Episode two of VisionQuest relies on poignant acting and beautifully crafted dialogue to tell a story that – though not uniquely complex – is compelling and intriguing nonetheless.

Episode two begins on a flashback a year prior, showcasing Thomas Shephard’s psychiatric evaluation and ultimate arrest, both moments interspersed with flashbacks to Westview, the falsified neighborhood Wanda created. It is evident that Thomas is a deeply troubled man, as he asks the guard evaluating him how his memories can “feel so real,” how he can “live two different lives.” Thomas’s pleas for help go unanswered, and he is instead shuttled onto a bus bound for the sanitarium, from which it is implied he will never be released. It is on this bus he meets his friend and future co-conspirator, Lisa. When Thomas is tased by the over-zealous guard, a dormant power he had flares within him, and he manages to revert the power of the taser back towards the other man. Lisa picks the keys from the guard, and Lisa and Thomas use the opportunity to escape out the back of the bus.

Upon returning to present day, Vision grapples with the thought that his son (or rather, the former Vision’s son) may be alive, and blames Ultron for his role in his kidnapping. Vision is adamant that it cannot be possible, and that everybody involved in Westview – including the children – died when Wanda stopped her charade. However, upon watching the video of Thomas’s psychiatric evaluation (sent to him by Paladin, who has now placed Thomas in the sanitarium) and hearing references to moments he could not know otherwise, he changes his mind. When coordinates are discovered within the video itself, Vision realizes Paladin has extended an invitation.

Vision goes to meet Paladin at the bar where his former boss was murdered. He arrives cold and calculated, having run simulations on what could happen. Paladin’s attempt to blackmail him fails when it becomes clear that Vision does not much care what happens to Thomas, as he is in his words “not Vision.” Vision assaults the other man before leaving. Paladin gets a call from the unknown man again, who is unhappy with his inability to capture the AI.

Later, an argument with Ultron deescalates as Vision grapples with the weight of his own mythos, unable to reach whatever pinnacle he had rested upon before he was reborn. Frustrated, he laments “I have his memories but not his feelings. I have his face but not his virtue.” In a callback to the end of WandaVision, Ultron urges Vision to make no attempt to be the ship of Theseus, as he had previously alluded to, and to instead be King Theseus. This, in turn, pushes Vision to try to rescue Thomas.

Vision goes to the sanitarium where Thomas is being held and easily fights his way through to the cell. Upon finding him, however, Thomas grows fearful, and begins to assurehimself that it is “all in his head.” Vision morphs back into his human form in an attempt to calm him, and Thomas seems to grow more passive. As they make a move to leave the cells dormant EMP activates, blocking Vision’s abilities and rendering him weak and incapable. Vision finds enough strength to break through the cage door, but is met with Paladin, who wields adamantium bullets. The bullets pierce through Vision’s armor, but when he runs out of ammunition Vision is able to incapacitate him enough for him and Thomas to make it outside.

Vision urges Thomas to go without him, claiming that he would be a liability due to his injuries. Thomas is reluctant, but leaves. Vision’s inner world begins to collapse due to the energy it is taking to sustain him and the other AIs uploaded within his inner consciousness and, in an effort to prolong the lives of the others, Jarvis deletes his own code, sending his energy to Vision and the other AIs. Vision gets this boost just as Thomas comes back in a (presumably stolen) car, refusing to abandon him and bringing him along despite his protests.

Though some questions can be raised regarding the plot (Vision states that he ran thousands of simulations before his meeting with the Paladin, and yet he was unaware of the possibility that the cell that Thomas was in could be an EMP) the emotional weight of the rest of the story overshadows any inconsistencies. The moral dilemma Vision faces – to become his own man and, simultaneously, honor his old self – is prevalent in even the most minute actions he makes, and the way in which he speaks of his troubles is nothing if not poetic. The use of Ultron – a sage old figure who is in every way Vision’s antithesis yet, in technical terms, his father – works more and more as the story progresses, a character who pushes Vision to do what he should (though, through ways that are unethical and immoral). It is a masterclass in acting from the three male leads with signs to only get better from here on out.

9/10