Disney_ wraps up Hawkeye with an eventful Epoxide 6, and Patrick & Dave are here with your in-depth review!

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 continue their review of the MCU Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye!

• The Show:  Hawkeye Ep. 6: Ronin
• 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: 8.3/10

The Nerds’ Take on Hawkeye Episode 6

Dave: With the introduction of The Kingpin in Episode 5, the question was whether, and to what extent, would the character be in the season finale. As it turns out, The Kingpin quickly became the focal point of this final episode and what an episode it was.

At the outset of the episode, we learn that Eleanor Bishop is trying to end her business relationship with Kingpin, aka Wilson Fisk, in the hopes of protecting her daughter. Fisk does not take too kindly to this but Eleanor stands her ground and leaves. From there, things move quickly. We learn that Kazi was directly involved in the death of Maya Lopez’s father. Kazi and Maya are a couple and friction quickly develops between Maya, Kazi, and Kingpin. Maya has worked for Kingpin for many years but Fisk gets the feeling she is in business for herself and instructs Kazi to kill her. You can tell that Fisk has great affection for his adopted daughter…but business is business.

Meanwhile, Kate and Clint produce a boatload of trick arrows and set about on a plan to end the conflict once and for all. This coincides with Kazi trying to pick off party goers at a pretty elegant function. Clint and Kate are, of course, at this function. It is not long before Yelena Belova shows up on the scene as well. Despite their chummy dinner together, Yelena is still bound and determined to kill Hawkeye and Kate Bishop better not get in her way. Naturally, Kate is going to protect her friend and mentor and we get a great little battle between Yelena & Kate in which the chemistry between the characters, and the actors portraying them, is simply magnificent. A healthy amount of respect grows between the two women, which will assuredly set the stage for things to come later on down the line.

All that notwithstanding, there are again two to three key moments that make this Episode one to remember. There is, of course, the long-anticipated showdown between Clint and Yelena. Yelena desperately wants to kill Clint, and has more than a few opportunities to finish the job. But she wants something even more: Answers as to how and why her sister died. Clint is ultimately able to convince Yelena that Natasha was not killed. Rather, she sacrificed herself to save the world and bring back half the universe. Yelena accepts this explanation, eventually, and an uneasy truce seems to have been reached between the two. The scene was predictable but very gratifying all the same as maybe, just maybe, Clint found some inner peace over Natasha’s death by talking about it with her sister.

The other big show down is between Kate and Kingpin. This version of the Kingpin seemed to have more powers at his disposal than the Netflix variation of him had. He seems relatively indestructible and it is clear that Kate is in way over her head in this fight. Now, I freely admit that I expected Daredevil to show up and save Kate. Then I realized that for Kate to be taken seriously as a successor to Clint, she would have to face a character as powerful as Kingpin and prevail. And that is exactly what happens. While it would have been great to see Daredevil swoop in and save the day, it makes perfect sense why that did not happen.

In the end, we get a sort of happy ending. Clint ends up making it home for Christmas…and he brings Kate with him. That is the happy part, even as they try to come up with a new name for Kate’s character, which we all know will be Hawkeye anyway. But not everything ends on a high note. An injured Kingpin stumbles upon Maya Lopez in an alleyway. Maya has just had to kill Kazi in a heart-wrenching confrontation and now stands face to face with the man responsible for all of the bad in her life. Maya pulls a gun on Kingpin and points it in his face. We never see what happens. We only hear a gunshot ring out.

This final Episode was excellent. It paid the fans back for investing themselves into the series by furthering the relationship between Clint & Kate. Clint was not killed off by Yelena, which was something a lot of people thought would happen. Instead, they become allies, of sorts, by the end of the Episode. We got to see more of the relationship between Kate & Yelena, which is going to be great to watch evolve over the years. Maya got a bit of revenge on Kingpin, although if anyone actually thinks Mr. Fisk was killed, I have some great beachfront property in Nebraska I would like to sell you. Still, they played out a hugely important event in the comics and one that was instrumental in the development and progression of Echo as a character.

But the star of this final Episode was easily Vincent D’Onfrio. It is funny how in the span of one week, we got the introduction of characters who we thought might only make cameos but instead had fully integrated roles and story arcs. First, we saw it with Tobey McGuire and Andrew Garfield in No Way Home. Now we got the same sort of treatment of the Kingpin character. There was far more Kingpin in this last episode than I could have hoped for…and it was glorious. And yet, virtually none of his backstory was revealed. There is so much more that they can do with this character moving forward. Add in the other characters that can potentially be brought into the mix from the Netflix Marvel series’ and the possibilities are virtually endless.

I will freely admit this was my favorite of the Disney + series so far. It was funny. It progressed story lines. It introduced massively important new characters, opened the door to the Netflix characters being canon, and developed key and integral relationships that will be critical as we, presumably, move in the direction of the Young Avengers somewhere down the line. But, perhaps most important, it achieved its mission, namely establishing Kate Bishop as a character worthy of being the new Hawkeye. I can only hope there is a second season and, if so, I hope it was as much fun as this first season was.

