The fourth installment of the newest Disney+ and Marvel Studios television series, Hawkeye, has been released to the masses and has set up some promising prospects for the remainder of the first season. The episode marked the return of the New York City first responders that LARP in addition to the much more anticipated feature of Florence Pugh’s (Midsommar) return to the MCU as Yelena Belova. Once more, this fourth episode was directed by the duo of Bert & Bertie (Troop Zero) who took on the directing reins for the third episode “Echoes.”
“Partners, Am I Right?” kicks off with the resolution to last week’s cliffhanger ending with Jack Duquesne holding the Ronin sword to Clint Barton’s neck as Barton and Bishop attempt to gain further information regarding Bishop’s potential new step-father. The cliffhanger develops into a family confrontation at the dining table with Bishop’s mother, portrayed by Vera Farmiga (The Departed), probes into the partnership between her daughter and the avenger, asking for safety and protection of Kate Bishop. Meanwhile, suspicion continues to grow on Jack’s background and Kate and Clint reunite later in the evening to give Clint a taste of the Christmas spirit that he is missing at home with his family. In addition, Kate is able to put on her Sherlock Holmes hat and deduce that Clint is in fact Ronin during the blip.
Based on intel gathered by Clint, he has uncovered that Jack is the CEO for a corporation that the Tracksuit Mafia launders money through and has further placed concrete evidence towards Kate’s suspicious claims. The duo split up for Kate to recover the trick arrows from the LARPers from a New York PD precinct while Clint interrogates Echo’s right-hand man in Kazi about the status of Ronin in an attempt to place a halt on the violence. Regardless, the duo of Bishop and Barton reconvene on a nearby rooftop to investigate an apartment that supposedly carries a lost Rolex from the Avengers Tower that would conceal the identity of one of Barton’s close allies.
Upon Bishop’s entry into the apartment, she sets off the silent alarms, which gives away that this is in fact Echo’s apartment, and within the apartment lies the Rolex and a list of Clint’s family on a supposed hit list. A battle ensues with Echo arriving and Barton being assailed on the nearby roof by a masked figure, who is soon revealed to be Pugh’s Yelena. The fight breaks up before Clint declares that Kate is not his partner and she needs to escape now before greater danger arrives.
“Partners, Am I Right?” provides some necessary gas to the first season of Hawkeye as the storyline has been relatively slowly building up to a potential breaking point or earth-shattering realization. Currently, Hawkeye has generated various suspicions of numerous characters for the viewer to keep their eyes on. Yet, with the inclusion of Yelena and the Black Widow assassin into the show, the threat of imminent danger now seems to be lurking a lot closer to home, not to mention Jack’s own presence as well. Clint’s only will to survive and live is to be a great family man, but has the inability to escape the past life of becoming a weapon for hire and then an Avenger. The circumstances have risen for Clint as it is more than just solving the original issue to see his family in time for Christmas, but now protecting his family at all costs.
We are now approaching the final two episodes in the first season and the situation seems to be heating up in New York with the arrival of Yelena, the enhanced rage of Maya or Echo, Jack’s questionable past and current lives, and also the impending threat of the higher villain existing within the Tracksuit Mafia. While guesses and theories point towards Wilson Fisk being the man returning to the Big Apple in a big organized criminal way, only time will tell for this newest MCU addition and the archer and his mentee.
Rating 9.0/10