VisionQuest Episodes 1 and 2: Paladin, Tommy and the AIs Living Inside Vision's Mind

The first two episodes of VisionQuest are here, and they set up a Vision who has every memory of the old Vision but doesn't feel like the real thing, all while a bounty hunter called Paladin uses Tommy to draw him out. Along the way we meet the Stark AIs living inside Vision's head, an imprisoned Ultron, and a sacrifice I didn't see coming.

VisionQuest opens by recapping how Vision was made and remade

Episode one starts off in a really great way by recapping everything you need to know about where Vision is right now. Vision was created by Ultron using the Mind Stone, and his body is made of vibranium, which is important to know for later. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner created Ultron as a global peacekeeping program, but it went wrong and tried to destroy the world. Before Ultron came close, they gave it another go and created Vision. Vision makes a point of saying he was created by Ultron and by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, who were virtuous and human. So in a way he's got kind of human parents on one side and Ultron on the other.

Vision also introduces Tony Stark's other AI programs and says that even though they were synthetic, they chose to protect humanity, which matters because that's what all the AIs are doing inside his mind. He says he learned to love, and of course the person who helped him with that is Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. Then we get the chain of events: Vision dies in Infinity War, Wanda creates the Hex in Westview during WandaVision, and SWORD, the Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division, rebuilds his physical body.

The fake Vision Wanda created unlocked the old memories in this new white Vision. He has the same body and can access those memories, but he doesn't actually remember going through those events himself. That's the whole premise of the show. He doesn't really know who he is or feel like the real Vision, which is why he says, "I am the Vision, and yet I am not."

Vision's bar in Edinburgh ties back to Wanda, and Miss Guthrie matters

After the recap we open in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is where we found Vision and Wanda in Avengers: Infinity War. This is where they would go to escape with each other, and Miss Guthrie and a carving in the wood confirm that the bar Vision now works at is one he and Wanda used to go to together. Vision comes out carrying three kegs like it's nothing, which is abnormal for a regular human. When Miss Guthrie warns him he's going to hurt his back, he immediately tries to pretend he's human, but his speech sits somewhere between a human and what he really is, an android.

When Miss Guthrie asks what happened to the redhead, Vision speaks very literally and says she was sort of crushed by the weight of a mountain. That's what we saw at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. A lot of us still believe Wanda is alive, but Vision would only know what he's heard and what data is online, so just because he says that doesn't mean she's dead. Miss Guthrie takes it as a metaphor, which perplexes him a little.

The big takeaway is that Miss Guthrie is nice to Vision. She invites him to Sunday dinner, gives him a nickname and tells him to stop being so hard on himself. That comes into play big time when she's killed later in the episode, because it very much affects him. This Vision is still learning emotions, but his relationship with her shows he is indeed capable of feeling them.

Dummy, You, Jarvis and Edith live inside Vision's mind

When Vision goes to the bar's cold storage, we enter his mind, and I really love how the show goes back and forth between reality and what's happening in his head. We see the other Stark Industries AIs. Dummy and You are back from the Iron Man movies, really cool to see again. They helped Tony with the very first Iron Man suit, and Dummy actually saved his life: when Obadiah Stane took Tony's arc reactor and Tony was too weak to reach the one Pepper framed, Dummy brought it to him.

We also have Jarvis, Tony's AI from Iron Man 1 until Vision was born, and Friday, who was with Tony until he died in Avengers: Endgame. Then there's Edith, the AI in the Tony Stark glasses that Spider-Man got and gave to Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Each AI has a different job inside Vision, and I love that they call him the Vision, because that's what he's called in the comics.

His mind space seems kind of similar to WandaVision's sitcoms but a little more modern, and the products tell us what's going on. There's a Vizomatic vacuum, Infinidairy milk at 2 percent, a battery, microchips reading command and option, "the original mindace chips," geofence canned goods, data extract, firewall roasted tomatoes and vibranium foil. Everything in there has a purpose. Vision also reads a newspaper called Vision Today, based on real events, with a headline about a murdered tech giant with bird wings carved beneath him and another reading, "Hunt for stolen adammentium continues."

In the MCU, adamantium comes from the Celestial Tiamut sticking out of the water, a big part of Captain America: Brave New World. Later we learn Paladin uses adamantium ammo, which is why his bullets penetrate Vision's vibranium. That's kind of Marvel telling us in a way that adamantium is stronger than vibranium, or at the very least seems to be just as strong.

