VisionQuest, the latest and final Marvel Studios offering before Doomsday, has been hailed as the best Marvel show since WandaVision. According to Metro's deputy TV editor Tom Percival, the series is not a clunker; in fact, he thinks it might be the best Marvel show since WandaVision.
A dense plot with an identity crisis at its core
Marketed as the final chapter in the loose WandaVision trilogy, VisionQuest follows the New Vision (Paul Bettany), last seen fleeing Westview after Old Vision (also Bettany) forcibly beamed his memories of life with Wanda and their children Billy and Tommy into his head. This action has left New Vision (Vis) with an identity crisis, as he has all of the memories but none of the feelings or emotions that go with them.
When the story catches up with Vis, he is living in anonymity in Scotland while operating a sort of bed and breakfast in his head for Stark AI, including J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D'Arcy), F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady), E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire), D.U.M.-E. (Henry Lewis), and U (Jonathan Sayer). There is also the mechanical megalomaniacal maniac in the loft, Ultron (James Spader).
Vis's cosy Caledonian life comes to a close when the bounty hunter Paladin arrives and literally blows it up, beginning an adventure to discover who sent the merc, what it has to do with the Butcherbird Killer terrorising London, and a mysterious young man called Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica).
Genre-hopping mystery and satisfying reveals
Showrunner Terry Matalas, who proved with Picard season three that he knows how to weave a compelling mystery out of a trillion or so different plot threads, has packed every episode with plot, action, jokes, and clever bits of metaphor. Percival admits he was hooked by the mystery and ever-escalating stakes and had to be talked out of bingeing the whole series in one night.
The jumble of ideas allows the show to bounce with surprising ease between genres; at one moment it is a brilliant comedy, then an edge-of-your-seat thriller, and even a horror story at times. However, Percival worries that the latter part of the series shows a slight exhaustion as the reveals crash into your brain one after the other, with not a lot of breathing room to process one before you are hit in the face by another.
The reveals were satisfying, though, in part because Matalas and his writers have provided just enough breadcrumbs for you to get to the reveal before the characters do, allowing you to feel the smug satisfaction of outsmarting Vision and Ultron.
Ultron steals the show
The show is jammed with references, something Percival normally finds slightly irritating, but Matalas and his team actually know how to use them in a world-building way. It definitely comes close at times, especially when characters say: 'What is grief if not love persevering?' but as this is a sequel to WandaVision, he forgives it.
VisionQuest does a good job of intertwining its themes, easter eggs, and story, which means none of the plot points feels wasted. On the surface, it may seem like a show about family and finding your place in it, but this is really a series about coming to terms with your past and learning to love yourself before you can love someone else. That is why Percival thinks the decision to bring back Ultron is such a brilliant one; it is not stunt casting or done for the sake of a cameo, it is integral to the story as we see an older and wiser Ultron evolve beyond his apocalyptic aspirations and embrace something new; his journey of self-acceptance parallels Vision's.
It also allows the show to comment on its other central theme, the sometimes strained relationship between fathers and sons, and Percival argues that Vis and Ultron's scenes are easily the show's greatest strength. Ultron has two things that Vis doesn't: an understanding of humanity and a GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARD, which means our hero relies on his digital daddy to navigate the human world. Indeed, Percival thinks Ultron is the best part of the show, and if he had a single note for Terry and the crew, it would be 'When Ultron isn't on screen, all the other characters should be asking, "Where's Ultron?"'
James Spader just makes the character so brilliant; he is fierce, funny and fiendish all at once. The whole cast is brilliant, and Paul Bettany is the backbone of this show, and he will make you believe a robot can cry.
Verdict
VisionQuest is a surprisingly brilliant return to form for Marvel, weaving a compelling, genre-hopping mystery out of its sprawling plot and big ideas. James Spader's Ultron steals the show in a story about self-acceptance, family, and learning not to let your past define you. The show looks great, which is normally reserved for reviews where you've got nothing nice to say, but in this case is meant in earnest. The house Vision built in his head is a wonderful bit of set design and is used in a myriad of clever ways to show how the outside world is affected by Vis and the robots living in his noggin.
All in all then, Percival adored VisionQuest not just because it's a well-made mystery series featuring his favourite MCU villain but because it feels like it has something to say about people's proclivity to let their past define them, when in fact we can be who we want to be in the future. VisionQuest premieres exclusively on Disney Plus on October 14.
