Okay just finished both.
Episode 1:
First off the bat... I am nowhere near as familiar with any Young Aveners characters as some. They sprung up right around when I was getting out of monthly books. Comics are just too damned expensive as an entertainment hobby despite collecting like close to EVERYTHING the two majors were putting out back in the day. I do however love me some Clint Barton in whatever form he's taking so while I read a few issues from the Fraction run I never did more than dip my toe in while liking the characterization and over all tone he was going for so I like the general set up from which this is based but I don't have quite the emotional connection to the elements or characters they are using in this series.
But from the start this grabbed me with some as of now nit picks I will get to later.
I LOVED the idea Kate sees Clint on the day of the attack on NYC. LOVED how the title sequence caught us up in such a short time as to how Kate developed. And I love how Kate has a very deep well of aspirational enthusiasm that comes from a seemingly genuine place. She is inspired to be who she is by the heroes of her world and sees something goodr in what they do and what she believes they stand for, while of course like many fans, underestimating how that is affected and affects one's own real life and how idealistic notions can get side swiped by the considerations of every day life and reality. Kudos to Steinfeld who makes this character work with a charisma and overall likeabiliy. I am nowhere near as high on her as some but she's doing a good job so far.
Clint as played by Renner seems for some reason to rub folk the wrong way being the recipient of some, in my view, really unfair or strange criticism from the jump. Look, I ****ing adore Clint Barton as a comic book character and for sure Renner as Hawkeye on multiple levels has not been written to be as close to the books as I would like. But I like this version fine and am happy they are giving him some shine here and they are doing it in a way that is giving him wonderful moments of both depth and yes, humor. Is it the fully out and out sarcastic lovable SOB we know from comics? No. It is tamped down and very dry but I made my peace with that a long time ago and for this version it is working for me.
As our story starts Kate gets the lion's share of focus but we know Clint after close to a decade of seeing him. You can get by with less screen time and use short hand or just the flash of an image to get us into what he's thinking or feeling and we know his background enough to not need to get into his situation. Kate needs this time to establish who she is and what she is about.
Clint is so far maybe THE BEST window into how the Avengers are seen in the MCU by the general public. The traumas and hardships he has gone through cause tension when dealing with a world that only knows the broad strokes of the battles the heroes have faced so that is nice to explore as well as how this creates tension with a person's own regular existence.
Of course none of that really registers for Kate but I am happy they aren't making her obnoxiously oblivious to this. She simply has met her hero and has big assumptions, but she's not annoying.
Where does the plot go from here is almost secondary to establishing the two mains and their relationship so I am not all that focused on the wheres, whys and hows too much. Just enjoying the ride and the vet vs newb dynamic which is giving these two performers something to play with that is both breezy but gives you an idea of what is going on inside them.
My nit picks for this episode:
I get it, it is cute Kate trying to prove something takes down unintentionally a building but... No. I don't buy the bell being disturbed enough to do that. It was one of a few-ish moments of "forced" events or characterization that could have been done many other ways. Again... Nit picks but that's my feeling.
The opening with the father was... The tone was off as well as the line readings for me. Like, it felt like a literal kid's movie and not a particularly good one.
There was a slight unbelievable and awkwardness to the fights with Kate in the Ronan costume. No, not really bad but a slight off of target (heh) nature. Like, this felt too often like they oversold her punches, kicks and throws to the point the choreography was just that, and didn't come off like a fight. "But suspension of disbelief?" Yeah, I get it... Still was off for me. Sorry.
There are actions Kate took that while necessary for the plot and for fans service, had to happen but I think they could have been done better. Why did Lucky attack the track suit on the street? Why after it ran off did Kate go chasing after the pooch? I honestly didn't get why Kate went looking for Armand after either. These things for me happened inelegantly and "just cause".
Other than that though... A lot of fun, some really good stuff for Clint's character and am very interested to see the journey of Kate to becoming a pro hero. Bring on the rest.
Episode 2:
Lot of good getting to know you stuff and I actually rather enjoy Clint's barely contained aggravation with the situation he has found himself in. I would say from the convo with his wife that for sure she was Ex-something. I feel she will play a role in saving our co-heroes' bacon at some point. It's also nice that the family tension is here, obviously, but itis played low key without histrionics, that goes for both our Hawks. Kate is reacting to a confluence of rightfully at this point suspecting Jack has some connection to Armand's death combined with how her mother being engaged rocks her emotionally as such a thing often does. Again, early goings, so I am strangely still not all that caring about the big picture but it's apparent that the Bishop clan must have been caught in something and the watch being sold at the auction is but the tip.
Despite the dryness of Renner's Clint he has got some good comedic moments but I have to say... I haven't had a full on belly laugh like seeing Clint crash a LARP event in a while. Loved it... With one reservation, but I will get to that.
The tone so far is actually really balanced between an earnest vet meets newb super hero vibe and handling Marvel's corporate dictated "throw in humor Willy mildly" approach. In some ways that is why I am enjoying Renner's reaction to this and his comebacks. The "capture" by the Track Suits is an example of this playing well for me.
Speaking off... Our heroes are in a wonderful if mysterious pickle and I cannot wait to see how they get out next episode.
My nit picks for this episode:
I mentioned loving Clint v. Larpers... But again, it kinda just happened to... happen. It felt forced for the obvious reasons that it gets Clint into a funny situation but it added nothing but that. I get they wanted to separate our duo and give Clint a short errand so that Kate was free to further the plot threads with her mom and Jack but it was just there to be comedic. There were lesser forced moments this episode but that stuck out, despite it being a well done comedic scene.