After escaping a new threat, Clint and Kate join forces against an expanding criminal conspiracy.
Tropes:
- Abandoned Warehouse: In a previous episode, one of the Tracksuit Mafia complained that there aren't many good warehouses left for them to use. Clint had remarked that the one they were in didn't seem very scary. It used to be a K-B Toy Store outlet center. (K-B Toys went bankrupt in 2009.)
- Agony of the Feet: Clint stabs two of the Tracksuit Mafia in their feet with his arrows.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Even after he tried to kill her, Kate still calls Kazi “the hot guy who spoke sign language”.
- The Alleged Car: Instead of a gorgeous '73 Challenger, Clint steals an old Chrysler and for the entire chase, are unable to outrun any other car and are forced to fight.
- Antagonist Title: Maya is Echo in the comics.
- Artistic License – Physics: When the two traffic lights land on the street after Kate shoots them down with acid arrows, they both display electric sparks, despite no longer being connected to a power source.
- Avenging the Villain: What Maya is shaping up to be when she sees that Ronin killed her father.
- Badass Driver: Clint's driving skills allow him and Kate to evade the Tracksuit Mafia goons chasing after them.
- Brick Joke: When Kate sends Clint a snarky text that says "It's good they called you HawkEYE instead of HawkEAR", Clint makes good on his promise from last episode and blocks and deletes her number.
- Call-Back: One of Clint's arrows is a dongle arrow, a clever reference to the first Avengers film, which was also referenced in What If...?.
- Call-Forward: During the opening, Maya asks her father if dragons are real, and her father responds that they live in another world. Years later, Shang-Chi would indeed meet an other-dimensional dragon, as would Danny Rand. If you interpret another world as another planet, there’s also the Fire Dragon from Thor: Ragnarok.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Played with. Maya wants the pair alive because she wants information on Ronin, but she's also so full of fury that she and the Tracksuits are willing to open fire.
- Cassandra Truth: Maya refuses to believe Clint and Kate when they explain that Kate is not Ronin, just a civilian who put on the suit without knowing the significance of it.
- Chekhov's Gun: Kate is unimpressed at the suction cup arrow. It turns out to be very important, as Clint uses it so they can hang onto a moving train.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Jack catching Clint by surprise in Eleanor's penthouse, and holding him at sword-point... with the Ronin sword.
- Cool Car: Kate really wants to take the '72 Challenger parked outside the Tracksuit Mafia's hideout, but Clint refuses to smash the window. Echo uses it to pursue them instead, where it ends up getting wrecked in the chase.
- Create Your Own Villain: Clint killing Maya's father when he was Rōnin leads to Maya joining and becoming the leader of the Tracksuit Mafia to hunt down Ronin, no matter if it was a case of mistaken identity or not.
- Daddy's Girl: Maya is shown to have a very close relationship with her father, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when she finds him dying after getting mortally wounded by the Ronin during one of his ambushes on criminal gangs.Lopez: I'm already gone...Fly away, little dragon.
- Dead Star Walking: Noted character actor Zahn McClarnon makes an impression as Maya/Echo's father in the cold open only to end up dying during the last scene of it during one of Ronin's rampages.
- Diegetic Switch: Inverted after Clint and Kate get back to her aunt's apartment. There's soundtrack music playing that goes silent as we switch to Clint's perspective.
- Didn't See That Coming: Clint hits Maya's right leg, only to be surprised that it didn't faze her due to that leg being a prosthetic. She promptly uses it to kick him in the head, stunning him and knocking out his hearing aid, which she then stomps on.
- Dramatic Irony: Kate keeps pestering Clint to put on a flashy costume, not realizing that all of the trouble they're in is due to Clint putting on a flashy costume.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: First we see a little girl who has a close and loving relationship with her doting father. Then we see that little girl grow up. Then we see her witness her father brutally murdered by Ronin.
- Everybody Has Standards: Evidently the one thing Clint won't do is put a 1972 Dodge Challenger in a situation where it might get damaged... which ends up happening anyway.
- The Faceless: Maya's mysterious "Uncle", who appears to be somewhere above her in the Tracksuit Mafia's hierarchy. He's implied to be the large man who playfully pinches Maya's cheek in the flashback, and all we see or hear of him is his hand and part of his torso, along with the chuckle that he gives and his very heavy footsteps.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Clint is notably warmer with Kate after the car chase, complimenting her skills and giving her advice about how difficult the job she's gunning for would be.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Clint tells Kate to take down a truck with a normal arrow by shooting in a high arc. Kate takes the shot despite voicing her concerns, and then Clint draws an arrow— and right before he fires, the camera's focus shifts to reveal the name "Pym" on its head...
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Young Maya’s classroom assignment is briefly shown. She’s keeping up with the other kids in spite of her deafness, and among the words on the page is "Capoeira", a fighting style that she uses in the present against Clint.
