How did it take Marvel this long to do Christmas? Until we get The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special next year, Hawkeye will be the gift to beat in the MCU – unwrapping a season finale that already feels like a dozen festive classics in one. Bits of Die Hard, Home Alone and Elf collide as everything comes to a head in New York’s Rockefeller Plaza with a six-way battle royale that ties all the loose ends up in big glittery bows.
After last week’s revelations, we now know that Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) is a baddie, Jack (Tony Dalton) is a goodie and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) is the real string-puller behind everything that’s been going on. Yelena (Florence Pugh) sends video evidence to Kate (Hailee Steinfeld), which really ruins her family Christmas plans. Maya (Alaqua Cox) meets up with Kingpin and Kazi (Fra Fee) and tries to convince them both that she’s still on board with their dastardly plans. But they both know she’s lying (just look at D’Onofrio’s evil eye twitch), which means she goes into the final fight on the right team.
Back at the Hawkeyes, Clint (Jeremy Renner) and Kate are having one last heart-to-heart. “You showed me that being a hero isn’t just for people who can fly or shoot lasers out of their hands: it’s for anyone who’s brave enough to do what’s right, no matter the cost,” says Kate, making one last argument to try and convince us all how cool Hawkeye really is. With that settled, it’s on to plotting their big Kevin McCallister plan (building loads of trick arrows that might as well shoot paint cans on strings).
Our aim is set on tomorrow’s episode! 🏹 The finale of Marvel Studios’ #Hawkeye starts streaming tomorrow on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/hwRVcmAdzZ
— Hawkeye (@hawkeyeofficial) December 21, 2021
And on to the party. Kazi’s on the rooftop with a sniper, the LARPers are all dressed as waiters (for now), Yelena is heading down in the lift and the Tracksuit Mafia are assembling outside – with Kate, Clint, Kingpin, Jack and Eleanor all mingling somewhere behind New York’s biggest Christmas tree.
Five minutes in, all hell has broken loose. Director Rhys Thomas does a great job of wrangling six different fights at once as everyone starts exploding/abseiling/shooting their way through the mess. At one point, Kate is standing on the giant piano from shooting Clint out of the Rockefeller tree (because, like some kind of cat, he can’t seem to get down on his own), while Maya is stabbing Kazi and Jack starts duelling with goons. And then the matching costumes come out.
