Now we’re getting somewhere! Episode 5 of Hawkeye gave us a lot of great info, some of it we had guessed, but now we have confirmation. With one episode left, there’s a lot of story to wrap up. Let’s dig into what we learned in a fun episode 5. Spoilers ahead!
Yelena was Dusted
The highlight of episode 4 was the reveal that Natasha’s sister, Yelena, had been hired to kill Clint. Technically, we all knew this was coming from the end credits scene from Black Widow, but it came to fruition last week. Episode 5 kicks off by showing us a flashback with Yelena working to free more Widows from the mind control that was exposed during Black Widow. We also see her turn to dust when Thanos snapped his fingers and then reappear 5 years later. It gives a bit more rationale for why she might accept the idea that Clint is responsible for Natasha’s death.
Now she’s back, having been hired to kill Clint. A mission she was likely only to happy to accept. She visits Kate in her burned-up apartment and the two have a ‘girl’s night’ over mac-n-cheese. It’s a funny scene, playing up some of the best aspects of Yelena’s character that we got to know in Black Widow.
She is clear that Kate shouldn’t get in her way as she completes her mission. She also asks Kate how well she really knows her hero, Clint Barton. As Kate notes, she has known him for about a week. Yelena makes a statement about people being judged on what they do, not what they say or what is said about them. She then leaves, we assume to track down Clint and complete her mission.
Kate Comes to Terms with Who She is
After the last episode, Clint was very clear that Kate needs to stay away from him for her own safety. She took this pretty hard and has a heart-to-heart with her mother, Eleanor. She also reveals to Eleanor what she found about Jack being the president of the company that runs the Tracksuit Mafia. Eleanor promises to look into it.
After Kate has her encounter with Yelena, she does some soul searching and we’re pretty sure she decides that whether or not she sees herself as a ‘superhero’ or not, she does see herself as someone who takes action. She starts reaching out to Clint, leaving an amusing number of increasingly fraught voicemails,which is pretty funny.
Clint Becomes Ronin Again
Meanwhile, Clint recognizes that things are spiraling out of control and he needs to put an end to it before it bounces back on his family. While not yet confirmed, we can be pretty sure now that Clint’s wife is a former undercover SHIELD or other government agent and the Rolex will somehow reveal her identity, putting her and Clint’s kids in danger.
He is having none of that and he calls her to explain that he is going to do what he needs to do to end the threat. She agrees and essentially gives him permission to become Ronin again.
Clint then sets up a meeting with Maya. He takes out all the Tracksuit Mafia boys, including her right-hand man Kazi, and faces off with her as Ronin. She puts up a fight, but he gains the upper hand and reveals Ronin’s identity, explaining that he will let her go as long as it ends here.
If she or anyone comes after him or his family, he will finish the job. He also reveals that when he killed her father years before, that he was tipped off by an informant in the criminal organization, possibly dictated by ‘the Big Guy’ who runs the show. She doesn’t believe him and is able to briefly gain the upper hand, but Kate has been waiting in the wings and stops her with an arrow, before she can kill Clint.
Kate and clint reconnect and head back to where Clint has been hiding out with his LARPer friend to figure out their next move. Kate tells Clint that her mom looked into Jack and found the connection they discovered. She called the cops and he was arrested, although claiming he was framed.
The Big Guy
This leads us to the final big reveal of episode 5. We get a scene of Yelena following Eleanor to a building in NY. We’re not sure what’s happening her, but next thing we know, Kate gets a text from an unknown number, who we know is Yelena. She explains that she just figured out who hired her to kill Clint.
Eleanor Bishop. She then sends Kate a picture of Eleanor with another person. Clint knows who it is immediately, and so do viewers who watched Daredevil on Netflix. It’s Kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio. Yes, we have known the Kingpin reveal was coming, but it’s still cool!
So, where does this leave us with one episode to go?
Kingpin has been officially revealed as the Big Guy behind a lot of what’s going on. Eleanor is pretty obviously working for him, since she hired Yelena. I think we can assume that Jack is a dupe and Eleanor actually runs the shell company that controls the Tracksuit Mafia. This means that Eleanor was trying to get the Rolex (possibly for Kingpin) to identify Clint’s wife. Maya/Echo has doubts about Kazi and asked him why he wasn’t there for the meeting on the night her father was killed by Ronin. She doesn’t seem to really accept his explanation.
Looks like we’re headed to a showdown where Maya may confront her uncle (Kingpin) about what happened to her father. Clint and Kate are going to have to face off against Eleanor. Yelena and Clint are due for a meeting that could leave him dead. Can’t wait for episode 6! Would would have guessed that a show about Hawkeye would be this interesting?
