Hawkeye – Echoes review S1 E3

Echoes isn’t just the best episode of Hawkeye so far, it’s one of the best from the entire lineup of Disney+ Marvel shows.

It effectively tells the origin of Maya/Echo (Alaqua Cox), explains her anger toward Ronin, has two incredible action sequences, stellar character work and teases a huge MCU debut.

We start with Maya’s origin as she quickly learned to excel as a child despite not being able to hear like her classmates. Kudos to showing Maya’s teacher (Sissi Kal) wearing a hijab. Everyone talks about being diverse, but actually doing it is impressive.

Raised by her father, William (Zahn McClarnon, The Forever Purge), Maya learns how to navigate in a world that will look down on her as less than and thrive in it in her schooling and martial arts training.

Based on Maya’s comic book origin and the deliberate withholding of her uncle, it seems pretty clear that he is in fact The Kingpin. And most likely Vincent D’Onofrio is reprising his role from Daredevil. That’s exciting on a lot of fronts and it’s cool how Marvel Studios is playing against expectations as to how characters are introduced in the MCU proper.

Cox’s casting is pretty groundbreaking on multiple levels as she’s actually Native American and deaf like her character, but she’s also an amputee with a prosthetic leg. It’s very cool that shows like Titans and Hawkeye as well as the Eternals film are being more inclusive in different avenues.  Now children who are deaf, hearing impaired or using prosthetics can also see themselves represented as heroes and that is a fantastic trend.

There was some minor online outrage (Outrage? Online? Unheard of!) over Ronin’s targets during Avengers: Endgame. The issue a contingent of folks had was Ronin was only going after non-white bad guys. That felt like a stretch to find something to complain about — was Clint supposed to just ignore criminal actions of non-white guys?

Anyway, the series revisits that controversy as Ronin mows down a bunch of bad guys in a well staged tracking shot. Maya watches from the outside in horror as Ronin slays the warehouse workers before his final kill — William. There’s a nice homage to the comic as William’s bloodstained hand leaves the familiar mark on Maya’s face.

Present day, Maya is in charge of this section of the Tracksuit Mafia and definitely wants to know more about Ronin. Maya’s crew mistakenly thinks Kate is the same Ronin that killed her father and crew. Side note, I got emotional seeing this interrogation was taking place in a KB Toy Works, one of my favorite stores until they all shut down.

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Maya is somewhat disappointed Barton doesn’t fully know sign language and relies so much on his hearing aid, which would become important this episode.

This is the more fascinating aspect of Hawkeye. Barton went off in an understandable rage after his family blipped out of existence and killed a bunch of bad guys. That’s not normal hero behavior and now he has to face some repercussions for his actions.

Barton assures Maya that Kate isn’t Ronin as he was killed by Black Widow. That’s a convenient cover story and one as we know from the end of Black Widow is also going to cause some consequences. Some of the other Disney+ shows kept us guessing on how the shows would progress, but Hawkeye is proving somewhat more intriguing because its path seems clearer as the dominos are being set into place.

Managing to free his binds, Barton grabs his bow and quiver, proceeding to deliver the baddest archery action scene this side of Legolas. No need to cinch up either. This was a fantastic sequence as Hawkeye can’t help but be overshadowed by just about every other Avenger. Here, we get to actually appreciate his skill and non-lethal fighting technique.

Maya essentially fights the SHIELD-trained Avenger to a standstill and even smashes his hearing aid. Kate gets free and they break out, but Barton’s reliance on the hearing aid proves to be a liability in their communication. Kate starts plucking arrows from Hawkeye’s quiver and is shocked at the arsenal of gadgets although she’s underwhelmed by the plunger arrow — right up until it saves them from being splatted on a train.

The car chase sequence was a blistering one-take sequence and really amazing work from directors Bert + Bertie. After an exhausting set of action scenes, the cool down moments were just as rewarding. Maya chewed out her lieutenant, Kazi (Fra Fee), who again referenced the mysterious uncle.

Kate helps Barton chat with his son in a genuinely touching moment and a well-earned bonding sequence for the two archers. With his hearing aid fixed, Barton and Kate discuss their next strategy. In trying to help with his branding, Kate mocks up a costume. I still want to see more of a comic accurate look for Hawkeye based off his earlier, non-movie friendly attires.

Interestingly, he won’t tell Kate anything about Ronin either. That’s smart in terms of keeping his past actions on a serious need to know basis, but this is eventually going to come out.

Kate suggests they check into Jack again where some potential clues about his real intentions might be hidden. Not a bad idea. Or it isn’t until Jack brings his sword to Barton’s throat. Hey buddy. I’ll wait to see how far the show explains, but this is a very exciting cliffhanger if it plays out the way it might.

Really hard to complain about an episode that so over delivers and teases some intriguing arrivals that will have an impact far beyond this series.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney

Check out Avengers Epic Collection: A Traitor Stalks Within Us for more on Hawkeye at Amazon. 

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