I finally got my first glimpse of the new Black Widow in this episode, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) made her debut on Hawkeye. In my review of episode three I commented that I had expected Yelena to appear, but it turns out that I was off by an episode. I never really thought about it before, but Yelena and Kate will be working together on the Young/New Avengers team we expect them to be on. The episode also had Kate finally figure out that Clint was Ronin, and surprisingly she did not feel betrayed by that knowledge. Kate supported Clint and reaffirmed her belief that he is indeed a hero, it was a smart choice for her to be positive and supportive. I also like that even though she gave her support Clint was still not going to let himself off the hook. Before Kate's mom made that mysterious phone call, there was some fun moments between Kate, her mother and Jack. I know that Laura confirmed that Jack is the CEO of a company that is laundering money for the Tracksuit Mafia, I still do not believe that he is a true villain. Jack seems like a patsy, I am starting to suspect Kate's mom is more of a threat than Jack is, I have no doubt Kate is safe, but I wonder what her mom has gotten into.
We only got a short appearance by Maya in this episode, even with that little time she is still a force to be reckoned with. With only two episodes to go I wonder how much more of Maya we will get, and that makes me think he Disney Plus show might be where she makes the move from villain to hero. That was an interesting moment when both Kate and Clint were attacked at the same time and they both thought it was Maya. That had me for a second until we the figure attacking Clint had the night vision goggles on and then I knew it had to be Yelena. The episode did a great job of keeping me interested no matter what was happening, the only dip in the episode in volved the NYC Larpers. The scene had some humor to it, but I would rather have spent that time on something more plot centric. I wonder if the Larpers will play into the finale in some way, there is a chance that they will play a crucial role since they have already had two appearances in four episodes. There are now two episodes left and I think a good chunk will be devoted to wrapping up the various plots. I think the show keeps delivering a typical MCU product, one that is fun and light with a good emotional core. Hawkeye is easily the most light-hearted of the MCU Disney Plus series so far, all of the other series could get really heavy at times and Hawkeye has kept the tone a little lighter.
A RECAP OF 'PARTNERS, AM I RIGHT?'
The episode opens with where we left off last week with Jack holding a sword to Clint's throat, it seemed more sinister at the end of the last than it is now. We find out that Kate's mother (Eleanor) was also home, and she recognizes Clint immediately. As soon as Kate's mom points out who Clint is Jack drops the sword, they then have tea where Kate refers to Clint as her partner. Eleanor wants to know why Kate is working on something with Clint, both Kate and Clint keep their investigation into Jack to themselves. Clint stares at the Ronin sword and when Clint leaves with Eleanor escorting him out, he takes the sword back. Eleanor tells Clint that Kate is not a superhero, and he should leave her out of whatever he is doing, Clint says he will keep her safe, but he can't stop what he is doing. Clint asks his wife to look into Sloan Ltd. which is the company that is associated with Kazi. Laura (Clint's wife) gives Hawkeye the update using code language (because she is with the kids) to tell him that Jack is the CEO for Sloan Ltd. and that the company is a money laundering business for the Tracksuit Mafia. Laura also tells Clint that an item (the Rolex from episode one) is missing too. Kate is talking with her mother and Jack; they are both caring for Kate, and they all share a fun moment of making fun at how Jack constantly mixes up phrases.
Clint goes back to the safe house, and he puts a bunch of frozen food products on his body to soothe all of his aches. Kate arrives and decides she will not let him miss the family fun events, she brings him an ugly Christmas sweater and a bunch of Christmas movies to watch. They decorate the tree while watching the movies and Clint teaches Kate a trick of snapping his fingers to shoot a coin to knock someone unconscious. Kate asks what his best shot was, and Clint replies it was the one he never took with Natasha. Clint explains he was sent to kill her and instead he saved her and brought her into S.H.I.E.L.D. Kate mentions that is must have been hard for him to have lost his family during the blip, she asks if that is when he met Ronin and then guesses that Clint is Ronin. Clint explains that he is a killer and a weapon, he is here to clean up his mess. They go to sleep, and while Clint is trying to sleep, he is having visions of his time as Ronin and Natasha's sacrifice. Kate asks about the trick arrows to which Clint says there are none, they realize there might be some arrows available in the police evidence lockup. Clint will go and have a chat with Kazi while Kate is to go see the NYC Larpers, and ask for their help to get the trick arrows out of evidence lockup. Kate meets the Larpers, and they agree to help them if she in turns helps them with something. Kazi goes to his car and Clint is waiting for him, Clint says that Kazi needs to convince Maya to let the Ronin thing go or she will get herself killed. Clint returns to the apartment to find it inhabited with the Larpers; Kate will supply the materials for all of them to get new costumes. Laura tells Clint where the Rolex is, Clint and Kate make their way to the location. Clint will watch from a roof while Kate goes in and gets the watch back, Clint has told her the watch is the key to identifying someone he used to work with. Kate goes against Clint's plan to infiltrate the apartment; she walks into the building helping someone with their bags. Kate enters the apartment, but she triggers a silent alarm which she silences using the putty arrows. Kate finds the watch, but then sees a note with Clint's name and his wife and children's names, Kate is in Maya's apartment. Clint is attacked on the rooftop, and Kate is attacked in the apartment by Maya. Clint thinks Maya is his attacker until Kate tells him she is fighting Maya; Clint is now fighting an unknown combatant. Kate makes her way to the rooftop using a zipline which Maya follows too, all four are fighting now. Kate is tossed off the side of the roof and she falls but is saved by another trick arrow. Clint then tells her to run and get out of here, but Kate goes by inside the building makes her way back to the roof. Kate shoots an arrow that hits Maya so Maya escapes leaving Clint and Kate battling with the masked attacker. The attacker is unmasked, and we see that it is Yelena Belova, she jumps off the side of the building and escapes. Clint aware that a Black Widow assassin is after him he tells Kate they are no longer partners, he will not permit her to be involved any further as the episode comes to a close.
