It’s Wednesday and we’re back with another Marvel, or in this particular case Hawkeye, review for episode 4 of the season – Partners, Am I Right? Please beware of spoilers from here on out!

What was it about?

As Kate feels ever more involved in her “partnership” with Hawkeye, Clint comes to the realization that he has to cut ties with her if he wants to keep her safe.

My thoughts?

The fourth episode of the season has usually held some kind of twist or surprise for us in previous shows (Wanda proving that she controls Westview, John bloodying the shield, the revelation that the Time Lords aren’t real …) and the formula still held true for Hawkeye. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a surprise in this case, because everyone was waiting for it to happen, but it was still used as a sort of turning point in the show. I don’t know whether to appreciate the consistency in storytelling across Marvel show properties or be extremely frustrated with their predictability.

Anyway, let’s break down the episode:

• As I’ve mentioned last time, I knew that they would easily explain away Jack’s hostility. He did think someone was breaking into the apartment and simply was ready to defend himself. No one really acknowledged that it was the Ronin’s sword (but Clint stole it back anyway) and instead they all sat together at the dining table and discussed.
• As excited as Kate was, everyone could clearly see that Eleanor wasn’t equally as happy to see her daughter wanting give being a superhero a shot. When she saw Clint out, Eleanor was ruthless. She didn’t just appeal to him as a father, but also invoked Nat’s name. That woman knew exactly what she was doing. As soon as Clint was in the elevator, she also called someone, so my theory still stands that she is involved in some shady stuff herself.
• Clint asked Laura to run “Sloan Ltd”, which surprised me in an odd way? I didn’t know Laura had resources like that and was involved in the intelligence side of Clint’s “business”? Then again, she cares so much and he can be so honest with her, I should have known she was an asset in this regard too. Either way, they found out that Sloan Ltd is a front for the Tracksuits and that Jack is their CEO.

• While Kate seems to warm to the idea of Jack and her mother for the first time, she can’t let Clint spend the holidays all by himself and shows up at their hiding spot with movies, ugly Christmas sweaters and the likes. I enjoyed the little bonding and training montage we got. As I’ve said several times now, the dynamic between Kate and Clint just works. She can see through his bullshit, he’s actually able to teach her some new stuff and bestow his wisdom on her. I like that she knows that he was Ronin now and that they talked about Natasha together.
• It hasn’t been acknowledged a lot, but I enjoyed that they didn’t gloss over the fact that Clint turned into a killing machine during the blip. When Kate claims he was a hero, he quickly retorts with “I was a weapon” and that’s truly what he saw himself as. I like some self-reflection.
• The LARPers are back and I love that for us as an audience? I can 100% see them showing up again before the end of the season. It’s funny to me, how willing they are to risk their jobs in order to get new costumes etc. from Hawkeye and “his partner”, but they did get them the arrows back. I still wonder what happened to the Pym one though … that bridge was toast.
• Another thing that made a callback from episode 1 is the mysterious watch the Tracksuits were after at the black market auction. Since Kate already knew about Clint’s real identity at that point, I wonder who’s identity the watch alludes to? I’m genuinely clueless at that point, because it’s someone who isn’t active anymore, but who? Could it be Laura, now that we know she has some mad computer or hacker skills to get info?
• Clint and Kate track the stolen Rolex watch to Maya’s apartment, where Kate tries to break in and realizes that Maya has gathered information on Clint’s entire family. Just then, she is attacked by Maya, whereas Clint struggles with his own assailant on the roof opposite the building, where he was supposed to be Kate’s lookout.

• This entire episode was very Natasha-heavy. There were so many references to her in visuals as well as actual scenes and sound bits with her, she was basically omnipresent. When Kate fell off the roof, it mirrored the scene on Vormir to the t. Therefore, as soon as I saw Clint fighting another woman, I knew this was the cameo we were waiting for ever since the end credit scene of Black Widow – Yelena came for revenge.

• We end the episode with Clint pushing Kate away, because he can’t endanger her any more. He doesn’t know who exactly Yelena is, but he thinks that someone hired a Black Widow assassin to get him, which raises the stakes considerably. In general, he seems to be at a point of no return. The bad guys know about his family, his Ronin secret is likely out …

I would sincerely like to know how they’re going to tie up all of this mess, these two women clearly wanting to avenge their family with Clint responsible for their loss and Kate’s murder mystery in just TWO episodes. It’s a fast paced show, it proved that from the get go, but I worry that it might not be as satisfying of an ending as I’d like it to be. In general, I do enjoy Hawkeye more than a couple other Marvel shows though. We will see what they come up with.

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PREVIOUS HAWKEYE REVIEWS

• Episode 1 & 2
• Episode 3 “Echoes”

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What did you think of the episode? Where you surprised by the cameo? Let’s talk about it!