In Review: Hawkeye – Ronin

Synopsis: In Hawkeye – Ronin. After Clint Barton insists they aren’t partners and tells her to go home, Kate  Bishop encounters Yelena Belova Romanoff, and learns how deeply immersed her family is in organized crime.

The Story

‘Ronin’ opens with Yelena’s (Florence Pugh) story after the events in Black Widow, where she continues to release other Black Widows from Dreykov’s indoctrination programming. While on one visit, she’s blipped away for five years. When she returns, she learns her sister Natasha is dead.

A dejected Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) tries to reconcile her ambition to be an Avenger after being turned away by Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner). She goes home to find Yelena eating her macaroni and cheese. In a largely humorous scene, It’s clear that Yelena is not going to hurt her, and may actually want to befriend her. She also learns her mother, Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga), hired Yelena to kill Clint. Yelena wants to avenge Natasha, still believing he’s responsible for her death.

Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), suffering from injuries of fighting Kate, Clint, and Yelena, is still determined to avenge her father by killing Ronin.  Kazi (Fra Fee) persuades her to agree to stop after Ronin is dead. He also has a hidden agenda that she is trying to figure out.

Hawkeye seeks out Grills (Clayton English) to rest and check on Lucky the Pizza Dog. Grills has costumes for Clint and Kate.  He visits a Battle of New York memorial, which lists the Avengers who fought there. Still grieving over Natasha’s death, he sets off to arrange to meet with Maya.

After a series of scuffles where Clint takes out Maya’s people, he confronts her as Ronin, revealing who he really is to her. Maya tries to kill him, but Kate knocks the sword out of her hands with an arrow.

Meanwhile, Kate gets a message from Yelena revealing that her mother met with Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio).

Acting

The acting on the part of everyone in this episode was once again top notch. Florence Pugh is both charming and hilarious as Yelena, as Hailee Steinfeld plays beautifully as the somewhat naive young wannabe hero, attempting to appear all-knowing while trying to handle every curve ball in the story thrown at her. Yelena continues working to kill Clint while befriending Kate at the same time. Kate tries to cope with Clint’s rejection of her, while refusing to let that deter her.

CGI & Effects

The best CGI and special effects are the ones that don’t seem like special effects at all. This wasn’t a particularly action-heavy episode, but the arrows and bottles all seem to land on target.

Overall

The best episode so far, in a series of great episodes, is simultaneously hilarious and jaw dropping. The music is used to great effect, setting the tone for the scene. Charlie Brown’s Christmas Time Is Here plays in the background, as Clint seeks out shelter far away from his family. When Kingpin is revealed, You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch breaks in. There is also the theme from Avengers: Endgame, from the scene where Natasha dies. The score was used masterfully to compliment and punctuate the story.