'PARTNERS, AM I RIGHT?' WRAP UP
The best ending to any episode of the series so far, it not only has a great fight, but it also ups the danger level too. The introduction of Yelena was done so well, she didn't talk she was looking to take down Clint, and with Maya there too I am sure Kate saved Clint's life. All of that was over a Rolex which we still know very little about, the watch is obviously of some importance since it was an item the Tracksuit Mafia was after in episode one. Clint was very vague about who the watch belonged to, but it is something he needs to get back. Now that he has the watch, the sword and the suit his mission is complete. To protect Kate from the danger posed by having a Black Widow assassin after him, Clint is pusher away. We see in this episode that he is currently vulnerable about losing someone else he cares about, losing Natasha has wrecked him and he is now being faced with the possibility of losing Kate too. Clint does not want to lose another partner; he knows that between Maya and the Black Widow he is in trouble. It was interesting for Clint to make the assumption that the Black Widow was hired by someone to go after him. I guess it will be a shock for him when realizes who Yelena is, I get the feeling that he did not know that Natasha had a family (sort of).
Clint's attempt at getting Kazi to make Maya stand down will be a waste of time, the only way for Maya to give up her attempt at vengeance will be if she learns that Clint is Ronin. We need to learn more about Maya and where she currently stands on the Tracksuit Mafia. Is Maya there because she needs them to help her with her plan for revenge or is she there because she is a believer in them. I will say that even though the stakes seem high, they are not since we know Yelena will not kill Clint and that Maya also will not kill Clint. If there was say another villain (which might be lurking out of sight so far) after Clint/Kate things would be more tense. We still don't know who Eleanor was talking to on the phone, but I have to assume it is someone who doesn't have great intentions. Eleanor will do nothing to harm Kate, but I think she will do whatever is necessary to protect whatever it is. I do believe whatever Eleanor is involved in it will have some sort of tie to the Tracksuit Mafia; it could be that the Kingpin is who she was on the phone with. One of the things this episode brought up, but never solved was Kate's issue with the police. Kate wrote on the to do list to solve her problem with the police, which was something that did not come up since they called her, and it only came up for a few minutes there. Unless the police will have a crucial role to play before the season ends, I wonder why there was a scene with the police calling Kate at all. If the police do not have a part to play, then I think the editor messed up and left something in that could have been removed.
The action in the episode featured that fantastic fight on the roof, but there was a moment in the fight that was quite moving. When Kate fell off the roof and Clint ran to the edge to save her the musical score of the scene changed to the score in Avengers: Endgame when Clint watched as Natasha fell to her death. The change in the score to me felt that they were trying to make it clear that Clint does not want to lose Kate like he did Natasha. Seeing her life at risk like that made him realize that she is in danger being around him, so he did what he could think would save her. Kate never listened to him, and she ended up saving him, but Clint does not plan to let her help him anymore. Natasha has been brought up a lot in the series so far, her loss has really affected Clint and I do not think he has gotten over his grief yet. Clint tries to seem okay, but between his hearing loss, grief and his lack of resources he needs Kate, and he will have to trust that he can keep her safe by making sure she is as trained as possible. With only two more episodes left it will be interesting how they wrap up everything, Kate and Clint will need to get on the same page and solve some of their issues. Clint will need to deal with both Maya and Yelena, while Kate will need to find out more about Jack's involvement with the Tracksuit Mafia. The final two episodes should be very exciting, and I feel that each episode has been better than the previous episodes. I am going to give 'Partners, Am I Right?' an 8/10, the episode was good, but the final 10 minutes were the best minutes of the series so far.
Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think of the series so far.
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