Much like Natasha, we finally get a project centered around Clint Barton nearly a decade after his debut in 2011’s “Thor.” By this point, Clint has retired for real this time and is planing to have a nice Christmas vacation with his family. All of that changes when he meets Kate Bishop, a young woman who idolizes the former Avenger, but accidentally gets mixed up with the Tracksuit Mafia. Wanting to keep Kate safe, Clint bands together with her to uncover shocking mysteries and take the criminals down before the holidays come. 

Pro/Con #1: The Characters

One thing I admire the most about this show are how they’ve written a couple characters. One such character that comes to mind is Maya Lopez. Even though the woman is deaf, she fights just as well as if she could hear. The authority she carries over the other Tracksuits is awesome, as I love how she doesn’t put up with any of their nonsense and demanding they shape up. Plus, her backstory is very fascinating. In those flashbacks, she’s seemingly an ordinary child. But then we see her train to the point where she’s a lethal fighting machine, trained by her yakuza father. Finally, it was very cool to see her story tie in to Hawkeye’s activities as the Ronin, which would fuel her anger and give her high stakes in the coming episodes of this series. However, as interesting as Maya is, I find the relationship between Clint and Kate to be one of my favorite parts of this season. Before the pair met, Clint was seriously put through the ringer. His family turned to dust, he killed bad guys for five years, and he had to watch his best friend sacrifice herself to save the universe. Even though he got his family back, he was never quite the same after that. Therefore, it felt just as heartwarming watching him interact with Kate. It already helps that Kate is similar enough to Clint, at least in terms of skill and determination. However, over time, Kate helps Clint to start opening up and allowing himself to be vulnerable. Even when Clint feared for her safety and even “fires” her to do that, he eventually stops babying her and accepts her as her partner and the new Hawkeye. This character development is not one-sided though, as Clint also helps Kate grow as well. Aside from the usual “superhero mentor teaches young sidekick” dynamic, Clint also inspires her to concentrate and take things more seriously. She can’t just go in arrows blazing, especially not with childish fan-girl enthusiasm; lives are in danger, including her own. Thankfully, Kate accepts that lesson and is even bold enough to not only take on Kingpin, but also find the courage to arrest her mother even though it had to hurt. Basically, Kate and Clint helped each other heal, grow, and become better people; and I am all the more here for it! 

Overall, however, I couldn’t help but feel like the overall characters were a bit dull. Take Clint, for example. After his setup as Ronin, and all the horrible things he’s done as Ronin, one would think this show might have at least a slightly darker tone. Instead, we see Clint as if this show took place before Endgame: calm and focused. While it’s true that he was going through a lot, and hiding those feelings from the world, it still felt like a step down compared to the version of Hawkeye we saw in Endgame. Further, it appears that there were no personal stakes for Clint to make the story latch onto us. Sam Wilson had to cope with the loss of Steve and what it truly means to be Captain America, Loki learned to love people again and sacrifice himself for the greater good, and even Wanda had to dig in her heels and cope with her overwhelming grief. Even though Clint would find some stakes in Kate and also Yelena, it just doesn’t feel as high or personal compared to the previously mentioned heroes. Moving on, though, I really need to address the villains in this show. First of all, the Tracksuit Mafia? Really? That’s what we’re going with? A bunch of Russian guys in brightly colored tracksuits? Personally, I found it admittedly unique but overall very stupid. I mean, who’s gonna fear a bunch of guys in silly tracksuits? Further, if Kingpin is leading those guys, the general vibe just doesn’t match that of someone like Wilson Fisk. Speaking of whom, I personally feel like his introduction into the MCU (before the canonization of Daredevil) was a bit out of place. Having someone who’s normally the enemy of Spider-Man or Daredevil feels a bit weird seeing in a show about Hawkeye. Even though they did a good job hinting at him in the show, a villain with an infamous reputation in the comics feels improper to be leading a bunch of idiots in colorful jumpsuits. This is especially because I’ve recently been catching up on the original Daredevil show, and that Kingpin carried so much more presence and his goons were actually intimidating. If I saw a bunch of guys in low-budget Power Rangers costumes charging at me, I’d spend a minute laughing before the fear would kick in. 

Pro/Con #2: The Story

Overall, I really appreciate what they’ve done with Hawkeye in this story. Again, the guy has experienced one of the darkest moments in MCU history and kept it all to himself for years. However, that’s what makes me appreciate the story all the more when Kate enters the picture. I could make jokes about how annoyingly clingy Kate was throughout this whole show, but that’s actually what helped Clint the most. Even though he was already a father of three kids, he was still (for the most part) emotionally distant from them at the beginning of the show. When Kate worked with Clint, she brought that upbeat, social butterfly energy with her persistent questions and suggestions. As annoying as it was for him, it helped Clint exercise patience as he wanted this partnership to work. More than that, her chaotic behavior channeled his fatherly side by driving him to constantly protect and mentor her. By the end, she was a worthy successor to the mantle of “Hawkeye,” and Clint would regain the lighter parts of himself thanks to Kate. Still, Kate wouldn’t be the sole factor in Clint’s healing, because Natasha’s sister would unwittingly play a huge role in his recovery. After Yelena returns (picking up from the end credits scene from the Black Widow movie), she immediately guns for Clint after believing he killed Nat. Of course, Clint would defend himself, but Yelena still blamed him. Only until he shared Nat and Yelena’s secret whistle that he proved he wasn’t guilty, and was able to talk her down. Yelena may have come for blood, but she forced Clint to finally face a horrible moment he’s tried desperately to ignore. Instead of talking about and coming to terms with it, Clint always shouldered his way through that traumatic event as if everything was fine. Thankfully, Clint would finally share and ultimately let go of that burden, but he would also help Yelena heal from her own pain as well. This whole season has just been a healing journey for Hawkeye, and I am absolutely here for it!

