Julien Neaves, Editor
Can you imagine that we’ve had not one, not two, not three, but FIVE Disney+ MCU series this year? That is a whole lotta content. And after the weirdness of WandaVision, the action of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the multiverse hijinks of Loki and the wild animated tales of What If…? we bring things to a close with Hawkeye. You didn’t get a film Clint, but at least you get a six-episode series. At least that’s something.
The show finds Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) after the events of Avengers: Endgame vacationing with his children in New York in the days leading up to Christmas. But his plans are messed up when he gets involved with a young fan and aspiring vigilante named Kate Bishop (singer/actress Hailee Steinfeld of True Grit, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Bumblebee). With a bullseye of a SPOILER ALERT let’s review episodes 1 and 2.
Episode #1 Never Meet Your Heroes
The first episode starts off with a bang as we see young Kate’s New York apartment becoming collateral damage in the Battle of New York (Avengers). I liked how they interwove scenes from the series with the film. And we learn why Hawkeye is Kate’s favourite Avenger. Because come on, he’s nobody’s favourite Avenger. We also see Clint uncomfortably watching an Avengers musical which was too funny and I need this in real life. Not even joking.
Returning to Kate, I am loving Steinfeld in the role. She has this combination of sardonic and awkward high energy that never fails to be entertaining. And who shows up as her mother? Miss Conjuring herself, the extremely talented Vera Farmiga. At first glance I was worried about the whole MCU trope of “big actor in small role” but she has been getting a fair share of screen time and I appreciate that.
The episode does take a while to get going but it’s not too bad. The mom’s shady fiancée Jack and his even shadier uncle Armand III (of VII) was a bit meh though. We’ll see how it develops. Soon enough we get to Kate sneaking into a black market auction of Avengers-related items. Next time I get caught somewhere I’m not supposed to be I’m name-dropping Gary as well. #Lifehack
And we get some action with Kate in the Ronin suit beating up on bad guys. Now I have a question—how did the suit fit her so perfectly? Is it some kinda tech that adjusts to the size of the user? Because otherwise she should’ve been floating in that suit. And speaking of suits, I immediately love the idiots of the Tracksuit Mafia. They so dumb. So while not the greatest premiere with Armand’s murder mystery, fun baddies and strong performances by Renner and Steinfeld, it does enough to hook viewers. And don’t forget the adorable one-eyed Pizza Dog. Points for him as well.
Episode Score: 6.5 out of 10
Episode #2 Hide and Seek
With Episode 2 we get introduced to the Clint/Kate dynamic and man it is electric. Sure, we’ve seen the grumpy, unwilling mentor and overly enthusiastic student before but Renner and Steinfeld make it feel fresh and lively.
Kate has a Die Another Day-esque fencing match with shady Jack (though thankfully less over-the-top) and she uncovers he lied about his skills. I foresee a full-on swordfight in the future. And anybody else suspicious of Kate’s mother? Maybe it’s just me.
The highlight of the episode was Clint’s adventures in LARPing to recover the Ronin suit. Again, the suit fits Grills perfectly, though one could argue he made some alterations to it. I found this whole storyline hilarious and Clint’s fake fighting was too silly.
The episode ends with the major cliffhanger of crashed Kate and tied up Clint surrounded the Tracksuit Mafia. Who said team up? I am enjoying what I am seeing so far and looking forward to seeing some arrow action from Hawkeye and his protege.
Editor Jules’s Score: 7.5 out of 10
So what did you think of the first two episodes of Hawkeye? And you can check out more Disney+ MCU content below:
Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.