As the finale of Hawkeye begins, Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga) meets with Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) or Mr. Fisk. They talk about Eleanor’s husband and the debt he owed. As a result, Eleanor has been serving Kingpin without asking questions. Kingpin isn’t sure why it is going in this direction. Eleanor explains she dealt with Armand and her fiancé is going down for Sloan, but her daughter is home and getting too close. She wants to leave the business and has been keeping an insurance policy to ensure she can do just that. Although Kingpin offers to give her a minute to reconsider, Eleanor isn’t going to change her mind. Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) watches the video while warning Clint (Jeremy Renner) that Yelena was hired by her mother to kill him. While Kate wants to call and confront her mother, Clint believes she should calm down because Eleanor needs their help.

She encourages Clint to go home and be with his family since it is her mess to clean up, but Clint says they’re partners and share the mess. Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) meets with Kingpin and Kazi (Fra Fee). She admits she needs to stop chasing ghosts and focus on the job. Now, she realizes nothing is going to bring her father back and finding his killer won’t change anything. He agrees to give her a few days off to clear her mind. Before she leaves, Kingpin tells her he loves her and she says it back. Once she is gone, Kingpin complains about Ronin, Eleanor trying to quit, and Maya turning her back on them. He asks what they’re going to do about it before arguing the people need to remember the city belongs to him. On the subway, Clint tells Kate he is sorry for the way this turned out for her. When she says they need to focus on tonight, he agrees they’re going to need a ton of gear.

Before long, they begin making more trick arrows to prepare for the upcoming battle. They make many trick arrows including one that is described as way too dangerous. Kate uses a label maker to create labels for the arrows so they’ll know what they are. Clint asks her about the formal holiday party before reminding her that she doesn’t have to do this. He explains heroes have to make tough decisions and that life can be lonely. Clint just wants to make sure she is ready for this. Kate begins telling him about being alone when the aliens invaded. She was terrified until she saw Hawkeye fighting aliens with a stick and string although he didn’t have superpowers. Knowing he could do that meant you didn’t need superpowers. Instead, you just needed to be brave enough. Once Kate says she is ready, Kazi confirms he is in position. He coordinates with Ivan (Aleks Paunovic) and Tomas (Piotr Adamczyk) for the attack.

Once Clint and Kate enter the party, she begins analyzing their threats and assets. She claims Gary is one of the threats because he fired her from one of the only jobs she ever had. They have assets all over the party including Grills (Clayton English), Wendy (Adetinpo Thomas), and others. They spot Jack (tony Dalton) in the distance and notice he is wearing a sword despite just getting out of jail and being accused of killing someone. He jokes with Armand VII (Jonathan Bergman) about being out of jail and giving him his wine collection. Kazi prepares the sniper rifle on a roof nearby and looks for Clint. Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) enters and refuses to let security check her coat. Kate runs into her mother and pulls her aside. She tells Eleanor she is trying to save her life because her business partner wants her dead. When Eleanor is confronted with the evidence, she insists her daughter doesn’t understand.

She says Kate’s father owed that monster money before Jack interrupts. Eleanor tells Kate not to worry about it because she has everything under control. Wendy approaches Clint to tell him everything is clear. Clint notices a red dot on the wine glasses and quickly tells Wendy to get down. Thanks to his quick thinking, neither is shot. Kazi reloads while Clint tells Wendy to get everyone out of there. Yelena notices Clint and follows him. Kazi radios the Track Suits so they can tell the boss that Clint and Kate are at the party. When Kate learns about the shooting, her mother tells her it is too dangerous to go there. Kate tells her she is the reason it is so dangerous and she should stay put. Jack tells himself it is his time before drawing his sword.

Clint works with Grills, Missy (Adelle Drahos), and the others to protect everyone. Kate finds Yelena near the elevator and admits she is surprised she made the cut for the Christmas party. Kate joins her in the elevator in hopes of preventing her from killing Clint. When Kate tries to push a different button, they get into a struggle and her clothes are ripped off. Her costume is revealed. She pushes a bunch of buttons so Yelena decides to get off the elevator. Eleanor goes missing while the Track Suits prepare to enter the party. Kate and Yelena fight as Kate tries to stop her from getting to Barton. Clint uses his bow to shoot an arrow into Kazi’s room and fill it with smoke. Yelena and Kate stop in the middle of the fight to praise their cool moves. Yelena says it was really fun before jumping out of the window and running down the side of the building. Kate warns Clint who manages to avoid being shot. Kate tries it and nearly crashes to the ground before she sees the Track Suits and warns Clint.

As Kate fights the Track Suit members, Tomas stops her to thank her for the girlfriend advice she gave him. He admits it worked and they went to a Maroon 5 concert instead. He drops him and another. One gang member points a gun at her until Jack arrives and stops him from shooting her. Kate apologizes for Elizabeth putting her in jail as Jack fights more gang members. Meanwhile, Clint sets traps for the gang members. He waits for them to arrive, but Kazi attacks him before that happens. They fight briefly until Clint hits the button and causes an explosion that takes out many of the gang members. The fight with Kazi continues. Clint knocks him out, says it was fun, and tries to find a way to escape. He jumps out of the window and lands in the giant Christmas tree outside. While hanging in the tree, he sees an owl in front of him. Kate learns where he is hiding before getting her gear from Grills and the others. She orders them to get the civilians and Jack out of the way so she can bring down the tree.

