Hawkeye Episode 3: Echoes Review

For our review of the 2-episode premiere of Hawkeye, click here.

Last week’s two-episode premiere of Hawkeye saw the series fail to find its footing besides setting up the dynamic that will be the cornerstone of the series in Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Kate Bishop for which the latter proved to be a scene-stealer. Barton was arguably a character that never had the most charisma so it makes sense that another character would be put in there to give him a boost. That being said, they did complement each other in what was more of a mentor-mentee relationship while the former was grounded by the need to get back to his family in time for Christmas. This part sort of worked but wasn’t quite surrounded with enough. Seeing that this was only the beginning, one would think that there would be more from there and to this third episode’s credit, there was. However, there is still plenty of work left to be done and being now halfway through this 6 episode miniseries, that is admittedly concerning.

Nevertheless, Echoes started with a compelling backstory for the mysterious woman who appeared at the end of the last episode, Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) for whom many will already know as Echo, a role she may or may not have already assumed. Growing up deaf and an amputee, life was not easy but she overcame her disabilities. Her connection to Barton unsurprisingly was revenge as the Ronin killed her father who was a leader of the tracksuit mafia, a role she now possessed. She was clearly not over it.

Meanwhile, Barton and Bishop were still held captive by the current tracksuit mafia. The dysfunction was clearly still present as their connection deepened. Barton appeared to recognize Lopez but never acknowledged their past. They had differences over their dealing with their lack of hearing. Before they got anywhere, Barton freed himself and later freed Bishop, leading the others over the course of some exciting action sequences with Lopez getting to prove herself against Barton albeit briefly. The point of emphasis here was Barton losing his hearing aid which proved to test his dynamic with Bishop in an exciting way.

This all led to a terrific car chase sequence that was easily one of the best things the MCU has done across all of its series thus far. Barton coached Bishop about his different arrows as he drove over a Christmas-themed soundtrack (the appearance of a PYM arrow was a nice touch). The camerawork was great until the choppy editing took over. Of course Barton and Bishop ultimately got away but there was still the former’s hearing loss to deal with. Bishop helped him out in what was a wholesome moment. It was a shame that this new dynamic between the two was cut short.

The Bishop family drama mostly took a backseat in this episode until it came back with a vengeance at the end of the episode when an attempt to get some recon from the Bishop security database was seemingly cut short once Jack unexpectedly showed up and held a sword to Barton’s throat as the episode came to an end.

While it was clear that all of it was connected, the details were kind of vague and though they still are, it’s nice to see the series start to head in the right direction. Wish it just moved a little more quickly in that regard.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.