Let’s Talk about Hawkeye Episode 1-6

Merry Christmas from the MCU…2024!

Yes, Clint Barton has maybe two days until the clock runs out, causing him to miss the yuletide holiday with his family.

Will Hawkeye make his way home in time for Christmas dinner with the family?

Let’s talk about Hawkeye episode 1-6, a satisfying conclusion to a tremendous series.

As a reminder, there will be spoilers here. So, if you haven’t watched either episode 5 or 6, this is the time to back out!

You’ve been warned.

A Bad Man

We start with the signature white sports coat that identifies Wilson Fisk as walking somewhere.

This moment marks the first time we’ve seen the character in the MCU.

Canon suggests that the Netflix versions of Marvel characters reside in a different universe. At least, that’s the prevailing thought. We’ll have more on that later.

Wilson meets with Eleanor Bishop, who we recently learned works in tandem with Fisk. This scene isn’t about her, though.

Instead, the start of the episode reinforces what Marvel fans already knew. The Kingpin is the smartest man in this room, if not EVERY room.

Eleanor wants to end her partnership with Fisk…but not before she warns him that she’s made copies of all their transactions.

Threatening the Kingpin is akin to dipping yourself in honey before kicking a beehive. It won’t end well.

Before Eleanor can even finish her thought, Fisk has already jumped to the end of the page. He knows what she wants, to leave to protect her daughter.

More importantly, Fisk has already answered no in his mind, even though he never says the words in the conversation.

We quickly learn that this discussion doubles as the video that Yelena Belova sent Kate Bishop.

On the one hand, she must like to know how much her mother loves her.

On the other hand, this video confirms that Eleanor killed Armand and framed her betrothed, Jack. She scores pretty high on the Evil Scale.

Kate resolves to clean up her mess. At this point, Clint calls her his partner for the first time. This moment alone almost undoes all the heartbreak she just suffered.

The Other Players on the Board

Maya Lopez meets with Kazi and her “uncle,” Fisk. She tells them that she will stop her pursuit of revenge against the person who killed her father.

The Echo is lying, but that’s not the story here. The Kingpin knows she’s lying even though he tells her he loves her and lets her leave.

In a famous Civil War comic, Fisk beats Tony Stark in a game of chess…but not the one on the board. He has outplayed Stark even though he currently resides in prison.

I cannot overstate the danger that the Kingpin represents in the MCU.

Meanwhile, the two people who oppose him are a battered man losing his hearing and a young, inexperienced woman who is in over her head.

Hawkeye has grown to trust Kate Bishop, though. The two of them even make dangerous trick arrows together. Then, they put on their Sunday best and attend a black-tie affair.

Here’s where the story picks up. One of the best cinematic techniques is to show the danger before implementing it.

One by one, the various characters from this season of Hawkeye arrive at the party.

We have Clint and Kate, plus the LARPers you should remember are also police officers and first responders. Jack has also gotten out of jail and holds court.

Soon afterward, Yelena Belova appears, and Eleanor shows up in a limousine. Across the street, Kazi has found a sniper spot and takes aim at his potential victims.

The gang’s all here!

Before the fireworks begin, Kate plays the video and watches the color drain from her mother’s face.

Eleanor implores her daughter to understand. People get a bit touchy about murder confessions, though.

These two aren’t going to have a Merry Christmas.

The Big Battle Part I

We know there’s gonna be a big fight at the mansion. Everyone’s there and looking for somebody.

The trick lies in how Hawkeye moves the pieces around the board. Then, from a distance, Kazi triggers the action (literally) by shooting at Clint Barton.

As everyone panics, Kate and her mother fight for the last time before the fun begins. Meanwhile, Jack draws his sword. This is gonna be good.

Kate stops the sniper attempts by warning Grills, who kills the lights. Then, the new Hawkeye heads toward the elevator.

At this spot, the new Black Widow is waiting. So, they banter a bit – it’s delightful – and then both ride down to Clint’s floor.

Yelena never views Kate as a threat and dismissively brushes away Hawkeye’s attempts to delay the ride.

Eventually, Kate slaps Yelena, distracting her long enough to hit several buttons. Rather than wait, Yelena switches to her Black Widow gear.

Yelena’s plan involves wire-dropping down to Clint’s floor. However, Kate attacks Yelena enough to annoy her.

Then, Black Widow descends down the side of the building. Meanwhile, Barton uses a trick arrow to force Kazi to abandon his sniper spot. I’ve done this in Halo. The jerks always come back.

Hilariously, Kate and Yelena bond while they fight, complimenting one another between attacks.

Folks, if these two starred in a movie tomorrow, it’d open to $150 million. They’re stars and absolute magic together.

Yelena eventually gets off a shot at Clint, which he evades.

Now, Yelena’s on the ground, which forces Kate to do what I can only describe as a Die Hard jump to join her. Well played, Hawkeye producers!

Once Kate touches down, the first thing she notices is the Tracksuit Mafia guys. This leads us to…

The Big Battle Part II

Hawkeye plays into the comedic elements between fisticuffs. A mafia member thanks Kate for her previous dating advice before attacking her.

Kate disables that dude but then finds herself facing down a gun. At this point, Jack shows up and starts slashing people.

Marvel fans, we have our Swordsman!

Kazi arrives at Clint’s location and promptly loses a fight. We know who the boss fights are here, and he’s merely middle management.

