The first episode of Disney’s VisionQuest gives viewers reprieve from the overindulgent multiverse content that has existed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as of late, instead focusing on Vision (or rather, White Vision) as he attempts to rediscover his own humanity with the help of his AI colleagues.
The VisionQuest season premiere exists in a creative and unique sphere, playing off the same tropes that made WandaVision popular amongst viewers. While it begins with Vision working in a drab, dreary pub, attempting to live the life of a human and assimilate among those in Edinburgh, the atmosphere shifts when he enters his mind, wherein his life is filled with color and data discussion. The bright colors, the vibrancy that so contrasts the outside world, mirrors Wanda’s fictionalized Westview in WandaVision. It is a poignant choice, and goes to show that although this vision may not have had the romantic connection to Wanda, they are still intrinsically connected in how they shape their inner, fictionalized.
Through Vision’s interactions with other AIs (such as JARVIS and FRIDAY) we learn that he is distinctly isolated from the rest of society. He struggles with the emotions that the previous Vision was able to portray, and frequently rewatches old memories of his to attempt to relive those feelings. When a memory in which he meets his son for the first time (a scene taken out of WandaVision) plays, Vision grows angry, and is enraged to find that Ultron (who he also downloaded into his mindscape, in an odd sense of mercy) uploaded it.
Through conversation with Ultron, we see that although Vision was created of him, they are much different. Ultron thinks it disconsiderate that Vision insists they act and behave like humans, and though Vision stresses that it is so he may learn more about them, Ultron insists that – the way he is continuing – he never will. Ultron surrounds himself with man-made art, television, and music, which he refers to as “grotesque yet lovely.” We see that Ultron appears as Vision’s antithesis. Vision is desperate to understand emotion and humanity, meanwhile Ultron does, but feels as if humanity is a detriment unto itself.
Closing the bar the next day, Vision’s boss gets shot. As armed men raid the room, Vision (unlike he would have previously) kills each one of them before escaping through the sunroof. A man (who we later learn is called Paladin) walks in after him, frustrated with the lack of a catch. We learn he was hired to kill Vision by an unknown person.
Inside Vision’s mind, he meets with his team. After bringing Ultron in to consult (as he is the only one, they reason, with a criminal background) they learn that there was a bounty placed on vision, and that Paladin got it. Ultron, however, leaked Vision’s location. When Vision confronts him, his reasoning is that he “…needed direction and purpose.” According to Ultron, the best way to live is to survive, and Vision is inherently stagnant. Vision threatens to delete him, but cannot bring himself to do it, stripping away whatever amuses him instead.
As Vision and his team quarrel, Paladin discovers the files regarding Westview, more distinctly the files in which Vision and Wanda’s children (Billy and Tommy) are discussed. Though all residents of Westview were supposedly killed when Wanda abandoned her hoax, a young man named Thomas Shel is believed to be their son.
In London, Thomas is a pickpocket with his friend Lisa. While running away from a recent scam, Paladin and his men take him.
Though a little heavy handed on the exposition, this is an overall noteworthy episode, one that introduces the interesting concept of cloning and identity. Vision’s struggles – though distinctly robotic – are uniquely human, and easily relatable. The idea of identity and past identity – of merging the two into one – is a universal language communicated through many forms of media. Paul Bettany gives a brilliant performance. He manages to simultaneously portray a disconnect with the surrounding area and a deep understanding, a sort of cognitive dissonance unique only to an all knowing, revived and reformed AI.
10/10