Hawkeye brings back fan-favorite Yelena Belova in its phenomenal fifth episode, “Ronin,” and it’s so good to have her back! Florence Pugh once again steals the show in this gem of an episode, so let’s dive right in!
Back in Black | In 2018, Yelena (Florence Pugh) and another reformed Black Widow assassin track down a former assassin at her home, but she insists that she is not under the influence of the Widows. Yelena goes to the bathroom in the middle of their conversation and then vanishes into dust, only to return immediately, except it’s actually been five years. Her first thought is that she needs to find Natasha, little does she know…
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Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) returns home and Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) stitches up her wounds and warns her against ever doing superhero work again. Kate reveals to her mom the information they discovered about Jack and Eleanor promises she’ll look into it. As Clint (Jeremy Renner) drops by the LARPers place to crash, Kate comes home to find Yelena waiting for her with macaroni and cheese.
The two have a conversation, during which Yelena asks Kate for tourist spots to check out in New York, and also drops that she is Natasha’s sister. Kate defends Clint, even after Yelena insists that he is responsible for Nat’s death, but Yelena leaves and warns Kate to not get in her way.
Showdown | Eleanor calls the cops on Jack (Tony Dalton), who take him down to the station, as he denies everything. Kate keeps calling Clint to no avail, while he visits a plaque commemorating the Battle of New York and apologizes to Natasha for what he’s about to do. He calls Laura (Linda Cardellini) to tell her that if he doesn’t end this tonight, the “Big Guy” will get involved. He then dons the Ronin suit and confronts Maya (Alaqua Cox) at an abandoned car dealership and fights her.
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He gets her off guard and then removes his mask to tell her that the reason he killed her father was because he was tipped off by someone in her operation. Maya tries to kill him, but Kate saves him with a perfectly timed arrow. Maya escapes, but then asks Kazi (Fra Fee) why he wasn’t at the meeting that night her father was murdered. He claims not to know and Maya storms off.
Kate takes Clint back to the LARP guy’s apartment and tells him about Yelena, who as they talk is following Eleanor. Kate then gets a text from Yelena saying that Eleanor was the one who hired her to kill Clint and also sends a photo of Eleanor talking to someone, who Clint recognizes as… Kingpin!
Hawkeye is now streaming on Disney+.
