DISCLAIMER: This recap of the Hawkeye season finale “So This Is Christmas?” has spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
Welcome, Avengers! Hawkeye presents us with the best early Christmas gift — its explosive, festively bedecked season finale! “So This Is Christmas?” wraps the plot nicely with a sparkling bow, blessing us with heart-pounding action sequences, heartwrenching emotional scenes, comedic moments and pure, unadulterated Marvel goodness.
Vincent D’Onofrio causes quite a stir with his return as Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin. He seamlessly slips into character, and, honestly, it’s like he never left. Even though we hear a gunshot amid his final scene with Maya, I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of him. Remember the TV Golden Rule: no body, no death.
Florence Pugh steals the show with her vulnerable, gut-wrenching performance. We finally get to see her grieve Natasha with Clint, and I think their almost fatal encounter gave her some closure. Hawkeye does a significantly better job honoring Nat’s legacy than Black Widow, her solo movie, and Avengers: Endgame.
“So This Is Christmas?” is the perfect closing number for the series, and it sets up exciting prospects for the MCU.
Ready to delve into “So This Is Christmas?” Let’s get to it.
RELATED: Hawkeye Recap: (S01E05) Ronin
We open with Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) meeting with Wilson Fisk (D’Onofrio) in the latter’s shady headquarters. Eleanor wants out of her deal with him — she paid her husband’s debt to Fisk tenfold. Since Kate’s getting too close to the action, Eleanor draws a line in the sand.
However, Fisk won’t let her go quietly into the night. Nobody quits on Kingpin!
Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) watches the conversation between her mom and Fisk, courtesy of Yelena. Eleanor sent Yelena to kill Clint; she murdered Armand and framed Jack. Clint (Jeremy Renner) vows to help Kate clean up this mess. “Your mess is my mess,” he says. They’re partners, am I right?
Meanwhile, Maya (Alaqua Cox) approaches Fisk and Kazi (Fra Fee) after Eleanor departs. Maya tells her uncle that she was blinded by vengeance, but she understands she must focus on the job. Maya asks Fisk for a few days off to clear her head, which he grants. Fisk reveals he loves her before she leaves.
Fisk orders Kazi to remind everyone that he rules this city (But not with an iron fist — see what I did there?), notably Eleanor and Maya.
Later, Clint and Kate assemble trick arrows, much to the latter’s delight.
The Bishop holiday party is that night, meaning some s**t is about to go down. Kate regales Clint with the story of how she first encountered Hawkeye through the Battle of New York. Clint showed her that even regular folks could be heroes. It’s a touching scene, performed beautifully by Steinfeld and Renner.

Next, Kate and Clint dress for the black-tie shindig, and they spot Jack (Tony Dalton) in the crowd with a sword affixed to his hip. Kate muses whether the sword symbolizes his need to defend his innocence. We see the LARPing crew strategically placed throughout the party, giving Clint and Kate intel regarding Eleanor’s position.
Meanwhile, Kazi and the Tracksuit Mafia lurk outside in the shadows. He, in particular, waits in the window of the adjacent skyscraper with an assault weapon to train on Eleanor.
Kate spots her mother and pulls her aside. She shows Eleanor the clip of the latter chatting with Wilson Fisk. Eleanor claims she only did what she did to protect her daughter.
Suddenly, Kazi finds Clint, and he starts shooting. Clint urges the LARPers to get everyone safely out of the building while he locates the source of the firing. Kate tracks down Yelena (Pugh), waiting for an elevator.
Kate knows Yelena is there to kill Clint, so after a brief skirmish, Kate presses all of the buttons so that Yelena can’t reach her target right away. I love the chemistry between Steinfeld and Pugh.
We also get a glimpse of Kate’s new superhero outfit courtesy of the LARPers!

However, Yelena escapes. Kate relocates the former Black Widow in another part of the building, and the two resume their battle. Yelena leaps out of a window and scales down the side of the tower. Kate follows suit courtesy of the wire Yelena left behind. What a badass! The fight choreography on this show never fails to impress.
Next, Kate takes on the Tracksuit Mafia once she’s outside. Jack barges into battle armed with his sword, and it appears we’re seeing Swordsman in action. Kate apologizes to him for thinking he was a creepy murderer. Clint squares off against Kazi, and our fave Avenger rigs an explosive device that detonates on the other encroaching Mafia members.
Clint flees, attempting to scale the building like Yelena and Kate before him. Unfortunately, he lands in the massive, towering Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center. Thankfully, he befriends an owl, so his brief respite isn’t a lonely one.
Maya returns to her apartment and packs her bags. She pauses while glancing at a photo of her father, then one featuring her and her dad with Kazi. The traitor!
The LARPers change into their costumes, so you know things are serious. They help innocent civilians escape the violence while fending off the Tracksuit Mafia. Somebody get these LARPers a shield!
Kate shoots a trick arrow at the Rockefeller tree to get Clint out, and, as the tree fell, I felt a piece of my heart die. Does this mean Christmas is canceled?

