After briefly teasing him in Episode 3, directing duo Bert and Bertie brought Kingpin into the mix in last week’s episode of Hawkeye. The big boss made a brief appearance in the episode’s closing moments when it was revealed that Kate’s mom was acquainted with him (it was also revealed that she hired Yelena to kill Clint, which seems like something we all should have known by then).
The “how” of the reveal, the grainy still frame from a video sent to Kate by Yelena, was a major point of conversation following the episode. Bertie addressed the intro and its fulfillment of all the theories fans shared online leading up to it:
We kinda loved that it was this grainy, grainy impression of him and just confirms everyone’s suspicions because there have been lots of theories and that one’s been the outstanding theory about who this was. It’s Marvel. There’ve been different iterations of how Kingpin was revealed and this is the one that served the story, to hold him back to the very end of five.
Bert expounded on Bertie’s thoughts, saying, “There’s something about the simplicity of the simple tease,” said Bert about revealing the connection between Kingpin and Eleanor before cutting away at the end of Episode 5. “It was an interesting twist that she was there in the room with Kingpin,” she added, before teasing that the “possibilities are endless.”
Of course, now that Kingpin has finally been revealed, the big question is whether or not this character is the same one fans met on the the Netflix’s Daredevil. Turns out Marvel is in no hurry to answer that question for fans. When asked by Insider if Fisk was the same Fisk from Daredevil, Bertie replied, “Tune in on Wednesday for episode six.” And so we wait one more week.
Disney+ has been seeing quite a bit of growth that made it a strong competitor. While Netflix still dominates the market, especially in the United States, the offerings based on existing IPs have been a strong marketable focus for the Disney-owned service. Marvel Studios and Star Wars offerings are at the forefront, but there is a stronger shift since their big cinema releases are making their way to the platform.
Overall, Disney+ has grown to a competitive size within a short period of time. It’s uncertain what the future has in store for it, as they try to find new ways to grow, but expansion is still at the forefront of most of these offerings. Netflix also has the advantage of beings years in the market but has been pushing much more to expand its IP collection. We’ll see what the future has in store for this competitive market.
With Vincent D’Onofrio and Charlie Cox reprising their respective roles as Kingpin and Matt Murdock this week and rumors swirling that other cast members from the Netflix Defenders-verse series might join them, we decided to take a look at who should come back and who should be left behind. Note that this is not all-encompassing and that there’s no real metric here, much less any consistency. Sometimes we want the actor and not the role; other times we want the role but not the actor; other times we want neither. To make it easy, we cast a verdict on each character: recast the role, reboot the character with the same actor, retire the character or have the same actor reprise the same role. Because the world is hard, sometimes had to pick more than one.
The Big 4
Each of the following actors led at least 2 seasons of a solo series on Netflix as well as popping up in either Defenders or another series.
Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle Whether or not Marvel Studios plans on using the Punisher in the near future is certainly a great topic for debate, but that debate is for another day. The topic here is whether or not Bernthal is the man for the job should they chose to bring the character into the MCU and, fortunately, there’s not much of debate to be had. As he almost always does, Bernthal inhabited the role of Castle in a way that many actors just couldn’t do. If we are going to see the Punisher again, it has to be Bernthal. Verdict: Reprise
Mike Colter as Luke Cage Colter is a case of Netflix missing the mark on why they cast the character. Colter is a solid actor. His work on CBS’s Evil has been excellent; however, he seems to be, in general, more comfortable in roles that require a more subdued persona and, to me, that’s just not Luke Cage. If Cage is coming back, the actor has to have BIG energy and charisma. The man lead the New Avengers and as much as I love Colter, I can’t see him effectively convincing Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel that they should be following his orders. Verdict: Recast
Finn Jones as Danny Rand In a shared universe that includes Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi, there’s simply no place for Jones as the Iron Fist. While part of the problem with the character was the way he was written (Rand should be able to kick multiple asses all the time without ever having to use the Iron Fist), it’s impossible to give Jones a pass. He notably didn’t want to train and he’s also just not that great of an actor. If they give Rand another chance, it has to be with another actor. Verdict: Recast
Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones Ritter’s situation is nearly the opposite of Colter’s in that the role of Jones fits her specific talents incredibly well. She looks the part and believably acts the part. While the series ended on a really poor note, Ritter’s time as the character would make it incredibly hard to imagine someone else in the role. Verdict: Reprise
The Supporting Cast
Each of these characters played a major, supporting role in at least one season of the Defenders-verse series.
