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Gladiator II starts off very slow, but once things get going in the second half of the film, it improves dramatically, but it can't compare to the gravitas of its predecessor.
Posted in: Disney+, Kaitlyn Booth, Marvel, TV | Tagged: disney, Episode 4, hawkeye, marvel, Review, tv
Hawkeye Episode 4 Review: Rockin' Around The Trick Arrow Tree
Disney+ and Marvel Studios' Hawkeye Episode 4 continues to move the plot forward while introducing some interesting plot threads and setting up some dynamics that will be interesting to see play out over the course of these last two episodes. If there was an episode of Hawkeye that people are going to say is a filler, it is probably going to be this one, but it does something that people have been begging for Marvel to do since the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; slow down. There have been some hits and some misses with these shows, but they have seemed to realize that their strength lies with giving these characters room to breathe so we learn more about them. Clint is a character that we didn't really get to spend a lot of time within the movies, so any moments with him are good because they really add to the character. We see Clint the Dad when he talks to Elenor and promises that he will keep Kate safe. We see how broken up Clint really is about Natasha in so many different ways in this episode which is a relationship that the movies didn't explore enough.
Fans have been wondering what was going on between Natasha and Clint since their interactions in Avengers. There were people that initially shipped it like FedEx and some that always read it as platonic. No matter how you decide to read the relationship, it was an intense and deeply meaningful one to both of them. We have seen that since moment one in Avengers when Natasha breaks her cover and blows the mission she was on the moment, she realized Clint was compromised. We saw some of that from Natasha's point of view in the movies, but we didn't see a lot of it from Clint's. This episode, and in many ways the entire series, shows how important Natasha was to Clint. Some fans were upset that Natasha didn't get a funeral at the end of Avengers: Endgame and the Black Widow movie really didn't feel like the sendoff the character deserved. When Clint talks to Kate about the best shot he ever took was the one he didn't take, this episode really shows how much that relationship meant to him. Hawkeye is, in some ways, the funeral and final sendoff for Natasha Romanoff through the eyes of one of the people that meant the most to her.
Kate and Clint bonding over Christmas and her saying that she is saving the holiday by bringing the things that Clint is missing with his family to their safehouse was just fantastic character stuff. It again shows that while she idolizes him and is excited about all of this, she also recognizes what Clint is giving up to keep her safe. She values him as a mentor and the moment when he is teaching her how to flick the coin with accuracy is exactly the kind of mentor stuff that we want to see from this series. There is a bit too long spent on Kate getting Clint's trick arrows back so they can make more which seems like a plot point that shouldn't take more than a minute or two. We don't get a lot from Maya in this episode of Hawkeye, and we again don't really get much more information about Jack either, aside from the fact that he is indeed shady. There is a lot that needs to happen in the next two episodes, and the rumors say they will be "internet-breaking." However, something that this episode did have a lot of were parallels to other things in the Marvel universe but to get into that; we're going to have to throw up a spoiler warning. If you haven't watched the episode yet, don't read beyond this image. The episode is good, even if there are some moments that seem to drag a little.
As previously said, this episode of Hawkeye is the one where the ghost of Natasha really seemed to hang over everything in a bunch of different ways. When Kate asks Clint what the best shot he ever took was, he tells the story of the shot he didn't take, and that was Natasha. We've heard this story from her to Loki in Avengers but hearing it from him is very different. Clint tells it that he was essentially staring down the scope and saw Natasha. He saw someone who was begging for anyone to help her get out of there, and he took the chance. What he got out of it was the most important person in his life, save for his family. Kate had her own shot that she didn't take in this episode. While trying to get back to watch that we haven't seen anyone mention since the first episode, we meet Maya and another masked person who ends up being Yelena. We knew that Yelena was going to show in this series, and now she has. At one point, Kate has a shot on Yelena and doesn't take it, which allows her to get away. A shot that she didn't take.
The other significant parallel is the one that really contributed to the episode's final moments. Throughout the episode, we saw a few flashes to Avengers: Endgame and the moment that Natasha fell to her death. Clint is still heartbroken over it, and it is something that is clearly on his mind a lot in this episode. Elenor points out how Natasha died, and if she could, then Kate could. Then he tells Kate the story of how he didn't take the shot. While fighting with Maya and Yelena, Clint watches as Kate goes over the edge of the building they are on. He thinks she is falling to her death, but he looks over, and she is hanging from a rope attached to her belt. Natasha told him to let her go while Kate asks him to pull her up. This is the final breaking point and the thing that freaked Clint out enough to really push Kate away. He knows more than anyone how dangerous the Widows are, and now he knows Yelena is in play. He just saw her almost fall to her death. We end this episode of Hawkeye with Clint pushing Kate away just when it looked like they were really bonding out of fear because he is terrified of losing someone else the way he lost Natasha.
The fourth episode of Hawkeye is probably going to hit some longtime fans right in the feels with the major parallels to other events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While this show is about Clint and Kate, it's also becoming the proper sendoff that Natasha never got as we see her through the eyes of Clint and, maybe, Yelena in later episodes. There are still a lot of people in play, including Maya, Jack, whoever Elenor called, Maya's uncle, and the person who owns the Rolex that Clint wanted to get his hands on. These last two episodes are going to be absolutely insane, and they have a lot to wrap up in less than two hours. It's going to be interesting to see if this series can stick the landing where others have failed.
Hawkeye Episode 4 "Partners, Am I Right?"
9.5/10
Disney+ and Marvel Studios' Hawkeye episode 4 continues to move the plot forward while introducing some interesting plot threads and setting up some dynamics that will be interesting to see play out over the course of these last two episodes.
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