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Hawkeye Episode 6 Review: We Three Kingpins of MCU Are [SPOILERS]

Published Sun, 26 Dec 2021 07:52:12 -0600

[MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!] Hawkeye Episode 6 proves that when Marvel focuses its story down to the basics, it can indeed come up with a good season finale to a show. There will be some criticisms that people will have of the final episode, but there are some that can be explained simply by the way the show is structured and what we will see playing out in the future. This show was not about finding out his backstory or anything like that for Clint. His backstory doesn't really matter because that isn't the aspect of his life he needs to grapple with. The show isn't even really about Clint coming to terms with the actions he took as Ronin during those five years, proving a red herring for a good portion of the show. Some people won't understand why we didn't learn more about Clint's past in this show, but Hawkeye is really only about one aspect of Clint Barton's life: his relationship with Natasha Romanoff.

Hawkeye Episode 6 Review: We Three Kingpin's [SPOILERS] — Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye in Marvel Studios' HAWKEYE. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Natasha is the ghost that haunts every aspect of this show, and the true journey that we are watching Clint go on during this six-episode arc of Hawkeye is not about finding out his backstory or coming to terms with his actions as the Ronin [though he does do that], but grief. In phase four, grief has been a large theme throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Grief is what caused Wanda to do what she did in WandaVision, the grief of what losing the icon of Steve Rogers did to Sam and Bucky in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, grief for not only her stolen life but the stolen lives of Yelena and all the Widow is what motivated Natasha to truly take down the Red Room in Black Widow, grief is what Loki has to go through throughout his entire series as he mourned the life he lost and the people he didn't have in his life, grief was a common theme throughout several episodes of What If…?, grief for Li's death is what motivated every action of Wenwu and Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, grief and the loss of the family unit is what broke the Eternals and fractured the group beyond repair, and grief for missed opportunities and lives lost is ultimately the thing that hovers over all of Spider-Man: No Way Home. 2021 Marvel has been about grief, and the process of grieving, and Clint's arc in Hawkeye was about his grief process when it comes to the death of Natasha and his survivor's guilt.

Yelena and her place within the latter half of Hawkeye are truly about the final piece of the puzzle that is Clint's grief for Natasha. The two of them need to find a way to live in a world without her, and it isn't until they confront each other that they finally realize that. The comment that the show wouldn't have changed if Yelena hadn't shown up is true when you think about Kate's story, but Yelena is absolutely essential to Clint's thematic journey throughout the series. The last time we saw Yelena in the credits scene of Black Widow, she was doing the secret whistle to no response. In the final episode of Hawkeye, Yelena finally gets a response, and it's from Clint. Natasha might be gone, but a piece of her remains within the people that knew her, like Clint. Yelena and Clint have finally found a way to live in a world without Natasha in it anymore, and the first step of their grieving process is complete. They can finally start to move on.

Maya is another aspect of the finale that people are likely going to be critical of, but as mentioned in a previous review, the way her story is handled is fine because we know we are getting more of her. There was some criticism for how Luke Cage was initially handled in Jessica Jones, but he had his own series with his own story on the way. The same can be said for Maya in Hawkeye. The only real thing she needed to do in this finale was to come to terms that Kingpin was not a good person and leave the organization. She tried to save Kazi, but he refused, and she had to take his life. That was clearly someone she was close to, and being forced to kill him is something we're likely going to see her grapple with in the Echo series. Maya realized that she was on the wrong side, she made the change, and in her series, we will see that journey. She had an arc in this series, she was on the wrong side, and this episode ended with her shooting Kingpin much as she did in the comics. Her series will continue that arc as she goes on a hero's journey, and we know more of that is coming because we were told more of it is coming. Maya's story is also about grief as she realizes that her need for revenge was pointing her in the wrong direction, but in a bad direction as well.

Finally, we come to Kate's journey throughout the season. For Kate, this series has also been about grief but in a different way. She is clearly still dealing with the death of her father and the trauma of the New York attack. That attack is the reason she does everything that she does. She has some bias toward Jack for being a bad guy because she doesn't want her mom to get remarried because she is still grieving for her dad. Those judgments turn out to be unfounded, and this final episode is Kate grieving for the person that she thought her mother was, but also finally realizing what she is getting herself into. This season of Hawkeye was Kate's journey of someone excited to become a hero and someone who wants to get out there to help people to realize that, oftentimes, that means making some very difficult decisions. For Kate, that means losing the only parent that she has left because it's the right thing to do.

It's not quite disillusionment, but it is a reality check that Clint has spent the entire series wanting her both to realize and desperately trying to protect her from. However, there wasn't any protecting Kate from this, and she had to face not only the mistakes of her mother but her father in the form of Kingpin. Her father was not the hero she thought he was, and her mother was not the person she thought she was, and Kingpin is the embodiment of both of those facts that Kate has to fight. Kate's fight against Kingpin is probably the weakest part of the episode because Kingpin is a character that is brutal and that is hard to put on screen without losing a family-friendly rating. However, the fact that Kate was able to defeat him using the trick she learned from Clint is one of those full-circle moments we love to see.

The show ends with Kate joining Clint back at his home for Christmas because Clint Barton does love to pick up strays and give them a home and a purpose. She helps him burn the Ronin suit as he finally puts that part of his past behind him, and they chat about a name for Kate. They are partners now, and he's humoring her as they try to come up with names. It's cute, and the dynamic that we've seen evolve from the two of them through the series. Clint might be a reluctant mentor, but he has clearly found a connection with Kate and bringing her to his home and his family, showing her the most vulnerable parts of himself, is proof that he trusts her. Hawkeye was a great series and the kind of finale that comes full circle while leaving you wanting more. The various dynamics between all of the characters are fantastic and worth exploring, and it's going to be great to see more of Maya in Echo. In terms of overall quality, Hawkeye and WandaVision are by far the most cohesive and well-done of the Marvel shows so far. Let's hope the 2022 shows are even better.

Hawkeye Episode 6 "So This Is Christmas?"

Review by Kaitlyn Booth

9/10

Disney+ & Marvel Studios' Hawkeye was a great series and the kind of finale that comes full circle while leaving you wanting more. The various dynamics between all of the characters are fantastic and worth exploring, and it's going to be great to see more of Maya in Echo. In terms of overall quality, Hawkeye and WandaVision are by far the most cohesive and well-done of the Marvel shows so far. Let's hope the 2022 shows are even better.

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