Hawkeye has never had the chance to be truly vulnerable. Living alongside bigger personalities, even his most impactful moments in Avengers: Endgame provided little space for Jeremy Renner to explore Clint Barton on a deeper level. This solo series has, of course, been the opportunity to course-correct on that front, but it’s this week’s episode that really digs deeper into what it means to be Hawkeye. While it’s not quite as exciting as its predecessor in terms of archery heroics, episode 4 builds on the emotional heart of the Hawkeye series, and further bolsters its central dynamic in the process.
It seems that one of his victims was the father of Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), a deaf woman whose incredible observational ability makes her a formidable opponent. She's in charge of the Tracksuit Mafia's silly goons and determined to get revenge on Ronin, but we get hints that she has a shadowy boss.
Anyone who was hoping for a Wilson Fisk reveal in this episode will no doubt have been disappointed to find that the Kingpin did not make an appearance, but one Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) did, and the pile of people who are pissed off at Clint Barton continues to mount.
This was the first we’d seen of Yelena since Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) cunningly pinned Natasha’s death on Clint during Black Widow’s post-credits scene. It seems that this mistake has yet to be cleared up sufficiently, and it probably won’t help that Clint does feel responsible for Natasha’s death when the two presumably get a chance to have any kind of conversation about the Vormir incident in the next two episodes.
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Kate warmed to Jack Duquesne a little in episode four, which was unfortunate because Jack and Eleanor’s sweet romance was soured by his deep involvement with the Tracksuit Mafia (and let’s assume Fisk). Eleanor is definitely more suspicious than Jack, though, despite his ties to New York’s criminal underworld. She knew just where to stick a needle in Clint’s psyche in an effort to split him and Kate up.
Clint’s ongoing struggle to push Kate away swung back and forth like a pendulum in “Partners, Am I Right?” The pair clearly get on, both as friends and partners, but a heart-wrenching moment that saw Kate dangling from a building and begging Clint to save her (the Avengers: Endgame score reprise just did me in) was too much for him to cope with, and once again he tried to sever their ties. It’s not going to work, of course. Kate is appealingly stubborn and already cares about Clint a great deal beyond his heroics – she even took his admission to being Ronin in her stride during his “my life as a weapon” tales.
The watch that Echo and the Tracksuit Mafia were after at the auction loomed large in episode 3, and it will likely keep us all talking until next week at least. The vintage Rolex, recovered from debris at Avengers Compound, is an intriguing mystery for sure, but led to a few confusing moments. Clint said that the watch belonged to someone he used to work with who has been out of action for a long time, but Laura effortlessly switched to fluent German on the phone when she was enquiring about it. Her husband seemed to think the risk factor involved was minimal, but then told Kate that the watch was still attached to his old colleague’s identity and that if the Tracksuit Mafia found out their identity, their cover would be blown.
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Clint and Kate go to Maya's apartment to retrieve a mysterious Rolex, but are attacked by two women. One is Maya, and the other is dressed in a fancy Splinter Cell-style stealth suit. She's ultimately unmasked and revealed to be Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), last encountered in the Black Widow post-credits scene.
Yelena was a member of the same Black Widow assassin program as the late Natasha Romanoff, who sacrificed herself to retrieve the Soul Stone and undo Thanos' genocidal Snap in Avengers: Endgame. Natasha's solo movie revealed how they spent their childhoods living undercover as siblings and formed a familial bond that they rekindled as grownup deadly killers.
Due to the lies of her employer Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (AKA Val, who's seemingly putting together a deadly crew for nefarious purposes), Yelena blames Clint for Natasha's death and is out for blood.
By arriving right at the end of the episode, we’re left with no idea of how Yelena will fit into the show. Hopefully her story is one that intertwines into the wider plot, rather than a shoehorned side quest to ensure that Hawkeye has ‘relevance’ to the greater machinations of the MCU. One of Hawkeye’s strengths is its detachment from the wider Marvel universe, which has allowed it more of a singular focus, unburdened by cosmic forces or crossovers. Disrupting that without good reason could be detrimental to its aim.
Talking of side plots, Hawkeye made the right moves with Kate’s family this week by tying the Jack plotline directly into the core of the show. No longer a separate murder mystery arc, it is revealed that Jack has ties to the Tracksuit Mafia and its mysterious overlord (who, let’s face it, is probably Kingpin). By uniting those elements, Hawkeye’s purpose is honed, and it no longer feels as if it’s trying to maintain momentum across separate storylines. And with that, Hawkeye seems to have mastered pace better than most of the Disney+ MCU shows; with just two episodes left, the pieces are mostly in the right places to smoothly lead into a final conflict and conclusion.
Hawkeye’s mission to add depth and drive to its hero continues with another strong episode. By taking a moment to slow down, Clint opens up about the darker side of being a SHIELD agent and Avenger, this time focusing on the things he’s done rather than the things he’s lost. As ever, that darkness is balanced out by Kate’s goofier contributions, and the opportunity to see the duo just hang out and be something close to pals is a welcome addition. And while there are no great leaps forward in their case this week, revelations around Jack and the Tracksuits help tie together Hawkeye’s storylines into a more cohesive whole. Things feel on track for a final act, provided the addition of Yelena doesn't throw this good work aside in pursuit of grander MCU ambitions.
