By Rena Ketelsen– “Ronin” was directed by Bert and Bertie and is the fifth episode of the TV show Hawkeye (2021). It was released on Wednesday, December 15, and it is exclusively available on Disney Plus.
The fifth episode deals with several repercussions from the previous ones. Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) is ready to give up on becoming a hero while Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is trying to protect his family. This episode, like the previous one, has a lot of references to the late Natasha Romanoff, largely due to the introduction of Romanoff’s sister, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), into the show.
“Ronin” starts out, similar to the other four episodes, with a scene from the past. This time, it is one from Belova’s past which shows what happened to her between the movie Black Widow (2021) and this show.
Then, the show returns back to the present and picks up right where it left off showing Bishop return home to her mother, after Barton sent her away. While her mother comforts Bishop, they have a conversation during which Bishop lets her mother know of something Barton and her have discovered about her mother’s fiancé. She asks her mother to look into it.
Afterwards, she returns to her burnt down apartment to retrieve anything she could and gets surprised by an unexpected guest. That guest, Belova, tells Bishop who she is and why she is in New York City.
After that encounter, Bishop returns home to find her mother’s fiancé, Jack Duquesne, being arrested. In her room, she attempts to contact Barton, calling him repeatedly and leaving messages behind on his mailbox.
At the same time, Barton visits an Avengers memorial and has an emotional monologue which is addressed to Natasha Romanoff. Then he sets out to fight Maya Lopez, a woman who has been trying to find Ronin throughout the show.
This episode has answered a few questions that the previous ones have created. It also gave a broad explanation for what happened to Yelena Belova after the end of Black Widow (2021).
While Bishop and Barton don’t interact much during this episode, it becomes evident that either one of them can’t deal with this situation on their own and that they need each other.
A surprising discovery at the very end of the episode seems to set up the sixth and final episode of the show which will be released on Wednesday, December 22, on Disney Plus.
Overall, it seems to me that the show gets better with every single episode and this trend continues in this new episode which, so far, is the best one yet. At times, it’s funny and, at other times, it’s emotional and sad, but it is always interesting and entertaining to watch.
Leave a Reply