‘Hawkeye’ Episode 5: “Ronin” Recap and Review
Our second generation heros meet and we catch glimpse our Jolly ol’ Big Bad Boss Man In this penultimate episode
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
The worst kept secret in Hollywood has finally been confirmed as the man in white makes his return to Marvel, but as much as his appearance was supposed to “break the internet”, it was a quiet dinner of macaroni that shined the brightest. Florence Pugh entwines endearing humility with shrill honesty that raises Yelena Belova above her nefarious occupation. Having only one major outing before this scene, Pugh makes the most of her screen time as Yelena to make her as relatable as an assassin trained from adolescence can be. The episode had other highlights, including a midnight sword fight and the ascot wearing elephant in the room, but that is merely the icing on top of the Gingerbread house that Yelena built.
The episode begins with Yelena attempting to free another mind controlled Black Widow assassin. The operation turns into a big misunderstanding as they realize that her target was just a paid assassin, not brainwashed. Suddenly, Yelena dissolves into dust then re-assembles 5 years later. She learns of Thanos, the blip, and Natasha’s fate. Picking up from the last episode, Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) saunters home to lick her wounds. She finds comfort in the arms of her mother Elenore (Vera Farmiga). Together, they tend to Kate’s wounds and share a loving Mother-Daughter moment. The tender moment compels Kate to finally warn Elenore of Jack’s (Tony Dalton) sinister connections to the Tracksuit Mafia. Elenore listens and promises to look into it, then instructs Kate to return to her apartment to gather her belongings and return to stay with her. After the ruckus on the rooftop, Echo (Alaqua Cox) and Kaze (Fra Free) share a similar moment of recovery. Kaze pleads with Echo to end her pursuit of Ronin, but Echo is adamant and they plan to finally enact her revenge. Kate returns to her fire damaged apartment to find that she is not alone, Yelena Belova is waiting for her… with macaroni. The two have a heart to heart; Yelena was not only hired to kill Clint (Jeremy Renner), she blames Clint for the death of her sister, Natasha Romonov. Kate defends Clint but Yelena is persistent, she warns Kate to stay out of the way and she escapes into the night. After pushing Kate away, and with nowhere else to go, Clint turns to the noble Grills (Clayton English) from LARP for help, and a bed. Kate returns to her mother’s place to find the police leading Jack away in handcuffs. The next day, Clint finds himself at the Memorial for the Battle of New York, the birth place of the Avengers. Here Clint talks directly to Natasha, he pours his heart out to her and asks for forgiveness for his future actions. Kate spends her morning contemplating her future. She rejects Clint’s rejection and blows up his phone with calls and voice mails. Clint, however, was busy setting up his showdown with Echo. They meet in the night, at the site of her father’s demise. The Tracksuits have the are surrounded, but the Ronin clears them out one by one, leaving Echo and Ronin alone. The showdown is quick and explosive with neither party being able to dominate the other. In the end, Ronin gets her down, but doesn’t end it. He shows her his face, and Clint tells her that he was tipped off by her boss. Echo finds this hard to believe, she takes advantage and gains the upper hand, but a well-placed arrow saves Clints life and he escapes. Having lost her chance at revenge yet again, and dealing with the new information, Echo turns her suspicions towards Kaze. Kate joins up with Clint, after saving his life, and the two retreat back to the safe house. At the same time, Yelena follows Elenore Bishop around the city. As Clint and Kate strategize, Yelena sends Kate a picture of the person who hired her to kill Clint, it was her mother Elenore. And Elenore was standing next to “Uncle”, who is revealed to be Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) a.k.a. The Kingpin.
It was Elenore all along. Well, not exactly, but she is definitely behind hiring Yelena which is pretty dastardly. This confirmation puts her and Kate at odds but this was obviously not her intention. Vera Farmiga has firmly placed Elenore in the role of nefarious protector. Kate is the most important person in Elenore’s life, she has made that clear but lingering underneath that was always a sense that she was willing to do anything to protect her. Jack could still be in on it but it seems less and less likely. It will be interesting to see how Kate reacts to this truth considering that she was oblivious to her mother’s misdeeds. Another interesting interaction will be between Clint and Yelena. Clint now knows that Yelena is Natasha’s sister which complicates things quite a bit more for him and Yelena sat through Kate defending Clint full-heartedly. Clint fully has a reason to hesitate and Yelena seems to be masking some wavering as well, hopefully he survives to tell her the truth. Pugh is an absolute treat in this episode, her goofy personality contrasts so hard with the serious aspect of her work so that when the switch does flip and shows her serious side, it is impossible to look away. Echo also has some thinking to do of her own. Ronin could have killed her, but he didn’t, he told her the truth, that it was the Kingpin who wanted her father dead. Which brings us to the big reveal: the Kingpin has returned. D’Onofrio became the defining live action version of the character for many during his run in the Netflix Series ‘Daredevil’. It wouldn’t feel right with another in the role, at least while he is alive. The Kingpin has often been linked to Spider-man and the Punisher but mostly Daredevil. His utility as a villain stretches beyond those three and could be a looming threat a la Thanos for Marvel’s “street level” heroes whose numbers continue to grow.
The stage is set, the band is tuning up and the players are all ready for primetime. All the loose ends have been gathered and are ready to be tied into a neat little bow. Jeremy Renner has flexed his acting muscles all over this series and has changed more than a few minds on where he ranks as an Avenger. So, as we find ourselves on Finale’s Eve there is much to look forward to. The MCU’s second generation is shining bright, Christmas cheer is running rampant and we were blessed to bear witness to the return of our dear sweet Vince. Remember, the sooner we all go to bed, the sooner that the Tracksuits will break into our homes and ask for dating advice.