Vondie Curtis-Hall as Ben Urich After giving one of the best performances in Season 1 of Daredevil, Curtis-Hall didn’t get a chance to come back in the role because, well, Kingpin killed off the character. One of the best cases we can make for why the Netflix series should not be canon is so Curtis-Hall can return in a role that could expand beyond Daredevil’s stories and into the greater MCU. Verdict: Reprise
Rosario Dawson as Clarie Temple Keep the actress, ditch the character. Dawson is lights out in pretty much everything she does. Fans would love to see her jump into a bigger role like Mahershala Ali, who starred in Luke Cage, was able to do. Sorry, Claire, you stay behind, but bring Rosario into the MCU in a new role. Verdict: Retire
Scott Glenn as Stick One of the most unforgivable offenses made by Netflix over the course of their Defenders-verse series was their portrayal of the Hand. As Charles V. has said over and over again, “it’s really hard to screw up undead ninjas”, but they did it. If there’s one Daredevil-centric thing they could fix that would really spice up the whole MCU, it’s the Hand. And if the Hand is back, Stick should be back and if we’re getting Stick, it’s gotta be Scott Glenn. Verdict: Reboot
Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson Foggy is such an important part of the story of Matt Murdock that he absolutely must be involved in whatever stories are told going forward. Henson, however, never seemed the right fit and it’s almost certain a recast would land better with fans. Verdict: Recast
Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing Henwick was one of the brightest stars over the two seasons of Iron Fist. It was recently revealed that she had to pass on a role in Shang-Chi in order to land her role in the upcoming Matrix sequel, so obviously Marvel Studios is keen to work with her again. Henwick should absolutely be in the MCU. Whether that’s as Collen Wing or in another role is the question. Should she enter into the MCU in another role, that would really make it hard to consider Iron Fist “canon”, however. There is certainly a great Daughters of the Dragon story to be tole with Wing and Misty Kinght, should they want to keep Henwick in a version of the same role. Verdict: Reprise
Simone Missick as Misty Knight Speaking of…Missick was dynamite as Misty Knight, bringing some of the charisma to Luke Cage that Colter did not. Seeing Missick return as Knight, perhaps to team up with Sam Wilson as she has recently in the comics would be fantastic. Verdict: Reprise
Debra Ann Woll as Karen Page The vote here is no, but not for the reasons you might think. Woll was great as Karen Page. She was better than great. But as the story of Matt Murdock/Daredevil moves on, Marvel Studios would be wise to move away from the dark, Frank Miller inspired arcs that we integral to the Netflix series and adapt some other authors’ work. Modern day runs by Charles Soule and Mark Waid would top the list and wouldn’t require more of Page, a character whose continued story would only continue to drag Matt through Hell. Verdict: Retire
Elodie Yung as Elektra Yung checked all the boxes as Elektra: sleek, sexy, dangerous and talented. If they should choose to do another story with the Hand or just with Elektra, it’d be hard to find someone who both looked and played the part as well as Yung. Bring her back! Verdict: Reprise
The Villains
Wilson Bethel as Bullseye Bethel’s time as Bullseye was just getting started when the plug was pulled on the Defenders-verse. He gave a great portrayal and would be fully capable of holding his own on screen again with Cox. Bring back Bullseye and bring back Bethel. Verdict: Reprise
Alice Eve as Typhoid Mary Eve seemed like an out of place casting at the time, but she did fine in the role. Moving forward, however, it seems appropriate to have an entirely different version of the character and I don’t think anyone would be upset to see a new actress in the role. Verdict: Rebootand Recast
Bob Gunton as Leland Owlsley Love Gunton, but he was playing the comic book Owl in the same way that Fra Fee is playing comic book Kazi, which is to say not at all. There is certainly room for the Owl in this newly carved out corner of organized crime in the MCU, but not for this version. A younger actor and totally different characterization are in order. Verdict: Rebootand Recast
