Hawkeye: Echoes

 "I mean, look on the bright side. You don't have to go and see Imagine Dragons."

Kate is right. Imagine Dragons are exactly the sort of depressingly and cynically mainstream landfill fodder that I imagined middle aged people would listen to when I was young. I'm forty-five now, and I hate that sort of AOR bollocks even more. I've heard it all; I want music to be DIFFICULT. 

Anyway, Hawkeye... I've been impressed with the build-up, but this is where the series really starts to shine. We're introcuded, via her childhood, to Maya, a deaf martial artist. We see, in flashback, that her father dotres on her... and you know what a sucker I am for daddy/daughter relationships, becausewe daddies of little girls are softies about this. He learns ASL, bless him. He's a good dad. 

But he's also an organised crime type person. And dies in his daughter's arms, killed by... Ronin? Oh dear. Revenge looms should Maya learn whom Ronin is. And Maya ends up as the immediate leader of the tracksuit mafia, and chief baddie for now...

And yeah, as a hearing aid wearer, I felt the portrayal and humour of hearing loss was on point and enjoyable. I mean, Clint's hearing aid is clearly private, well posh, and no doubt much better than my NHS hearing aids. But at least mine are free at the point of use.

The car chasw, with the arroes and trick arrows, is awesome, andwe're getting a real bond between Clint- no spring chicken- and the young, athletic, idealistic and very likeable Kate, who is slipping nicely into Padawan territory. He's blatantly a father figure to this rich orphan, as she sees him potentially sacrificing his family Christmas to save the life of this stranger.

This is getting VERY good with this episode. And I love the wink to the traditional costume.