Kate joins Clint outside as the pair stand on the ice rink, surrounded by Tracksuit Mafia members. Clint removes his formal wear to reveal his brand-spankin’ new superhero suit. It’s very chic.
What transpires might be one of my favorite action sequences on this show. Clint and Kate fire trick arrow after arrow at the Mafia men, and their creations are sublime. From arrows that freeze their target upon impact to ones that unleash tiny blades and some that shrink objects, I wish I had these in real life.
RELATED: Hawkeye Recap: (S01E04) Partners, Am I Right?
Kate figures out where Eleanor is, so she pursues that lead. Meanwhile, Yelena shoves Clint back on the ice rink while Maya tracks Kazi. Maya attempts to persuade Kazi to skip town with her, leave the Mafia life in the dust. Unfortunately, Kazi feels he doesn’t have a choice. He told her she should have fled when she had the opportunity.
Before Yelena kills Clint, she asks him how Natasha died. While he won’t reveal specifics, citing that Yelena wouldn’t believe him, Clint tells her that Natasha sacrificed herself. She saved the world.
However, Yelena thinks he’s lying and continues to pummel him.
Eleanor attempts to escape in a car, but Fisk finds her. Kate swoops in to save the day, brandishing her arrow on Fisk. Fisk’s appearance in this episode gives off major comic book vibes, notably the black cane and the imposing white suit jacket.
Before Fisk can retaliate against Kate, Eleanor drives the car into a building, taking Fisk with it.
Kazi and Maya engage in a scuffle, and it’s clear that neither of them wants to kill the other. But Kazi has his orders straight from the big boss. Kazi stabs himself so that he doesn’t have to murder Maya, much to her dismay. As he perishes, he urges Maya to leave before Fisk finds her. RIP Kazi.

Meanwhile, Fisk and Kate duke it out in what appears to be a toy store. Fisk snaps her arrows with ease — I forgot how strong he is. Clint tries to get Yelena to listen to him. He explains that he fought Natasha over the world-saving sacrifice; he attempted to save her. But she’s stronger, faster and better than him.
Kate overpowers Fisk by implementing the coin trick Clint taught her, rigging the trick arrows around him to explode. She embraces Eleanor after the fight, and the latter apologizes profusely for the years of deceitfulness and murder. Unfortunately, it’s too little, too late. Kate has Eleanor arrested for killing Armand.
Clint whistles Yelena and Nat’s tune amid the fight, which gives Yelena pause. She stops beating him, and Clint informs her that Natasha gushed about Yelena constantly. Clint reveals what he knows about their childhood. Yelena’s defenses melt away, tearfully confessing that “it shouldn’t have gone this way.” Why did Clint get more time with her sister?
It’s such a visceral, painful scene, and Pugh and Renner knock it out of the park. It feels like a love letter to all that is Natasha Romanoff.
Yelena decides not to kill Clint. She helps him stand, and the pair share a moment of silent understanding before Yelena departs.
Then, Maya finds Fisk after the latter’s duel with Kate. She procures a gun, pointing it at him. She trains it on Fisk’s face. The camera cuts away, and we hear a gunshot.
Finally, medics and law enforcement arrive at the Rockefeller Center scene. Jack cleans his sword after the fight, and one of the LARPers persuades him to give live-action role-playing a fair shake.
Later, Clint, Kate and Lucky the Pizza Dog drive to the Barton residence on Christmas Day. Laura (Linda Cardellini) accepts Kate with open arms as Clint reunites with his family. I love that he invited Kate over for Christmas. The kids unwrap presents and give Lucky, the goodest boy, all of the pets.

Clint gives back Laura’s Rolex watch that was on the black market with the Ronin suit. We see the SHIELD symbol on the back. So, Laura is SHIELD Agent 19! That explains a lot, and probably how she met Clint.
Next, Clint asks Kate to help him burn the Ronin suit. While heading back inside for more holiday shenanigans, Kate divulges a series of superhero names for herself, but Clint shoots down every one of them.
The mid-credit scene showcases the full performance of “I Can Do This All Day” from Rogers: The Musical. And, for all you musical theatre nerds, that’s Adam Pascal opening the delightfully cheesy number.
RELATED: Catch up on all the archery antics with our Hawkeye recaps!
I think we’ll see what happened to Fisk and Maya in Echo, with maybe some flashback scenes featuring Maya, Kazi and William Lopez. I hope with Laura Barton’s unveiled SHIELD ties; we’ll see her suit up at some point, or, perhaps, more insight into her backstory and how she met Clint. “So This Is Christmas?” also tees more potential stories for Jack, a.k.a., Swordsman.
Hawkeye will become a Christmas staple for me and mine. It rose quickly through the Marvel Disney Plus ranks as one of my favorites. Like Clint Barton, it skillfully kept its cards close to the vest, methodically revealing fun MCU surprises when the time was right.
Steinfeld and Renner have fantastic chemistry, with Hawkeye striking that perfect balance between comedy and drama. It’s proof positive that we can all be heroes, whether or not we shoot lasers out of our hands.
I can’t wait to see what happens next for Clint Barton and Kate Bishop.
All episodes of Hawkeye are now streaming on Disney Plus.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/kate-bishop-hawkeye-young-avengers/
- SHORESY Season 4 Trailer Gets Us Fired Up for a Sudbury Summer - February 6, 2025
- Class Is in Session: Favorite Quotes From ABBOTT ELEMENTARY’s ‘The Science Fair’ - February 6, 2025
- HARLEY QUINN Recap: (S05E04) Breaking Brainiac - February 6, 2025