Editor's note: The below article contains spoilers for Episode 5 of Hawkeye, "Ronin."
When it comes to the MCU, with its vast library of main and supporting characters to draw from, cameo appearances are a bit of a given at this point. In fact, since Marvel prides itself on a certain level of interconnectivity between its films and shows (even if it occasionally only results in a passing reference to a "big guy" or the Battle of New York), there's really no such thing as an unexpected drop-in anymore. In most instances, fans have come to anticipate the arrival of someone else, maybe even someone bigger on the scene — which, on the one hand, contributes to the internet version of huddling around the watercooler, but said expectations can also become so tangled up in predictions and speculation that it sort of overshadows what the plot itself is trying to accomplish. (See: Mephisto basically becoming a running inside joke about fan theories after the character failed to make an appearance in WandaVision, an appearance that was never assured to begin with.) It's partly indicative of one of the MCU's greatest storytelling problems — when you've built up a reputation for encouraging viewers to look for the next big thing, it makes it difficult to keep the attention on the existing story and where it's succeeding or stumbling. Fortunately for Hawkeye this week, the arrival of someone we're already familiar with in Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) was a way to not only shake things up in terms of character dynamics and challenge the hero-worship status of a certain relationship, but also give us an entirely new perspective on past MCU events.
For starters, it's not the first time we've witnessed the tragedy of the Blip — and Hawkeye itself is quick to remind us of that early on, with a series of small recollection flashbacks that hammer home the fact that Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) lost his whole family in the incident. It's not even the first time we've seen it happen on a Disney+ show; one episode of WandaVision in particular opened with Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) drifting off to sleep in a hospital and quietly fading away before waking up to a world five years on.
But with the cold open for Hawkeye Episode 5, we're introduced to a version of past events that's never been rendered on-screen before, as Yelena watches herself dissolve into nothing before immediately being returned to where she was the moment the Snap occurred. From her perspective, it's as if it only happened in an instant (really making you think twice about what anyone flying in a plane went through in Endgame, contrary to what we've been told about Smart Hulk after the fact), and it emphasizes how disorienting the experience must be for those who were returned, mainly because none of them have any perception of being Snapped out of existence in the first place. It's even more tragic given the revelation that, in the time Yelena's been gone, her sister Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) has died — but as the end credit sequence of Black Widow establishes, Yelena's also not being given the full picture when it comes to Clint's role in all of that.
If there was any possible expectation that Yelena would show up in Hawkeye as the equivalent of a mustache-twirling villain, though, that notion has been quickly disabused as of "Ronin" — and not just because Pugh's Yelena is charmingly disarming even while finding ways to casually drop in the fact that she could kill someone with her bare hands. She's the antagonist only in the sense that she represents more of an obstacle for Clint and his young protegee Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) while they're dealing with their current mission, particularly given the bombshell reveal later on that she's been hired by Kate's mother Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) to kill Clint. From a character standpoint, however, Yelena also represents someone that the story needs right now — someone who can come in and introduce a different point-of-view on Clint, for Kate most of all.
The scene that plays out between the two young women this week, when Kate is surprised by Yelena lurking around her fire-damaged apartment, is impactful not simply because Steinfeld and Pugh have delightful amounts of chemistry from the jump (leading me to cross my fingers incredibly tight for a Season 2 in which we get our new Hawkeye and Black Widow working side-by-side). At this stage in the plot, Kate absolutely needs to receive a hard dose of truth when it comes to her long-time hero, especially because by her own admission she's only known the guy for about a week. Yelena isn't just a character randomly implanted to be the delivery system for Kate's wake-up call when any other MCU cast member could do. She has her own personal, albeit misshapen, reasons for holding a grudge against Clint, and she also rightfully calls into question the notion that being an Avenger — something she likely has many mixed feelings about considering Natasha's legacy — is a title that somehow gives these heroes a free pass even when they fall. It's a conversation that takes place out of earshot of Clint and seemingly places Kate in an even more conflicted place about her mentor, just in time for next week's finale.
Granted, Hawkeye might already be slightly poised to fall victim to that MCU storytelling tendency of priming viewers to look ahead to the next big reveal — even if it only came in the form of a grainy cellphone photo, there's no denying that Kingpin (Vincent D'onofrio) is alive and well and clearly up to his old tricks in New York City, and Kate's mom is apparently working with him in some capacity. But hopefully, that's not enough to overshadow the impact of this week's episode, because "Ronin" isn't just about teeing up what's likely to be a big knockdown, drag-out finale, and Yelena's official reemergence in the MCU post-Black Widow gave us a whole lot more than just a glorified cameo appearance.