Hawkeye planned a “catch and release” to learn who’s after him and Kate Bishop, his sort-of-unwanted partner.
The good news, they do that after one wild ride.
The bad news is they have a very determined fighter after them, and that won’t be the only problem that might ruin
their Christmas.

SPOILERS BELOW

That fighter is Maya Lopez, aka Echo. Much of the episode looks at her backstory, and why she’s after Ronin aka Clint Barton. The interesting thing is that Alaqua Cox may be one of the best Marvel castings it’s ever done. She is a deaf Native American with a prosthetic right foot, and a skilled fighter. She really does a great job introducing herself and her skills, especially when she fights Clint. It’s no wonder why Kevin Feige decided to give her a show after this chapter was done, but putting her in a movie or two wouldn’t hurt, either.

It starts when uses her special skills of reading vibrations when she’s a kid in 2007. She has a very close relationship with her dad, and it is touching. They talk about dragons, she wonders if they could be in their world (and this is way before Shang-Chi). However, it seems he works for someone else. We see his suit and his big hand, and that may be enough to identify who it could be.
Many years later, someone attacks her dad’s crew, then kills him. It’s Clint in his Ronin days. This is similar to the comic book version, where Maya sees her dad die. Of course, she will vow revenge.

Cut to present day, where Clint and Kate are riding vending machine unicorns while the Tracksuit Mafia mock them. Soon Maya arrives, and she wats answers. Since Clint doesn’t know ASL, her friend Razi (Fra Fee) interprets. Still, it’s clear Maya is angry Ronin may be back. Clint tries to fool her into thinking Ronin is dead, but that doesn’t work. He’s still able to free himself and Kate, leading to one incredible chase and fight that makes up a big chunk of the show.

Maya clobbers Clint and breaks his hearing aid, putting him in a big disadvantage. He can’t talk to Kate, but they communicate well enough to fire some very special arrows and cause a lot of havoc. Hailee Steinfeld is just great as Kate learns how to shoot arrows while in a speeding car, while also excited over what the trick arrows can do.
This one from Clint is the most special of all. Just look at the arrowhead, and recall Ant Man and the Wasp and what it did to a Hello Kitty doll.

They do get away, and try to regroup. Their relationship even deepens a bit as she helps him hide the fact to his son on the phone his hearing aid is broken. That scene shows this story better end with him getting back to his family, but his past (especially killing Maya’s dad) will make that difficult.
Kate again talks about branding, like Clint should get a flashier costume. He says his wife would hate that, and tries to remind Kate he is no role model. She still thinks he is.

Meanwhile, Maya is still mad Clint got away, and suspects he’s Ronin. Razi wonders if she should back off because “Uncle” might be upset. Uncle Wilson, he means? She reminds him she is in charge.

After he gets his hearing aid fixed, Clint joins Kate in an attempt to look into her mom’s security files. After all, the Tracksuit Mafia is still after them, and she doesn’t want a killer as a stepdad.
Back home, she tries to get some info, while Clint suspects there’s someone else in the house.
He’s right. It’s Jack Duquesne…with the retractable sword he just bought.
What’s next, and is “Uncle” a very familiar face from another streaming service? We’ll find out.

Hawkeye airs every Wednesday on Disney Plus.