*WARNING* THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR HAWKEYE EPISODE FIVE

Here comes Yelena on Hawkeye.

This wasn’t nearly as explosive as other penultimate episodes we’ve seen so far in Disney+ Marvel shows. However, we got some real character development for Clint, Kate, Yelena, and even Eleanor. The show’s villain might be teased as Kingpin, but it’s really the manipulative and secretive Eleanor Bishop. Her double-dealings and treachery behind the scenes are what’s driving the show.

But the real highlight, besides the final frames of the episode, was the scene between Yelena and Kate. Bravo to both actresses, Florence Pugh and Hailee Steinfeld, for the tense exchange. It was nice to see that Yelena isn’t just out for blood. She shows a softer, playful side with Kate. But once it means business, she’s serious.

The other exchange that was masterful was between Clint and Maya at the end of the episode. The combination of storytelling and character work gives me lots of hope for Maya in the future. The character and her upcoming show, Echo, were already exciting enough before Hawkeye. If her show and scenes are like this, we’re all in for a treat when Echo comes out.

All About The Characters Of Hawkeye

The special thing about Hawkeye is how it has to tell the story. The show takes place in New York and happens around the same time as the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. There are little nods here and there, but they’re not giving away the special feel of this show in comparison to the other MCU properties. It’s connected in a major way to the events surrounding it, but it’s not getting overshadowed by other events. This is still Clint Barton and Kate Bishop’s story through and through.

We didn’t see as much of Jack in this episode, but he’ll probably make his grand return from being arrested by the police in the finale. As for the reveal at the end, it just shows how sneaky and conniving that Eleanor is. And of course, we finally see Kingpin. Clint clearly doesn’t want “The Big Guy” to get involved in this story, but it looks like he’s making an appearance for the finale of the series.

Hawkeye is taking it slow, and that’s something that we don’t see enough in the MCU overall. Sure, they might be moving at a glacial pace setting up the multiverse and all that, but they don’t let things breathe. Even with 6 episodes, fans might be hasty with wanting to see Kingpin and everything that follows with him, but they’re making us wait. The weekly episodic format was a stroke of genius with WandaVision, and it works just as well with Hawkeye.

It was a shame that we didn’t get to see more of Yelena or what’s going to happen with her and Clint, but the scenes we did get were a great add-on to a character we all fell in love with, in Black Widow. Is she going to kill Clint? Is Maya going to stop her? We’ll have to see when the finale of Hawkeye airs next Wednesday.