VisionQuest Episodes 3 and 4 bring Vision (Paul Bettany) and Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica) closer, then end with a turn that changes where the season is heading.
Getting there takes too long.
Episodes 1 and 2 had a lot of ground to cover: the White Vision's return, the AIs living in his head and what happened to J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D'Arcy). The natural next step was to build on that. Instead, these two episodes go further into the past, into where the AIs came from and the real people they were based on.
The AI backstories and the Butcherbird
Some of that history may matter later, but for now it's detail the story doesn't need. F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady) looks back on her years with Tony Stark, then reveals that several of Stark's AIs were modelled on real people he knew. E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire) goes digging into the woman she was based on. Every scene spent there leaves less room for the people in Vision's life to change.
The episodes keep opening doors into the past without making the present any more gripping.
The new threat is the Butcherbird (T'Nia Miller), until now just a name on the news. The story brings her up against Paladin (Todd Stashwick) before she reaches Vision, but the thread mostly hands the season one more thing to set up. The bigger mystery doesn't gain much depth, and the storytelling remains fairly straightforward.
Vision and Tommy
Vision and Tommy's growing connection gives these episodes their strongest emotional material. Vision still keeps the idea of being Tommy's father at arm's length, while Tommy wants to be close to the father he remembers.
Their bond takes a real step forward, and that step keeps the father-son relationship at the centre of the show, however complicated Vision's identity and history make it.
Still, the change is modest. The episodes don't do enough with it to make the relationship feel transformed.
The ending of VisionQuest Episode 4
The one development that changes the situation comes at the end, and it makes Ultron (James Spader) the focus of the story. That makes for a strong place to stop. It leaves the next episodes with a clear problem and an open question about what Ultron wants.
Across both episodes, the lack of dramatic weight recalls a similar problem with WandaVision. A show built around mystery and emotion needs to develop both, and these two episodes don't do enough with either. The final turn is still a useful hook, and also the main thing that feels different by the end.
Are VisionQuest Episodes 3 and 4 worth watching?
There are good pieces here, especially Vision and Tommy's growing bond and the ending. Taken together, though, the two episodes don't stand up as a satisfying chapter on their own.
The story is set up now. It just hasn't made that setup feel important yet.
The repair. Vision (Paul Bettany) is badly hurt after the fight with Paladin (Todd Stashwick). He seals the wound with acid from a car battery, which buys him time, but his condition keeps getting worse.
Vision and Tommy. Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica) asks whether Vision is his father. Vision insists that's impossible, and that anything like it would have been Wanda's doing. In his mind he runs the conversation again and again, and as Ultron (James Spader) notes, every version ends with Tommy storming off.
The reboot. Vision's core is close to exploding, so he has to shut down completely and be restarted. Before he shuts down in a pool, he finally tells Tommy he believes him: "You are who you think you are." While he's out, Ultron shows him his life, then Westview: "The past doesn't make one want to live. The future does." Then Tommy's powers send a surge through the water that restarts him.
Paladin's past. The Butcherbird (T'Nia Miller) catches Paladin and reads his mind. His father was abusive, and she tells him he isn't a true Paladin, only raised by one. Soon after, his client ends the contract.
The AIs' backstories. E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire) holds a funeral for J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D'Arcy). F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady) reveals she was modelled on a real person, Allison Hogan, and E.D.I.T.H. finds out about hers: Edith Marks, a Stark test pilot.
Who the Butcherbird is. She's a synthezoid modelled on Dr. Josephine Carrington, one of five researchers who created the first synthetic consciousness, and who died in 2008. She insists, "I am not based on her. I am her." Their company was later bought by Stark Industries, and the Butcherbird is killing the rest of the team, taking blood, fingerprints and an eye from her victims. Only Katerina Wells (Mary McDonnell) is left.
Tommy finds out about Ultron. At Katerina's gala, Vision lets slip that five AIs share his head, not four. Tommy works out the fifth is Ultron and confronts Vision about harbouring a genocidal maniac.
The ending. With the Butcherbird winning, Ultron offers to take over and promises to spare her. Vision gives up control. Ultron keeps that promise, makes sure Katerina dies instead and locks Vision and the other AIs out of Vision's systems. Then, in Vision's body, he puts an arm around Tommy and walks off with him, telling him to call him "Pop Pop".
The easy way out. If Vision takes back control simply through the power of his love for Tommy, that would be a painfully easy way out. Their relationship is growing, but it shouldn't become an easy reset for the strongest development in these episodes.
What it sets up. Ultron is in charge, and the Butcherbird warns him that their confrontation isn't over. Paladin's client is still unnamed.
Bright Bulbs
- The growing bond between Vision (Paul Bettany) and Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica) takes a clear, well-prepared step forward.
- The ending is the strongest development so far and gives the next episodes a concrete source of tension.
Dull Bulbs
- The AIs' backstories, and the actual people behind them, add more explanation than the story needs right now.
- The episodes set up future conflict without giving the current one enough emotional weight.
- The supporting characters gain more backstory than development.
Cast
- Paul Bettany as Vision
- Ruaridh Mollica as Tommy Maximoff / Thomas Shepherd
- James Spader as Ultron
- Todd Stashwick as Paladin
- T'Nia Miller as The Butcherbird
- Mary McDonnell as Katerina Wells
- Diane Morgan as Handler
- Lauren Morais as Lisa Molinari
- Orla Brady as F.R.I.D.A.Y.
- Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H.
- James D'Arcy as J.A.R.V.I.S.
- Henry Lewis as D.U.M.-E.
- Jonathan Sayer as U.
Related articles
Also in Marvel Cinematic Universe
White Vision Explained: The Comics Behind VisionQuestJohn Byrne's rebuilt Vision, the loss of his family and the comic history behind the man who remembers a life he cannot feel.- Who Is Paladin in VisionQuest?Todd Stashwick's hunter has a contract, a Handler and a selective moral code. How VisionQuest changes Marvel's mercenary.
- Every AI in VisionQuest, and Where You've Seen Them BeforeWho plays the six AIs inside Vision's mind, where they appeared in the MCU, and why J.A.R.V.I.S. has a particularly familiar face.
- What to Watch Before VisionQuestStart with WandaVision. Which Avengers films help, why Agatha All Along matters, and what you can leave out of your catch-up.
- How Is Tommy Alive in VisionQuest?From Westview to a swimming pool: Billy's search for Tommy, Thomas Shepherd's memories and the differences from Marvel's comics.
- VisionQuest Episodes 1 and 2 Ending Explained: Tommy, the Trap and J.A.R.V.I.S.Thomas Shepherd's memories, Paladin's trap and the questions left inside Vision's mind after the two-part premiere.