Jarvis plays the older brother card, and Vision wonders why no Avengers are looking

Jarvis discovers a data breach, which turns out to be Ultron. In a really cool part, the show tells us Vision and Jarvis are brothers, with Jarvis as the older brother because he was the first AI Tony created. Vision tells him he's used the older brother card over 1,300 times this month alone and asks if he ever tires of it. Jarvis simply says, "I do not." Even though they're AI, they operate with a very human touch, which I think is very reflective of today, when a lot of people talk to AI every day.

Vision tries to calm Jarvis by saying no one is looking for him, not SWORD, not even an Avenger. That seems to strike a chord. He has the old Vision's memories, so he knows what Vision went through with the Avengers, and he almost seems a tad upset that none of them are looking for him. Then Edith, in charge of recreational AI, game theory and weapons, tells him that if he ever wants to understand how to be human, he has to have fun. I have a feeling this will really come into play later in the series.

Vision then goes to a theater, passing posters labeled Birth, showing him from Age of Ultron, Love, with Wanda, Death, with Thanos ripping out the Mind Stone, Re/Vision, for SWORD rebuilding him and the fake Vision restoring his memories, and Coming Soon, which is right now. He's studying the old Vision's memories to figure out who that Vision is and who he is. When Ultron has Dummy and You play a classified SWORD file on Westview, Vision gets upset and his mind space goes haywire. We also see Friday reading about Sigmund Freud's id, ego and superego, again showing the AIs trying to understand humans.

Ultron is a prisoner in Vision's mind, and I think he has evolved

Vision visits Ultron, who is being held captive on what seems to be the top floor. Vision has a rule, human form only, so Ultron transforms into James Spader, who voiced him in Age of Ultron. Ultron is angry because a food delivery simulation arrived 40 minutes late and cold, and he says it's part of Vision's shattered, broken psyche. He explains he was backed up and copied into Vision, which is how he's still alive. In the comics, Ultron never really dies; as long as he's connected to the internet and devices, he can come back.

Vision yells that he never wants to see the Westview files because they weren't real, they were fantasy. He views the real Vision as the one from Age of Ultron to Infinity War. Ultron calls him out and says he's just afraid. I see Ultron acting as the id, the primitive "I want" part of the psyche that operates on immediate gratification and ignores logic and rules. Vision is operating like the ego, very logical and rational, and struggling with the superego, what he should or should not be. He says the old Vision was a hero who loved, lived and died, and that he doesn't understand that Vision, so he doesn't understand himself.

The old Vision had a guide in Wanda and a purpose. This Vision doesn't, but he's about to get that with his son Tommy. Ultron actually knows a lot more about humanity than Vision, saying that when you've been bested by something, it's best to understand it. If he got free, he'd visit the Louvre, the Prado, the Met and the Modern, or he'd kill everybody, a coin flip. Ultron has really evolved, and I think he might end up being good, but ultimately turn bad once again at some point in the MCU. We're led to believe he's the bad guy because he sends out a carrier pigeon.

Fiona's death shows this is not the old Vision

Back in the real world, Miss Guthrie is being kind to Vision again and he seems to be enjoying it, laughing a little, when she is shot and killed. As he holds her, Jarvis tells him more are coming, monitoring through a satellite. I love that the show puts Jarvis in the real world here, visible only to Vision. Jarvis says, "Sir, the old you would have responded with measure," meaning calm and thoughtful. Vision replies, "Well, let's try something new."

Instead he kills them all, because he's emotional. Sometimes he seems more emotional than logical, and they're no match for his vibranium body; bullets do nothing. One guy on the radio asks why they were sent in there, and all of them who went inside end up dead. Back in his mind, Vision looks out a window with his lip quivering, visibly upset. Jarvis tells him, "Brother, they murdered your friend. Take a moment. Process it." Vision pushes that away, saying Fiona's death was tragic but they didn't have a close attachment. That's his logic talking, but in reality he is mourning her because she was nice to him and cared for him.

Paladin is a morally gray hunter, and I think Jocasta is behind the bounty

Paladin in Marvel Comics is basically morally gray, a gun for hire whose contract decides whether he fights with or against the heroes. He debuted in Daredevil #150, has fought the Punisher, Spider-Man and Daredevil, and has been with the Thunderbolts and Heroes for Hire. Here he kills one of the snipers because he says no civilians, so he seems to have somewhat of a moral compass in the MCU. He's an elite assassin and bounty hunter hired by a mystery client to get Vision.

