Hawkeye (2021)

If I could rate the series by single episodes, chances are that it'd score pretty highly for at least half; the characters are quite enjoyable, there's a lovely dynamic between the two leads. Kate is a believable (of course, for being a superheroine) in her progression, she comes across as flawed, has unique quirks. Clint is a great hero, with vulnerabilities as well; the show did an impeccable job at establishing a good power dynamic.

The cast of side characters for the most part is a mixed bag; while of course the bravery of real-life handicapped actress playing Echo is commendable, she is no thespian by any stretch, and her character is not interesting at all. The flamboyant beau of Kate's mother is entertaining, the others are pretty one-note, being either completely cookie-cutter boring (Kate's mom and discount Jon Snow) or comic relief with way too much screentime (Tracksuit mafia, LARPer law enforcers). When they introduce Yelena Belova in the series, I was happy to see a really good actress with range and that is given the chance to goof around with a good twist on the stereotypical russian, balancing both comedy and drama. The writing did seem pretty uninspired, stretching beyond any usefulness the same tired problems and themes for the main characters and exposing the side characters as the one-note jokes they are. The overarching plot seemed to progress very little, with all its loose ends piling onto the finale.

The Marvel live action series so far with no fail have had problems with pacing, leaving the resolution to a single episode that ends up moving at breakneck pace. This one being longer than the others, and with a better overall management of characters and a simpler premise than products like WandaVision or Loki, and with stronger personalities than the dull Falcon&WS, I had some hope it would deliver.

And then the finale came, with episode 6. Wow.
I am familiar with the MCU style, with the tendency to drop jokes in every (very) few moments to break tension. I tend to dislike it nowadays as the jokes seem to get louder and 'try harder' hardly letting the dramatic and significant moment breathe. However, this last episode is just fireworks of absurdities from beginning to end, basically turning all the story into a braindead mush of random events. It looks first and foremost absolutely poor, with the menaces not built at all as challenging. Nothing can be taken seriously here even in those small parts that you could and should. And it criminally, tragically, unforgivably wastes and ruins the wonderful character shown in Netflix's Daredevil. I hoped that Feige did not want to do anything at all with the character, given the average tone of the MCU compared to the original. And oh boy, looking at the most rotten finale of a Marvel series so far, I can't help but think that it was the screenwriting version of a mob hit on Kingpin - not literally, of course, since his fate is pretty obvious especially knowing what happened in the comic. But talk about completely failing to establish a menace.

Sammo ★