VisionQuest Puts Ultron in Vision's Body, and Paul Bettany Makes It Work

The second of these two new VisionQuest episodes is my favorite in the series. I know many people have been praising the next one, but I loved this one. What's most interesting about this pair is that the show starts to move away from Wanda and the magic side of the family and toward the synthezoid half, with a real focus on AI. Even the takeover people expected from the trailers turned out to be a Wanda fake out: it's Jocasta taking over Vision, not a Wanda situation.

I like that shift at this midpoint. Having seen all the episodes, I think the series later goes a little too far into the synthezoid side. Still, many of the things set up here are developed nicely.

A lighter point first: no one rocks a popped collar like Vision. I wondered why the costume department chose it, and I think it's because that's how the character looks in the comics, where he's famous for it. He hasn't worn one so much in the MCU, though we know from the trailers he'll get a muted one by the end of the season. I think it's very clever of the costume department to incorporate that into his look even as a human. It also led to a cute father son moment when he turned to Tommy and said, "That means I'm more attractive than you in every conceivable way."

Ultron taking over Vision's body is the best thing in these episodes

The best moment by far is Ultron rising. He takes over Vision's body, and the show plays it as a metaphor of him captaining the ship. Then he says the line: "there are no strings on me." To me that was phenomenal. Behind Vision as Ultron stands the very first synthezoid, Jim Hammond, the Human Torch, while his grandson or son Tommy watches the whole thing unfold.

I thought it was incredible that Ultron killed that woman. He tricks Jocasta into vaporizing her, and it's a real villain moment that lets Ultron be a villain. I think having him do it in Vision's body matters, because Vision is the one who kept him around, so Vision is culpable. For me it's one of the most shocking moments in the show. Even though he begged Vision to trust him, he didn't hand the body back. He wanted to be out and do some things.

I found it moving that what he chose to do with that moment was talk to his grandson. And one of the most impressive parts is Paul Bettany's performance. He felt like James Spader, with the movements, the look on the face and the glint in the eye. It wasn't just Bettany doing Spader's voice. I appreciate it when actors go that extra mile in a shapeshifter role and truly become the other person, and that's a big reason this episode is such a favorite for me.

The Sokovia anniversary ties the Maximoff family together

Something that struck me is that the story falls on the anniversary of Sokovia. That's where Ultron tried to wipe out humanity and where Vision took him off the board and internalized him. But Sokovia is also where Vision and Wanda met, and it's where Wanda is from. It's her origin, so it ties this whole family together, which I think is fantastic.

Wanda has a lot of overlap with Ultron too. They've both been villains, and Vision is a little villainous himself. I think they put family first, and that's how their morality is shifting.

An important part of this episode is Vision lying to Tommy about who's in his head. I love that Tommy figured it out so quickly; it would have been annoying if he stayed in the dark for several episodes. He's a sharp kid who caught the slip about there being five voices instead of four, worked out it was Ultron and looked his grandpa head on. He could easily have run away. Tommy wants to know his family, good and bad.

The captcha joke is the show at its best

The captcha joke was in the trailers, but that didn't make it any less funny. It's one of the best moments in the show because it has everything: it's funny, clever and insightful, and it makes you understand the test. Some of those images, at a quick first glance, really do look like a fire hydrant.

The password gag added more. I liked Ultron wanting to guess something like 10,000 times, only for the bot to say he gets three, and Ultron finding that ridiculous. I also liked them combing through the social media of the woman they were impersonating for her password. They weren't only thinking like AI but like hackers, which I thought was funny. It's a very clever sequence.

Jocasta and Vision are opposites in many ways

Jocasta is a force. Having seen all the episodes, I'd say that once the actress starts to take the role over, she becomes less cool, but that's a problem for another week. Here she's so cool. Ultron is captivated, too; he definitely sees something in her he likes, in more ways than one.

I loved that during their fight there were images of Ultron and the original Vision behind them. Jocasta is trying to destroy her humanity while Vision is trying to create his, so they're opposites in many ways. She reveals she was a real person transferred into this body, whereas Vision is wholly AI. Vision is an earlier model and she's a later one.

I loved seeing the true power of an online AI. In her first scene she takes down a man's advanced security system because it's controlled by computers, and she can hack Vision, which makes her formidable. I love how she moves in the cloak, with weight and force; whether it's the actress or a stunt double, she feels as formidable as Ultron. She's not trying to be human. She's embracing her synthezoid self. At the end of the sequence she took the skylight exit just as Vision did fighting Paladin in the first episode, a callback I liked.

I think Ultron is at war with himself in this show, and Jocasta and Vision represent his two halves. When he sees how formidable she is, I think he feels that should be him, the path he was on. But he's also being pulled toward the family forming around him, one he maybe feels he could be part of. I also wondered whether Jocasta is the client. She has the robotic voice and the ability to hack and move through systems that we've seen the client have, so I think she's another very real possibility.

The Butcher Bird killer storyline matters

This gives us the B storyline. Earlier, Ultron said he loved true crime and was following a story about the Butcher Bird killer, so he's known about this and about Paladin. Vision looks inward while Ultron looks outward, another great contrast, and Ultron has seen pieces moving toward Vision that Vision has been blind to.

I love the idea that they always make another. Vision thought taking himself offline would end the threat, but mankind will keep going and build another weapon, and that's what Jocasta is. I also love the idea of rage combined with purpose. The reveal of who she is was a little given away, since we all knew who was playing Jocasta, but luckily they didn't hold it back long.

She's taking different biomarkers from her victims: one person's blood, another's fingerprints, another's eye. So you have to wonder what she needed from the last person, the one Ultron killed, denying her that biomarker. That's important to keep in mind.

