Secrets are revealed and hard truths emerge, culminating in a battle against two opposing forces.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Despite her dislike of Jack, Kate actually starts laughing along with her mother when he bungles the "Life is like a box of chocolates" quote.
- The Alcoholic: In order to ice his aching joints and head, Clint pulls packets of drink mix out of Kate's aunt's freezer, including Bahama Mamas and strawberry daiquiris.
- Ambiguously Jewish: A menorah can be seen in the background of Kate's aunt's apartment.
- Annoying Arrows: Kate shoots Maya in the shoulder and the latter rips it out. Later, she's seen getting patched up by Kazi, but it doesn't shut her down in combat.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Clint understands Eleanor's concerns, but tries to part with a compliment to Kate.Clint: She is pretty darn good at this.
Eleanor: Natasha Romanoff was pretty darn good at this. Didn't do her any good, did it? - Ask a Stupid Question...:
- After Clint leaves Kazi's car, having already divested Kazi of his weapons, Kazi sheepishly asks if he can have his gun back. Clint responds with a sarcastic "What do you think?" and we then see him through the rear window of the car hurling the gun away.
- Later, Kate asks Clint how he dealt with the "big bow problem" after frequently bumping her bow against things. Clint flatly replies that he uses a collapsible one.
- As You Know: Kate has no idea what a silent alarm is and has to be told by Clint. Keep in mind that Kate's mother owns and operates a security company, and Kate occasionally works for her. Most likely, this is to clue in any viewers who aren't familiar with it.
- Badass Fingersnap: How Clint teaches Kate to fling a coin with such precision that she can turn off the TV from several feet away.
- Braids of Action: Yelena wears her hair in a Dutch braid nearly identical to the one that Natasha was wearing when they first reunited in Black Widow.
- Breather Episode: This episode mostly serves as one until the very end, with the protagonists continuing peacefully on their mission throughout the episode.
- Brick Joke: When Clint and Kate are scoping out the apartment where the Rolex is being kept, Kate shares her opinion that a higher vantage point, allowing them to rapidly enter, would have been better. Clint disagrees because in his experience he prefers having the option of exiting a building quickly over entering it. Then during the Clint/Assassin and Kate/Maya fight, he fires a zipline arrow so Kate can escape... only for Kate's momentum to stall and leave her hanging in the middle because the height difference between the buildings isn't enough for an incline.
- Broken Pedestal: Played with. Kate seems to get hit with this when she figures out that Clint was Ronin. Clint adds to it by shooting down all her attempts to justify his actions, calling himself a weapon designed to hurt people. Ultimately averted, as it doesn't take long for Kate to recognize Clint is a good guy with a tragic past he wants to atone for.Clint: Everybody dealt with The Blip in their own way. I continued doing what I was trained to do.
Kate: Protecting people.
Clint: Hurting people. Investigating first, but in the end, my... job has always been to hurt people.
Kate: You were a hero.
Clint: I was a weapon. I was aimed by the right people at the right targets, so...
Kate: Look, you made mistakes, but those are behind you.
Clint: No, it's tied to me. Tied to my family. That's why I'm here. And I can't go home 'till I fix it. - Call-Back: After getting knocked off the rooftop, Kate ends up dangling from a wire with Clint looking down on her from above, the same way that Natasha was hanging below him on the cliff on Vormir, complete with the same music on the soundtrack. Clint is clearly aware of the similarity as he decides to cut Kate's wire to send her away for safety.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The Rolex that the Tracksuit Mafia was after in the first episode reappears, and belongs to someone that Clint knows (all but outright stated to be his wife, Laura). He claims that the watch is tied to this person's identity and if the Tracksuits have it, it could potentially blow their cover.
- Averted with the Ronin sword. Clint manages to steal it back from Jack, but doesn't pull it out during the final fight, presumably because he is trying to use non-lethal force.
- Comical Coffee Cup: Clint ends up drinking from one saying "Thanos was right".