Theo Rossi as “Shades” Alvarez You might think that with all the characters and actors we didn’t include on the list, that Rossi is a surprise. He might be but his son, Victor Alvarez, could join the MCU’s other young heroes down the road. Rossi was creepy and slimy in the role. It would only be a bit part if he came back, so let’s see him back so we can get to his much more important offspring. Verdict: Reprise
David Tennant as Purple Man Tennant joins D’Onofrio and Ali in the trinity of great Defender-verse performances as villains. Ali has moved into the MCU in larger role as Blade. D’Onofrio is back. It might be a stretch to bring Purple Man into the current MCU unless the want to do the big Breakout arc from New Avengers, but getting Tennant back on board in that role or any other would be fantastic. Verdict: Reprise
Wil Traval as Nuke Nope. Give us a real Nuke in a future Cap movie. Scrap the actor and forget the character ever existed. Verdict: Reboot and Recast
Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna Zurer was fire as Vanessa. Both the actress and the character were amazing. However, the MCU’s Kingpin isn’t going to have 13 hours of time to tell a bunch of personal stories, so unfortunately, unless we get a Kingpin series, neither Zurer or Vanessa need to make the jump. Verdict: Retire
Make sure to sound off in the comments on who you’d like to see reprise their roles and who you think should be left behind.
So far, Hawkeye has been quite an enjoyable entry in the MCU’s ever-expanding library. It offers a more grounded storyline as Clint Barton faces the underbelly of New York City while having to take care of a young protégé. Kate Bishop joins him in his fight, as we explore his time as Ronin and the regret that is included with it, as well as the loss of his closest friend. Of course, can’t forget the addition of Yelena Belova to follow up her story from Black Widow and the confirmation of Vincent D’Onofrio‘s return as Wilson Fisk.
There’s a lot to unpack going into the finale and it seems the team behind the series is very aware of this. As it seems the upcoming sixth episode may be the longest of any Marvel Studios series. According to Amit Chaudhari, who has reported the length of episodes in the past, the final episode will not only be the longest of the series but also every Disney+ entry so far at 59 minutes.
It now dethrones Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s fifth episode “Truth” which clocked in at around 58 minutes. Keep in mind that depending on where you live, the credits are longer or shorter due to the international voice cast also getting included. Still, it’s an impressive length and hopefully a sign that we’re in for quite a lot. We still haven’t met Fisk in this series, as he was only showcased through an image on a phone. So, not only do we have to resolve the storylines set-up through both Hawkeyes, Maya Lopez, and the mysterious watch, but also get introduced to the series’ actual villain. It’ll be interesting to see how they wrap it all up with a nice bow.
After an Episode 3 tease, the closing moments of Episode 5 of Hawkeye officially introduced Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin into the series as an acquaintance of Eleanor Bishop. Called by name by Clint Barton, Kingpin is the big boss behind the Tracksuits and the “Uncle” of Maya Lopez. Kingpin, as it turns out, is a lot of things but the one thing he is not is the same character from the three seasons of Netflix’s Daredevil.
When he was first introduced in Season 1 of Daredevil in 2015, Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, was already a major player in the organized crime scene of New York City. Season 1 ended with Fisk in prison from where he began to suspect that Matt Murdock and Daredevil where one in the same. Fisk worked over agent Nadeem, found his way out of Ryker’s and was eventually freed and reunited with is love, Vanessa. The series wrapped following a major fight between Murdock and Fisk that ended with Fisk on his way to prison, again, his organization dismantled and Murdock having enough evidence to make sure Fisk would never see the light of day again, much less regain his status as Kingpin.
