VisionQuest… Best Start to a Superhero Show in a Long Time!
Finally a Show Building Something Instead of Tearing it Down
Showrunner Terry Matalas and his team didn’t launch this Vision storyline that now stretches across three seasons and three shows, but if VisionQuest finishes as strong as it started, we may be in for not only the best Marvel show, but perhaps the best superhero show we’ve seen in a long time.
With the recent disappointment coming out of a D.C. Lantern’s series that featured bi-polar characters connected to disjointed episodes that left us with more questions than answers by the end of the season, VisionQuest is a breath of fresh air in its initial tone, visuals and story.
VisionQuest is being marketed as the third and final series in a trilogy that started with Wanda Vision in 2021 and Agatha All Along in 2024. That said, VisionQuest feels more like a sequel to Wanda Vision than a successor to Agatha.
The first two episodes “No Strings” and “Theseus” look cinematic and are gorgeously shot despite its limited streaming budget. Paul Bettany, reprises his role as Vision, although a different version of the character, and absolutely knocks it out of the park. He gives us shades of the vision we knew before while handily making us feel that this is indeed a new character. James Spader graduates from being just the voice for Ultron to the human physical representation and brings a level of gravity and levity to the show that only Spader can do. And of course we have familiar voices also in their human forms with J.A.R.V.I.S. played by James D’Arcy, Friday, played by Ola Brady and E.D.I.T.H. played by Emily Hampshire. Todd Stashwick also plays the one step ahead bounty hunter Paladin.
The feel when watching VisionQuest is a throwback to the type of storytelling that was popular until drama and infighting became a weak writer’s crutch. VisionQuest feels like a show where the characters are trying to come together in a positive way and as opposed to deconstructing the Superhero, Vision is growing with each minute of the show. And while it typically takes half a season for shows to get to the point, VisionQuest already has heroism, sacrifice and betrayal. And Really Cool Dialogue. This is a must watch for any Marvel fan.
Episodes 3 “Reboot” and 4 “Malware” air on Oct. 20 at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT)
Spoiler’s Ahead
Episode 1 - "No Strings"
Years after Westview, the rebuilt White Vision is laying low in Edinburgh, working at a pub and trying to relearn how to be human. Inside his mind he keeps a virtual mansion, a "mind palace," where the old Stark AIs live as human avatars: JARVIS, FRIDAY, EDITH, DUM-E, and U. Locked in the attic is Ultron (James Spader), who Vision keeps contained.
Ultron learns someone has put a hit on Vision and leaks Vision's location to the bounty hunter Paladin in an attempt to get Vision to engage more with the world. Paladin's men hit the pub, and Fiona, Vision's boss, is killed in the crossfire. Paladin then digs into the SWORD files on Westview and finds something impossible: Thomas Sheppard, a young man claiming to be the son of Wanda Maximoff and Vision, who somehow survived the hex dissolving. Paladin kidnaps him and tells Vision to turn himself in or Tommy dies.
Episode 2 - "Theseus"
A year earlier, Tommy was arrested in London after an incident where kids were injured at a swimming pool. He carries memories that can't exist of being the son of a witch and a robot. Unable to help him, authorities send him to St. Mabyn's Sanatorium. On the transfer bus he meets Lisa, a kleptomaniac, and the two escape together.
In the present, Paladin uses Tommy as bait, locking him in St. Mabyn's and daring Vision to come save him. Vision insists Tommy isn't really his son as the Vision who raised him is gone, but after a stirring speech from Ultron goes anyway, walking straight into the trap. An EMP weapon cripples his systems, his mind palace starts glitching, and Paladin shoots him with adamantium rounds that actually pierce his vibranium shell. Tommy breaks free with energy powers and helps Vision escape. Inside the mind palace, JARVIS sacrifices himself, deleting his own code and redirecting all his processing power to save Vision and the remaining AIs. At the end, Tommy comes back for the weakened Vision instead of running, and it clearly gets to him.
The episode title nods to the Ship of Theseus debate from WandaVision which Ultron calls the whole thought experiment a cop-out, saying the choices matter more than the parts.
