The Short End of the Arrow

If last night's new Hawkeye felt short to you, it wasn't your imagination. It was only 41 minutes, about 35 minutes if you subtract the credits. I suppose it felt even shorter after last week when I had three episodes to watch but I also found last night's episode fundamentally less satisfying than the first three, mainly because of the writing.

It begins with Clint (Jeremy Renner) and Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) sitting down with Kate's mother, Eleanor (Vera Fermiga), and her mother's fiance, Jack (Tony Dalton). The conversation feels lazily written, with Clint consistently shooting down every possibility of complimenting Kate, not even being willing to call her a friend. Which is pretty lousy of him considering he seems to be making himself comfortable at her aunt's place.

It undermined the tension of Clint needing to get back to his family a lot when Kate convinces him to have a little Christmas party and movie marathon. I thought time was of the essence?

The Larpers returned and I still don't like them. They don't remotely seem like real Larpers--most of them are in good shape and wearing trendy clothes. They look like advertisements for Gap.

Hailee Steinfeld continues to be charming, though. This show is a much better fit for her than that Emily Dickinson series. Hopefully next week's episode will have a better writer. It's kind of weird, no two episodes of this show have had the same writer.

It was nice to see Florence Pugh. She was one of the highlights of the Black Widow movie. But I'd already had her appearance spoiled for me so just getting a look at her face and no dialogue wasn't very satisfying.

Hawkeye is available on Disney+.

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