The events of Daredevil Season 3 took place in 2018, shortly before the events of Avengers: Infinity War. We know this Fisk wasn’t Blipped and that at some point between 2018 and 2023, he was a big deal in organized crime in New York and known as Kingpin. While a reasonable argument could be made that Fisk was broken out of prison during that time, him moving around in the open in 2024 and continuing to operate as Kingpin would represent a complete and utter failure on the part of Matt Murdock. By the time Hawkeye takes place in 2024, even if Murdock had been Blipped, he surely could have brought forth enough evidence to get Fisk back behind bars. More to the point, if following the Blip, Fisk was still actively running crime in New York where the one man who could bury him was around (we don’t know if Murdock was Blipped, but we know he’s around at the same time) he’d be a pretty incompetent Kingpin of crime. If this Kingpin is the Netflix Kingpin, the MCU Daredevil is already a moron…and so is the MCU Kingpin.
Of course fans of the Netflix character came out in droves today to point out just how much this Kingpin looks like the version who rocked the white suits in Daredevil. That version of the character was more of an all-white suit type of guy and, though it’s potato cam quality, that’s not they style of this all-new, all-different version of the character; the version we kind of saw today seemed to be more of an ascot-sporting, cane-wielding and quite possibly shade-of-purple pants wearing type of guy, much like the classic comic book version of the character. I’m not going to go back and rewatch all 39 episodes to make sure, but I don’t recall that Fisk being a fan of neckwear, which he certainly has as part of his ensemble here.
On the topic of style, Daredevil’s Wilson Fisk was a big cuff link guy. As seen below, he owned two dozen or so pairs of the handy accessories but, as you might remember, fancied one particular pair that he picked off the corpse of his dead father.
The first tease of this all-new, all-different version of Kingpin came in Episode 3 and, funny enough, they made sure to give us a look at this version’s cuff links.
And, as it turns out, not only was he not wearing his favorite pair (who doesn’t love wearing stuff that reminds them of the day they murdered their dad with a hammer?), he wasn’t wearing any of those in his possession last time we saw him. If the creators of Hawkeye wanted to send a VERY clear message to the fans of the Netflix Daredevil series, those cuff links would have been on FULL display in that tease. They weren’t because this isn’t that guy.
What Hawkeye has introduced is (as Loki taught us) a Variant of the character fans met in Daredevil. From what’s been revealed, Fisk didn’t seem to be returning to the “throne” during the Blip; it seems much more likely that he used that time to establish himself as the Kingpin by eliminating the remaining competition, including his best, good friend Willie Lopez. It’s important to note that it only benefits Marvel Studios to continue to obfuscate whether or not this Fisk and the Murdock that appears in Spider-Man: No Way Home are the same characters from the Netflix series. The hype, the discussion and debate only fan the flames of fandom. Maybe next week will deliver a clear answer, but don’t be surprised if the truth isn’t revealed until She-Hulk, or Echo, or never. But for now, there’s certainly enough evidence to rationally argue that Hawkeye has introduced a new version of a classic comic book character whose story is JUST getting started.
Finally, after a long wait, Vincent D’Onofrio has made his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While some still believe that the upcoming adaptation will be a soft reboot for the character, there are some curious hints at his character potentially being the same we last saw during Daredevil‘s third season. With Charlie Cox‘s Matt Murdock set to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the upcoming reintroduction of the Netflix characters might finally confirm that the final season of the series is canon.
Let’s start with the most obvious connection. While not in person, we got our first look at D’Onofrio’s Fisk through a video taken by Yelena Belova. The video quality seems a bit off, but what we can make out is that he’s wearing a similar suit that he wore during the final season of the original series. He has a white suit with a black shirt underneath, which offered a modern take on his comic book version. He seems to be rocking the same style.
Speaking of, Hawkeye also calls him by the same name that he got during that season. In the first season, Fisk tried very hard to keep his name out of everyone’s mouth. Hell, a man killed himself because he accidentally let that slip and put him on Matt Murdock’s radar. It wasn’t until the final season that he was given a codename Kingpin. Of course, there is the question of how the name that was given to him by Agent Poindexter, the future Bullseye, managed to find its way into the public, but he might’ve loved the weight it could carry.