- Company Cross References: When Kate shows off her stack of Christmas DVDs, the one in front and most visible is Disney's own The Santa Clause.
- Complexity Addiction: Subverted. Kate thinks that Clint has this, as his plan for breaking into the apartment involves climbing up from the outside when she thinks it's simpler to just take the elevator; she even preempts him in doing so. However, because she takes a longer route without a quick exit, Maya has time to detect her break-in and ambush her. Clint's plan, though elaborate, would quite possibly have been fast enough for Maya to have missed him.
- Crazy-Prepared: Clint managed to swipe all of Kazi's hidden weapons from within the latter's car before his conversation with him.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Clint shuts Kate down in incredibly harsh terms after Yelena shows up. Taking Kate up against a criminal gang, so long as it's just them, is one thing. Taking Kate up against a Black Widow is something else entirely.Clint: We're not partners. We never were. Go home. It's over.
- Cuteness Proximity: Despite Kate's distrust of Jacques, seeing him and her mother dancing and laughing and just being sweet makes her smile.
- Danger Takes A Back Seat: Clint waits in Kazi's car to have a talk.
- Dented Iron: Once again, Clint is struggling with his accumulating injuries. This time, he tapes frozen margarita packages to his knee and shoulder, before lying in a chair and placing one on his eyes.
- The Dreaded: Black Widows seem to be this. The moment Clint identifies Yelena as one, he has a Oh, Crap! moment and immediately tells Kate to go home, knowing full well that a Black Widow is several leagues over her head. Justified since Clint worked with Natasha and saw first-hand what she could do. We, the audience, have seen what Yelena herself can do. We have also seen what the 1940s-1950s Black Widows were capable of; even the young girls who were still Incompletely Trained were fully lethal against full-grown military men.
- Failed a Spot Check: Clint gets attacked on the rooftop by a masked woman and tells Kate that it's Maya. Kate, who actually is fighting Maya, quickly corrects him. In Clint's defense, Yelena wears a mask for most of her screen time.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Sharp-eyed viewers may have spotted the blue-lit Black Widow bracelet early on in the fight on the rooftop.
- Foreshadowing: There are a few hints as to the identity of Clint's rooftop assailant before The Reveal, to begin with...
- It's clearly a woman (the suit doesn't even hide her curves, and Clint initially mistakes her for Maya) with a very acrobatic fighting style.
- The grunts made by the assailant are clearly female. They also sound like Florence Pugh's especially if you watched Black Widow.
- After knocking Kate off the zipline, she does the Three-Point Landing that Yelena mocked Natasha about in their movie.
- She incapacitates Maya and Clint with a Widow's Bite.
- Natasha gets a considerable amount of focus in the episode, with her death being mentioned by Eleanor, the circumstances of their meeting being mentioned by Clint, and her last moments being heavily on Clint's mind; all of this hearkens back to Black Widow, where The Stinger had a grieving Yelena aimed in Clint's direction by Contessa Valentina.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- The DVD stack of Christmas movies that Kate brings includes The Santa Clause, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Polar Express, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Die Hard.
- Clint drinks coffee from a "Thanos was right" mug.
- Hidden Depths: It turns out that Laura has some investigative experience, as well as being fluent in German.
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: At one point in her conversation with Clint, Laura speaks in German so their kids sitting nearby won't know what she's saying.
- Homemade Sweater from Hell: Part of the Barton Christmas tradition is ugly sweaters and movie night. To help salvage his Christmas, Kate shows up with a tree, decorations, movies, and ugly sweaters.
- Hypocrite: Yelena performs a Three-Point Landing after knocking Kate off the zipline, despite her previously-expressed opinion of them.
- Human Weapon: Clint states to Kate that he is not a hero, he is a weapon. He did heroic actions because his superiors aimed him in the right direction, but that doesn't change what he is.