- Friendly Enemy: Despite having Kate tied up as their hostage, Tomas, one of the Tracksuits, listens to her give him relationship advice and goes to find a pen to write it down.
- Gift-Giving Gaffe: Tomas confides in Kate that he bought his girlfriend tickets to see Imagine Dragons even though she doesn't like them and he does. Kate tells him to apologize to his girlfriend for getting a present that was really for him.
- Good Is Not Soft: How Clint views his job. It's one that he believes in and does well, but he really doesn't want Kate following in his footsteps, and isn't shy about saying that. Kate tells him to give himself more credit, since his altruism is a good part of why he's in this situation.
- Groin Attack: Maya is fond of doing these, delivering one to her sparring opponent in the cold open and nearly doing one to Clint in the warehouse, which he barely dodges.
- Handicapped Badass: Echo is completely deaf and has a prosthetic leg, yet is an incredibly skilled martial artist who gives Clint a difficult time when they fight each other. Clint in turn briefly loses his hearing aid, yet is no less a badass for it, being able to drive effectively and use his arrows efficiently despite not being able to hear Kate's objections and questions.
- Head Desk: Clint lowers his head on the kiddie ride that he's tied to when Kate gives one of the Tracksuits relationship advice.
- Heel Realization: Downplayed, but Kate is heartbroken to see how she's ruined Clint's Christmas with his family, even if it was entirely by accident.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Echo is seen sparring, and neither she nor her opponent wear headgear.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Granted, as it was parked outside their KB Toys hideout, it's probably a bad guy's car.
- Impaled Palm: Clint shoots a bad guy through the hand with an an arrow, pinning him to a pillar. Doubles as Offhand Backhand.
- Improvised Weapon: At the start of the warehouse fight, Clint grabs toys from the shelves and hurls them at a Tracksuit Mafia goon. Later, when Kate fights Kazi, she wallops him with a shopping cart, and later stuffs another Tracksuit into it then sends him rolling. Maya also throws a stuffed unicorn at Clint when she starts their fight.
- It Makes Sense in Context: Clint asks Kate if she really thinks Jack's involved in all of this.Kate: Yes. He was at the auction that night and yesterday he offered me a butterscotch.
Clint: Not exactly a crime. - It's Personal: Only briefly introduced at the end of the previous episode, we meet Maya at the start of this one, who wants to kill Ronin because Ronin killed her father .
- Meaningful Name: The episode title "Echoes" refers to Maya's appearance in this episode, since her comic book codename is Echo.
- Metaphorically True: Clint's claim that Natasha killed Ronin is this, since he abandoned that part of his life when she came to recruit him back into the Avengers for the Time Heist. Likewise, his saying that the person who "killed" Ronin (Natasha) is also dead. When the Tracksuit Mafia express doubt that he's being truthful, he says he knows because he was there.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The episode's cold open focuses on most of Maya's story from her childhood up to the moment that Clint killed her father during the Snap years.
- Mood Whiplash: Starts with Echo's childhood and the death of her father, and then we cut back to Clint and Kate tied to coin-op toys and Kate giving a Mafiya bro some relationship advice.
- Mook Horror Show: The cold open flashback includes Ronin massacring Tracksuit Mafia members, with the final victim being William Lopez.
- Movie Superheroes Wear Black: Discussed when Kate once again tries to fix Clint's branding. When he refuses her initial proposal of a purple suit that is accurate to his classic costume, she offers a middle ground where he wears a black version but with the mask. Clint also ends up justifying not wearing his classic look in the MCU by pointing out how the franchise's adaptation of him into a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent makes it a liability to run around in a bright purple costume.
- Mythology Gag:
- During the flashback, Maya's father leaves a bloody handprint on her face as he caresses it in his final moments, much like how he did in the comics.
- The entire chase sequence is one to the third issue of the Matt Fraction series. This is also incidentally the third episode of the series.
- Kate draws Clint's comics costume in an attempt to fix his branding. Clint snarks that his wife would divorce him if he ever wore anything like that.
- The auto repair shop where Echo sees her dad get killed by Ronin is called Fat Man, a reference to how Kingpin was responsible for her dad's death in the comics.
- Kate admitting that Kazi is hot is a reference to how their comic counterparts briefly flirted.
- Offhand Backhand: Clint pins a guy's hand to a pillar without looking.
- Old Money: Kate offhandedly mentions that the Manhattan building where the family penthouse is located was built by her great-great-great-great-grandfather, indicating that the Bishops have been filthy rich for at least 7 generations.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Justified, since Clint is deaf. Kate starts out wondering if she should walk the dog, then Clint complements her as one of the world's greatest archers. As she starts to gush how she wasn't really sure of herself at first, then he starts saying she should walk the dog, repeating exactly what she had said before.
- The Oner: The car chase as the Tracksuit Mafia pursue Clint and Kate is initially one continuous shot with the camera circling around inside the car.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Echo begs of this for her father when she sees him dying.Lopez: Please just go.