So, there are quite a few hints that this is, indeed, a continuation of the original series and hopefully also means we won’t have to wait long for Wilson Bethel to also make a return given the set-up that was left open during the final scene of the series. Of course, Fisk and Murdock’s return does open up the question of when we can expect their arrival and eventual clash. He was arrested during the finale and lost everything, but if Daredevil vanished for five years due to the snap, he had enough time to rebuild his empire without his arch-nemesis being the wiser. Here’s hoping we get some hints in the finale.
Long before fans were introduced to her in Hawkeye, plans were already in place for Maya Lopez to have her own series. That series, Echo, was officially announced on 2021’s Disney Plus Day, but had been revealed by the trades months earlier. Hollywood newcomer AlaquaCox impressed the Marvel Studios brass early on and will star in the series, tentatively set to go into production next April ahead of a likely 2023 release. While Echo still has a role to play in the conclusion of the events of Hawkeye, Episode 5, “Ronin”, seemed to put some things in place that should dovetail nicely into Echo.
Thought it’s been obvious since he was first teased in Episode 3, Episode 5 finally put a name and a face to Maya’s “Uncle”: Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio. Kingpin in the biggest and most important piece on the board. In Episode 5, Clint reveals to Maya that her father’s death at his hands was the result of a setup by Kingpin, who used an informant to tip off Clint to the location of the Tracksuits. While it takes a little more convincing to make Maya believe that Kingpin could have set up her father to be murdered, it’s clear by the end of the episode that Maya’s life is about to head in a totally different direction.
That extra convincing she needs comes, unfortunately, from an unwitting acknowledgement of the set up by the person closest to her: Kazi. It’s not explicitly stated in the episode, but it’s heavily implied that Kazi may have in fact been the informant that Fisk used to tip off Clint. When pressed by Maya about why someone is his position within the Tracksuits wasn’t at the meeting where her father and others were killed, Kazi gives a half-baked excuse that Maya clearly doesn’t buy. In a short span of time, Maya is faced with the realization that she’s been betrayed by the two people closest to her.
As the conversation between Clint and Maya points out, the two characters are similar: deadly weapons pointed at other people. Throughout the series, Maya has been pointed at Clint and Kate; the revelations of Episode 5 will clearly give her new targets, but it seems unlikely given everything a show about Hawkeye(s) has left to accomplish, that fans will have a satisfying conclusion to Maya’s new arc. Rather it seems that Episode 5 serves to set the table for Maya’s continued story in Echo.
The most pressing unresolved issues for the Hawkeyes all now revolve around Kate’s mom, Eleanor Bishop, who was (in the least surprising twist in modern history) revealed to be the series’ “big bad.” Episode 5 revealed who was on the other end of that phone call Eleanor made last week (Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Val) and that she is in business with Kingpin. If that’s not bad enough, she was willing to throw her fiance, loveable doofus Jacques Duquesne, under the bus to save herself! Eleanor is no small fish and while the end of her story in Hawkeye will involve Kingpin and the Tracksuits, it’s her story and the impact it’ll have on Kate that should be the focus of Episode 6. Maya’s new path will certain and obviously intersect with Kate’s (a since-deleted set pic of Maya with Clint proves this), but it now seems much more likely that her involvement in the big “end battle” will more than likely set up her spinoff series and the villains in it.
When Maya and Kazi part ways in Episode 5, it’s not on good terms. Maya knows he betrayed her and Kazi, who’s much more perspicacious than the rest of the Tracksuits, knows that she knows. With the final battle set to involve Kate, Clint, Maya and the Tracksuits, Maya and Kazi seem destined to face off and Maya is going to have a whole lot of anger to take out on Kazi. This could well become the origin story for Kazi as the Clown. As for Fisk, it’s entirely unlikely that his hands get dirty here. Yes, we’ll see more of him in Episode 6, but it would be very unlike him to get tangled up in a very public fight that ties him to a criminal organization: he wouldn’t be much of a Kingpin if he was involved every time his goons get beat up. That points to him getting to walk away from this and, along with Kazi, being on Maya’s shit list heading into Echo. Unfortunately for Maya, that means she’ll be on his shit list, too, and that’s pretty exciting because Fisk has all sorts of criminals on his payroll that he could send after Maya. I won’t tell anyone if you won’t, but at one point in time, Echo was casting for two white, female roles, one of whom was described as a criminal and one of whom who sure sounded like another criminal. Leaving Fisk to be developed further in Echo is a good, albeit frustrating choice for the studio, that allows for him to continue to be a looming menace until he’s ready for a big-time showdown, perhaps in a future Spider-Man film.