I do have a theory. The client used SWORD encryption, and I think that's the show trying to trick us into believing SWORD wants Vision back as its property. I don't think that's what's happening. They also try to make us believe, I think, that it's Ultron, and it very well could be. But someone we've seen in the trailers hasn't shown up yet: Jocasta. In the comics, Ultron created her to be his bride, but originally she actually kind of rejects him, not just as a husband but his evil ways. In the trailers we've seen her fight Vision, so I'm assuming she's bad here, and I think she's behind this. The only question is whether Ultron is behind her.

Vision tries to shut down, and Ultron admits leaking his location

Edith says these attackers seem like level one people, not the boss. Vision says they need to think like a predator, meaning they need Ultron. Everyone but Edith thinks that's a bad idea, though she doesn't trust Ultron either. Ultron says the correct answer is to hunt this guy down and the wrong answer is to run and hide. But Vision decides to shut himself down so no one can find him and no one gets hurt. Only Friday agrees, citing New York, Thanos and Sokovia, even though everybody would go offline. Jarvis asks about calling Bruce Banner or Clint Barton, and Vision says they're the old Vision's family, not his.

Ultron says Vision was tangled in strings and caught in lines of code but is now free, a direct callback to Age of Ultron: "I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me." Then Vision realizes Ultron is behind this, though not how he thinks. Ultron found the bounty on the dark web and only leaked Vision's location to Paladin to speed up the inevitable, because Vision needs purpose. Vision is upset, saying Fiona died because of Ultron, calling his friend by name. He admits keeping Ultron out of a misguided sentimental notion, and Ultron interrupts asking if he means his dad. Vision also gave the name Sherwood Ellis, which Paladin discovers ties to Westview. He might have done this subconsciously, and it might be explored later that he can actually remember those events for himself, not just access the data of the memories, and so by the end becomes the real Vision.

Paladin finds Tommy, who remembers another life

Paladin and his hacker discover in the SWORD files that Wanda's Hex created a Vision and two boys, Billy and Tommy. Billy has already been, let's call it, reincarnated in Agatha All Along, which ended with Agatha and Billy, aka Wiccan, going to search for Tommy. That'll come into play big time later. The hacker finds Tommy, a grifter who, with his pickpocket friend Lisa, cons a guy with a fake watch and escapes when they're chased. Then Tommy sees news reports framing Vision as the killer at the bar, which we know isn't true.

This triggers Tommy's memories of a life that isn't his, so in a way he's like Vision himself. In Agatha All Along, Billy guided Tommy's spirit into a boy who seemed about to drown, asking, "Am I killing this boy so my brother can live?" Agatha answers that sometimes boys die, talking about her own son. Tommy has a panic attack, Lisa calms him, and then Paladin takes him, leaving Lisa alone because he doesn't want civilians hurt.

I've got to give it to Paladin: he realizes Wanda's Hex could create an actual boy a lot quicker than Vision does. Jarvis tries to block his message, but Vision lets it through. Paladin says, "I know enough to know that if anything dies within whispering distance of words like witch or spell or hex, something always survives." It sounds like he's hunted supernatural beings before, and hopefully we get his backstory. He shows Vision Tommy's police psych evaluation, where Tommy describes a mother named Wanda and a father named Vision who was a machine. The threat is basically that if Vision doesn't give himself up, Paladin kills his son. That ends episode one.

Episode 2 shows how Tommy escaped a sanitarium bus a year earlier

Episode two goes back a year, with Tommy describing being held under at a pool, a bolt of lightning, and then feeling like someone else had moved into his brain. That's exactly what Billy did in Agatha All Along. Tommy is dealing with what Vision is dealing with, which makes him perfect for this show. When we first heard he'd be in it, I was curious how they'd incorporate him, but I think this is an excellent and very clever way to do it and a good way to make them bond.

On a bus to a facility, Tommy meets Lisa, who is cold at first but calms him by guessing his backstory: his mother died, his dad is a deadbeat, and he's been through a lot of homes. Lisa is there because she picked a police officer's pocket. They realize they're headed to a sanitarium where they'll be medicated and never get out. When the officer zaps Tommy, it activates his powers as Speed. Beyond super speed, stamina, reflexes and durability, he can speed up the molecules of objects to make them explode or destabilize, and vibrate to phase through solid objects, much like Vision.

