Hawkeye Ep 4: Partners, Am I Right?

 WARNING: Spoilers for Hawkeye Episode 4 (and previous episodes) 

The latest episode of Hawkeye feels like it is setting up for the big finale of the series as well as potentially for the future of the MCU.

It opens with Kate and Clint having an awkward sit-down with Kate's mum Eleanor and fiancée Jack. Jack has been pretty suspect since the start of the series and this episode confirms he is a wrong 'un, though we've yet to see him go full bad guy. There's also an implication that Eleanor is up to something villainous too but there's no firm evidence yet- she just seems to act very suspiciously. We still don't know why she was being threatened by Armand. Though she may potentially be up to something bad, she still seems to care for her daughter and is concerned that she is doing dangerous missions with an Avenger. 

The episode goes deeper into Hawkeye's psyche than we've seen before. For the first time we see Clint sat down and talking about losing his family in the snap and becoming Ronin and it's clear he's still traumatised by that part of his life. He's also traumatised by the death of his best friend Natasha Romanoff. whose loss he feels very deeply. There's a brilliant parallel when Kate falls off the roof of the building which mirrors Black Widow's death on Vormir. Clint's face is heart-breaking in that moment. 

Much of the episode revolves around the search for a Rolex watch from the Avengers Compound. It's location is uncovered by Laura Barton who is becomingly an increasingly intriguing character as this series progresses. Previously we saw how she knew of Hawkeye's methods and today we see she can speak German and has access to some high-level espionage technology. I'm beginning to think that Clint and Laura actually met through work and that Laura once worked for SHIELD or a similar sort of organisation. 

The watch is a complete mystery- all we know is that is was owned by someone based at the Avengers Compound. This means there are many candidates. With Tony Stark's legacy being an important part of the phase 4, it's possible that he was the owner and the watch could be the key to accessing some sort of technology. Alternate theories suggest it might have belonged to Steve Rogers and could lead to his current location or maybe it belonged to Nick Fury and will lead us somehow into Secret Invasion. It's a really nice mystery which is unusual in the MCU these days. 

Yelena makes her return in this episode. We saw in the post-credits scene of Black Widow that she began to work for Val who sent her to kill Hawkeye. It's unclear quite who instructed Val to have Hawkeye killed and with Kingpin potentially lurking in the background he might have strong links with Val and her Dark Avengers squad. Clint knew that Yelena was a black widow but it's unclear if he knew exactly who she is. Clint and Yelena are the two people who loved Natasha more than anyone else so it'll be fascinating to see them meet properly and interesting to see how the conflict between them is resolved.

The episode concludes with Clint coming to the decision that he can't keep putting Kate's life in danger and breaking up the partnership. It's an understandable decision and probably the right one but it's also heart-breaking because the pair get on really well. It seems unlikely that Kate is now going to happily go back to a quiet life and besides, her mother and her mother's fiancée seemed to be linked to the shady underworld so it feels inevitable Kate will be sucked back in one way or another.  

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