Disney+ MCU Reflections, Issue #38: “Hawkeye” Episode 6

It’s the last episode of “Hawkeye”, at least for now. That means there are trick arrows to shoot, bad guys to punch, and loose ends to tie up. Kate Bishop and Clint Barton will take on the Tracksuit Mafia on Christmas Eve and try to make it home in time to watch the all-day Christmas Story marathon. And of course they will have to deal with a fearsome crime boss wearing the most terrifying garment of all.

Recap:

The flashback that begins this episode reveals Eleanor Bishop’s meeting with Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin. She explains that she has tied off all of the loose ends: Armand III is dead, her fiancé’s arrest will cover up any connection to Sloan, and Eleanor is ready to cut ties with Kingpin. Fisk, however, isn’t ready to let Bishop go. In a meeting with Kazi and Maya, Kingpin realizes that Maya has also turned on him, and Fisk orders Kazi to eliminate Eleanor Bishop and anyone who gets in his way.

Clint and Kate get a trick arrow montage and then make their way to the Bishop Christmas Party with the LARPers in tow as backup. Jack Duquesne, recently released from custody, is also in attendance along with Yelena. When Kazi attacks the party in an effort to kill Eleanor, Clint springs into action. While the party evacuates, Kate attacks Yelena in an effort to stop her from killing Clint, leading to another delightful interaction between the two.

Thanks to Kate’s questionable choices, she and Clint end up on the ice at Rockefeller Plaza, where they fight an army of Tracksuits. Once the minions have been dispatched, it’s time for the important fights: Echo shows up to take on Kazi and kills him while he protests that he had chose his life but it shouldn’t have been her life. Clint and Yelena fight as well, with Yelena accusing him of killing Natasha, or at least letting her die. At last, he convinces her of the truth using the sisters’ secret whistle to get her attention. He reveals that Natasha talked about her sister all the time and did what she did so Yelena would be safe and alive again. Perhaps the most important confrontation is the one between Kate and Kingpin. As the crime lord rightfully points out, Kate is clearly in over her head. She can stall or slow Fisk, but not even getting hit by a car slows him down for long. Only setting off a bunch of trick arrows at once seems to put him down. Kate and Eleanor have a final conversation before a bewildered Eleanor is arrested, having been turned over to the authorities by her own daughter.

Kingpin limps down an alley only to be confronted by Echo. While he protests that he did what he had to for her, she apparently shoots him (although the camera helpfully pans away).

Clint makes it home in time for Christmas Day, bringing Kate and Pizza Dog in tow. He returns the Rolex to Lara, who checks the inscription on the back – the SHIELD symbol and the number “19”, suggesting that Lara is Agent 19, the Mockingbird. Clint and Kate burn the Ronin suit together, bringing their story full circle.

Oh, and in the most important post credits scene in the MCU, we get a full look at “Save the City”, the climactic number from Rogers: the Musical.

Analysis:

The end of Hawkeye left a few loose ends that I wish had been clarified. Armand III was killed to prevent him from revealing Eleanor’s relationship to Fisk, but his connection to the whole story still feels thin. It’s also not clear how Yelena fits into the story or, more importantly, whether she is there solely because of Eleanor. In the post-credits scene of Black Widow we saw Valentina Allegra de Fontaine offer Clint’s identity as the man who killed her sister, but in Hawkeye it is suggested that Eleanor hired her to kill Hawkeye. Some more clarity could have helped give us clues to Madame Hydra’s machinations.

All that being said, there is plenty to like about Hawkeye and especially this episode. It provides a great launching point for Echo’s story in the MCU. Yelena’s reappearance in this series was delightful, and she was perfect in this episode as well as the previous one. Of course, it’s hard to top Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin. Fisk is the center of the criminal underworld in Marvel’s New York City, and since everything apparently happens in New York there should be plenty of opportunities for the Kingpin to be involved in more future shenanigans. Oh, what’s that? Kingpin is dead? Funny, I feel like I have heard something like that before…