‘Hawkeye’ Finale: Will Clint Be Home for Christmas? (RECAP)

jeremy renner as hawkeye, hawkeye
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Hawkeye

So This Is Christmas?

Season 1 • Episode 6

rating: 4.5 stars

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Disney+ series Hawkeye Season 1 episode 6, “So This Is Christmas?”]

There’s only an hour left of Hawkeye, but there’s plenty of action, humor and heart as Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) and Clint (Jeremy Renner) confront the baddies and try to save Eleanor (Vera Farmiga).

Why does she need saving? Well, she told Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) that she’s getting out of the business… Obviously, this doesn’t go over well with Kingpin, but it goes over even worse with Kate, who had no idea her mom was working for the mob (and that Jack (Tony Dalton) was innocent, and her mother committed murder). Nonetheless, she makes a plan to save her, which leads her and her partner to the company holiday party, and it all spirals from there.

alaqua cox as maya lopez, hawkeye

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While Kate and Clint make their plans and build new trick arrows, Maya (Alaqua Cox) meets with Kingpin. She tells him she got carried away in her pursuit of revenge for her father, and she asks for a couple of days off to clear her head. Doesn’t seem likely that’s actually what she wants, but Kingpin appears to believe it since he seems to genuinely care for Maya.

Kate and Clint attend the party with the intent of protecting her mom, while the Tracksuits take orders from Kingpin to intercept Eleanor, and Yelena (Florence Pugh) shows up to kill Clint with a fabulous coat and an even more fabulous hairdo. As Kate corners her mom and confronts her about her work, the Tracksuits start shooting out windows in the venue. Kate escapes the main room, but she runs into Yelena. They fight in the elevator, but Yelena escapes and Kate pursues her. They continue to fight, but Yelena eventually gets away; she misses her shot to kill Clint, though. When Kate gets out of the building she’s attacked by the Tracksuits, and Jack proves himself a pretty good if slightly clueless, guy—he saves her life.

Clint gets out of the building, but a malfunctioning grappling arrow lands him directly in the Rockefeller Christmas tree (where he sees an adorable owl), and Kate gets him out by, uh, toppling the entire tree with an acid arrow. In the aftermath, they’re surrounded by Tracksuits, but much to Kate’s delight, they fight their way off the ice rink by using trick arrows. They get word that Eleanor left through a side door, and Kate goes to find her while Yelena re-appears and attacks Clint at the worst possible time. “Before I kill you,” she says, “I need to ask one question. What happened?” Clint tells her that if she told her what happened, she’d never believe him—but her sister sacrificed herself to save the world. Of course, Yelena simply says he’s lying and keeps attacking him.

florence pugh as yelena, hawkeye

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Eleanor gets into a car and finds the driver dead. Kingpin corners her, but Kate shows up and shoots him with an arrow—which has no effect on him at all—and he nearly kills her, but Eleanor takes control of the car and hits Kingpin with it. That doesn’t take him down either, and he and Kate have a very festive fight in a toy store. Kingpin almost wins, breaking her arrows and scattering them, but he doesn’t kill her, instead telling her to stay out of what’s going on. She gets the upper hand by setting off all her trick arrows that Kingpin scattered off at once, which incapacitates him. She then goes and reunites with her mother… who winds up being arrested, since Kate called the police. “I’m sorry, mom,” she says.

Finally, Clint has a breakthrough with Yelena. He does their iconic sisterly whistle, which stops the assassin cold. She demands to know how Clint knows it, and he says Nat talked about her all the time. “She loved you,” he says, “and she always wanted you safe.” At last, Yelena believes him. She cries, saying that if she were there, she could’ve stopped it—but Clint knows that’s not true. “She made her choice,” he says. “We’re going to have to find a way to live with that.” Yelena helps him up, and they part ways.

jeremy renner as clint barton, hawkeye

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While all of this is happening, Maya gears up for battle. She confronts her henchman friend and says they can leave together. He doesn’t want to leave since the mob is his life, so she’s forced to kill him. And after Kingpin limps away from the toy store, she confronts him. He tells her they’re family, even if they don’t see eye to eye… and while it’s not shown on-screen, it’s implied she shot him. (He’s probably not dead, though). Clint and Kate have a nice chat after the fight, during which he says he’s very proud of her—and that they need to take the dog for a walk. On Christmas, he and Kate spend time with his family. Then he gives that Rolex from a few episodes ago back to his wife, and together, he and Kate burn the Ronin suit. They chat about her superhero name, and Clint shoots down “Lady Hawk,” but he says he “has an idea.”

The post-credits scene doesn’t have any larger MCU implications (that we know of!). Instead, it’s a fun clip from the Rogers Broadway show in the first episode, during which performers dressed as citizens and The Avengers re-create the Battle of New York in musical form.

Hawkeye, Season 1, All Episodes Now Streaming, Disney+