Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service used to view this series.

VisionQuest Review Introduction

While I have been keeping up with the MCU movies, over the last few years, I have fallen off the Disney+ TV shows. However, when you see Terry Matalas come in to land the Wanda trilogy, that breaks through, and you need to check it out.

So, to set the scene, since the events of WandaVision, Vision (Paul Bettany) or at least the white rebirthed version of Vision in human form, has gone into hiding in Edinburgh, where he and Wanda hid leading up to Captain America: Civil War. But Vision is not alone; he downloaded many of the old Stark AI programs, including JARVIS (James D’Arcy) and stored them in his quantum processes, where he visits each night. Working with them to become human, well, more human, human-er. But one stored program might come back to bite him: Ultron (James Spader). Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Welcome to the MCU

One of the parts of the show I was most impressed with was how tight they were in bringing you up to speed. In the first five minutes, they summed up The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, WandaVision, & Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This was both a concise summary and, in a way, did not feel as if you were getting jammed up with exposition. This has been something that the MCU has been struggling with; see Captain America: Brave New World, and even when they are doing it right in The Marvels, people don’t show up. Given Terry Matalas’ work on Star Trek: Picard, I was not surprised that he nailed it; however, even then, I was surprised just how well it works. It also helps that this episode is a strong opening foundation, where a hidden person gets revealed by external force, causing all the ensuing carnage.

Cast Swells

There was a real joy getting to watch James Spader slip back into Ultron as if The Avengers: Age of Ultron was only yesterday. I know the ‘human avatar’ was likely a budget choice, but they make it work because Paul Bettany and James Spader play off each other so well. Add to this Todd Stashwick, who steals everything the moment he walks on screen, and the rest of the zany programs, and you have a strong foundation. The surpassing tag at the end was that the show was going to pick up the reveal at the end of Agatha All Along. I am sure the plan for Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica) was not for him to pop up in London. However, when you give yourself enough narrative slack, you can make it work.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend VisionQuest? Yes, we would. I had a very good time with this first episode. It hit every part of what it needed to do to bring me back into this world. I hope that it can continue this momentum going forward. Have you seen VisionQuest yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of VisionQuest
Directed by – Christopher J. Byrne
Written by – Terry Matalas
Created by – Terry Matalas
Based On – WandaVision and Agatha All Along by Jac Schaeffer & Marvel Comics
Production/Distribution Companies – Marvel Television & Disney+
Starring – Paul Bettany, James Spader, Ruaridh Mollica, Todd Stashwick, Lauren Morais, Orla Brady, Diane Morgan, Polly Frame, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Emily Hampshire, & James D’Arcy.
With – Maximus Evans.