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Hawkeye this week hit on all fronts as the story started paying off. The fifth and penultimate episode finally devoted a sizable chunk of attention to Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow played by Florence Pugh. A major scene had Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) sit down to a meal of mac and cheese with Yelena, which hit on multiple levels and could be taught in writing and acting classes.

Florence Pugh in “Hawkeye” Episode 5, Disney+

In the scene, Kate comes back to her crappy apartment, made crappier from a fire-bombing by the tracksuit mafia bros. She finds Yelena waiting for her. Yelena asks her where Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is. Kate tells her she doesn’t know, so Yelena leaves. That’s all the scene is in terms of plot, but it’s written and acted with a lot more going on than just Yelena asking for information. The writers avoid the obvious route to take the most creative and fun one.

The script layers the scene to make it as interesting and unpredictable as possible: Kate is surprised that Yelena is there. Yelena has cooked mac n’ cheese and sets the table for the two of them to eat together. Kate is terrified because Yelena is a deadly assassin and possibly a sociopath. Yelena tries to reassure her that she’s not here to hurt her, but her promises that she’s not holding a weapon don’t fly because she IS a weapon. Kate is understandably terrified but keeps her panic in check. Yelena is chipper and jovial, but the more cheerful she is in her attempt to calm Kate down, the more terrified Kate gets with her. Yelena remarks on Kate’s lack of utensils for more than one person in the apartment. Her conversation with Kate flips between asking where Hawkeye is, trying to make small talk about this being her first time in New York City and asking for tips on touristy things to do, then trying to convince Kate that Hawkeye aka Clint Barton is a bad guy.

Dramatic writing comes from the conflict between characters in a scene, and that comes from characters with wants that have them opposing each other. There are multiple conflicts going on in this scene. The main conflict is Yelena wanting information from Kate, and Kate doesn’t have what she wants. Kate wants to not get murdered. She doesn’t know for sure that Yelena won’t try to murder her. Another conflict is Yelena wants to bring Kate around to her side by telling her that Clint is a bad man, but Kate refuses to go along with that, so Yelena …….

Source: https://bleedingcool.com/tv/hawkeye-e05-kate-yelena-scene-proves-writing-acting-masterclass/