behind the wheel, Kate attacks Kingpin. He’s finally getting angry.
Cut between Kingpin kicking Kate’s ass and Yelena kicking Clint’s.
Kingpin breaks all the arrow shafts, scattering the heads around him. Kate quarter-flips a cufflink at them, setting off an explosion. Kingpin is seriously down, possibly dead. Leaving him, Kate goes to help her mom. Eleanor tries to rationalize her criminal decisions, but she’s arrested for the murder of Armand.
Before Yelena can get the killing shot in, Clint whistles a special tune. “How do you know that?” Yelena says, surprised and hurt. Natasha taught him the sisters’ secret whistle. He knows it because Natasha constantly talked to him about Yelena. This breaks her barrier, and all of her grief surfaces. “You got so much time with her,” she says, heartbroken. They reconcile, and Yelena offers him a hand up before leaving.
Kingpin, who seemed dead, is now stumbling down the street. Maya pulls up and aims a gun at him. He’s very halting with sign language, but he tries to call her his “family”. She shoots him.
The LARPers, who’ve had a great time, compliment Jack on his swordplay. Has he ever thought about larping?
In the ambulance, Clint and Kate sit. “Every once and a while someone comes along who makes you better.” It appears that Clint is complimenting Kate, but he turns it into a joke about the awesome costumes they wear. Then he says, “You fought Kingpin all by yourself. I’m proud of you.” The compliment comes out after all.
NINE
Christmas Day. An SUV navigates a snowy drive, and it’s Clint coming home. He unloads presents from the back, then says, “You coming?” Here’s Kate and the dog, exiting the other side of the car. The kids greet them, and Clint hugs his wife. As the family opens presents, Clint slips Laura the Rolex watch. (When she flips it over we see a SHIELD symbol, revealing that she used to be a spy. At least, that’s what the internet says. I didn’t get it, and now that I do, I don’t particularly like it. You know, if she’s just a housewife she’s still a badass. Not every brave person has to be a superhero, you writer nitwits.)
Outside, Kate and Clint at the BBQ grill burn the Ronin costume.
The post-credits sequence includes the entire musical number from the Broadway show, “Rogers, the Musical”.
CRITICAL NOTES
Like Episode One, this episode has a tone problem. The fight sequences and reactions are cartoony, and then suddenly Clint must cry with Yelena. The two feelings don’t mesh, and the humor that does exist is very forced.
For instance, we’re told the LARPers can’t handle crowd control in their regular personas. These are first responders in real life! They move people efficiently for a living! If we need to see them in role-play costumes (do we?) then the whole transition must be reworked. And when they do change clothes, we can barely tell. Cosplay is loud, garish, fun. They’re in drab gear that doesn’t identify their avatars. It’s a small sequence, but it really disappoints.
Why is Kingpin so strong and hardy? I don’t remember. Daredevil was years ago. For Kate’s battle with him to have impact, I need to be reminded of his superpower. Kate herself would have no knowledge of what he can do. Where’s her (and our) tutorial? It would’ve made a great addition to their fight sequence.
All of our experiences with Maya so far have been under the direction of Bert and Bertie. Between the shot framing and the subtitles I’ve had no problem understanding Maya. In this episode Maya’s hair is down, hanging alongside her face in the Kazi scene. Also, it’s night. I can’t understand what’s happening. Cox’s facial communication is hampered by this inexplicable hairdo, and the shot selection doesn’t fill in the gaps. This appears to be a key scene — Maya turns soft and begs Kazi to be with her — and it’s just a mess. First of all, excuse me, but what? Where’s our strong girl? Who’s this needy, powerless female? Let’s pretend that none of this happened to Maya and move on.
Structurally, this episode isn’t great, either. The Three/Six mirror involves Maya, and that’s only a tentative connection. Those colored beads at the Three, whatever they mean, are an interesting visual. Maya’s intentions at the Six are confusing, and we have no visual link to the Three that could help us out. And what’s with this “Maya, my Maya” creepout? Why does every Marvel villain (Thanos, I’m looking at you) have to adopt a daughter-in-crime, and then deeply regret when he has to hurt that daughter because she’s become an independent thinker? Just stop that kind of toxic writing.
This episode has no quick fix; the muddles are many. However, I suggest that a better Three/Six would focus on Kazi. He doesn’t survive this episode, and what we need to know about him (which isn’t much) can wrap in those two beats. It’s a similar intention — his role in the organization — but he is the focus and driver of those moments. I’m actually sorry to see him go. He and Maya’s relationship, whatever that is, could be quite interesting. I didn’t consider him a generic goon, even though that’s where he ended up. It’s a waste of writing potential and character development for Maya.
I would still recommend this series because of the Bert and Bertie episodes, but my enthusiasm has been dampened. I know the duo has declined a chance to direct Maya’s series because they would like the Native American community to helm one of their own stories, but I hope they realize how much clarity they’ve given to the deaf community with their Hawkeye episodes. Someone, please, just give Maya a great show.