- Internal Reveal: Kate figures out that Clint is Ronin himself. She also learns that Clint's family was lost during the Blip.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Clint wants Kate to stop being his partner when he realizes that he's being hunted by a Black Widow, who is of a far greater threat level than Maya and the Tracksuit Mafia.
- Keep It Foreign: During Clint and Laura's conversation about the stolen watch and the Tracksuit Mafia, where Laura disguises what she's talking about to their children, one of the lines she speaks is in German. In the German dub, she speaks French.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Maya decides to exit the fight with Clint, Kate, and Yelena after Kate shoots her with an arrow.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Maya gets shot in the shoulder with an arrow and seems more annoyed at taking the hit then anything. Downplayed in that she also chooses to leave the fight after that, realizing that she's in over her head if she tries to keep going.
- The Malaproper: Kate finally bonds a little bit with Jacques after he makes a pair of malapropisms in the space of a minute.
- Mêlée à Trois: Clint and Kate take on Maya and a masked assailant, later revealed to be none other than Yelena Belova. Maya and Yelena also trade blows, mainly due to each wanting to kill Clint.
- The Mentor: Clint finally stops resisting and spends an evening bonding with Kate, including teaching her a Chekhov's Skill.
- Musical Nod:
- A slower version of "Not Good", which plays during Natasha's death in Avengers: Endgame, plays when Clint tells Kate about the time when he was sent to kill her but chose to spare her, and again when Kate almost falls off a roof.
- A snippet of Lorne Balfe's music from Black Widow (specifically Yelena's theme) plays when the masked assailant is revealed to be none other than Yelena Belova.
- Mustache Vandalism: Kate uses the white area of her aunt Moira's movie poster to take notes, and she's shown to have doodled a pair of glasses on Moira's character.
- Mythology Gag:
- Kate and Clint discuss boomerang arrows, which Clint has in the comics. In a reversal of their opinions from the Fraction/Aja run, Kate thinks that they'd be cool, while Clint thinks that the idea is stupid.
- Clint teaches Kate how to throw coins to great effect, much like Clint's brother Barney did to Clint in the Fraction/Aja comics.
- One of the LARPers is named Wendy Conrad, who in the comics is Hawkeye villain Bombshell. The codename even gets a reference as an Affectionate Nickname from her wife.
- Despite appearing on a rooftop with plenty of light, Yelena wears Night-Vision Goggles in a reference to one of her later costumes.
- Kate's Laika shirt is lifted straight from the comics, albeit with longer sleeves.
- When meeting the LARPers, Kate wears a purple sweatsuit similar to her superhero costume from Hawkeye.
- Never My Fault: While Clint views his time as Ronin as My Greatest Failure, he apparently feels this way about his inclination to have reacted to the Snap that way, viewing it as an extreme and misguided version of his long-preexisting "heroic" mission. At least, that's how he presents it to Kate.
- Oh, Crap!: Clint when he realizes that Kate just broke into Maya's apartment. And later when he realizes that someone has hired a Black Widow assassin to kill him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After a fun evening of bonding, when Clint finally snaps at Kate to drop it about "the shot I never took", she finally realizes she's pushing a topic she should leave alone.
- Pet the Dog: Yelena is seen attaching a grappling cable to Kate's belt before throwing her over the edge of the building, leaving her dangling. She has no reason to kill Kate, but does need her out of the way to focus on fighting Clint.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: The sudden appearance of Yelena causes Clint to cut ties with Kate and send her home, much to Kate's dismay.
- Politeness Judo: Kate gets into the apartment building by helping an old man carry his groceries upstairs. She then tells him she's working with an Avenger, which weirds him out enough for him to get off the elevator, leaving her alone to break into Maya's apartment.
- Pulling the Thread: When Clint talks about losing his family in the Blip, Kate finally realizes he was Ronin.
- Reluctant Gift: Wendy Conrad brings Hawkeye his arrows, diverted from the evidence room at the police station. However, when she finds out that he doesn't have his own bag to carry them, she's reluctant to give her own since it's a gift from her wife, with the Affectionate Nickname "Bombshell" written on it. Kate and Clint have to promise her they'd bring back the bag intact before she relents.
