TL;DR – When you introduce a villain in the same show as Ultron, you need to do it as well as this.

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

VisionQuest Review Introduction

We have now moved into the next batch of episodes with VisionQuest, and after some solid set-up, it is time to get into the meat of the episode. Is what I would be saying if this was not another set-up episode, but when you are setting up such a solid villain, well, I will allow it.

So, to set the scene, at the end of Theseus, things are looking really bad for Vision (Paul Bettany). Paladin (Todd Stashwick) just shot him full of adamantium rounds, breaking his unbreakable case and leaking vital fluids all over the place. He would be dead if not for the fact that Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica) does not like to listen to such advice. But Paladin is under a contract and is not going to stop just because his third attempt to catch Vision failed. But while everyone was watching Vision die, they should have been watching the news for all the murders going around. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

It Respects the Universe

When you are making a show in a universe like the MCU, which has both its own internal lore and all of the many comics to draw from, it can be debilitating. You can just become a reference machine, trying to name-drop everything you can, forcing it into conversations; you can ignore it and make you wonder why you are doing a show in this universe, or worse, you can show sheer contempt for everything that has come. On Disney Plus, only Ms Marvel and Loki have fully escaped these pitfalls and made something that shows love for the universe, and today I think we might have gotten another entry. Back in No Strings, I mentioned that I was impressed by just how well they had summed up all of the MCU; well, that care is still apparent. Not only are we dropping mentions of Daredevil offhandedly, but they have layered the past shows into the very DNA of the show in a way that feels meaningful.

That is an Entrance

One of the things going into this show that we knew is that there would be some kind of synthetic antagonist. It could be the person that is contacting out Paladin; I mean, you have Ultron, who does have a habit of extermination; however, this week we got our first look at what they are calling The Butcherbird (T’nia Miller). There are many ways you can stage the entrance of your potential big bad, and the glowing red eyes from the darkness of an elevator followed by murder is a solid choice. We don’t get a lot of her this week, because we are busy saving Vision, working through Tommy’s phobia, and FRIDAY having a reminiscing time. However, while we don’t get a lot of time with Butcherbird, she does make the end of the episode land particularly well.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend VisionQuest? Yes, we do. I was surprised just how much this episode hit on an emotional level for me, so thank you, Orla Brady, Henry Lewis, & Jonathan Sayer for making that all work. 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 – Gandja Monteiro
Written by – Cindy Appel
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, T’nia Miller, Orla Brady, Art Milk, Diane Morgan, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, & Emily Hampshire
With – Phil Cheadle & Eli Gray