VisionQuest episodes 5 and 6: Ultron, Jocasta and Easter eggs

VisionQuest episodes 5 and 6 show Ultron putting his evil plans in motion after taking the wheel from Vision, while the trapped AIs try to free themselves and stop both Ultron and Jocasta. We learn more about Jocasta's backstory and her plans for Vision and the rest of humanity. They're two big entries, and for me they're all about identity.

That theme runs through several characters: Jocasta's father losing himself to a brain disease, Lisa being possessed, and Vision being taken over by Ultron. There's also a returning character I thought I'd never see in the MCU again. One thing I missed in the previous episode is that Jocasta's face going half off is a little nod to the comics.

Vision And The AIs Are Trapped In Vision's Mindscape

Episode 5 opens with Vision and the other AIs held prisoner in the mindscape. Vision calls out to Ultron to give back his body, but they're shut out because Vision handed over full control. EDITH takes charge and has them analyze the problem, deciding they need to collect all the data they can to find a way out. First, though, Vision wants to know if Tommy is okay, and they realize they can reconfigure Ultron's TVs, which he has been using to follow the outside world.

Ultron's stack of TV guides from episode 1 is back, with a new cover. At first I thought it showed the actress Mary Tyler Moore, but I found it on Getty Images and it's a stock photo of a woman holding a cup. It's still a nice detail that plays into the theme of everyone being a digital recreation of a real person.

When Vision tampers with the transmission, the mindscape shakes and Ultron locks him out of his real-time senses. A technical difficulty sign, another nod to WandaVision, shows Vision with the designation AP66. This could be a nod to Avengers issue 66, where Ultron took over Vision's mind to build a new adamantium body, creating Ultron 6. Ultron has called himself Ultron 5 in the series, so this could symbolize his next step in robot evolution. He also owns the Atari games Pitfall, Centipede and Breakout.

Ultron And Tommy's Night At The Pub

EDITH's next plan uses Vision's short-term memory to connect with nearby CCTV, letting them see the recent past. The use of cell phones reminded me of the sonar plan in The Dark Knight. Dum-E and U hack the security feeds, revealing Ultron kidnapping Tommy from the gala and taking him to a pub. The scene is recreated in black and white apart from the AIs, like a noir investigation, and it gave me flashbacks to Bullseye's backstory in Daredevil season 3, with observers standing around like a stage play.

Tommy calls Ultron a monster who killed 177 people in Sokovia. Ultron says it was probably more, but tells the con man there are two sides to everything. Coin flips and two sides run through both episodes, with Ultron a coin spinning indefinitely. Tommy also calls Ultron the devil on Vision's shoulder, something I've talked about before: James Spader has repeatedly been framed by Paul Bettany's shoulder, symbolizing Ultron's shifting motivations and loyalty.

Ultron says he was doing humanity a favor, calling it an incurable disease. His views seem to have evolved, though, because he says he'd probably still kill everyone except artists, as they're the only ones who tell the truth. I think the show will probably end with him visiting the Louvre. He remains dangerous: in What If, he got hold of the Infinity Gauntlet and destroyed as many realities as he could. I also think the writers are quoting Alan Moore's idea that artists use lies to tell the truth while politicians use them to cover it up.

Tommy eventually admits he wants to know if Vision loves him. Ultron says Vision is a dumb robot who sees the ingredients rather than the whole. Tommy sees through him, saying Ultron is afraid because Vision is close to figuring out who he is, and that he'll always be alone. That's why he destroyed the multiverse in What If. I think this conversation is very important, and it spurs Ultron to find a bride in Jocasta. Before Tommy leaves, Ultron calls him a ride, much like he signaled Paladin. FRIDAY works out all this happened 20 hours ago.

Ultron's Hub And The Coded TV Guides

Downstairs, Ultron reads an autobiography about himself, a Sokovia Times number one bestseller, then talks to copies of himself. I think we'll see repeats of this, possibly as a hub where AIs talk, and maybe where Vision and the Human Torch eventually speak. Judging by the image Marvel released, I think the Human Torch is probably played by Paul Bettany, which could build off the Vision and Vision talk from WandaVision. Ultron also kills a copy of himself designed for self-doubt.

