Hawkeye episode 3 review: Live reaction to the third episode as it happened

Anyway, that's more or less all we have for you in this week's live blog/live review. I hope you've enjoyed it, and we'll see you back next week for plenty more Hawkeye coverage.

Well, maybe we will - I don't like to presume.

Next week, I'm hoping for more arrow action, comic-book nods and yet more classic Christmas tunes of the closing credits. I reckon at least one out of the three is a dead cert.

See you soon! And merry December.

Ah yes - in case it wasn't clear, that growing arrow Clint used was an arrow made by (presumably) Hank Pym, as inscribed on the tip. Missed that detail

(And yes, I am just going through Twitter at the moment checking what fans are saying. Sue me!)

Overall I think that theory is pretty likely, and I'm not alone on the internet in thinking that. Check out this tweet...

I pretty much nailed my predictions for this episode (thank you very much), so my confidence is up for what we'll see next week.

At the very least, it'd be fun to see a battle between Jack and Clint - in the comics Jack was Clint's mentor, and it seems unlikely they'll have that history here but you never know. Jack had to learn how to use the swords sometime.

I also wonder whether we'll meet Echo's boss - because it's possible he's a very significant Marvel character. Rumours have been swirling for a while that Vincent D'Onofrio's Daredevil crime boss Kingpin/Wilson Fisk will be making a return in this MCU series, possibly in episode four or five.

Given that Echo is his adopted daughter in the comics, it could be that he's her mysteriously offscreen boss...and maybe he will pop up in a future episode.

Yelena and Hawkeye (Florence Pugh and Jeremy Renner) (Marvel)

And as I said, it's also possible Black Widow's Florence Pugh will be back as Yelena Belova - though given that this seems like a LOT to fit in one episode, maybe one or both of these cameos will come in a later week.

Either way, lots to look forward to!

Hard to believe that somehow we're already at the halfway mark for Hawkeye. I guess that's what you get for kicking off a six-part series with two episodes (which I don't think Marvel has actually done before...)

Based on this episode, I'm more hopeful for the back half. This episode had some great action, some real heart and (crucially) more screentime for Lucky the Pizza Dog. What more could you ask for?

I'd say I preferred that episode to the first two - it felt less 'MCU generic' and more pulling on its unique action USP - archery!

The first episodes kind of tended towards generic Netflix Marvel-esque action (i.e. those Defenders series), but this one actually let our heroes do a bit of inventive archery, and I loved that. I'm sure those sequences are tricky to block out though, so expect some more traditional fighting before we're done.

I also really liked Echo - she was a very sympathetic villain, and I can see that she could be an interesting subject for her own spin-off.

Ah! Clint, while snooping, is caught by his own Ronin sword, as wielded by Jack Duquesne, aka Swordsman, aka Kate's creepy stepdad.

And that's the episode cliffhanger - that went quickly. Think it was a slightly shorter episode than the last two.

Kate is convinced Jack (her mum's fiancé) is behind Armand's murder, Clint isn't convinced (especially because the main evidence is possession of butterscotch/not being stabbed in the face).

Anyway they're going to sneak into her mother's penthouse and see if there's any evidence.

Kate's all about that superhero life...but Clint warns her it comes with sacrifice. She's not really listening, unfortunately.

He's also not a fan of her pitch for a Hawkeye costume...even though it is his classic comic-book costume. Classic superhero movie stuff.

He points out he was supposed to be a secret agent, his wife would divorce him if he wore it and "I'm not a role model...to anyone. Never have been."

Kate disagrees, guess this is the central theme stated and so on.

The bro crew aren't too happy with their boss' Ronin obsession. Subtitles make it difficult to live blog, so sorry if I get a bit slower.

Anyway, looks like they're getting the hearing aid fixed. And it's fixed! That was fast.

Kate helps Clint communicate with his son...I guess he can't let on to his kids that he's in trouble. Quite a sweet scene though. Kate clearly feels quite guilty about it all.

Clint says Kate isn't wrong to call herself that...very sweet. Anyway hope he gets another hearing aid, he's struggling a bit to communicate without it.

...gets totalled anyway. Now Hawkeye and Kate get stuck on the bridge, with a truck incoming.

