The day has come, in the days before Christmas, the final episode of Hawkeye’s first (and possibly only?) season has aired. Let’s talk about “So This Is Christmas” – Spoilers ahead!

What was it about?

In a final fight, Kate and Clint face their various enemies. 

My thoughts?

Now that the show is over, I feel like I can say that Hawkeye is a Christmas TV show the same way Die Hard is a Christmas movie? Yes, there were always decorations and themed music, but it was never really in your face. If it hadn’t been for Clint’s desire to be home with his family for the holidays, it literally could have been at any other time of the year and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

Having gotten that out of the way, I think the finale went as expected. Hawkeye didn’t exactly experiment a lot in terms of storytelling or cinematography, so it makes sense, that they kept going with the regular MCU show format. I can’t say I blame them. Let’s break it down.

• We start by getting to see the meeting between Kingpin and Eleanor in full. When that woman dared to blackmail him, I knew she had made a mistake, but obviously we needed some more conflict for the climax.
• As Kate watches the video Yelena has sent her of the conversation, she, at first, can’t believe her mother would ever do something like that. I enjoyed how Clint was there for her in that moment. When he said “Kate, you’re my partner. Your mess is my mess.”, I felt we really came full circle and my heart warmed at his acceptance of her.

• Meanwhile, we also see Maya facing Fisk in an admittedly smarter way. She hides her resentment and suspicion of him and simply asks for some time off to process that she has finally accepted she won’t get her father back, no matter how much she seeks revenge. He grants her some time, because he loves her (or at least thinks so). Being loved by Wilson Fisk is a danger in itself, if you think about it.
• We got a fun little montage of Kate and Clint making new trick arrows and Kate labeling them!
• Eventually, it’s time for the fancy Bishop Christmas party, where all the action accumulates. Kate confronts her mother, Jack has been released from the police, Yelena has come to kill Barton and Kazi as well as the Tracksuits are after Eleanor.
• I can’t say it enough, but I adore the chemistry and banter between Kate and Yelena! They are so fun to watch and I hope they’ll become the new Nat and Clint, being best friends (or more?) and going on missions together in the future.

• Another thing I adored was the continued incorporation of the LARPers, which were undercover wait staff and helped civilians once the fighting broke out. They’re definitely honorary Avengers at this point. But Jack also helped, having come to the party with his own sword. He’s an odd one, but he was on Kate’s side and I appreciate that. Maybe he won’t have to be a bad guy in this world? I especially laughed when the LARPers tried to recruit him. I can kind of see it!
• We finally get to see Kate and Clint in their respective purple suits. It wasn’t a wow moment as with other costumes, but it’s nice to finally have the comic resemblance in that department.
• The final fight sequences weren’t as heavy on the CGI, because we’re still dealing with bow and arrow stuff instead of magical powers. However, they really tried to do the most with those trick arrows, even shrinking a van with Tracksuits in it and having it fly away in the grasp of an owl. I must admit that I chuckled at that.
• There’s a couple separate fights going on at the same time, which are as follows:
  • Kazi vs. Maya: Maya packed her stuff, presumably to ditch town, but had one last thing to do. As she reaches the fight, she comes across Kazi, who doesn’t really want to fight her, but sees no way out for himself. I enjoyed their dynamic a lot and was sad when Kazi died in Maya’s arms. I still think he loved her a lot and never wanted this life of crime for her. I read a lot into those brief scenes they had.
  • Yelena vs. Clint: Yelena confronts Clint about what happened to Natasha, but refuses to believe his account of events. They fight until Clint whistles Natasha and Yelena’s secret whistle, making her realize that he truly knew her sister. I’m glad those two finally had a talk and could part ways with still a bit of resentment (he got so much more time with Nat than Yelena did), but no bad blood anymore.

• • Fisk vs. Kate: Kate stops Kingpin from attacking her mother and gets into a fight with him herself. I know Kate has a lot of training, but I’m still surprised she didn’t have several broken bones after getting tossed by him multiple times. No wonder Clint was proud and impressed to see her walk away alive from that fight. Kate eventually detonates an arrow that causes an explosion, which Fisk survives though.
• Eleanor gets arrested for her crimes and even has the audacity to try and make Kate feel bad about it.
• Even after the loss of Kazi, or maybe even more so because of it, Maya still has a bone to pick with Wilson Fisk. Even though he tries to persuade her otherwise, we see her pull a gun on him and point it right at his face. The camera cuts away as we hear a gunshot ring. We can presume she shot him, but obviously don’t know. Maybe we will find out more in Maya’s own show – Echo!
• The show ends on Christmas Day, with Clint bringing Kate and Lucky along to the Barton farm and introducing them to his family. I’m glad he made it on time and could honor his promise to his children.
• At home, Clint hands Laura the Rolex watch from the Avengers compound that the Tracksuits were after. When she thanks him for it and turns the watch around, you can see the SHIELD logo as well as the number 19. This more or less confirms that Laura Barton was Agent 19 aka Mockingbird. We still don’t know if that’s a mantle that can be passed on or if it negates the existence of Adrianne Palicki’s Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird in this universe, but it finally explains how Laura can be such an incredibly patient and understanding partner for Clint. I’d love to know more about her background though.

• They burn the Ronin suit and Kate contemplates her hero alias, with the sudden cut to the end credits hinting at her getting the Hawkeye name.

Post-credit scene: This might have been one of the more disappointing post-credit scenes we’ve got recently (barring Loki just announcing it got another season), because a) I’m not huge on musicals and b) even if a lot of it was interrupted in episode 1, it wasn’t even a different song. I know a lot of people who would pay good money to see Rogers the Musical, I’m just not one of them. I just wish it had added something new.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Hawkeye! I liked the depth it brought to Clint, which we’ve been lacking a little bit in the movies, as well as the different dynamics between characters. It might have been a bit too packed with new and recurring faces, which made some storylines a little rushed, but they always need to set up a lot in a short time. I’m grateful that Natasha’s story wasn’t brushed off, as it is intrinsically linked to Clint, and that the Ronin-controversy was at least addressed. This isn’t like the Netflix adaptations, so they kept it fairly tame and less violent, but it worked well.

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PREVIOUS HAWKEYE REVIEWS

• Episode 1 & 2
• Episode 3 “Echoes”
• Episode 4 “Partners, Am I Right?”
• Episode 5 “Ronin”

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As an addition to last week’s end note: I have now watched Spider-Man: Far From Home. I have no clue how to review/recap it without spoiling everything. I might just not do it? However, I’m planing on doing a post where I rank all the 2021 MCU content – would you be up for that?

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What did you think of the finale? Let’s talk!