Hawkeye: So This Is Christmas

 "Is this what heroes do? Arrest their mothers on Christmas?"

It's interesting watching this season finale the day after an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Doctor Who finale. But Hawkeye was in no way overshadowed.

Much of the episode was a big, fun, set piece Christmas party battle, with trick arrows, owls, LARPers, falling Christmas trees and... the actual bloody Kingpin. Wow. Vincent D'Onofrio is exacrly as superb, in the same way, as we've seen, but in another context. No way does he die. No bodies are seen.

Yet there are so many character moments. Kate is such a hero. Her whole privileged life is based on immoral acts... so she abandons it, in a heartbeat, hard though it is. Because kit's the right thing. Her mother is an unrepentant gamgster and criminal who isn't very good at gaslighting... so she gets her arrested. Hard, so very hard, but the right thing. Also, she's awesome in a fight. And this time more tactical. And Clint is, by now, impressed. So much so that I suspect he sees a successor in her, accepting her as a partner and inviting her to spend Christmas with his family. And she's made very welcome, bless her. 

Kate's confession to Hawkeye about her childhood glimpse of him is cute. And the scene between Clint and Yelenba turns out to be far more heartwarming and less murderous than we might expect. The rapport between Kate and Yelena is awesome too.

And we even get a musical number at the end.

This is really rather good. Not top tier telly, perhaps, but well characterised and acted. I enjoyed the episode and I enjoyed the series.

Hawkeye: Ronin

"Kate, this is not cutlery."

This is a bloody brilliant episode. Yes, there are revelations upon revelations, but after last episode we see Kate deflated at Clint's rejection of her, until she's ultimately determined to, er, reject his rejection, and he ends up saving Clint, as Ronin, from Maya, genuinely saving him. She even has her escape route planned. Nice one.

And Clint seems to accept her. He's very much worried, though, hinting that the Tracksuit Mafia is much bigger than Maya, that there is a "Big Man" behind the scenes, gunning not only for him but also for his family. Yet he has revelations for Maya, too, about who killed her father...

Families are very uncertain here. We learn that Yelena died when Thanos snapped his fingers, only to instantaneously return after five years, her sister dead and very much blaming Clint... why? Her conversation with Kate is delightful. Florence Pugh and of course Hailee Steinfeld both excel. Yet we also have a final bombshell... Kate's mother seems to be the one who hired Yelena. Well then. And it seems her boss is... Kingpin.

Yes: Kingpin. As in Daredevil. As in the Netflix shows now appear to be canon...

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.