Hawkeye Episode 4 Recap and SPOILER Theories
Welcome back to HLS Entertainment! Today we are going to breakdown episode four of Hawkeye on Disney+ discussing all the fun stuff that happened and talk about what that could mean for the series going forward, as well as discuss some insane SPOILER theories. Speaking of spoilers this entire blog is spoilers for the entirety of the episode as well as the entire show and possibly the MCU, there is your only warning. On to the breakdown!
The show opens where the last ended last week with Clint at sword's point by Jack, and then it is revealed that Eleanor was just around the corner as well. They both are shocked to have an Avenger in their home. "Why is there an Avenger in my dining room?" Kate trying to be honest enough with her mom without revealing they are suspicious of Jack. Calling him CB-1 was funny and I might start calling Clint that from here on out. Eleanor walks CB-1 out to the elevator door (rich people) and she actively tries to get him to stop working this case disguised by asking him to protect Kate by stopping. After this we see Eleanor making an "urgent" phone call, I wonder whose Uncle she called.
CB-1 had his wife Laura do a little research on Sloan ltd and it came back that Jack is the CEO of this shell corporation that is a front for the Tracksuit Mafia. We find out Clint and Laura are both very aware and nervous about this watch being out there still (MUCH more on that in the theory section down below).
Eleanor tries to get Kate to help out with planning the Bishop Holiday party buttering her up saying she is great at that kind of stuff. This is of course the party we see in the first trailers of Clint and Kate walking in together. I had posed in my preview blog that that is where the suit would be at auction but now we know that obviously isn't the case. BUT it could be where the watch is and Clint needs Kate to get him in.
"Life is short you never know what you're gunna get" Jack sucking at sayings is hilarious and I think I am ready to call his character. I believe he is just the doofus that Eleanor is using as a front. He IS the "swordsman" just because that is something his buddies call him because he is a sword nut. Eleanor is using his to get the Duquesne fortune and access to all their black-market stuff as well, while setting up Jack to be her fall guy if stuff goes wrong. Eleanor is the "real" big bad on this show, she is partnered with Fisk and might be revealed, or just hinted at because MCU does avoid cheesy stuff sometimes, to be Madame Masque.
Seeing Clint strap up with frozen margaritas and daiquiris I just could not help but to keep comparing him to Kobe courtside all strapped down with ice, just a funny mental image. But at this moment Kate shows up to bring holiday cheer to Clint who has unfortunately been put in the situation of spending the holidays alone. This leads to a fun few minutes of drinking and holiday cheer as they hangout discuss Hawkeye stuff and plan. Loved the nods of the coin tricks and the boomerang arrows.
All of this fun stops when Kate innocently yet naively asks what is the best shot he ever took, and Clint slips up and says the one he never took. He regrets saying it out loud and tries to change the subject, but Kate pushes him on it. He gives the very brief telling of him going against orders and not killing Natasha like he was sent to do. He is so happy he didn't take the shot, not taking the shot is mirrored later on. He talks about his job has always been to hurt people and that is always going to be attached to him. I hope this is reflected in Kate becoming Hawkeye but her actively helping people instead of just being an assassin/spy like Clint was. They were sure to point out that he did investigate first in his Ronin days it was not just a killing spree.
They wake up and Clint has a plan, he is going to go talk to Kazi and Kate is going to go to the LARPers and get the one who is a cop to help retrieve the arrows picked up from the fight they had escaping the TM. Clint is waiting for Kazi in the back of his sweet Toyota Landcruiser and essentially warns him that if Maya and the TM doesn't stop chasing down Ronin, she is going to get herself killed. Meanwhile Kate meets with the LARPers in Central Park then Clint meets up with them at one of their apartments (I will guess Grills apartment because he is baking cookies). Here it is where they make the deal about Kate helping pay for them to make suits for Clint and herself as well as paying for the LARPers new costumes.
Clint gets a text from Laura with the location of the Rolex watch. Clint and Kate go to the apartment where it is, and Kate being childish, she is the one to go in funnily. Silent alarms go off flashing on the wall, Kate finds the watch and a list of someone taking notes on Clint and his family. They both get simultaneously attacked by who they both think is Maya (I think this could be a brilliant writing tease for a reveal to a theory I have). Clint shoots a zipline for Kate to escape to where he is. Maya follows her on the zipline and the four of them are fighting on the rooftop. Kate gets thrown off the roof by the mysterious masked figure on a grappling hook, Clint cuts her loose and tells her to leave. Kate now pissed off storms back upstairs, separates the fighting trio shooting an exploding sonic arrow at them. Kate still mad shoots Maya in the arm with a practice arrow (less lethal) and warns a second shot but Maya takes the hint and runs off and leaves. This is when the masked figure gets revealed to be Yelena officially after showing off some Black Widow moves. Kate has her at arrow point, Yelena shakes her head no, Kate lowers her bow and Yelena leaps from the roof leaving in style.
