I can without a doubt say that Hawkeye is by far one of the weakest of the Marvel Disney Plus shows thus far and easily has some of the lowest stakes of any of them, but that aspect isn’t necessarily all bad. For what Hawkeye lacks in scale and consequences, it delivers in fun character beats and provides that warm comfort that you’d expect from a Christmas action comedy because that’s most definitely what it is. This show sees the return of Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton aka Hawkeye and his attempt to make it to his family for Christmas after a talented young archer, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), puts on his old Ronin costume and gets wrapped up in the dark history it holds. Some of the best this show has to offer comes from the developing mentor relationship between Clint and Kate as they try to navigate the underground crime world of New York while getting into more trouble and uncovering deeper secrets along the way. Barton is seemingly retired from the hero gig for the time being and I think Renner plays that jaded and tired reluctance very well as he wears both the physical and emotional trauma that comes with the job. Steinfeld on the other hand plays a cocky and overzealous Kate Bishop exceptionally, assuming her role as the stubborn would-be apprentice to Hawkeye. Where their paths cross is where much of the show gets its charm as they make the perfect combination for the buddy cop dynamic. (Spoilers ahead)

However, where the series falters is in its execution of storytelling, pacing, and overall action. For me this show really struggled with finding its legs in the first couple of episodes; Clint with his family was interesting enough to keep my attention but that didn’t last too long and ultimately it didn’t get me engaged in the B plot with Kate, her mother Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) and soon to be stepdad Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton). Up until the third episode the show felt a little meandering and aimless (pun always intended), but it’s in this episode that the show started to hit a peak in its story and action sequences that really demonstrated the potential of the series. Unfortunately, this is where the story also starts to get a little bloated with even more characters and storylines it attempts to establish. We are introduced to the character of Maya Lopez, played by Alaqua Cox, who is the deaf leader of the tracksuit mafia and wants vengeance on the newly returned Ronin for killing her father. Maya is a very welcome addition to the cast as Cox embodies a very ruthless demeanor and ferocity that makes the fight scenes the character is given all the more intense. As I said earlier, this becomes another plot thread that stretches the show thin especially with only six episodes, but as I understand it, she’ll be getting her own spin-off show as the character Echo, which is exciting, I just wish her story was given more room to breathe.

And if all three of those plot lines weren’t stretched enough, we are also given Yelena Belova’s (Florence Pugh) story to contend with as she hunts down Clint, believing he was responsible for Natasha’s death. While Pugh gives a good performance at the end, all of these interesting stories never feel developed and none of them come to a satisfying conclusion or they at least feel rushed in doing so. Having a more concise narrative with Kate and Clint would have served the show better in my opinion as the conclusion to their story feels equally rushed and unsatisfying, ending very abruptly like every episode of this series has. Though Kate goes through so much over the course of the show, her character never seems to have a solid arc progression which could be attributed to the show’s lighter tone and abrupt pacing. Not even the sheer surprise of having Vincent D’Onofrio return to his role as Kingpin was enough to save the show as a whole for me. It has great moments sprinkled here and there but often the fight sequences don’t always have that expected impact with the way they’re edited, and everyone seems fairly superhuman considering the number of explosions people survive and regular kicks that send people flying ridiculously far. I enjoyed aspects of this series but as a complete package I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the others and found it to be easily the most skippable of the Disney Plus series, especially because it seemingly has no larger implications moving forward. At the end of the day, it’s a lighthearted Christmas action comedy and maybe that’s all it wanted to be, but for me it just stands out as the weakest.