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Posted in: Disney+, Kaitlyn Booth, Marvel, TV | Tagged: disney, hawkeye, marvel, Review, tv
Hawkeye Episode 5 Review: All I Want For Christmas Is Yelena Belova
The penultimate episode of Disney+ & Marvel Studios' Hawkeye does a very good job setting up the stakes for the last episode of the series and showing off how they are going to bring all of this together. That being said, by the time the episode ends, we do run into the problem that there is a lot that needs to get wrapped up by the time the episode finishes next week. The Marvel shows have had a hard time sticking the landings so far, and one of those reasons is that they seem to leave too much to wrap up in one episode or too little. They haven't found the sweet spot for writing a good season or series; we don't know if this is getting renewed, finale yet. They could still pull it off, but if there were ever a reason to be nervous about this show, it would be now.
However, we have the added benefit of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) making her full episode appearance after popping up for a single scene at the end of episode four of Hawkeye. We get to see the moment that she goes through the blip, and it is so interesting to see Marvel exploring what exactly people were doing and where they were when the blip happened. Then there is the world around them changing. For Yelena, we see the walls changing color like something from a horror movie because someone painted the walls in the bathroom where she splashed water on her face. We also get one of the best scenes in this series so far as Kate and Yelena have an extended conversation in Kate's apartment. Once again, we see how much Natasha means to all of these people and how hurt Yelena is having lost her sister.
This episode of Hawkeye also sees Clint once again having to confront his past as Ronin and realize exactly what he did to hurt Maya and why she wants to kill him. The comic run that this series is mainly based on is called My Life As A Weapon, and Clint has a wonderful monologue with Maya as he explains how they are both weapons that can be used for good and for ill. Being weapons means people can take advantage of them, and he believes that someone took advantage of her. For the first time, we see Maya doubting whether or not her anger is focused on the right person. That will come to a head in the final episode as well, but if there is someone who feels like they might be getting the short end of the stick this season, it's Maya. If Marvel hadn't already announced that she was getting her own series, this would be damn near egregious, but it's at least a little more excusable since we know that her own show is happening.
We see Kate and Clint reunite and get the shot of him handing an arrow to her, which is straight from the comic run as well. While Clint's worry for Kate seems to be coming from a genuine place, he's also getting a lot better at accepting her help and her involvement in all of this. They really do play off of each other so well, and if this is the last time we see Renner's Clint Barton, we're going to be losing a really important dynamic that should be explored more. We got a surprise renewal with Loki, and considering how many people seem to be enjoying Hawkeye, it would be nice to see that happen again. Now we're going to briefly talk about spoilers. So don't read beyond this image if you don't want to know anything and go straight down to the rating.
The Kingpin reveal happened, and it was probably one of the worst-kept secrets in all of Marvel. However, while people are excited to see that character on screen again, it was the other twist that is going to take a lot of people by surprise. For most of these five episodes of Hawkeye, we haven't seen a lot of movement on Jack and Elenor, and now we might know why we haven't learned that much from Jack; he could be innocent. Despite how shady he is acting and how much he is setting Kate's alarm bells off, he was not the one that is working for Kingpin; Elenor is. And she is the one that called Kingpin to put out a hit on Clint in the previous episode. It makes the timeline a little screwy; when did Yelena meet with Valentina at the end of Black Widow? Was it before this? It seems like it is, judging by the weather. Yelena wouldn't need months to track someone like Clint down though. He's not in hiding, so why did it take Elenor hiring Yelena to make him come after Clint, and how is Valentina involved?
It also calls into question exactly why Kate's alarm bells were going off in the first place. Yes, he did lie about his skills with a sword, but he could have been letting her win to try and endear himself to her. Kate needing to come to terms with the fact that she could have misjudged Jack entirely because he was dating her mom, and she didn't want that is an interesting character point. It seems that Elenor went nearly a decade without seriously dating anyone after her husband passed away, so this could be the first time Kate has ever had to come to terms with the fact that her mom might remarry someday.
These are the questions that the show is going to have to solve in under an hour next week, and there is quite a bit, but then again, maybe they won't waste much or anytime on Kingpin. Vincent D'Onofrio's performance has always spoken for itself, even without knowing anything about the character. There is a chance that Marvel will just sit back and let that happen. That would let the show focus on Kate and Elenor's dynamic in this whole thing and how Clint is going to get out of this one without Kingpin killing them. Then there is still the question of the Rolex and who exactly it belongs to. We'll have to see when the show ends next week, and we'll also have to see if Marvel can stick the landing with a season finale again for the first time since WandaVision.
Hawkeye Episode 5 "Ronin"
9/10
The penultimate episode of Disney+ & Marvel Studios' Hawkeye does a very good job setting up the stakes for the last episode of the series and showing off how they are going to bring all of this together. That being said, by the time the episode ends, we do run into the problem that there is a lot that needs to get wrapped up by the time the episode finishes next week.
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