Since the guests won’t listen, Grills and Wendy agree it is time for their plan. Maya begins packing her stuff at home. When more Track Suits show up, Kate knocks out a window and begins shooting at them from above. Clint asks Kate about their backup. He watches as Wendy, Missy, and Grills walk out of the building with hero costumes on. He chuckles and jokes they’re all going to die. Grills carries a screaming Armand VII to safety. Kate uses her arrows to bring down the Christmas tree while Clint pleads with her not to. He lands in the ice-skating rink below. As he stands up, he sees countless Track Suit guys rushing down the stairs. Kate joins him as Clint says they’re too exposed and need to move. A magnetic arrow takes away all their guns. Kate is surprised when Clint removes his shirt and he is wearing the new costume. Clint gives her a bunch of arrows and says it is time to give them hell. They quickly take out a bunch of gang members only for more to arrive.

Once that group is dealt with, the gang tries to run them over with a moving truck. Kate shoots the truck with an arrow and shrinks it. Clint admits he doesn’t know what happens now before the owl swoops down and takes the truck away. As they leave, Kate learns her mother just left through the side door so she goes after her. Clint is approached by Kazi and two others. Clint quickly eliminates two of them, but Kazi catches the arrow headed in his direction. As Kazi tries to shoot him, Yelena tackles Clint from behind. Maya arrives and puts down her motorcycle while knocking down a couple of gang members. She approaches Kazi who says she should’ve left and never came back because she knows what he has to do. They begin fighting. Yelena wants to know what happened although Clint doesn’t think she’d believe him. He says her sister sacrificed herself and saved the world. She refuses to believe him before calling him pathetic. Maya tells Kazi she wants to leave all this behind and leave together. He responds that he can’t do that because this is his life.

As Eleanor tries to leave, Kingpin rips the door off the car and asks her not to go. Kate shoots him with an arrow that has no impact on him. She is quickly overpowered until Eleanor runs him down with a car and knocks him into a building nearby. Maya insists they can leave together although Kazi doesn’t think Kingpin will let that happen. He attacks her. She quickly stabs and kills him. Before he goes, Kazi pleads with Maya to leave because Kingpin is coming for her. Kate traps Kingpin in the building and the fight continues. Clint grabs Yelena and explains nobody killed her sister. Instead, she made a choice. Again, she refuses to accept that. He grabs her from behind and says she sacrificed herself and there was nothing he could do to stop her. Kate is thrown around by Kingpin who breaks her arrows as well. When Yelena asks Clint why he deserved to be saved, he says he doesn’t. He says he fought her for it, but she was better than him.

She beats Clint with a baton. Kate uses the trick Clint taught her to launch a pin at the arrows causing them to explode and knockout Kingpin. She rushes outside to check on her mother who apologizes and says they can put this behind them. Eleanor refers to everything as an unfortunate arrangement. Kate doesn’t agree with that. She says she knows what it is like to have nothing and Kate cannot handle that. She goes on to say someone has to clean things up and take responsibility. Kate agrees as the cops arrive and arrest her mother. Kate says sorry after her mother asks if heroes have their mothers arrested on Christmas. Yelena approaches Clint with her gun drawn but stops when he performs their secret whistle. He knows all about the secret whistle and says Nat talked about her all the time. Clint tells her about the things he learned from Nat and says her sister loved her and always wanted her safe. Yelena believes she could’ve changed it if she had been there, but Clint says nothing was going to stop her.

Clint believes they’re going to have to find a way to live with the choice Natasha made. Both say they loved her so much before Yelena puts up her weapon and helps Clint to his feet. When the police search the toy store, Kingpin is already gone. Maya tracks him down with the intention of killing him. He tries to talk her out of it, but we hear the gunshot that likely killed him. Grills and the others talk to the cops in hopes of ensuring the right people are arrested. Wendy tries to convince Jack to get involved in LARPing since he is good with a sword. Clint sits with Kate and tells her you sometimes come across someone who makes you better. He jokes that it is Missy and the suit she made for him. Kate is told he is proud of her for taking on Kingpin and surviving since many wouldn’t. They agree they need to walk the dog. Then, we jump forward at Clint arrives at home. Laura (Linda Cardellini) and the kids are happy to see him. Kate gets out of the vehicle and brings Lucky the dog with her.

The kids are happy their father kept his promise and will spend Christmas with them after all. The family is quickly introduced to Lucky and Kate. Clint surprises his wife by giving her the Rolex watch. Then, he asks Kate to help him with something real quick. They go out to the grill and burn the old Ronin suit with Kate lighting the fire. Kate asks what he thinks about her superhero name ideas such as Lady Hawk and Hawk Eye. Clint doesn’t like any of those names. They head back inside as the episode ends.

 

Hawkeye Review

Hawkeye hasn’t been perfect and even the finale had some questionable scenes, but it wasn’t bad as a whole. The two things that irked me in the finale were the way Eleanor easily ran over Kingpin even though the vehicle was turned in a different direction and how easy it was for Maya to find Kingpin later. While not revolutionary, the finale did a good job of wrapping up the story and solidifying the partnership between Clint and Kate.

I also appreciate that they didn’t try to create a drawn-out series with 8 or 10 episodes since 6 episodes were perfect. Kids and fans of the franchise will likely enjoy the Hawkeye mini-series. Plus, it is less than six hours making it an easy watch for anyone looking for something a little less serious. The finale deserves a 7 out of 10. All Hawkeye recaps are now available on Reel Mockery here.