Welcome to this week’s edition of the Nerd Review!  Every week the Nerds give you their take on entertainment from the Nerd-o-sphere.  This week, Patrick and Dave review Episode 3 of the MCU Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye!

• The Show:  Hawkeye Ep. 3: Echoes
• What’s it About:  Still struggling to rebuild his life after the battle with Thanos, Clint Barton is spending Christmas in New York with his children. When someone is spotted fighting crime in the guise of Barton’s dark alter ego Ronin, Clint knows he must take action. Barton finds himself facing his past demons and mentoring a new hero.
• IMDB Score: 8.6/10

The Nerds’ Take on Episode 3: Echoes:

Patrick:  It took all of my willpower to not limit this week’s review of Hawkeye to two words: Pym Arrow.  Those who’ve seen the episode know, the others need an explanation. We’ll get there. As we get to the halfway point of this miniseries though, I find myself still watching a show establishing itself. This week, the audience is treated to an in-depth background of presumed series antagonist Maya Lopez, AKA Echo. The episode opens following a young Maya.  We learn of her close bond with her father, who does his best to support Maya and ensure she receives a quality education despite being deaf. He also allows her to train in karate, where she excels despite her deafness and prosthetic leg. The audience also learns that Maya witnessed her father’s death at the hands of Ronin.

The episode then jumps to when we last saw Clint Barton and his unwanted protégé Kate Bishop, they have been captured by the tracksuit mafia and are about to be interrogated by Maya regarding their connection to the resurfaced Ronin. Alaqua Cox as Maya drives the first half of this episode, both interrogating Clint and challenging his resistance to his own deafness. She does a tremendous job of showing the many burdens Maya is carrying. She is driven by her desire for revenge, yet her drive is impacting her role as a leader of the Tracksuit Mafia. This is made painfully clear as she seems to butt heads with her closest confidant Kazi. Kazi is the one to ominously remind Maya that her authority has limits and there are others above her station. Cox juggles portraying these conflicting roles well and she had me invested in her development moving forward.

The episode is divided by a fun little chase scene as Clint and Kate make their escape from the Mafia and Maya. The audience is treated to a nod to classic car chases of action films past. We get some fun banter between Renner and Steinfeld as Kate and Clint’s relationship continues to develop. The chase adds the wrinkle of Clint losing use of his hearing aid due to damage, leading to some fun miscommunications. But the real scene stealers of the chase have to be the arrows, oh the arrows. This is the fan service we have been hoping for since The Avengers. Fans are treated to exploding arrows, gas arrows, putty arrows and, say it with me, PYM ARROW. It’s the arsenal fans have been waiting for.

The episode ends strongly in my opinion with some impactful between Kate and Clint.  Kate continues her branding pitch to Clint with amusing results. More importantly, we have a lovely moment of vulnerability from Clint in front of Kate. Before his hearing aid has been repaired, Clint takes a phone call from who he believes is his wife. It turns out to be his youngest son. Clint only learns this through Kate writing messages to him on a note pad. Renner is amazing here, portraying a range of hurt in Clint as he struggles to communicate with his son. Renner gives the audience frustration, sadness and guilt in the span of three minutes or so.  It was truly moving to me. For her part, Steinfeld does well as Kate empathizing with her hero’s hurt and perhaps coming to better understand Clint’s reluctance to let her in.

Echoes is the strongest episode of Hawkeye so far. Directors Bert and Bertie cover tremendous ground, introducing a new character in Maya and building on the relationship between Clint and Kate. They managed a fun action sequence with a car chase to boot. And, most importantly: PYM ARROW

Patrick’s Rating:  4.11/5.0

Dave: The third Episode of Hawkeye was definitely a fun one compared to the first two. In this Episode, there is a lot of good stuff going on. We get to meet Echo, aka Maya Lopez. We actually got to see her at the end of Episode 2. Here in Episode 3 though, we truly get to meet her and get some of her fascinating backstory. It also becomes quite clear, rather quickly, why she has such a deep-seated hatred for the Ronin. Echo is running the Track Suit Mafia, or so it seems. Meanwhile, the bond between Clint Barton and Kate Bishop strengthens in this Episode. They escape from the Track Suit Mafia together and an awesome car chase scene ensues. This is the same car chase scene we got a glimpse of during the Disney+ Day MCU presentation. During this chase, Kate shows just how good of an archer she is as she uses many of Clint’s trick arrows to maximum effectiveness. Clint has his moments as well and the whole thing is enormously fun, action-packed, and entertaining.

We also get to see just how hearing-impaired Clint is without his hearing aid. It is striking to witness and is more in line with the comics than anything we actually saw during the Infinity Saga. This too helps to solidify the growing bond between Kate and Clint and continues to move things towards trying to create an emotional bond between MCU fans and Kate Bishop. Yes, the series is still a massive passing of the torch. But Marvel is taking the time to make that passing actually mean something and to draw the audience in to the place where they will not only accept Kate as the new Hawkeye, but they will do so gladly.

So, at the mid-point of the series, things have moved in a good direction. And, yet, it feels like the best is yet to come. We end Episode 3 with a looming confrontation between Clint and Jacques Duquesne (The Swordsman). Anyone who has ever read any of The Avengers original run in the comics knows all about the history between Hawkeye and The Swordsman. How far the MCU presses this and the exact story they are going to tell remains to be seen. It stands to reason, however, that Disney is going to take some liberties here and that is fine. If they surprise us and give us a hefty amount of backstory that we never knew existed, even better. It was a great way to end the Episode and set things up for a dramatic back end to the series.

Then there are the lingering questions that have possibilities written all over them. When does Yelena Bolova show up? And what about Echo? In the comics, she is the adopted daughter of Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, who just happens to be a key villain in the history of Spider-Man and Daredevil. With Daredevil and Kingpin rumors swirling like a hurricane the past few months, and with Spider-Man: No Way Home set to release in a week, the possibilities here are literally endless. As usual, the MCU has done a phenomenal job at creating branching story arcs and possibilities that keeps their fans constantly on their toes, discussing and debating what comes next. Hawkeye is no different and the timing of everything is impeccable. It is almost like they planned it that way or something.

Things that make you go hmmmm indeed.

All in all, this was my favorite Episode so far and the series really seems to be picking up steam at just the right time. If you have not tuned in yet, you really need to because the final three Episodes promise to be very, very good.

Dave’s Rating:  4.3/5.0

Overall Nerds’ Rating for Hawkeye: Episode 3: 4.05/5.0