Yet in spite of such a heartwarming character growth, the story itself just felt “okay” to me. It wasn’t bad by any stretch, but looking back on this show now, I can’t help but find it boring. While I understand that this is a mini-series, and Hawkeye isn’t a guy who normally faces insane threats outside of Avengers titles; the stakes just didn’t feel high or personal enough. After all, Clint’s family is safely far away from danger. Why should he have to worry about them? Plus, even though he does care about Kate, he just met the kid, so it doesn’t fully resonate with the audience as a high stake. Furthermore, the bad guys posed no real threat at all. From what I could see, all the Tracksuit Mafia did was chase after Clint and Kate, and later Kate’s mother after breaking off her partnership with Kingpin. It should also be noted that Kingpin was going to organize the Tracksuits to “remind everyone who this city belongs to,” but it just sounds like a stereotypical bad guy order. Yes, lives were in danger, but what was even the plan? How were they going to attack the city? What was the end goal? In contrast, consider characters like Falcon or Loki. Falcon had to rescue dozens of senators and politicians from imminent danger, plus he deeply resonated with Karli Morgenthau and wanted to help her. Loki, on the other hand, had not only the multiverse but his dearest and closest friends to save or else die with the TVA. But with Hawkeye, none of those elements were there. Sure, he had some history with Maya, but not a deep connection like Falcon and Karli. Also, the city was in danger, but without the aforementioned coordination, was the city actually in danger? Basically, it just felt like a bland, stereotypical superhero cartoon with not a lot of depth to it. 

Pro/Con #3: The Subplots

Regardless of the straightforward plot of Clint and Kate vs the Tracksuits, there are other elements of this show that shouldn’t be dismissed. For example, consider the murder mystery that Kate unwittingly stumbled into. All Kate wanted to do was investigate further on the black market audition underneath her mother’s gala, and her trail led to the uncle of her mother’s fiancé. However, she got more than she bargained for when she finds her person of interest dead and bleeding out on the floor. While Kate and Clint work to take down the Tracksuits, they also find more clues about the murder and why it’s connected to the Mafia, eventually tying the whole thing to Kate’s own mother. A cliché move? Sure, but it’s still fascinating to see it all unfold regardless. Moving on, there’s one final thing about the subplots I love most: the flashbacks! Not only that, but how nicely they tie into the present story. My favorite example comes from the very first episode, where we get some background on Kate. When she was only a child, Loki and his Chitauri army invaded New York City. But in the midst of all that chaos, Kate got to see Clint fight and take down several aliens from a rooftop. I absolutely love when, later in the season, she tells Clint that he fought powerful beings with nothing but a bow and arrow. A regular dude with basic weaponry, fighting against pretty big odds no less, would inspire anyone. In Kate’s case, it would serve as the foundation for her very character, as she would strive to protect her family after the untimely death of her biological father during the battle. Kate may be a bit eccentric and pushy, but it’s only out of a strong desire to prevent another disaster and protect people. Even so, it’s still amazing and satisfying to see how different members of the Avengers inspire and even mentor the next generation of heroes. 

Yet, for all the good that these varying subplots possess, there’s just as much bad as well. In this case, with so many side stories happening alongside the main one, it’s all just too much at once. For instance, we’ve already got the main story with Kate and Clint vs the Tracksuit Mafia. Simple enough, even with Clint going through his healing process and Kate learning to become the new Hawkeye. However, then you add in the murder mystery that Kate stumbles into. Someone killed the uncle of Kate’s mother’s fiancé, but even though they address it a few times, it’s largely overshadowed by everything else that’s going on. Then we’ve got Maya Lopez’ own story: how she was trained as a child to be a skilled fighter, how her dad was killed by Clint, and then her in the present day chasing down Clint and Kate. All this while she tries figuring out how he died and who let it happen. As if all that wasn’t enough, we also have to squeeze in two very big characters into the finale: Yelena and Kingpin. With the setup from the end credits scene of Black Widow, of course Yelena would come after Clint. But I feel like an encounter such as this should be saved for the big screen, or at least have a 45-minute special for a longer and more emotional scene. As for the Kingpin, I recognize we need a powerful crime boss to be the villain for a mafia, but having Wilson Fisk seems like Marvel just threw in a popular and iconic character and hoped for the best. Someone as popular as Kingpin deserves more buildup or appearances, such as the original Daredevil series. Overall, with so many side stories and resolutions, it all just piles on and makes it a challenge to keep up. It’s not overwhelming, much less a way to ruin the experience, but it still comes across as careless attention to detail and lazy writing. 

Conclusion

In summary, this show isn’t Marvel’s best but it’s far from the worst. I always felt so bad for Clint during Endgame, and I shudder when I think about all the darkness he went through. All by himself, no less. So say what you will about the story or whatever else, but I’m very happy with how they resolved his character. Even after everything he’s done as the Ronin, Clint more than deserved a shot at redemption as well as a happy ending.