Is it realistic for Eli to have made the hawk “mask” overnight ?
No. The show portrays this “transition” or mask as something the Eli created “overnight” at first glance but if you watch closely there are still quite a few instances where Eli is clearly uncomfortable with “Hawk”. Sometimes an autistic person might start something we call mimicking to fit into a drastically new situation, in this case Eli really wanted to be friends, good friends with Miguel and he wanted the protection and power that Miguel had. So he mimicks both Miguel and Johnny (particularly Johnny quite a lot!). Mimicking is the base to any autistic mask.
Some examples of mimicking and masking
•the way Hawk speaks about women and “nerd shit” none of these things are his own opinions or thoughts it’s obviously regurgitated from Johnny. We especially see this when Demetri clocks what Hawk is saying as insane/ridiculous at the park and they have a little moment over it.
•his fighting style in the beginning it’s incredibly similar to Miguel’s, his desire to get a girlfriend, randomly gets with Moon at the first big party is quite FULL on with her too. (Something Miguel did with Sam, Miguel did it more  eloquently).
•mimicking Johnny’s literal face, Johnny teaches them all a style of fighting but Hawk really mimicks it so hardcore it’s almost laughable. Be tough strike hard, no pussies, the fucking back tattoo and that ridiculous movement he does with it (notice how that little move fades over time).
•how genuinely confused he is very frequently
•citting the situation after the  tournament Johnny says “yes Robby is my son but that has nothing to do with how I run my dojo” and Miguel replies “yes  sensei” and Eli is confused “but but”. Miguel clearly understands there are deeper issues going on here but Hawk is just upset because he doesn’t understand. Hawk almost always looks at people to gauge reaction (which is very common with ASD) and see how he in turn should react.
•it can be difficult to mask and mimick around people who know your autistic self well, we see this frequently between Demetri and Hawk. I’d say Hawk almost always drops the Hawk mask even for a moment whenever he’s with Demetri or gets triggered and becomes incredibly upset (be Demetri being a safe person he’s lost is very difficult)
If this was a genuine personality change Eli wouldn’t feel the INCREASING guilt he has over the Demetri arm situation citting the beating up of his team mates at Daniels house (also sometimes we as autistic people will do a gesture vs use words and I think that contributes to the forgiveness scene between Demetri and Eli). Also he drops the mask when Kyler joins the Dojo because he triggers Eli.
Anyways this is my explanation of the mask “Hawk” I’ve gotten a lot of messages about it and just picked this one to answer.