Clint must escape the building, though. He winds up in…a Christmas tree. Yeah, they’re laying it on thick in the finale.

Kate encounters the LARPers, who are trying to direct citizens to safety. Nobody is listening. So, the LARPers switch to…superhero gear.

At this point, everyone follows their orders. It’s a nice throwback to that moment in Marvel’s The Avengers.

As the mafia starts to overwhelm her, Kate uses her trick arrows to free Clint from the tree.

Alone on the ice, the two of them face off against the entire Tracksuit Mafia…and win. It’s silly and ridiculous and tons of fun. Hawkeye even wears his new costume.

Of course, that’s not the boss fight. After their victory, Kate leaves to track down her mother, who is currently in mortal peril due to…Kingpin.

Meanwhile, Yelena Belova has finally tracked down Clint Barton on the ice.

The symmetry here is remarkable. Two ordinary humans with bows and arrows battle the Kingpin and a trained Black Widow assassin.

Neither one should win, as the odds are stacked against them. Clint…actually doesn’t. Instead, he takes a beating while trying to give Yelena closure.

Eventually, the Black Widow believes her sister’s best friend when he performs their secret whistle.

As for Kate, well, you’ll have to wait for a section.

The Echo Picks a Side

Maya Lopez’s appearances in the episodes are unexpectedly brief. After lying to Kingpin, she returns home to pack up her things.

Symbolically, Maya chooses between two framed pictures. One is of her father. The other is of father, daughter, and Kazi.

Maya takes the picture of all three as her final remnant of her past. Throughout the series, Kazi has made his feelings for Maya clear. It’s mutual.

Alas, by the ice rink, Maya appears and tries to dissuade Kazi from his current trajectory. He refuses.

Kazi lets her know that his life cannot cross the boundary. He’s a bad guy and doesn’t know anything else. And he doesn’t care enough about her to learn.

Devastated, Maya braces herself as Kazi attacks. He stabs him in the stomach and then holds him as he dies. It’s Shakespearean.

Echo only has one more thing to do, and it’s a tall order.

A Christmas Miracle

Like Yelena Belova on the elevator, the Kingpin disregards Kate Bishop as a threat. He slaps her around.

If this surprises you, I warmly encourage you to watch Daredevil on Netflix. This dude is terrifying.

However, the new Hawkeye possesses a fighter’s spirit. She never gives up.

At one point, Kingpin breaks all her arrows in half, including the explosive and electrocution ones.

As Fisk approaches to kill her, Kate employs the can trick her mentor taught her. It flies through the air and triggers the trick arrows.

In an instant, the Kingpin experiences electrical shock and the kind of explosion that would thrill Mr. Torgue from Borderlands.

In an unlikely turn of events, Kate Bishop has beaten Wilson Fisk in a (mostly) fair fight. Her victories are short-lived.

Kate meets her mother, who defends her actions as protecting her daughter. But, unfortunately, the conversation ends abruptly when the police arrive to arrest Eleanor.

She draws blood with her final remark: “Is this what heroes do? Arrest their mothers on Christmas?”

Eleanor Bishop is rather high and mighty for someone who killed a dude and then pinned it on the guy she was dating.

Speaking of which, Jack doesn’t get arrested, which strikes me as odd. He has stabbed A LOT of people in the chest.

That seems vaguely felonious for a guy who currently faces a murder charge.

The real closure doesn’t involve Yelena. Instead, she slinks away into the night, at least somewhat satisfied that her sister died well.

No, the person who ends their story arc is Maya Lopez. She finds a battered Kingpin and presumably shoots him dead.

Now, the odds of Wilson Fisk being dead and gone are roughly zero percent. That’s what we’re supposed to believe, though.

Maya’s saga will continue in Echo on Disney+.

Home for the Holidays

Hawkeye ends precisely the way we’d expected from the beginning. It’s like a Hallmark holiday movie in this regard.

The intent here was never to mislead about the destination. This series entertained us with its journey.

Clint Barton finds a partner in Kate Bishop, thereby continuing the mantle of Hawkeye. But, at least for now, his daughter won’t face that future.

Conversely, Bishop finds a new family just as she loses her old one. Pizza Dog, now named Lucky, joins her on a trip to Clint’s farmhouse.

There, the Barton family spends the holidays together with their new friend.

We even get a clever Easter egg at the end in the form of the Rolex. Clint retrieved it and brought it back to Laura as a Christmas present.

Yes, Laura Barton owns the watch. Why is it so important to her? We learn when she flips it over.

On the back is an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. symbol along with the number 19. Comic book fans know that Agent 19 is…Mockingbird.

So, we solve one mystery while raising several questions. Apparently, Laura was formerly one of the most formidable espionage agents on the planet.

Just as importantly, this reveal would indicate that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t canon in the MCU.

In that story, Bobbi Morse portrays Mockingbird. So, this erases Bobbi from canon or suggests that Agent 19s are like James Bonds.

The number identification, like 007, may get passed down from agent to agent. I think that’s unlikely, though.

Unless Marvel says differently, Laura Barton is the one true Mockingbird in the MCU.

More importantly, Lucky the Pizza Dog has found his forever home. Oh, and we have a new Hawkeye who will eventually become buddies with the new Black Widow.

All is right with the world. Happy holidays, everyone!

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