Ultimately, Hawkeye will do exactly what is was intended to do for Maya Lopez. The character will have a redemption arc and get set on her new path ahead of her own series. While fans might feel slighted at her story not being resolved within the confines of Hawkeye’s 6 episodes, they also have to remember that Marvel Studios is in the business of pumping out content and resolving every story, every time doesn’t lend itself well to that.
The fifth episode of Hawkeye has finally arrived and includes quite a few great moments. Florence Pugh‘s return as Yelena Belova is quite the highlight as we get to spend some time with her, but she isn’t the only major return of the episode. While a bit underwhelming, as it was through a surprisingly bad quality video – Val should get Yelena a better burner phone – we finally got the confirmation that all the teases so far were indeed for the reveal of Vincent D’Onofrio‘s Wilson Fisk. He even seems to be wearing an outfit similar to the one he had in Daredevil‘s third season. He also seems to be holding a cane in his hand, which he frequently had in the comics.
When we first heard his chuckle in the third episode, it seemed that his return was a definite at some point in Hawkeye. The actor sharing the series and his excitement for it also helped add more to his potential return. While we still have to wait a week until he has a speaking role (hopefully), it’s great to finally get a confirmation and it’s quite the tease. Interestingly enough, Hawkeye doesn’t mention Fisk by his name but by the name many comic fans know, the Kingpin. While it was strange we didn’t get a post-credit sequence, I did quite enjoy the visual of him hanging over our two heroes to highlight the danger he represents.
It’s going to be a lot in the finale and here’s hoping the series can tie it all together, especially with D’Onofrio getting quite a bit more attention after all that build-up. As what Kate got from Yelena was a video, it seems very likely that we’ll start off the next episode watching the video alongside them. We did get quite a few flashbacks in this series. So, perhaps we’ll also get one teasing Fisk’s involvement in the past and it’ll be interesting to see how the watch storyline might connect to the bigger picture.
Hawkeye Episode 5 expanded upon the last episode’s theme of rich character development and in-series world-building, but it fell short of providing a strong platform into the finale. While the penultimate episode certainly took its time to gather a lot of pieces of the big-picture puzzle, the final episode of the short series is left to try and resolve virtually every plotline already in existence as well as provide all of the Kingpin content it has teased.
What Ronin set out to achieve it did beautifully. There were several standout conversations and one-on-one moments that invoked emotion arguably better than the series has done previously. Florence Pugh’s witty Yelena was easily one of the biggest highlights and received much of the episode’s focus. While her “girl’s night” with Kate highlighted the chemistry between the two characters, the look at Yelena’s own blip was an intense opening to Ronin that set the tone for a grief-filled episode. Eleanor and Kate had a moving moment where Vera Farmiga puts in quite a compelling performance as a concerned mother which is impeccably timed with the late but unsurprising reveal that she likely is on the wrong side of the criminal line.
Clint also has moments dripping with desperation and loss. Learning that the Black Widow was Natasha’s sister Yelena sent him into another spiral of guilt over Natasha’s sacrifice. There’s a simple but moving moment where he talks to an Avengers commemoration plaque as if it were her in silence. But mourning quickly turns to action as Clint wastes little time in going on the offensive to defend his family. Through another Linda Cardellini phone call, Clint explains that he has to end it or else the “big guy” might get involved. Laura Barton is again strangely supportive, lending a lot of credit to the theory that she is an ex-agent of some kind herself. This episode marks Clint moving away from much of his self-deprecating attitude and into a much more confidently self-aware place.
