‘Hawkeye’ Recap: ‘Never Meet Your Heroes’ & ‘Hide and Seek’

Written by Shae Rufe

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of ‘Hawkeye’.
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The first two episodes of Hawkeye dropped Wednesday the 24th, and I 1000% did stay up until 3 a.m. to watch them. Do I have regrets? No. No I don’t. Have I watched these two episodes a few times already? Yes. Yes, I have. To say I‘ve been looking forward to this show all year is an understatement. This show is my everything. I don’t have one single negative thing to remotely say. I might even love it more than The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Hawkeye has always been my favorite Marvel character and Avenger, beyond that the Hawkeye comics were literally amazing. Now, I’ve not been the biggest fan of the whole Barton having a family thing, but I have to admit, it does add a different aspect to Clint’s character. He’s just a dad trying to do what’s best for his family. Clint doesn’t have superpowers, he’s just a guy with a bow.
 
In this case, he’s just a dad sitting through a Broadway show. Rogers the Musical looks like the exact kind of thing I would drag everyone I knew to. Clint does what any dad does in those cases, he zones out, well, he also turns his hearing aid off. In this show the reason for Clint being deaf is probably the most genuinely accurate reason. At least we finally get Clint being deaf, and I’m not going to complain about how it happened. It fits the MCU, and it proves all along that Clint, while just a guy with a bow, kept up with super soldiers and gods alike. All that Avenging has its tolls to pay. Why is Clint in New York? He’s showing his kids, a good time and bonding with them before they go home for Christmas. His whole family was missing for the duration of the Blip after all. Clint is also dealing with some PTSD, and some of it wasn’t from his time as an Avenger.

The first two episodes really give us a true and proper introduction to Kate Bishop, one that we deserve. Katie Kate was just a kid when the invasion of the Chitauri took place. The Bishop family also lived in a multi floor penthouse with a perfect view of Avenger’s Tower. Kate’s father dies that day, and Kate almost does too, until she’s saved by an Avenger. Clint ends up unknowingly changing the trajectory of Kate’s life forever. She goes on to become a world class Archer, martial artist, and even a gymnast. Kate does everything she can to ensure that she can protect her mother. Of course, she’s also a bit uncouth. While Kate is a great Archer, she lacks finesse. She destroys a bell and clock tower with a homemade trick arrow and might get in some serious trouble. At least her mom cancels her credit cards.
 
Speaking of her mother is also dating some strange man named Jack, who likes swords. There’s a charity event that Eleanor convinces Kate to come to. Kate begrudgingly goes, only to find out that Eleanor is engaged to Jack, and also, she stumbles upon a secrets black market auction under the Gala. Now, Kate has an excellent skill as a spy as she impersonates a waitress to get more information and spies on the auction. The infamous Ronin’s sword is up for auction, followed by his hood and mask. There’s a massive explosion, however, and the Track Suit Mafia breaks in to steal a watch.

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That’s right, the Track Suit Mafia, bro! I have never been so happy about anything in my life than listening to the whole ‘bro’ bit. Jack steals Ronin’s sword and Kate dons the hood and mask to save the people in the auction. She’s a good fighter with real skill but she’s also not faced anything like this before, so there’s a lot of struggles. Katie Kate still kicks some serious ass though, and she escapes the Gala and saves Lucky! Yes, Pizza Dog is here, because you can’t have a Hawkeye show without Lucky! Now, I can, except that Kate found and saved him because I love her character too much. But it is a little sad that it wasn’t Clint. Kate gets Lucky settled and goes to investigate more about Jack’s supposed uncle (or father) who threatened Eleanor in the first place. Only, Armand is dead, stabbed to death so it seems. Kate leaves, still in costume, but she’s attacked by the Track Suit Mafia again.
 
By now, Clint has seen the news. Someone is running around as Ronin. Lucky for Kate, he shows up. He saves Kate, only to drag her down an ally and unmask her. Yep, turns out she’s just a 22-year-old kid who unknowingly unboxed something she can’t control. Clint is more than just a little annoyed. Not only does he have to clean up her mess, but now he has to get the Ronin costume back and get rid of it. For now, they head back to Kate’s apartment, where she professes her adoration for Clint. She gets the costume off and asks for him to sign her bow. That’s when the Track Suit Mafia finds her. Guess she’s not as good as she originally thought. A few Molotov cocktails make their way into Kate’s apartment, setting it ablaze. Either way, the coolest scene in any show or movie happens when Clint punchs out a window and catches a Molotov cocktail and throws it back at the Track Suit Mafia. Not good bro!

The suit gets left behind as they leave the apartment to burn. Clint gets Kate safe and settled and bandaged up. He goes back to the burnt-out apartment for the suit, only to discover that it’s gone. One of the firefighters took it. Now, this whole mess has gotten bigger. Not only does he have to keep Kate safe, he has to find the suit and then get the Track Suit Mafia to leave Katie Kate alone annnnnnd… he’s got to make it back to his family before Christmas. Clint’s got a lot going on. He tracks down the firefighter in question who took the Ronin costume. Who didn’t need a Hawkeye at a LARP event scene? I did. The whole thing is painfully fun to watch, eventually he gets the costume back and gets it locked away so nobody else can wear it.
 
Meanwhile, Kate learns there’s more to her mom’s fiancé then meets the eye. There’s something odd about him and he’s hiding a lot. She thinks he might be involved with the death of Armand. She tries to call and tell Clint this, only he doesn’t answer his burner phone, someone else does. Clint Barton is in danger. Well, danger is relative. He got captured by the Track Suit Mafia on purpose, bro. Catch and Release. It all went according to plan, that wasn’t until Kate broke through the roof and ruined everything. Now they’re both captured. Good job Katie Kate, good job. Now we have to wait for episode 3 to find out just what’s going on. And really? I’m not sure I can do that patiently.

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