Hawkeye Episode 3 - Review

After the debut double episodes ended with both heroes strapped down to kiddie rides and a potentially new villain bathed in red light, looking menacing at the camera, there was no way that the third episode of Hawkeye wouldn’t kick off with a bang, but it really didn’t and after a strong debut, I feel the Marvel TV stretch effect happening already.

Having the show start off by attempting to humanise Maya, the lady from the end of the second episode was not what I wanted from the show, not because I don’t believe her to be worthy of the spotlight, but it again throws the brakes on, something the Marvel shows do far to often. Seeing her adjusting to life in a school that does not cater for the deaf, made me think just how lucky I am and it provided me a sense of just what life must be like for someone like that. Then pivoting to a home scene with her and her dad, trying to come to grips with that she may never be able to adapt to the world fully, was also touching. The problem from there is that they attempted to make her seem like she was going to be able to lay the smack down, thanks to training and a mysterious uncle, but rather than delve to deep in that, the story cut from the past to the modern day and her returning to a garage, to see someone dressed like Ronin slicing and dicing their way through the place.

While I appreciate that impact of that final scene, it was not the opening I wanted to see, rather than cold open on her backstory, I would have rather it been shown as a flashback during her being knocked out during the escape. Speaking on that escape, Marvel sadly showed that off via Disney+ Day last month and while it was awesome then, most of what was shown in this episode was the same, but just with a few Marvel level changes. It was fun to see Clint taking down enemies with nary a worry, once he had his bow back in hand, but again, I would have preferred to see the fight between Kate and Kazi in full, rather that cutting to and from it, just to see her look up and find out he disabled most everyone around. The overall action across the episode was minimal, leaving Clint and Kate more time to build a deeper report, and that was something that I liked.

Clint losing his hearing aid early on, should have only been a thing for half the time it was, the scene where he was attempting to have a conversation on the phone to his youngest, was again touching, but post that, it should have been done. This is not a knock on the character, I just think they were taking a little longer than they should have, to address the issue, because the impact to Kate, is that there were more times when she was attempting to create a dialogue, only to discover that he couldn’t hear her. I referred in my review of the first two episodes, about it feeling very Lethal Weapon and that still holds true today, especially with the way the episode ended, but I would rather that they had given Clint the option to smack Kate down and treat her like an adult, rather than a kid in over their head. Kate is full of boundless enthusiasm, which I quite enjoy, but she clearly has never had proper structure when dealing with other people, as she seems never to care about what she is say, or the amount of things she says.

Clint on the other hand is a little more challenging in that he clearly wants to go home to his family, but his entire life has conditioned him, to doing the right thing, those five years notwithstanding. His sense of duty is remarkable and something that made him a great character in the Avengers movies, however I really wanted to see the character do something more, by this point, I know in the shows timeline, only a day has past, but given Clint was the one who recruited Natasha into S.H.I.E.L.D. and has made jokes about fighting a robot army with nothing but a bow and arrow, I wanted to see him snap. That of course may come in the penultimate episode and if it does, it could be great, but given that Kate is such a loose cannon, compared to him, seeing them at odds right away would make more sense, rather than it taking time.

Alaqua Cox as Maya did add some unique encounters into the show for viewers, the ASL for one was a great touch, but it was the number of close ups to her face that made the character fun to see in action. As both the actress and the character are deaf, having someone watching everything closely, in order to ensure they know what is going on, like lip reading, helped highlight the impactful moments more. Cox is also an amputee and rather than hide that, like some shows and movies have done in the past, they embraced it, making the character make use of that in a fight, which Clint found out hard. The fight between the two was great, part of it was due to Clint being out of sync, not being able to hear, but there was clearly reluctance on his part to do damage to the girl, with her being the only one who didn’t get punctured by any arrows. The shot of the two of them fighting through the office glass was also a treat, using the whole, less is more approach.

The car sequence, which I talked about above, also suffered from some pretty rough CGI shots, cars being used to fill roads, really chancy cuts of Kate in front a CGI background during the drive also broke the immersion. The CGI itself wasn’t bad, but it was not blended in a way that felt natural, sure there is no way they were going to hang their lead actress out the side of a car as it sped across a New York bridge, but they could have done a better job of making it look like they did. The car that Clint refused to touch, in order to protect it, was something that also suffered at the end and not because of an arrow in the dash.

The third episode of Hawkeye felt a little out of order, from a cold opening on someone we were meant to think was a villain at the end of the second, to the mains just so of meandering around in the final 10 minutes. While it did push the story forward, there wasn’t enough story delivered to viewers in it, though that being said the touching moment with Clint on the phone was very well done. For the end to the first half of the series, Hawkeye needed to keep the pace going and while it pushed forward, it was done in inches rather than feet and something the rest of the series needs to ensure it doesn’t do again.

The Score

7.0

The Pros

+A real touching moment between Clint and his family

+Not hiding away from a deaf character

The Cons

-The episode felt out of order

-For someone meant to be a bad guy, they spent too long trying make us care about Maya