Hawkeye: Series Premiere

  
Created by: Jonathan Igla

Executive producers: Jonathan Igla, Rhys Thomas, Brad Winderbaum, and others

Starring: Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Hailee Steinfeld (Kate Bishop)

Why is Marvel so good at writing? 

I don't think there's any MCU movie or TV series that isn't really, excellently written. Even just in the first few scenes of this series, I found myself really intrigued by Kate. She has a compelling personality, quirky enough to be fun, and the series immediately gave us a motivation for why she loves Hawkeye: in the midst of terror, she personally witnesses his heroism. 

I'll also add that Hawkeye isn't one of my favorite Avengers, so these compliments are being written from a place of very little bias. It's no secret that I love magic and science fiction, so when those take spotlight in a movie or series (WandaVision), I'm pretty much automatically going to love it. And that's why I'm not so excited about Hawkeye as a character: he's so human. Nothing special. He's not a character I would be inclined to focus on when I want to escape reality, because he's bound by it. Though his arrows do get into some fun sci-fi. 

On the note of bias, there still is some for me in this show: Christmas & New York. I love both, so having the setting be one in the midst of the other is definitely eye-candy. 

So far, all parts of the show have kept me going. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, Kate's a fun character. The show did a great job giving her relevant motivation immediately, and then showing us her fun, rebellious streak: "accidentally" knocking down her university's belltower with her mad archery skills was seriously entertaining and her reaction was just as great. Not much more than a "...oops," which is comically underwhelming as she watches the structure collapse before her. 

And then there's Clint's side. Rogers, the musical? Um. Let's not get into that. Let's just say I share a lot with Clint's face regarding that piece of work, though it was fun to see Broadway exist in the MCU. I like seeing Clint play dad almost as much as seeing him save the world. He's a great guy, as we got to preview in Age of Ultron, and I'm really excited to see more of his wife because I loved her character, too. To me, it was the most intriguing to see Clint's reaction to fame. He has kind of a "I just want to live my life" attitude, not really caring about fans or money. When a restaurant doesn't let him pay his tab as a thank-you, he's more frustrated by it than gratified. I think that's an incredibly human and interesting POV to have and I really like it. 

Now, the show is throwing some major hints that Kate's brand-new stepfather is about to be the primary antagonist, and I'm here for it. His attitude is already ticking me off (as it's supposed to) and I don't see what her mom sees in him! Kate and Clint are going to be a wonderful team and I'm really excited to see more of them. (Side note, I love Vera Farmiga and I'm so excited she's Kate's mom!)