Hawkeye Review: Florence Pugh and a few surprises make ‘Ronin’ the best episode of any MCU series

The combination of Florence Pugh and Hailee Steinfeld onscreen together is enough to make Ronin the best episode of the series. Add a reveal that’s been building for a while and another emotional performance by Jeremy Renner and you have an episode that rises above the entire Disney Plus MCU era.

After the events of the last episode, Kate is clearly disheartened. She no longer believes in following Clint down the hero path. However, a truly fantastic scene between Yelena Belova and Kate Bishop seems to reinvigorate Kate. Yelena certainly has the upper hand during their conversation, but as they keep talking, Kate finds her spots here and there.

Clint is trying to wrap up this mission before “The Big Guy” gets involved. Renner continues to do a great job of showing the pain Clint is in over Natasha’s death. Laura Barton continues to provide consistent support no matter how dark the path her husband is on.

Following the template in the last episode, there’s only one action setpiece and it’s even better than last week’s rooftop skirmish. Bert and Bertie shine in directing the comedy, drama and action moments.

Jenna Noel’s Frazier script is perfect. Her dialogue, especially in the Yelena and Kate scene is music to the ears.

To cap off a masterful episode, Ronin ends with a reveal that has been building for weeks but hits just right.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood out in Ronin. There may be some minor spoilers. Hawkeye is available to stream on Disney Plus.

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Yelena Belova

Most of the episode is centered around a conversation between Kate and Yelena. Before the conversation, Hawkeye provides some background on Yelena’s actions since Black Widow.

She was working on her mission to remove the brainwashing caused by the black widow program when she was blipped. Bert and Bertie do an excellent job of showing the disorientation that comes from someone returning from the blip.

Ronin doesn’t take long to pair Steinfeld and Pugh together. Kate returns to her apartment to gather some belongings. Yelena throws Kate off with her sense of humor and offering of a delicious helping of macaroni. Yelena launches into a constant barrage of humor and Pugh handles the wonderful dialogue with ease.

Kate does a good job of keeping her composure. You can see Kate’s instincts improving throughout the conversation. Each time Yelena uses Kate’s name she uses her full name “Kate Bishop.” Kate wisely points out Yelena’s using her full name to demonstrate how much knowledge Yelena has on Kate. The conversation starts with humor, but after this exchange, the conversation turns more serious.

What does being an Avenger even mean?

Yelena reveals she’s here to kill Clint for what happened to her sister in Avengers: Endgame. Their conversation turns into a fascinating exploration of what makes someone a hero.

Yelena wants to know why Kate is siding with Clint. Kate mentions Clint saved the world. Yelena retorts, no her sister saved the world.

Kate grows more comfortable as the conversation goes on. Make no mistake Yelena’s in control of where this conversation goes. However, Kate finds her spot. She makes a joke about how very Russian Yelena’s comment of the amount of death Clint is responsible for causing. Near the end of the conversation, Yelena lets slip that this mission isn’t just a vengeance quest, it’s an assignment. Kate jumps on the slip up like a bass to a baited hook and gives Yelena something to consider as she exits Kate’s crispy apartment.

Pugh and Steinfeld are sensational. Pugh’s ability to shift her tone from a flighty sense of humor to ultra-serious is incredible. Steinfeld does a good job of shifting between freaked out and composed.

I love how this conversation designed to convince Kate to quit has the opposite effect. Kate returns to mom’s penthouse and silently takes stock of everything in her room. Kate decides she’s going to continue down her heroic path. She then leaves a string of hilarious voicemails for Clint. Steinfeld is irresistibly charming and comes across as relatable throughout this sequence.

Echo and Ronin: Weapons of Vengeance

Yelena is the focus for most of the episode. However, Clint has a role to play as well. Clint and Lucky the Pizza dog show up at Grills’s apartment to stay the night.

Clint visits an Avengers plaque commemorating the moment when the Avengers first fought together. He removes his hearing aid and as the world goes silent, he posthumously talks to Natasha. He says he misses her, wishes there was a different outcome and asks for an apology for what he’s about to do.

Before executing his plan, Clint calls Laura. She surprises Clint by telling him to go with his gut and to end this so he can come home.

Clint confronts the tracksuit mafia and Maya Lopez as Ronin. The fight scene is similar to a batman scene. Clint uses shadows to his advantage and starts taking out the Tracksuit Mafia one by one until he gets to Maya. They have a great one-on-one fight where Clint gets the better.

Clint tells Maya that they’re similar. They are both weapons that can be manipulated and rage can blind all sense of reason. He did kill her father after getting tipped off by someone who worked for her boss. Maya gets the drop on Clint, but Kate saves the day with a well-placed arrow.

The episode ends with Kate and Clint as partners again. However, Kate receives a bombshell text from Yelena revealing who hired her to kill Clint. It was Eleanor Bishop. To complete the reveal, Yelena sent a picture. In the picture with Eleanor is none other than Kingpin. Credits. Chills and the perfect outro song is used.

Ronin Final Thoughts

A masterful episode of television featuring great performances across the board. There’s a lot of chess pieces on the board heading into the last episode. However, if Hawkeye can stick the landing, this will easily be the best MCU Disney Plus series.