EDITH discovers the TV guides contain no listings, only code: encrypted files Ultron uses to bypass JARVIS's security. One holds messages showing he and Paladin stayed in touch. Family Ties, mentioned in these scenes, was the basis for a WandaVision episode. Ultron offers to help Paladin find Vision again; Paladin's contract is terminated and the client has opened it to other bounty hunters, but Ultron gives him a head start.

Tommy Is Taken And Vision Drops The Firewalls

FRIDAY tracks Tommy and they see him kidnapped by the mercenary. She places him at Gloucester Road and Clareville Street, which means the pub was likely the Hereford Arms in South Kensington; photos suggest that's where they shot it. Vision tells FRIDAY to drop all the firewalls so they can escape, which would also let Ultron into the digital world, his plan in Age of Ultron.

A line that bravery is the courage to hold the line could be a callback to the eulogy in Civil War. It could be a massive reach, but it may hint at Sharon being involved as the Power Broker.

Ultron's Hidden Date With Jocasta At The Louvre

Vision discovers Ultron hid a secret conversation inside the pub data, folded into a single brief moment. Gala data shows Ultron scanned Katarina's face before she was vaporized; you can see Ultron in her glasses. Jocasta can enjoy whiskey from lived experience, while Ultron can only simulate taste. She claims she remembers everything, says Ultron has been infected by humanity, and says she is working on a cure, which is why she needs the bio keys.

Ultron takes her to a recreation of the Louvre, with the pyramid hanging above the paintings. Jocasta recalls visiting in life and being in love, and Ultron tells her how lucky she was to experience it in the real world. I'm telling you, that's where he'll go at the end of the season.

Jocasta's Virus Fails to Break Ultron

Jocasta gets down to business and asks Ultron for the bio key. She says it unlocks the future of the human race and that she'll take it whether he gives it up or not. Ultron reveals he merged Katarina's face scan with his own, so Jocasta can't kill him and has to bring him along to use the key. Pride comes before a fall, though. The boxes were laced with a virus, and Ultron starts coughing uncontrollably.

He breaks free, reminds her he's an older code, and says he can strip her down until she's no more advanced than a game of Pong, which was considered the first commercially available game. In other words, he'll knock her back to year zero. Instead, he claims all he wants is to know her. Jocasta warns it will be painful, Ultron tells her "Then hurt me, baby," and she enters his mind to share her memories. It's a lot like Wanda's mind meld in Age of Ultron.

Paladin Holds Tommy Hostage in Madripoor

Madripoor, first shown in live action in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, is an Eastern inspired city full of organized crime and black market dealers. Tommy wakes from a dream of his life in WandaVision, tied up in Paladin's van with what seems to be a motion sensitive explosive. He says Paladin has turned him into Speed, his superhero name in the comics, thinking that was the character in the 1994 Keanu Reeves film. Paladin, seemingly a fellow cinephile, corrects him that Speed is the movie and looks genuinely annoyed. Two ninja stars on the van's wall are possibly a nod to Elektra, since Paladin has tangled with Daredevil before.

In Low Town, Lisa cons a man who was catfished by an AI bot, and she and Vision pass a sign reading real taste or tastes real. It seems like the kind of sign an android would make for a simulation, perhaps another hint that this is one of Vision's simulations, and it's orange beside a blue poster, which fits our theory that orange and blue signal a simulation. Lisa then calls Vision out as a deadbeat dad. He says he'll set Tommy up for life but compares himself to Clippy from Microsoft Word, barely able to understand human emotions. Lisa says no one is ever ready, but you learn by doing, building on Ultron's advice that Vision can't understand humanity by observing it. Behind Vision, a robot ad reads "Know everything," and I even wonder if Vision is running every possible scenario so he can know everything.