Dave’s Rating:  5.0/5.0

Patrick:  Well, Bandwagoners, we made it!  We have come to the conclusion of the Hawkeye miniseries on Disney Plus. At the end of Episode 5, the stage has been set for a massive confrontation between Clint, Kate and the Tracksuit Mafia led by the newly revealed Wilson Fisk. This episode pays off in so many ways. We get a dynamic action sequence. We get some terrific acting that furthers some relationships between key characters, and yes everyone makes it home in time for Christmas. The episode puts a very nice bow on a fun filled MCU Christmas present of a special. I am going to do little summarizing for this review and focus on what made this episode great for me, and believe me there was a lot to like.

I’m going to start by commenting on something I highlighted during episode 5’s review. Florence Pugh and Hailee Steinfeld are magic on the screen together. We are treated to another extended sequence between the two as Yelena still wants to kill Clint as she believes him responsible for Natasha’s death. This time Kate tries to stop Yelena in an elevator with witty quips and some physicality.  It does not go well, but damn is it fun. Steinfeld and Pugh once again play off each other so well and there seems to be genuine kinship between the two. Yelena respects Kate and seems to genuinely like her even though they are currently adversaries. I have to believe that Florence Pugh and Hailee Steinfeld are legitimately close in the real world as they just seem so natural on the screen together. In two scenes over back-to-back episodes, they have me salivating at the idea of a Kate Bishop/Yelena Belova Marvel Team up movie or series.  They are that good together. More please.

Pugh also has a nice scene with Renner where she finally gets some level of closure over the loss of her sister. Although her turn to understanding Clint was not responsible for Nat’s death (hello, Batman v Superman!). Pugh’s reaction is so good we buy into the moment as the lynchpin for moving her character into it’s next phase.

We also saw the return of Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk AKA the Kingpin reprising the role he made popular on the Netflix series Daredevil. I have to say, D’Onofrio has lost nothing from his previous turn as the character. Fisk is menacing, deliberate and always in control.  While there is no significant confrontation with Clint, his combat sequence with Kate was a great deal of fun, albeit a little more cartoonish than what he did in Daredevil.  I think this is just a clear example of the way violence has been handled in the MCU in general: less visceral. If one goes back and watches Daredevil the violence is straight up brutal at times. You never get that in an MCU production.

D’Onofiro also carries a big moment with Alaqua Cox’s Maya as she comes to a reckoning with him over the murder of her father.  Maya has been living a lie all this time fed by Fisk and Kazi. She manages to take some level of revenge by killing Kazi and shooting Fisk, although I think we all know Fisk isn’t dead. We know this isn’t the end of Maya’s journey, Disney has announced an echo series, but I really wanted to feel more of an emotional payoff here. I don’t know if it was due to other actor’s overshadowing Cox’s performance, don’t get me wrong it is good, but I just never felt the same emotional weight with her in the back half of the series. To take things a step further, I really felt like Maya was pushed aside for the other reveals in the back half of the show. I hope Maya and by extension Cox get their due when the Echo series hits.

The final highlight for me though has to be the battle in Rockefeller Plaza between Kate, Clint and the tracksuits.  This had all the hallmarks of an MCU finally. Hordes of enemies, frenetic pacing, a giant falling Christmas tree everything. But most importantly we got to see everything fans of the Hawkeye character have been hoping for. Trick arrow after trick arrow flying about the screen. Ridiculous shots that no average bowman can make, it was excellent and for the first time, Clint Barton was truly made out to be the superhero fans know him to be.  It was just a perfect climax to the series. And in the end Clint recovers the watch that was previously owned by his wife (Mockingbird?) and returns to his family. And that, my friends is where we see the beauty of this journey for Clint. Through all of his appearances, Clint Barton has been the average joe of the Avengers. He’s been the heart of the team and his family drives him to be that heart. The series wraps with Renner performing his best work of the series as the returning father embracing his family.  It’s a heartfelt reunion and also completes Clint’s bond with Kate as she is welcomed into the Barton home as a member of the family.  It was a very satisfying end to a fun little miniseries.

As we wrap this run, I can’t help but endorse Hawkeye as worthwhile watch. Fans of Clint Barton are going to walk away pleased to see the character get his rightful recognition. In true MCU fashion we have multiple threads to follow heading into the future, but it was also a refreshing return to that “street level” Marvel story that was what made the comics endearing back in the 60s when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby started writing them. New York was every bit a character in the comics, and that is definitely true in Hawkeye.  There’s no cosmic threat.  There’s no supernatural force at work. It’s just a simple story of organized crime and corruption in the city needing to be taken down.  That sort of tale is something that has been lacking from the MCU for a while now, and it was good to see Marvel go to its roots for this show.  I hope Hawkeye is a launching point for some more similar projects because there are rich stories to be told.  Hawkeye did it’s job and this series should stand up for years to come.

Patrick’s Rating:  4.84/5.0

Nerds’ Rating: 4.92/5.0