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It’s something of a Marvel Television tradition that the fouth episode of a series tends to drop some seismic shit on an appreciative audience. WandaVision, Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Loki – they’ve all ensured that some big twist or shock moment occurs during that infamous episode number that rocks us back into our sofas; be it John Walker decapitating a man with his shield, or Loki ending up in the Void. Well, it certainly looks like VisionQuest is willing to uphold this tradition as we reach the halfway point of the season with something of a major bang.
While it’s already proven to be something of a breathlessly busy show already, “Malware” reveals it to be working overtime, as it exposes the identity of the Butcherbird Killer, delves even further into the history of AIs in the MCU and gives Ultron his biggest moment since What If… reworked him as an Infinity Stone powered destroyer of universes. Prepare to strap yourselves in, because VisionQuest is about to download a whole mess of MCU awesomeness directly into your eyeballs.
After getting possessed by the Butcherbird Killer, who has been revealed to be a new synthezoid that’s on the loose, Vision is released from it’s grip when E.D.I.T.H. performs a digital exorcism to expell the intruding AI, but not before it threatens to harm Tommy. Digging deeper into the Butcherbird murders, both Vision and his clutch of fellow programmes discover that there have been three victims so far and each one had been former board members of Markridge Biotech – the firm that first managed to develop stable synthetic consciousness and eventually went on to sell the tech to Stark Industries. More worrying still is the fact that each victim has been harvested for various biomarkers, such as blood, fingerprints and an eyeball, and Vision and his team discern that the killer’s next target must be the last surviving founder, Katerina Wells, who coincidently is hosting a gala to celebrate the history of AI on the anniversary of the Sokovia tragedy.
While Vision and his son, Tommy, recruit Tommy’s friend and fellow scam artist, Lisa, to infiltrate the gala and beat Butcherbird to Wells, the AIs race to find more clues when they’re not further investigating who their avatars were originally based on. But as Tommy and his synth father bond even further, the Butcherbird Killer is revealed to be a robotic version of Dr. Josephine Carrington, a founder of Markridge who died years earlier, and who needs Wells’ face in order to complete her collection of biomarkers. But after doing battle with her, a weakened and distracted Vision can’t quite keep up with this new and improved model. If Vision is to win this fight, he’ll have to do the unthinkable – hand over control of his physical form to Ultron. But if he does so, can the malevolent, genocidal, human-hating artificial intelligence be trusted to give it back? You know how a lot of veteran MCU villains (Red Skull, Abomination, Loki) all seem to get less villainous with age? Not Ultron, it seems…
To say that “Malware” throws in everything but the kitchen sink is something of a sizable statement when you consider that VisionQuest is hardly the most relaxed of Marvel shows. The fact that it’s managed to keep such an energetic pace, while throwing in estranged family drama, an upstairs-downstairs house-share featuring sentient operating systems and the more typical kinds of MCU superheroism is impressive enough, but the fourth episode also manages to add a villian reveal and a gargantuan twist, which means that the show is now operating at the peak of its abilities. In fact, I’m growing increasingly impressed at how well the season is juggling all of its narrative balls while rarely sitting still for a minute. You want a new, evil synth to make her entrance? VisionQuest has got you. You want the show to continue casting an eye though the history of AI in the MCU? That’s covered too. Surely we can’t also keep the WandaVision family thread going as the relationship between Tommy and Vision continues to change a evolve? Not a problem, apparently. Yes, Paladin is a no-show this episode on order to make some much needed room, but it’s a worthy sacrifice.
To address these various threads, we really have to address just how wacky the season really is and how well it balances its more surreal moments (Computer virus exorcism? Vision and Ultron having to tale that test to prove they’re not machines?) with the more serious aspects. Take the growing history of the AIs who are discovering who their Avatars are based from and the lives they once led (they’re all people Tony Stark once admired) and E.D.I.T.H. in particular is struggling with the legacy of the test pilot whose image she carries. Elsewhere, the relationship between Vision and Tommy continues to evolve as the synth’s near-death experience has made the two bond into a superhero double act to figure out the Butcherbird murders. However, beneath the surface, Vision’s lies about Ultron residing within his consciousness end up souring the budding team.
Of course, the real major turning point is the information we get on the newer AIs on the block. The first real details involving J.I.M. (aka. Jim Hammond, aka. the original Human Torch) and his habit of catching fire when he lost control of his emotions are a fascinating pre-introduction to a character vital to the history of Marvel Comics (he first appeared in 1939). But taking centre stage is T’Nia Miller’s Jocasta, who seems to be the show’s big bad for now, and while the actress does a fine job of portraying a synth who seems to be mutilating her way towards some sort of revenge, the CGI employed to bring her metal form to life is impressively movie grade. However, while watching Vision in his white form brawl with the latest in anti-social programing is certainly classic MCU fare, it’s all once again outshone by VisionQuest’s not-so-secret weapon – James Spader’s Ultron.
However, rather than usually sitting back and demoralising everyone by being all Tony Snark, here we final see the genocide-loving murder-bot finally get a shot at freedom when he offers to take control of Vision’s body to put up a better fight against Jocasta. While Ultron does actually end the fight, he does it by causing his foe to accidently vaporise her target completely, thus ruining her quest for biomarkers from the founders of Markridge Biotech. Worse yet, Ultron locks out all the other AIs (including Vision) and takes full control of that vibranium body. It’s essentially Ultron finally achieving one of his major goals from Age Of Ultron as the Vision body was originally created for him; but it’s also refreshing to see a long term MCU antagonist remain evil despite spending a lot of time out of the game. The Abomination may have become a self-help guru, Red Skull may now be a cosmic guide and Loki may be holding all of reality together, but it’s unfeasibly gratifying to see that Ultron is still as cold-blooded as ever.
The tradition of MCU shows nailing us with the good shit during a fourth episode remains alive and well as we get a full villain turn from it’s most fun character. This also means that for about one episode at least, both Paul Bettany and James Spader will have to merge performances to portray this new version of Ultron-Vision, and who could say no to that?