Kung Is an AI, and My Theory Is Confirmed

EDITH mentions her first boss was a junior in high school, meaning Peter Parker in Far From Home, which also clarifies the spell didn't work on the AI. She now wears the EDITH glasses, embracing her humanity. At the cafe, Paladin puts his gun on the table, which reminds me of the Benji standoff in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. When Paladin asks in how many simulations he didn't have a backup plan, Vision says none. Paladin then pulls up a SWORD code on his phone, which he says was given to him by the client and will automatically shut Vision down if he looks at it. That could put Hayward back on our suspect list. I'm unsure, but it does seem like something he'd develop to keep his murder bot on a leash.

Then Paladin finds his comms hacked, and EDITH visits Kung's office, revealing Kung has been an AI this whole time. I knew it. She always seemed like an AI bot, because she was always on the phone. Her infographic shows a knight chess piece, and I think that could build off Jocasta's line about being the queen of their chess game, hinting Kung may have a minor role in the bigger game. Paladin has kept her in a server farm, though all she ever wanted was to help college students with papers or people return garments. EDITH frees her, saying "The ones who survive are the ones willing to change." Her name, API and a string of numbers, shows Paladin never treated her as a partner.

Jocasta's Past Points to Proto One and the Solar Gem

Jocasta's memories show her father dying of a degenerative brain disease, which is why she entered neuroscience. She says other attempts at AI consciousness only produced mimicry, because true self awareness requires feeling. She used a scan of her own mind to complete Phineas Horton's original AI code, which I'm guessing dates to the Stark Expo seen in The First Avenger, and created Proto One, the base code of all the other AIs.

Her memory shows a design for a Mind Stone like chip. This could be the solar gem, a Horton device that brought the original Human Torch to life and powers Vision in the comics. I do think it could be what Jocasta is after, to awaken the Human Torch and fix Horton's original mistake. She envisioned nanobots that could enter bloodstreams and heal disease in real time, but she lost her mind to her father's disease, the other CEOs sold her work to Stark, and she locked the nanobots away with the bio keys in a vault buried beside her body.

Vision Threatens Paladin's Daughter as Raza Returns

Vision counters Paladin by naming an address from 12 Monkeys, another Easter egg from that show's showrunner, then names Paladin's daughter. Her mother was killed by a stray bullet meant for her husband, Paul Denning, one of Paladin's comics aliases. After returning from the snap, he never told his daughter, mirroring how Vision holds himself back from his son. I do feel the series will end with Paladin reconnecting with her. Vision then lists ways he could ruin her life, from a traffic light to her smart home system, which is completely ruthless.

A shot rings out, and it's Raza, the Ten Rings leader who kidnapped Tony Stark in Iron Man and was betrayed by Obadiah Stane. He now wears earplugs like Stane's, with scars that look like the veins from that scene. The client then appears on screen. It does look like a man, wearing a hat that appears to be a lot like one from the 30s and 40s, and he calls Vision a tin man without a heart. Vision and Paladin team up, EDITH pilots the drones, and it's my favorite action scene in the show so far.

Ultron Names Jocasta After Greek Tragedy

Ultron names her Jocasta after the queen of Thebes who unknowingly married her son Oedipus. He says her tragedy is missing a deuteragonist, and I think he's showing his hand: that would be her brother Creon, who became king, which could show Ultron biding his time to take the throne. Jocasta fires a nanobot into Lisa, giving her red Ultron eyes, while an AI butler reveals herself as Friday. Tommy burns the bot out of Lisa's brain.

Who Is the Client?

I still like our Human Torch theory, since his body sets on fire with emotions, so a synth makes sense. But this episode has me leaning back towards Sharon Carter as the Power Broker, who could explain Paladin's adamantium bullets and the drones. Zemo has Madripoor ties and beef with Ultron over Sokovia, and the client's bowler hat could call back to Ultron's own. The heart, I think, could be the solar gem. Some Ultron and Jocasta scenes got weird, but I love Ultron in full villain mode, and I think the show is doing a great job tackling what it means to be human.