HANGING' WITH HAWKEYE - EP 3 - ECHOES (Patreon)

Well, that was pretty fun, right?

As always, let’s go subject by subject!

Less Clunk / Contrivance - The chief problem of last week’s episodes only shows up briefly at the beginning of this episode, perhaps once again because they have to establish some new character motivations and they want it to be really clear (the forced convo about dragons feels like the note that’s stretched in particular). BUT - as I said last week, I prefer contrived clunk to vague nonsense, because once it gets going and the conflict can just play out. And here we really get to experience a bunch of…

Fun and Games! - And when it comes to late period MCU, this is often their sweet spot? It’s the space where they can just sail into the playful stuff. And here, it’s not just the fight, but the car chase with the trick arrows in particular that feels like they’re just cutting loose and turning into the comic-book-y action (that’s a huge part of the reason we’re here in the first place). But the fun and games nature even feels true for the beats afterward. Because Clint and Kate now have an established dynamic, and here they are showing some actual vulnerability, realigning, and giving them a common objective. Yay, functional fun! But in the end, what separates Marvel A tier from Marvel B tier is that simple thematic question: can it be about something more?

Atonement - When this season started and they invoked the Ronin suit I was like, “ohhhhhh, they’re going to try to deal with the past, aren’t they?” But I only use the word try because so often Marvel will definitely hint at something thematic and then really be afraid to really dig deep with it (like how they ended up skipping over Hulk’s IW catharsis). Which, in this case, is a bit worrisome because there’s actually a pretty deep well of emotional turmoil here. I mean, Hawkeye literally went on a murderous “my family is gone” rampage because he was in a tailspin of suicidal depression (which then prompted his “no, *I* want to die contest with Black Widow). Of course, this was something that then got lost in the world saving adventure of Endgame and the family-returning relief. But there would still be immense feelings of guilt / self-hatred. So far in the show, we’ve only lightly pointed at that guilt and showed him trying to leave that part of his past behind / being afraid someone will find out. But finally in this episode the dialogue forms around “the role model” question. In general, I’m not crazy about the term, but I do get that Kate sees him that way. I also really like Renner’s performance and how he denies the charge, particularly with lines like “I remember the day I thought the same thing.” But the thing is that there needs to be REAL atonement in this story. And my greatest fear is that it will do the MCU thing and just side swipe the issues. In that his murder of Echo’s father will somehow get lip-serviced and de-emphasized, and that it will instead reframe her villainy around her commitment to revenge and his as “Hey Hawkeye, you’re a real hero after all!” without getting into the uglier parts of what’s already true - nor finding a meaningful difference in their behavior. The MCU has done it time and time again when it comes to character growth, and I’m hoping they don’t make the same mistake here - especially when we know we COULD get something like the laser-focused nature of the hero’s faults / Villain’s interiority like we did in something like Black Panther. But this actually gets us into that tricky villain question when it comes to the MCU at larger…

Echo & The Not-So-Funnymen - There is little doubt that the MCU has been really good at making fun, watchable heroes. Sure, they mostly err on the side of witty banter and snark, but the scoreboard speaks for their success. As for the villain and rogues gallery? Blurf. For every Killmonger, Loki, or Ego, I feel like there’s been a bunch of humorless dullards who mostly exist to be proverbially pantsed by our wise-crackin’ protagonists. At the same time, there’ve been a lot of middling attempts to try and make some of them have more complexity. The problem is that complexity often just comes across as muddled and / or contrived. Another great writer once communicated this idea in a now deleted tweet (they didn’t want the fanboy guff), but the MCU has had this ongoing problem of making this genuinely sympathetic villain figures who often believe in all these powerful, righteous things, but whose only real problem was “if only I didn’t love murder :(” Which basically just shows off the hollow characterization of said villains and also always leads our heroes viewpoints to this status-quo-upholding middle of the road-ism. Or worse, exposes their deep hypocrisy. So I wonder, will Echo’s revenge quest be moralized while Hawkeye’s is neglected? Will it all add up to one big: “it’s okay when I do it.” Or will the story find the human way to genuinely express these ideas and their sorrow, complete with their contradictions? But while I worry about the final landing, there was one promising little beat when it comes to the show’s handling of emotion in general…

Translation Scene - So I honestly don’t know how to talk about whether or not the show’s portrayal is playing as sensitive to deaf persons / the hearing impaired (and if you know more about this subject or have read folks who are, please sound off below). But there was an emotional moment that I thought worked really well and that was the phone call with Clint’s son. It not only brought Kate into his world in a really organic way / showed Hawkeye’s vulnerable side, it also highlighted that feeling of disconnect. It’s about him putting up a brave face, reeling from the regular disappointment of his family, and the cutting irony of the line, “so happy to hear your voice.” Again, Renner’s performance is just really solid and he conveys so much of that complexity to Kate afterward with a simple: “thank you.” Sure, it’s not that this scene is some deep thematic think piece, I just think it shows off real sensitivity and tact.

And I hope it shows up more throughout the rest of the series!

RANDOM THOUGHTS / BEST JOKES

Re: “Bad” VFX convo - So as I watched the untextured purple goo pour out on the dashboard I said something out loud: “ohhhhh no, they weren’t given enough time,” and I realized how it important it is to say something like that instead of “ohhhh those effects are so bad.” Because fuck, if even *I* know how to get better particle effects around that goo and put in better contrast for depth, then surely they do, too. Which means this was a terrible time crunch and nothing more. And given the absolute sheer abuse that happens in the VFX industry it’s just a thing I think we should all get more in the habit of saying that in comparison to quick judgement, no? Just a thought.

-Hailee has a really great comic reaction when the dude says he loves Imagine Dragons.

-Good Clint lines: “Look at her, she’s 9.” / “It’s not exactly a crime.”

-“I’m not smashing a ’72 challenger,” even I was like “that’s clearly bad judgement cause they’re going to use that car!” I know they hang a hat on that joke about it being destroyed anyway, it’s just the rare logic thing that actually hit me? Anyone else?

-During the chase my favorite beats were the clinging christmas trees / the russian crony screaming when the USB arrow hit his friend.

-During the initial escape in the hideout I love how many people were running with guns in their hands but never firing. This is very MCU!

-I always get all existential when a title card is like “2007” and we flashback to see a character as a kid. Because I’m instantly like “that can’t possibly be right, I was out here working and… oh… oh no.” I’m sure that at this point you’re like “okay, we get it hulk you’re aging,” but I’m like NO, IT'S GOING TO START HAPPENING TO YOU, TOO and you’ll get that feeling and know that it's still weird every time it happens! When does it get less weird?!?!?!

-The guy they paired with Echo is a really good actor, no? IMDB’s not up yet so I don’t have his name, but it just made a nice impression.

-Are we really still doing the “hardee har har comics outfits are dumb,” thing? I know Renner plays it off well and they’re likely setting up the costume reveal, it’s just… I dunno? Maybe it’s another clunky thing I’ll still end up liking as a set-up?

-This week’s “marvel speculation broke my brain” is related to whether or not they are setting up Kingpin. It’s probably not! But it could be anyone! I just hope it's meaningful!

<3HULK