Paul Bettany reminds us that he is a masterful actor in every MCU project he’s in. This has become no less evident in VisionQuest. We haven’t seen Bettany since WandaVision, and it’s been really great to see this new story expanded. Episodes 1 and 2 welcomed us to this new world, showed us the dynamic between Ultron and Vision, brought in the A.I. personalities, and introduced us to Tommy. Episodes 3 and 4 are just as good, if not better.
What’s been really great is the emphasis on Vision finding his humanity and meaning. The first two episodes showed Vision struggling to connect with humanity as his namesake once did. We see in episodes three and four that he is becoming closer to caring for others than he previously struggled with. Instead of ignoring the WandaVision portion of Vision’s memories, he’s now immersed in them and becoming closer to Tommy after denying Tommy’s Maximoff memories. Their scenes together, exploring their weird and unconventional father-son relationship, are some of the best in the new episodes. Seeing Tommy explore his powers and use them to restart Vision was cinematic and gave us a much-needed emotional payoff.
Even the side characters have been great. We learn more about Paladin in these episodes, and while he is after Vision, he’s becoming an enjoyable character in the show. Watching Jocasta dive deep into Paladin’s memories was intense in the best of ways and established both Paladin’s motives and Jocasta’s approach to her own mission. Already, Jocasta is a great character, and it’s been… electrifying watching her and Ultron together.
We had some surprising scenes from DUM-E and U that were genuinely entertaining without feeling out of place or overly silly. Ultron remains chaotic and poignant in these episodes and, as previously mentioned, Vision and the others are delivering some fantastic lines. The writers on this show clearly put in the effort and care that the audience deserves when watching an MCU project.
Overall, VisionQuest continues to be a surprising project with fantastic payoff.
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