Haha he hit her normal arrow with like, an Ant-Man arrow! So it grew massive and smashed the car. This is the kind of Hawkeye nonsense I wanted.

USB arrow, think we saw that in What If...pretty useless in live-action.

I'm enjoying these trick arrows. Very fun. Shame we never saw MCU Hawkeye use them ever before, but whatever. He clearly wanted to look cool in front of his Avengers friends.

Ha, the car they turn down is the one from the comic...fun stuff. Anyway Clint's hearing loss is turning into an issue, he can't hear Kate which might be crucial in a big action sequence.

Anyway the car's on the move now, and Kate's about to do some trick arrow stuff. Goo arrow! Or putty arrow.

The subplot of Clint failing to label the trick arrows is also from the comic, in case you were wondering. Sorry, I'll probably do this all day.

Echo is showing Hawkeye up! I hadn't noticed she also has a prosthetic, but Clint sure did when it smacked his head.

Ah, nice to see some actual archery fighting in this Hawkeye show. I've been waiting for it!

(Also, Clint's hearing aid was destroyed, which may be relevant later).

Hawkeye's limited sign language skills are counting against him here. But he still manages to try and save Kate.

Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld in Hawkeye

He says Black Widow killed Ronin. Which is true, metaphorically. They're not convinced...and Echo still has some issues to work out.

But then Clint escapes! I don't get how that works when Kate is still trapped, surely they could just use her as a hostage?

Clint and Kate are stuck on little fairground ride things. Pretty funny. Meanwhile Kate is bonding with one of the tracksuit mafia over Imagine Dragons tickets

This is like that bit in Austin Powers when all the henchmen/goons have tragic home lives and families who love them. Makes you think!

Maya picked up martial arts quickly! Anyway now she's an adult, still showing off her moves. But something's going down badly at her home when Ronin (aka Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye having a midlife crisis) killed her whole family. Guess they were criminals? You'd hope they were at least criminals.

Looks like she didn't let on for a while that she couldn't hear, but was smart enough to get by in school anyway.

Though her family seem to know she's deaf...strange.

You know with this, Eternals, Strictly Come Dancing and Only Murders in the Building there's been a lot of representation for the hearing impaired on TV lately. Funny how that's happened.

Anyway looks like her family couldn't afford the deaf school, so she has to learn to live in "two worlds".

...and now the standard flashbacks. Assume this'll be Echo's story, living with hearing impairment and so on.

This episode is called Echoes! And it has a picture of the red car from the trick arrows scene...I've nailed this.

Anyway here's a recap time. Murders, sign language and so on.

Assuming I got my timings right anyway, I haven't done one of these since Loki in July.

Taking a wild guess from where we left off last week, I'm going to say this might be the week we see the much-touted scene from the trailers where Kate and Clint use trick arrows during a car chase.

A classic sequence from the Matt Fraction/David Aja comic Hawkeye is explicitly inspired by, this scene has been front and centre in the marketing, and given that last week's episode saw the archer duo captured by the tracksuit mafia (who are also in the chase) it sort of lines up.

Still, I could be wrong. All we know for sure is that the last episode ended with the introduction of deaf martial artist Echo (Alaqua Cox), soon to be set for her own Disney Plus show but here working for organised crime. Presumably, we'll have some time with her whatever happens.

But don't count on seeing Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova/Black Widow just yet. Somehow that just feels a little episode four to me, y'know?

So what did we all think of the first two episodes?

You can check out my full review here but in short...I thought it was just OK. Definitely not bad, often entertaining, but a little bit more pedestrian compared to some of the other Marvel shows we've seen on this platform and without too many surprises.

Still, I'm hoping to have my mind changed by the upcoming episodes. And maybe now that I can actually crack open an advent calendar, I'll be feeling the festive spirit more anyway.

...to our Hawkeye episode three live blog!

Yes, as the third episode drops today we'll be here to (hopefully) catalogue it all. If you've followed any of our Disney Plus live blogs before you'll know the score – lots of meandering chatter, disproven theories and those awkward moments where I'm unable to spell a new character's name. Some real classic stuff.

Still, despite all that it should be some good fun. As soon as the episode arrives (which is sometimes a little before eight) I'll kick off, but until then sit tight. Not long to wait now...