The result is Clint revealing to Maya that not only is he Ronin, but that Maya’s “Uncle” is who wanted her father dead. This weaves itself into strong moments between Kazi and Maya, where his comforting protective instinct towards her starts to look twisted after it’s implied that he had a part in Maya’s father’s death. Still, the two have strong chemistry, and it’s a bit of a shame the series didn’t show more of it. The Clint-Maya confrontation represented the only action of the episode, leaving Episode 3 as the leader of the series in that respect, by far.
While Hawkeye can pull off quieter, investigative storylines, it has been teasing more over the course of its run. Episode 5 was in a prime position to kick off an intense action-packed ending to the series, but it curiously kept the slower pace of the last episode throughout. The much-awaited “reveal” was a bit of a letdown. While the name “Kingpin” has finally been dropped, it came via a less-than-dramatic line from Clint that the man in a very low-quality cellphone photo with Kate’s mom was “the guy [he’s] been worried about: Kingpin.” Yes, it was Vincent D’Onofrio, but it may have well been Bradley Cooper’s Rocket or Alec Mapa’s Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man—the photo would’ve looked about the same.While there’s every reason to believe D’Onofrio will be a star in the finale, his reveal was not particularly exhilarating.
Ronin set up virtually all of the series’ plotlines on a silver platter to be resolved or concluded. The tracksuit mafia’s vendetta against Clint/Ronin, Yelena’s quest to kill Clint, Jack’s criminal ties, Eleanor’s criminal ties, Kingpin’s overarching role in all of it, Clint and Kate’s relationship, Grills’ safety, and Clint getting home for Christmas. The problem is that the finale is forced to take on all of it in, presumably, the same general run time that the rest of the episodes have been allotted. While Hawkeye has been very successful in developing strong, compelling characters, delivering interesting and emotional arcs for them, it has yet to truly prove its ability to handle its own overarching storyline. Hopefully, the finale manages to streamline its moving pieces while capitalizing on the character work the series has worked hard to execute.
As Episode 4 of Hawkeye, “Partners, Am I Right?” got started, the situation between Jacques and Clint was solved very quickly and they end up having a nice little tea party. During this episode, we learn that Jacques is basically a huge moron and that Kate’s mom might actually be the one pulling all of the strings behind the scenes, not him. Clint’s attempts to wrap up the Ronin business leads him to Kazi to try and make him convince Maya that she is chasing a ghost. Clint also goes in search of a mysterious watch that might hint at something about Laura being something, or someone, we never expected.
Kate’s mom made a phone call almost directly after Clint left her house; after this phone call Yelena shows up and attacks Clint. We know that Yelena was sent after Clint by Val, but I’m thinking this might mean that the phone call Kate’s mom made may have been to Val. Kate’s mom doesn’t really seem to be who we thought she was. Kate and Clint also get a chance to do a lot more bonding when Kate saves Christmas. As they talked, Kate asked Clint what the best shot he ever took was and Clint replied “the one I didn’t take”, referring to when he saved Nat. Closer to the end of the episode, when Kate had the perfect shot to kill Yelena, she chose not to which was a pretty cool parallel. The question is will Kate’s decision turn out well, like Clint’s, or will Yelena go cuckoo and make Kate regret it? After bonding during the “Christmas party”, sadly Clint and Kate seem to be splitting up following the big rooftop battle. Clint wants Kate to stay out of this fight but we all know Kate WON’T allow that.
Arlyn’s Assumptions
As we are coming close to the end of the season and something HUGE is about happen. We know from the trailers that the black-tie party is coming up (maybe the Bishop holiday party Kate’s mom was planning) and we also know that at some point Kingpin is going to pop in. I’m assuming that party is a great place for him to make his BIG entrance. We also know there is going to be a huge fight on an ice rink. Alaqua Cox shared a BTS picture from that scene that showed Maya wearing a purple costume and working with the Hawkeyes. What made her switch sides and turn on her “Uncle”? I’m guessing we’ll find out really soon.
The Episode 5 of Hawkeye streams tomorrow!
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Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
Pinterest Tag is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
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