- Revenge Before Reason: Discussed between Clint and Kazi. Clint notes that Maya won't stop until she gets her hands on Ronin, no matter what it costs her. He beseeches Kazi, who has a much cooler head about the whole mess, to get her to stand down.
- Sarcastic Confession: After Kate, who's communicating with Clint via earpiece, responds to him while she's in the elevator with an old man, the latter is understandably confused about who she's talking to. Kate quickly takes advantage of this by quite earnestly telling him that she's actually speaking with an Avenger, who's her partner; just as she planned, the man naturally assumes she's not playing with a full deck and promptly bails from the elevator at the first chance he gets, allowing her to break into Maya's apartment with no witnesses.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- The old man whom Kate helps with his groceries quite understandably thinks she's a loon when she (truthfully) claims to be speaking to an Avenger when they're alone in the elevator, and quickly takes his other bag back from her and excuses himself (precisely what she wanted).
- Maya gives up the fight and scoots away when she is shot in the shoulder by Kate.
- After Clint unmasks her, and Kate has her dead to rights with an arrow pointed straight at her face, Yelena decides to call it quits and jumps off the rooftop.
- Shout-Out: Kate recreates the Christmas movie marathon that Clint can't enjoy with his kids. The two of them have a quiet moment watching George Bailey reunite with his family in It's a Wonderful Life.
- Silent Antagonist: Yelena doesn't say a word to either Clint or Kate; the closest she gets to communicating with them is a glare and a shake of the head in Kate's direction before she departs.
- Splitting the Arrow: Discussed Trope. Kate doesn't think it possible, but Clint claims that he's done it a few times, and that you just need the first arrow to be made of wood.
- Spy Speak: Laura uses coded phrases to speak to Clint over the phone without alarming their children. She also switches to German to mask their conversation further regarding the missing watch from the Avengers Compound. The kids, for their part, realize she's talking to their father but don't know the specifics.
- Station Ident: A radio station that's playing is announced as "New York's 107.6 Lite FM". In real life the New York station is 106.7 Lite FM.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Kate gets to the street and is already started crossing while Clint was using his binoculars and still speaking before realizing she's not next to him.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Kate tries to ride the improvised zip line from Maya's apartment to the rooftop across the street, but stops midway because the two points are almost level and there's not enough of an incline for her to slide all the way down. It takes the line being jiggled by Yelena to send her down the rest of the way.
- After Kate shoots her in the shoulder with an arrow and with a Black Widow joining the fight, Maya quickly realizes that she's no longer able to win, and flees from the place as quick as possible.
- Talking Is a Free Action: The assassin at the end heaves Kate over the side of the building. Clint, the assassin's target, takes a moment to look over the edge, then cuts Kate loose when he sees that she's safely tethered, and tells her to get home. All this time, the assassin obligingly doesn't do anything to Clint.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Clint finally opens up to Kate and becomes The Mentor.
- The Unreveal: Played with regarding the Rolex that the Tracksuits were after in the first episode. We find out its importance, but we don't learn who it actually belongs to.
- The Villain Knows Where You Live: Kate finds a hand-written list in Maya's apartment noting the names, relations, and ages of Clint's family.
- Wham Shot: Two near the end:
- Kate finds a notebook with the names of Clint's wife and kids in the apartment where she finds the Rolex, then the camera pans over pictures of young Maya with her father.
- The assassin who attacks Clint on the rooftop has her mask removed, revealing her to be none other than Yelena Belova.
- When She Smiles: Eleanor has spent the show so far worried (mostly about Kate) and thus kind of dour. However, when Jacques pulls her into a dance and sings along (including a malapropism), she lights up. Kate notes that "I don't think I've ever seen you like that before.".
- White-Dwarf Starlet: We get better evidence that Kate's aunti is one of these, with a lot of her old posters on the walls.