Things are now serious for Clint, "someone hired a Black Widow assassin" but we the audience know exactly who that is, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, as seen in the post credit scene for Black Widow. He rudely tells Kate she was never his partner and that this is now way too serious for her to deal with, she needs to go home. She is done. Hurt by being told off by her hero Kate leaves, end of episode.
Thoughts on the episode, I thought it was much better than last week's stunt and effects wise, so I was happy about that. The set prop work was incredible in designing these apartments I want to give that a special shout out. I think this episode set up the shows story to culminate with the Bishop Holiday party where I imagine so much will be revealed. I think a lot more than we realize was hinted at in this episode. Before we get into the theories, I believe these final two episodes are setting up nicely to have to show Clint making new trick arrows, the LARPers make new suits for Kate and Clint, that they will wear them under their suits to the Bishop Holiday party that eventually turns into a shootout with the TM, Yelena and others. On the ice rink I think we get the reveal of Kate's mother being in charge and working alongside Kingpin. But a lot of that could be saved for episode 6, but in episode 5 we could be getting (according to the TV Spot) more of Yelena's story hunting Clint down. Maybe we see Sharon Carter aka the Power Broker popping back up. On to the theories!
Theories
Bees on the cup... was that a nod to Jack being an AIM member
What if this is setting up Jack to be a member of AIM. AIM stands for Advanced Idea Mechanics and was founded by Aldrich Killian. They were introduced to the MCU in the lovely Christmas movie Iron Man 3. They were the developers of Extremis, the glowy fiery super soldier serum that leads to a lot of people exploding. Okay, point being they are most commonly associated with bees because of the beekeeper/hazmat looking suits their soldiers and scientist wear in the comics. This is a really dumb reach but what an amazing thing to call back to if it is revealed, this clicked in my head after they were very specific with mug choices giving Clint the "Thanos was right" mug not once but twice. Production knew what they were doing. Along with certain rumors swirling right now about an Ant-Man villain and returning as a certain giant floating head I am all here for AIM coming back and being our new Hydra.
Wait holy crap, little look behind the curtain I usually write this out then go back and get pictures to put in. Looking for the picture of Jack drinking from the mug I realized they all are drinking from that mug but look at above Clint and Kate's shoulders. I think I want to completely flip this theory to match what I wrote earlier about Jack being completely the red herring scapegoat for Eleanor. Eleanor is the big bad of this show and will be running AIM. Jack is the distraction the swords decorating the whole apartment distract away from the flowers EVERYWHERE and yellow bee images. I mean the sword literally blocks and covers the bee mugs. I think I am on to something here, or just extremely reaching but I love it.
What if the watch has Tony's AI in it and we are setting up Iron Heart and Armor Wars or belong to a lawyer...?
Clint thought he could just simply handle this whole situation with the Tracksuit Mafia (Watch and Suit) because he thought it was just their normal bumbling idiot selves, but now that Yelena is involved the whole situation changes this is much more serious. But what is in the watch? He talks about it like it belongs to someone hidden (undercover/witness protection/retired) and that they are a friend. What if it is the remaining copy of Tony's AI FRIDAY or one he made of himself for his daughter to have one day. This could be a beautiful set up for Armor Wars, maybe Rhodey comes to get it, he did already pop up in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. A big theory here is that it belongs to Matt Murdock and possibly they fought alongside each other during the blip, and because they went so dark, he retired from being Daredevil and this watch is what will bring him out of hiding. That would connect the watch to why Kingpin wants it, maybe it contains information on what all Clint and Matt did during the Blip.
What if the watch belonged to Nick Fury and contains a list of all Skrulls on Earth
What if Fury had trusted Clint with the knowledge of Skrulls and inside the watch is a list of Fury's of every Skrull on Earth. Clint had just assumed it was burned and destroyed years ago, like he said, but by Fury when he burnt all his stuff in Winter Soldier. Maybe Kingpin or AIM wants this list to use as a political tool. We know that Fury and parts of SHIELD have been aware of Skrulls since the 1990's in Captain Marvel, what if some Skrulls stayed behind on Earth and integrated hiding across the globe. Would be an incredible set up for Secret Invasion.
This is where it gets even weirder... What if it is a Skrull List.. And Clint and his family are all on the list
Clint and his entire family could be Skrulls... What would REALLY change in the entire MCU history if we found out Clint was a Skrull? I think Clint could very easily be a Skrull and I think it lines up perfectly. Let us play this out. Fury gets him in the SHIELD, he is still kind of an outsider there evident by him being a loner in Avengers, he made the choice to not kill Nat because he saw the same desperate need to be free like he feels as a Skrull on the run, Fury set up his family on a hidden farm that nobody knows about, it was completely off the books. Natasha would have been the only person aside from Fury to know the truth.
