Jeremy Renner reprises his role as Clint Barton from the film series, with Hailee Steinfeld joining him as Kate Bishop.

Florence Pugh, Tony Dalton, Fra Fee, Vincent D'Onofrio, Alaqua Cox, Aleks Paunovic, Piotr Adamczyk, Linda Cardellini, and Vera Farmiga also star.

The episode received positive reviews from critics and audiences, particularly for its performances, action sequences, and the reveal of D'Onofrio reprising his role as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin from the Marvel Television series Daredevil.

[c] In 2024, Kate Bishop informs her mother Eleanor about her fiancée Jack Duquesne's shell corporation Sloan Limited, which leads to his arrest.

He puts on the Ronin suit and challenges Maya Lopez to a fight, trying to convince her to stop her vendetta against him and pursuing his family.

[2][3] Executive producers for the series include head writer Jonathan Igla, Rhys Thomas, Brad Winderbaum, Trinh Tran, Victoria Alonso, Louis D'Esposito, and Kevin Feige.

[6] While writing the episode, Marvel Studios gave Bert and Bertie access to secret screenings of Black Widow (2021), while also receiving information on the Statue of Liberty's depiction in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

[7] The episode stars Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne, Fra Fee as Kazi, Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin, Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez, Aleks Paunovic as Ivan, Piotr Adamczyk as Thomas, Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton, and Vera Farmiga as Eleanor Bishop.

[5] On the decision to introduce Fisk with a grainy photo at the end of the episode, Bertie said "there've been different iterations of how Kingpin was revealed and this is the one that served the story".

[11] Speaking to the appearance of Belova in the episode, Bert and Bertie wanted to celebrate "this incredibly off-the-wall character" and how she would interact with the "naive, wide-eyed, super-smart, fierce, badass" Kate Bishop.

[16] Hawkeye was the top streaming series for viewers in the United States for the week ending December 19 according to Whip Media's TV Time.

Overall, Purslow felt that the episode "satisfyingly stitches all its ideas together" by bringing together the separate plot threads "to reveal the thrilling mastermind behind it all: Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk".

Club felt that Pugh stole the show and thought that "everything that made Yelena Belova such a hit in the Black Widow movie is back and arguably better here".