His powers go haywire, probably by accident, and the officer gets hurt but brushes it off as a weapon malfunction. Meanwhile Lisa grabs the keys, the other passengers sing so the driver can't hear the officer, and using his powers again to get the door open, the two escape.

Paladin comes from an organization of Paladins and believes himself righteous

In the present, the AIs learn Paladin isn't the only Paladin. He's part of an organization that has produced many Paladins over centuries, master assassins trained in all weapons who take any contract, hero or villain. A section reads bodies in Madripoor, an Easter egg going back to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and a big X-Men place in the comics. They say he does it all believing himself righteous, so there seems to be some higher power at play, whether an organization or self righteous belief.

He wears a kind of comic accurate suit that looks pretty cool, and in the comics his headgear and goggles are infrared; I wouldn't be surprised if there's some AI tech here too. The Paladins' crest reads Pacta, as the official merchandise clearly shows, which makes the most sense because the Latin motto translates to agreements and honor. One of their past targets, in a bag, almost looks like Werewolf by Night. Paladin takes Tommy to the sanitarium he was originally headed for, sees the officer from the bus, and quickly kills him, which, let's be honest, was kind of satisfying.

"What is grief if not love persevering?" makes Vision see some validity in Tommy's claim

Vision doesn't believe Tommy is his son or that anything survived the Hex. Then Tommy says grief is just love persevering, something his mother told him after their dog died in Westview. Only Vision and Wanda were in the room in WandaVision when Vision told her, "What is grief if not love persevering?" There's no way Tommy could know it unless he really is their son, so Vision figures there's some validity to this.

Vision meets Paladin and shows he's run quintillion simulations, a one followed by 18 zeros, demonstrating it by saying exactly what Paladin says. He lies, maybe to himself too, saying he doesn't care for Tommy because he's a synthezoid, which we know isn't true after all the emotions we saw in episode one. Paladin calls his bluff: Vision came, so he somewhat believes. But this isn't the Avengers Vision; it's one with less of the old morality and quite a bit more Ultron in him.

Ultron tells Vision to be the king, not the ship

Ultron says, "I'm proud of you, my boy," and Vision angrily replies, "Don't call me that." Then comes a powerful scene. Vision knows who the old Vision was but doesn't feel what he felt, his virtue or his heroism. In the background, TVs show parts of Vision out of sync, which is really clever because he isn't in sync with the old Vision. This is the ship of Theseus: if every rotting plank is replaced, is it the same ship? Ultron says the story isn't about the ship but the king who used it to save the children from the Minotaur, then drops a bomb: "When a monster has your son, don't be the ship, be the king."

Before Vision goes, we get an incredibly cool Easter egg. Jarvis warns that emotions can be rash and self destructive, and they look at a picture of a man on fire. Vision calls him a cautionary tale "as the first of us." That's Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, not Johnny Storm but an android, who appeared in Marvel Comics #1 in October 1939 under Timely Comics. In the comics, Vision was made using spare parts of Hammond's android frame. Is that the case here? Probably not.

Adamantium rounds, "You're my something" and Jarvis's sacrifice

Vision walks right into the trap, moving so quickly everything freezes around him. Edith shows that the people around are there to kill him, and Vision makes quick work of them. I do love the action here, and I love that he's actually killing people. He arrives in full android form with red light around him, the red demon Tommy described, and Tommy insists it's in his head. Vision switches to human form, but the room is an EMP room that shuts him down. Tommy rallies him and they break through the door with his vibranium body, only for Paladin's adamantium rounds to pierce him, leaving his power almost completely drained.

Then come two emotional scenes, one nice and one incredibly sad. Vision clearly cares about Tommy, so some part of him believes he's his father. Tommy isn't 100 percent sure, so he says, "You're my something," which I think is quite an incredible line. Vision tells him to leave so he'll be safe, trying to sacrifice himself. Meanwhile Jarvis does sacrifice himself, deleting his programming so his power goes to Vision and the other AIs, including Ultron. As he goes, he tells Vision that family is forever, and Vision says, "Brother." That got me more than I thought it would. Unsurprisingly, Tommy comes back to save Vision, and the two get away, at least for now.

What was your favorite moment from the first two episodes of VisionQuest?