After a stupendous, reality warping first episode that put some substantial work introducing us to Vision’s startlingly complex new status quo, it’s time for VisionQuest to dive into the actual plot. As set ups go, reigning in everything that occured in the MCU that’s gotten us to this point could have felt suspiciously like homework, especially when you throw in the likes of multiple AIs and the complex existence of one Tommy Sheppard/Maximoff. However thanks to an enjoyably breezy tone, some pertinent themes and a salvo of loaded one liners from the subwoofer larynx of James Spader, the wrangling of VisionQuest’s gargantuan backstory proved to be surprisingly smooth.
But now that we’ve well and truly got our bearings, it’s time to roll up those digital sleeves and tackle a mixture of generational trauma and heroic robotics, as this more no-nonsese version of Vision finally attempts to grab the outside world by the horns – and gets shot with adamantium bullets for his troubles.
A quick turn back of the clock reveals the traumatic past of Tommy Sheppard as he suffered a psychotic break after the memories of Tommy Maximoff flooded his body after his near-drowning experience. Driven mad by suddenly having the experiences of two people crammed in your noggin is certainly going to cause a strain on the old membrane, but when said memories contain a red-faced robot and a witch as your parents, a stint in an institute can’t be far away. On the way to the sanitarium, Tommy meets Lisa, his future partner in crime, who helps, him escape when his latent speedster powers kick in, and after they make their getaway, a year later they’re both a couple of weathered grifters. However, after the bounty hunter known as Paladin has decided to kidnap and use Tommy as bait to draw out his “father”, Vision.
However, while the both the original and Westview flavours of Vision would streak to the rescue, this latest version of the synthezoid is still having issues accessing his humanity. While fellow programs J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y. and E.D.I.T.H. try to advise various forms of caution, Ultron suggests that getting stuck in and rescuing his boy is exactly what Vision needs to reconnect with humanity rather than the endless studying of human behavior from afar. While all the AIs suspect that Ultron’s motives aren’t exactly on the up and up, and Paladin’s taking of Tommy stinks blatantly of a trap, the density-shifting robot is confident he can spring the ambush and emerge unscathed.
However, despite casually atomising a bunch of mercs, Paladin has brought an EMP cage and some adamantium ammo to the party which tears up Vision’s defences with disturbing ease. With his power ebbing and his life slipping away, only an act of sacrifice can stave off disaster.
With the heavy lifting of some substantial world building and a metric ton of backstory, VisionQuest heads into its second episode with an admirable lightness of foot. Yes, the episode tends to lean more on the classic type MCU, cloak and dagger stuff, rather than the reality-warping sitcom of Vision’s inner mindscape; but if the first episode was mainly dedicated to laying out the various concepts and AI characters, “Theseus” focuses mostly on Tommy’s origin and spelling out that this really isn’t the same Vision we used to know. Anyone who has been following the already complex arc of the Maximoff twins knows that Billy already has had a dramatic time of it after the soul of Wanda’s magic twin found its way into him, but it seems that Tommy experiences have been even worse. While his speedster powers have fully kicked in yet, the life he’s been experiencing ties into the whole theme of the show, which seems to draw a critical line through some less-than-stellar parenting.
We’ve already got the fractured, fucked up, father/son relationship that exists between Ultron and Vision, that sees the synthezoid living in an uneasy sense of tolerance with his abusive, genocidal creator. But interestingly, the show seems to use Vision’s new demeanour as a living weapon to hold up some sort of android version of an absent parent, who only now wishes to connect with his son, but has no idea how to emotionally connect. Thus we get the fascinating trickle down of generational trauma from our lead character trying to be a better father than the cruel, sardonic patriarch he came from. Obviously, there’s a whole bunch of other, more overt, comic book stuff going on too that fills out the episodes (Ultron is sneakily trying to manipulate everybody at some point). But while there’s a fair bit of action here, its those familial parallels that truly give VisionQuest it’s… well, vision.
However, that doesn’t mean the other aspects of the show so far doesn’t add to the overall effect. Watching Bettany’s new Vision get maneuvered into action by Ultron twisting the philosophical Theseus Paradox – so famously used in WandaVision – into a call to arms is a cool callback (“When a monster has your son, don’t be the ship, be the goddamn king”), while Vision’s far more direct and brutal fighting style is a nod to this form of him being more of a goverment created weapon than the Avenger he once was. I mean, when he’s not dropping people directly on their heads, he’s straight up vaporising people with his forehead laser these days, and it totally fits with his increased difficulty merging with humanity once more.
However, maybe the biggest shock this episode proves to be the sacrifice of a main character that suggests something of a worrying connection with Agatha All Along. After James D’Arcy’s J.A.R.V.I.S. chooses to sacrifice his programming into order to save both Vision’s operating service and his fellow AIs, it seems that the show might continue the thread of killing off a character per episode much like the witches dropping like flies on the Witches’ Road. Whether or not this proves to be true will remain to be seen, but the fact that J.A.R.V.I.S. has been a feature of the MCU from the very beginning means that his death is quite impactful. Even the send off provided by Ultron is pretty meaningful as it riffs on his attempt to kill the Stark AI in Age Of Ultron (“He was a good guy…”). Whether this means that the likes of F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H. and DUM-E and U. will follow J.A.R.V.I.S. into the great, digital beyond, is anyone’s guess, but prepare for yet more selfless behavior in the weeks ahead.
While the thread that’s providing the question of who’s hired Paladin feels more like your standard, debate starting, cliffhanger question that a lot of the Marvel TV shows thrive on, every other synapse in VisionQuest seems to be firing just fine – especially those ominous, building hints that involve the first ever AI in the MCU: the previously unexplored Human Torch. No, not that one…
While the impressive nature of the world building from episode one has to take a step back to allow actual other plots to jostle for space, “Theseus” still offers up nimble plotting dotted with plenty of gratifying callbacks. Of course, plenty more can – and probably will – happen during the MCU’s latest quest, but after it’s two-episode premiere, VisionQuest is easily managing to up that processing power by an impressive margin.
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