Echo: I won't leave you.
Lopez: I'm already gone. Fly away from here...Little Dragon. - Reality Has No Subtitles:
- Echo and Clint's initial conversation in American Sign Language is unsubtitled, unlike the rest of the ASL conversations in the episode. Echo and Kazi also have an unsubtitled argument in the background while Clint and Kate talk in the foreground.
- Downplayed during the flashback to Echo's childhood, as she tries to lip-read what her teacher is saying. Only brief, disjointed snippets of the teacher's dialogue are subtitled, reflecting how Echo herself can only make out bits and pieces of it.
- Revenge Before Reason: Kazi explains to Maya that it would be optimal for the gang to keep a low profile and that her father emphasized the interests of the crew when he was in charge/alive. Maya, determined to have her revenge on her father's killer, retorts with a reminder that she's the boss.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Maya is right to be suspicious of Clint's claim that Ronin was killed by Black Widow, but it has less to do with any knowledge or evidence that she has and more to do with her refusing to accept any scenario where she can't get her revenge on her father's killer.
- Secret Identity: This episode reveals that outside of the Avengers themselves, pretty much nobody knows who Rōnin really was when he was active. This is invoked by Clint, as he knows how dangerous it would be if people found out who he used to be.
- Sizeshifter: A regular arrow turns out to be quite dangerous when shot at by a Pym particle-packed arrow!
- Soft Glass: Clint trampolines through some glass into the abandoned store's main office.
- Soundtrack Dissonance:
- Given that it's An Ass-Kicking Christmas, the first part of the car chase is scored by Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "A Mad Russian's Christmas"note .
- Likewise, the Creative Closing Credits use Sammy Davis Jr.'s cover of "Sweet Gingerbread Man", despite the tense cliffhanger of Clint being caught by Jack.
- Strange Minds Think Alike:
- During the car chase, Kate begins to suggest that it would be easier to aim if the car was facing the other way, but before she can even finish, Clint (who can't hear her because of his hearing aid getting smashed) says the exact same thing.Kate: Hey! We're communicating!
- Once they've escaped, Kate suddenly realizes that they should probably walk Pizza Dog because he's been cooped up inside all day. A few seconds later, Clint, who still can't hear her, says the exact same thing. (Kate, convinced they're going to be BFFs, is clearly pleased.)
- During the car chase, Kate begins to suggest that it would be easier to aim if the car was facing the other way, but before she can even finish, Clint (who can't hear her because of his hearing aid getting smashed) says the exact same thing.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Kate grabs a random arrow (grousing that she would use Clint's recommendations if they were actually labeled), and it turns out to be an explosive arrow that causes the Tracksuit Mafia's van to explode.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Having lived most of her life in Manhattan where walking, buses, subways, and taxicabs are the most widely used modes of transportation by residents (and the Bishops would probably have a chauffeur as well), Kate never learned how to drive a car even though she is well above the legal age.
- Any daytime car chase in New York City is going to get cut short by its traffic and cramped streets.
- Swapped Roles: Adaptation example. In the comic where the chase scene happened, Kate drove while Clint fired the arrows. Clint does initially ask Kate to drive, but she doesn't know how, and once the Tracksuit Mafia close in, he swiftly drops the subject.
- Take That!: While giving relationship advice to one of the Tracksuit Mafia goons, Kate tells him that the positive side of the situation is that at least he doesn't have to sit through an Imagine Dragons concert. (Turns out he likes them, it's his girlfriend that doesn't.)
- That Man Is Dead: Clint tells Echo and the Tracksuit Mafia that Ronin is dead and that Black Widow killed him.
- Translator Buddy: Kazi is this for Maya, as he's the only member of the Tracksuit Mafia who knows ASL.
- Trick Arrow: Due to a lack of regular ones, Kate has to use Clint's array of these, many of which impress her.
- The Unreveal: Maya's Uncle is deliberately kept out of frame so we don't learn who he is.
- Villainous Friendship: Maya and Kazi are very close, with Kazi being the only member of the crew who has actually learned sign language to communicate with her. That said, there are signs of tension between them, with Kazi having to drag Maya away from throttling Kate and later calling Maya out on her Revenge Before Reason tendencies.
- Watch the Paint Job: Clint refuses to break into and hotwire a '72 Dodge Challenger when he and Kate need to escape the Tracksuit Mafia. The car is used by Maya in a car chase and still ends up wrecked.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Nate calls Clint to ask if he's going to be home that evening. Clint has to tell him that he's probably not going to make it because of everything that's going on. Nate tells him it's okay if he can't make it for Christmas, which just makes Clint (and Kate) feel even worse.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Clint insists he's not a role model. Kate insists he is. "You left your family at Christmas to help a stranger."
- You Talk Too Much!: One member of the Tracksuit Mafia says this to Kate word for word after she gives relationship advice to another member.