VisionQuest changes who created AI in the MCU

This show is about where AI came from. One of the best visuals in the series is the presentation of Vision versus Ultron. Ultron has no features while Vision looks very humanoid: one synthezoid wants to be human, and one says he wants to be AI. Ultron thinks humanity wiped itself out, but when Vision looks at the evolutionary model he sees a family tree and feels those humans are part of him. With humanity or against it is the stark contrast between them.

Then there's the original Human Torch, whom you might remember on display at the World's Fair in the Captain America movie. He's the first synthezoid, and his portrait, which tellingly covers his on/off switch, shows him aflame with emotion. He was consumed by it. Vision says his first version survived because of the Mind Stone. The second, I think, is partly Wanda's magic but also his family. As Tommy says, family let him handle his emotions; Tommy means the AIs in his head, but I think it's really Wanda and the boys, and I think family is becoming a difference for Ultron too.

The big story is that a biotech company was the actual creator of AI in the MCU, and Tony Stark and his family purchased their work. That's a huge change. I almost wish this were more Tony Stark, but Robert Downey Jr. is too expensive and he's now Doom. To be fair, Mark Zuckerberg bought the framework for Facebook, Bill Gates bought the framework for Windows, and Elon Musk hasn't invented much but his purchases are substantial. That draws Tony into a strong parallel. I feel better about the change given those real world parallels, and I think it's smart.

Vision's search for purpose points to parenthood

I like that the TV is in the room as Vision and Tommy work on their bond, since sitcoms are the very thing that helped create it. I thought it was great that Ultron pointed out the Avengers are moral when it suits them, bending rules when they need to, and sometimes so against bending them that it hurts them.

It was brilliant that Vision ran simulations of talking to Tommy, didn't like any, and so skipped the conversation. Then Tommy asks whether he actually wants to talk about boxing or is just googling small talk, which is something AI has been accused of. Throwing facts at someone isn't a conversation. AI can't have an original idea; it can only point you to someone else's. In the MCU, though, it can.

Vision struggles at first to embrace Wanda's magic, but by the end he says maybe Tommy is their son. He tells Tommy his greatest fear is not knowing his purpose, and I believe the point of this show is that his purpose is to be a parent. That's not everyone's purpose, but many people find it, and I love that this synthezoid mirrors that journey. When Vision is dying, Ultron tells him it's the future, not the past, he should fight to live for, and shows him the family memories he wouldn't look at before. That Ultron sees value there fascinates me. And when Vision snarled at Jocasta, "If you touch him, I'll tear you apart," I believed him.

Ultron may be becoming more human in the act of deceiving Vision

Is Ultron becoming more human or pretending in order to get Vision's guard down? I think it's probably a bit of both, and that in trying to lower Vision's guard he's actually becoming more human. Is he pushing Tommy just to distract Vision, or does Tommy have value to him? At the end he takes Tommy for a walk, saying it's time they talked, because he wants to influence him too.

Asking Vision if he wanted to rent an adult movie was such an Ultron thing and such a human thing to do. His interest in eating wasn't a one off gag either: here he wonders whether the milk is real or just a gag, and notes that if it isn't real, it's expired. He's also learning from television, explaining his ideas about teenagers by saying he saw it on TV. He's speaking his new family's language.

Wanda used old sitcoms, as many immigrants do, to acclimate to a new culture and escape hardship; before television, it was comic books. AI also learns to be human from art and expression. Ultron, the synthezoids and Wanda are all trying to be more human and more connected, and I think it's great to show that commonality.

Tommy's powers mix Quicksilver and Vision

I love Tommy. He's part Quicksilver and part Vision, with the phasing, electricity and sparks, so he feels Vision coded even though he's not a synthezoid. I hope Victor Mancha from Runaways shows up someday, though it's too early. Tommy being a grifter is a new quality the show came up with, and speed is perfect for sleight of hand. I loved him pulling Vision into his confidence game, with Vision playing the dim assistant, and breaking into the gala is one of my favorite things in the show. It makes Tommy a little Ultron-like, and I love that the Maximoffs sit somewhere between hero and villain.

Phasing through the vending machine glass was phenomenal. I don't think we saw Quicksilver phase in Age of Ultron, but it's big for the Flash and other speedsters. He also has lightning, which Quicksilver didn't, so perhaps it comes from his dad, and he uses it to shock his papa back to life while at least confronting his fear of water. I appreciate that he's a competent speedster right away rather than taking all season, because it's more fun for the rest of us.

It's refreshing to have a teenager who likes his family, when Hollywood usually makes them hate theirs, as Ultron predicted. He's drawn to sitcoms, saying the older the better, and gets great lines, like apologizing for a smell because he's nervous. Both twins are sweet boys, though I think Tommy and his girlfriend were both in the wrong in their fight.

Vision glitching and a few Easter eggs

I enjoyed Vision glitching, especially when he tested his voice and recognized one version was slightly creepy. At the ATM, where Ultron and Jocasta would have taken the money without hesitating, his reluctance is interesting, and his hiccup flickering the lights until cash came out was great. Tommy's line at the vending machine, "I'm surrounded by broken machines," was fantastic.

The MCU Easter eggs are somewhat lame, but at least they're there. I'm not interested in Paladin whatsoever, but my favorite egg came through him: apparently the Ten Rings, run by Shang-Chi's sister, supplied his adamantium rounds. I was happy Marvel hadn't forgotten them. He also mentions a disagreement with the Punisher, ending in a groan-worthy Hell's Kitchen joke, and being bitten by Werewolf by Night. It's frustrating that we don't see any of it; they rattled them off rapid fire. Still, these were my favorite things in the episodes, and I loved them.