‘Hawkeye’ Recap: ‘Partners, Am I Right?’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Hawkeye’.
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When last we left, Clint was being held at sword point in Katie Kate’s house, by her mom’s definitely sketchy fiancé. Kate easily explains it away that her and Clint are working on a secret mission together and Clint needed Kate’s help. Much to the un-amusement of the Clint and Eleanor. It’s a good opportunity for Clint to take back the Ronin sword though, and he does. Eleanor escorts him out with a firm warning to leave Kate out of whatever is going on. Do I think Katie Kate’s mom is up to something? Yes. Yes, I do. Clint leaves and contacts Laura, who helps him track down another missing piece from the Avengers Compound. Now, nobody is going to tell me Laura just randomly speaking German isn’t a giant red flag. Like she’s not some past S.H.I.E.L.D. agent? We know she is. She has to be. She’s way too cool about Clint possibly missing Christmas for her to not be a former agent. The kids are disappointed, but that’s fine because we all know Clint will make it home for Christmas.

Knowing how much Clint is struggling with this mess, Kate shows up to the apartment with pizza, movies, and a tree. She’s doing her best to cheer him up, and if margaritas are involved, then that’s just a bonus. They work out a few things, like where the Trick Arrow heads are being stored, and how to get them. And then Kate drops the bomb that she knows Clint was Ronin. She’s a smart kid after all, and she won’t be silent about it. Surprisingly she understands, the man lost his whole family in the Blip and in her mind, he continued to save people. Clint doesn’t see it like that. He confesses that he’s just a weapon and was just doing the only thing he’s good at, hurting people. Katie Kate disagrees, he’s her idol and hero, of course she disagrees. Either way, we at least see how Clint really views himself. I’ve always loved that Clint doubted himself but was always this secretly competent agent and fighter. It’s a fun path to bring everything on, because now we get to see Kate later knock some sense into him.

But first, they have to get the arrowheads back. Even if there isn’t a boomerang arrow, yet, they still need the trick arrows. Kate makes contact with Clint’s LARP friends and offers them a favor for getting the arrows from evidence. Is it breaking the law to bribe the police into doing so? Yes. Does she still do it? Also, yes. Mad shout out to some inclusivity with having the officer that gets the arrowheads back be married to a woman. We love some LGBTQAI+ representation, and she was a beautiful woman of color to boot. I’m just saying, maybe they need their own spin-off show from this. Kate even teases asking one of the LARP-ers if they would like  a chance to make two new costumes for her and Clint. Which Clint is not a fan of. With arrows in hand, they’re off to get back that missing watch. The missing watch that is definitely Tony’s old one. Kate breaks into the apartment and gets the watch back, only to be attacked by Maya while Clint is attacked on the roof across from the building. When Kate and Maya make it over the fight intensifies.
 
Kate isn’t as trained for this as it seems, but she holds her own really well. Clint is a master at getting his ass kicked and fighting his way out of things, but even he struggles. He struggles more when the masked attacker knocks Kate over the building. Thankfully, Kate is unharmed, but it doesn’t stop the fear from ebbing in. Clint cuts her free and tells her to go home. Katie Kate doesn’t listen, why would she? Instead, she marches back up to the roof and knocks some sense into everyone. Okay, she shoots a flash bang arrow, and it knocks everyone on their ass. Maya isn’t about to give up, until she gets shot with an arrow by Kate. With her gone it’s just the masked assailant who Clint unmasks before taking a widow bite to the throat. Yelena is unamused, but she leaves Kate unharmed when Kate backs off. Yelena leaves and Clint literally tells Kate to go too. This is serious. A Black Widow operative is involved now. Only, Yelena is there for revenge over Natasha, right?

With only two episodes left my heart isn’t ready for this to be over!

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