VisionQuest episode 7 review: is Ultron behind it all?

Episode 7 of VisionQuest, titled Immolation, left us impressed. Paul Bettany leads the Marvel series on Disney Plus, with James Spader voicing Ultron. Our verdict on this hour came down to one line: "This is like it's very theatrical," and "very dramatic in a good way."

Going in, Wendy said one of the best parts of the series for her is the back and forth between Vision and Ultron. She said the show is laid out so theatrically that she sometimes feels like she's watching a play rather than a TV show, and she meant that as a compliment.

The worry about whether VisionQuest can stick the landing

Before the episode, we were a little nervous about how much the show still has to wrap up. The last episodes seem to be almost an hour each, so maybe there's room. Sticking the landing has always been a concern for us with many Marvel television shows: they set up everything interesting and then drop the ball.

We also don't want the series to link heavily into Doomsday, beyond a subtle nod, because nobody should have to have seen the show to understand the movie, and that film already has so much to do.

A 1939 opening built on Phineas Horton's grief

The episode opens in 1939 with Phineas Horton signing away his family estate and selling everything, while the man handling the sale doubts any machine could replace a son. We both found that man condescending, and to us, grief is still the theme here. When the synthetic man appeared, we described him as "like if you took Vision but made him like steampunk."

Along the way we were worried for Friday, and hoped the show wouldn't delete her after already losing Jarvis. We thought the Edgar Allan Poe raven lines fit with all the birds in the episode, and our reaction to the mysterious client scene was simple: "I love James Spader."

The Paladin team-up and the trip into Vision's mind

We liked the team-up with the Paladin, which we called unlikely but predictable. Once the story moved inside the mind space, the attic replica and the painting made us ask who else lived there. One of our standout observations: "I love that this show is a lot of Paul Bettany talking to himself."

We agreed the scene with Phineas and his creation Jim was a very poetic scene, with the creator consumed by the fire he created. Vision's conversation with Jim about everyone he has lost felt like therapy to us.

The ending points back to Ultron

The final turn landed just as we had said it would: "it was always him. It was always Ultron." We felt the sculpture should have given it away.

With so little left, we still have the question of Ultron's own story. But we think they did such a good job within this hour, and we believe that, if the next episode is equally long, they could do it.

Our hope for a Billy cameo is starting to dwindle. One idea we talked through was that Billy, with his reality altering powers, could find Tommy and they could team up to rescue their dad. At first the only place we could see that fitting was a post credit scene, but once the idea was raised, we thought maybe they could dedicate a portion of an episode to it. We also doubt that the Paladin is dead, since the show built him up too much to lose him to a rocket launcher.

The theme that stuck with us most was an AI's desire for compassion and feeling, the back and forth of envying the other for having it. We found it "really cool," and we can't wait to see the finale.