Hawkeye S01E03 Review: Trick Arrows

Hawkeye, Season 1, Episode 3: Echoes

A very interesting episode, this one. Of course, knowing now that the first two episodes were released together in the same day does make a bit more sense due to the amount of stuff that they set up in those two episodes -- and now that Kate and Clint's relationship are a bit more well-defined, we can go off to do build up the story surrounding them. We've gotten bits and pieces with the creepy Jack Duquesne doing suspicious stuff in the background with Kate's mother; or the Tracksuit Mafia doing whatever the hell they do (bro) but ultimately they're just distractions to the real stars of the show. 

And now that the dynamic between Kate and Clint are well established, this episode finally allows us to do build up the rest of the cast. Or, rather, one of them -- Maya Lopez, otherwise known to the comic-book audience as the superhero Echo. I'm completely unfamiliar with this character other than her connection to a maybe-cameo by Kingpin in this episode, so it'll be fun to see what she'll do in the series. 

The final shot of episode two is a reveal that lacked a bite since we know absolutely nothing about Echo, but the brief prologue we get this episode is a huge exposition dump that... that works really, really well. We get to see deaf little Maya grow up and, sure, her dad is a criminal, but he's also her dad, and a very good one at that. We see her struggle and eventually dominate despite her physical disabilities... and then she has to arrive in the moment of carnage as Clint, in his Ronin alter-ego, murders his way through William Lopez's little organization. It's a very poignant theme to explore in any of these shows where the heroes are murder-happy, and unlike the questionable writing decisions made in Black Widow (which I'll review eventually when I finish doing the rest of phase 3... at some point), there's no way that Maya's dad was hidden away in the background actually alive so that all our characters can go home guilt-free. 

And then after Maya's gruelling backstory, we get to see the present-day Maya, the badass leader of the Tracksuit Mafia. And, sure, the Tracksuits are mostly lovable goobers, bro, that say bro all the time, bro, with their funny accents... but while I'm waiting for her to do more in the back-end of the season, Maya does feel pretty interesting in this first episode. She gets to show that she's perhaps a bit too obsessed with murdering the Ronin, or looking for someone to blame for her father's death -- even when Clint tells her the metaphorically true answer that, hey, Ronin got killed by the Black Widow. She got so pissed off and invested in drawing some blood that her second-in-command and interpreter Kazi had to pull her back. 

This, of course, leads to the badass fight in the abandoned K-B toy store, which features some absolutely fun moments amidst pretty badass action sequences -- chief among them Clint swimming through a goddamn ball pool. Throughout this fight, Maya, who's had some discussion with Clint regarding his hearing aid, seems to zero in on that and smash it to bits. This whole sequence does actually salve my fears from the first two episodes that there won't be too much excitement as far as action sequences go in this show.  

This leads to what's probably going to be the signature scene of this show -- a deafened Clint driving a car while Kate randomly picks and yells and tries to communicate with her mentor while she shoots Clint's insane assortment of trick arrows at the pursuing Tracksuit guys. Oh, while Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "A Mad Russian Christmas" plays in the background, because we're going all-in on the Christmas theme. It's absolutely amazing, and it's the exact thing that I love about the MCU team in general -- they don't just respect the adaptation of some of the sillier parts of the source material*, they make stupid shit like suction-cup arrows and goop arrows look fucking cool. Eat your heart out, Arrow!

*Although typing this paragraph, I realize that they clearly draw the line at a comic-book accurate Silver Age Hawkeye costume. Can't be perfect.

Eventually, we get a pretty cool superhero goofiness moment as Hawkeye uses a Pym particle arrow to enlarge a regular-ass arrow and causes destroys the Tracksuits' pickup track. This ends the hostilities of the episode, but oh boy, what a fun episode that was. 

There's a continuing theme of communication between Clint and Kate throughout not just the fight, but the aftermath. It of course leads to some pretty great comedic moments ("deleted, blocked"; them independently talking about taking the dog out to walk) but it also gives us some genuinely well-done bonding moments between Clint and Kate, particularly in that scene in the apartment when Clint is unable to communicate with little Nathaniel over the phone, and Kate needs to help.

There's also that great scene in the restaurant where Kate shows all the excitement about the whole 'branding' thing and, yes, even grouchy old Clint has to admit that Kate Bishop's one of the world's greatest archers. But then in-between the dorky energy of Kate showing Clint her spin on Hawkeye's classic uniform, we get that pretty amazingly-delivered speech about how Clint talks about how this superhero business eats you, and puts your families at risk. On the other hand, though, Kate Bishop refuses to downplay the fact that Clint Barton donning the superhero spandex and running around as Hawkeye most certainly has inspired some people, chief among them her. Which, of course, tosses in the fact that Kate doesn't actually realize that Clint was Ronin into a brand-new light and a plot thread to follow up on later down the line. 

There's also some stuff with the Tracksuits moving out of their base in the background, but other than that, the episode does end off in a very telegraphed cliffhanger as the Hawkeyes try and look into the Bishop penthouse and end up being intercepted by Jack Duquesne with Ronin's sword. Pretty organic cliffhanger, and I'm assuming next episode we'll be getting a bit more from this antagonist instead. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• The main action sequence of this episode of the two Hawkeyes bickering about trick arrows in the middle of a car chase is taken from issue #3 of the 2012 Hawkeye run, except Clint and Kate swap places, and in the comic run, they actually ride a 70's red Dodge Challenger. 
• Maya's dad tells her that 'dragons live in another world' off-handedly. The events of Iron Fist and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings proves that in the MCU, he is right, whether he knows it or not. 
• The auto-repair shop where Echo sees William get killed by Ronin is called 'Fat Man', a common descriptor of the Kingpin in the comics. It's also very heavily implied that Maya's 'uncle' is Kingpin himself.
• The USB arrow, of course, is the infamous trick arrow that Hawkeye uses in Avengers.
• Hawkeye uses a Pym particle arrow to enlarge a regular arrow, which, of course, is a nod to Ant-Man. 
• During the flashback, William leaves a bloody handprint on her face, which is a nod to her comic-book counterpart Echo's similar faceprint. 
• Kate's doodle is Hawkeye's notoriously non-live-action-friendly comic book costume, with Kate pointing out the H on the forehead and the 'hawk horns'.