REVIEW: ‘Hawkeye’ Episode 6

Hawkeye Episode 6 titled “So This is Christmas?” crashed landed onto our screens and delivered us an electrifying finale that was loaded with action, trick arrows, and all of those holiday feels. So let’s get into the over the top review of the highs and lows of the episode, and at this point, the series itself. 

The series is directed by Rhys Thomas, Bert, and Bertie, stars Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Vera Farmiga as Eleanor Bishop,  Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne, and Alaqua Cox as Maya “Echo” Lopez.

In the previous episode, “Ronin”, Clint confronted Maya in his Ronin outfit and revealed to her his true identity along with the fact that it was her boss who tipped him off on where to find the tracksuit mafia. Maya’s is rocked by the possibility that her Uncle, Wilson Fisk could have been responsible for the death of her father, causing her to question her allegiance to the organization.  Meanwhile Kate was visited by Yelena Belova as the two parleyed and discussed the fate and morality of Clint. Not for nothing either, but we finally, finally had KINGPIN confirmed in the MCU! Additionally check out my article on what the MCU could have in store for Kingpin.

Episode 6 wastes no time in jumping into what we all want to see most, the main attraction, the substantial mountain of a man, Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). I loved his presence in this episode and the tone they cast him into is a fully formed Kingpin that is vengeful, angry, power hungry, and physically intimidating. If you’re excited about his introduced into the show based on his time on Daredevil, then you’ll love what they’ve done with him.

Coming into the finale the show had created so many plot lines, and I was questioning in previous reviews how the show would possibly be able to handle all of these threads. Well, rather than go into too much detail and spoil anything, there are absolutely some wins and, sadly, a few flops.

Where the show succeeded in the finale, and overall, was in establishing Clint a.k.a. Hawkguy as a relatable person beyond the heroic persona we knew from his time in the Avengers. His relationship with Kate was absolutely paramount to the success of the show. Renner and Steinfeld really paired well together on screen, and far surpassed my expectations of what I thought was possible for Clint and Kate. So much so that I am highly hoping for second season to explore more of their shenanigans together.

Episode 6 also puts Clint and Yelena face to face for a much needed confrontation, and the results on screen are superb. Florence Pugh is such a joy to watch perform, and I sincerely hope that the MCU plans to give her much more time on screen with either her own show, or movie, perhaps even within a team dynamic such as the Young Avengers.

All this being said though, the episode does have its obstacles given it’s attempting to have its cake and eat it too. Essentially the show has set up way too many threads, and tries to cleanly tackle all of them within the finale. Regardless of the strength of those plot lines, when you don’t allocate enough time to them the side stories feel undercut. Some of that is the larger problem also, the side stories feel like much bigger plots that warrant exploration. A few examples without walking into spoiler territory are the significance of the watch of general audiences, Jack’s involvement, Eleanor Bishop’s history with Kingpin, what was the motive behind murdering Armand Duquesne?

If the plot lines can’t be addressed, then the next best solution would be to tease the resolution as a forthcoming story in either a Season 2, or another future story, and if that isn’t the case, then less focus probably should have been placed on some of the plots in order to tighten up the main through line. The resolution with Eleanor Bishop felt especially underutilized, and very underwhelming and they had opportunity to do something really fun with that story leaving it open for the future as well.

The positive thing is however, this show created a lot of buzz and potential for a continued storytelling. People would kill for more of the LARPers and Grills, a short surrounding a certain flying creature would be an absolute win on Disney+, some history behind Laura Barton even, I’d love to see more from Jack Duquesne, and of course we naturally want more Clint, Kate, and Yelena.

Finally, prepare yourself for the post credit scene. It is not all what you’d expect, and while the shows review isn’t dependent on it I was a little disappointed. It’s a FUN scene no matter how you look at it, but historically MCU fans will expect a lot more. It was somewhat surprising.

Hawkeye Episode 6 was a romping, stomping, action packed thrill ride. Beginning to end it was highly entertaining, with a lot of amazing moments that will give fans a lot to discuss over the holidays, or until the next series. However, the show does try and tie up all of the loose ends in one go so it does result in a frantic pace that leaves it feeling a tad messy with some plots feeling over-promised and underwhelming. Overall the show has been a fantastic success. While it was a touch over ambitious at times, it’s definitely up there with one of my favorite MCU shows in 2021.

Hawkeye Episode 6 is available now exclusively on Disney+.