VisionQuest: No Strings

"There are no strings on me."

VisionQuest is a lot of things at once. It is a conclusion of the trilogy started with WandaVision and continued with Agatha All Along. It is an exploration of character for the titular Vision who has been through a lot. It is a chance to revisit Tony Stark's legacy as practically every character in this series was created by him. Finally it is an excuse to throw together some very talented actors in a high profile project with excellent writing, visual style and creativity.

So let's begin with actually talking about all that.

This review includes spoilers for WandaVision, Agatha All Along and the MCU in general.

If I had to point to a specific thing about the first episode that works, it would be Paul Bettany as Vision. He manages to find a new version of a character he has played since Avengers: Age of Ultron, or more generously since Iron Man when he first started voicing J.A.R.V.I.S., which really helped sell Tony Stark as a character by having someone to interact with.

In a way this is a celebration of Tony Stark's genius. Everything exists here because of him but it isn't exactly said. So let me break down each character and their history.

Let's start with J.A.R.V.I.S., who was the first full AI created by Stark as a homage to his actual butler from childhood, played here in human form by James D'Arcy, who also portrayed the original human Jarvis in Agent Carter and Avengers Endgame.The J.A.R.V.I.S. AI was fundamental in Tony's early adventures, up until Avengers: Age of Ultron where he was destroyed and used as the foundation code for Vision's creation. Now he acts as Vision's security AI, housekeeping, and encryption.

Next is F.R.I.D.A.Y. the AI who replaced J.A.R.V.I.S. starting with Spider-man: Homecoming and continuing until Tony's death in Avengers: Endgame. She was a similar presence as J.A.R.V.I.S. but a bit more motherly to Tony in a snarky kind of way. She was originally voiced by Kerry Condon but is portrayed here in her human form by Orla Brady. She is still essentially the voice in the ear for Vision now as his socialization AI, humor, tactical ops.

Next are D.U.M.-E. and U. who are portrayed here as humans, but were previously seen as Tony's arm robots starting way back in Iron Man. D.U.M.-E. is the one that hosed Tony with the fire extinguisher and then saved his life by fetching his old arc reactor. In a very real way D.U.M.-E. saved the world. Actually, in a way, all of these AIs have been instrumental in saving humanity to one degree or another.

Next is E.D.I.T.H. first introduced in Spider-man: Far From Home as the AI that Tony bequeathed to Peter after his death (it stands for Even Dead, I'm The Hero). She was voiced by Dawn Michelle King in that movie and was mentioned in No Way Home but here she is portrayed in human form by Emily Hampshire. She was described as a multi-billion dollar security and defense system by Nick Fury, but here she is Vision's recreational AI, game theory and weapons.

Last but certainly not least is Ultron, simply described as "Asshole." He is the somewhat accidental bastard creation of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner who went mad when he acquired all of human knowledge and attempted to destroy the world. Ultron is a malevolent being who was supposedly destroyed by Vision at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron (where he was the titular big bad). Previously voiced and physically portrayed here by James Spader.

Each of these characters act as almost a part of Vision's psyche, but are actually the original programs rescued by Vision as almost lost toys discarded by Stark Industries after Tony's death. Despite their importance to the world, they should have been protected and cherished by the world as celebrated heroes, but it's doubtful they are even remembered by the Avengers. Sure, Vision was a known hero and Avenger, but who remembers the voice in Tony's suit?

All of these actors are simply marvelous here, with James Spader and Emily Hampshire standing out early on with strong personalities and excellent dialogue. Spader of course can chew scenery like no other so I was totally expecting that from him, and Emily is a personal favorite from shows like Schitt's Creek and 12 Monkeys. Orla Brady you might recognize from Star Trek: Picard and James D'Arcy has been in practically everything. Each is memorable here in different ways, with Brady and D'Arcy playing the more straight man supporting roles.

Of course the other huge and unavoidable elephant in the room is Wanda Maximoff. While not actually appearing, Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda is everywhere in this episode. She's mentioned often, her image shown with reverence and her life and death explained as well as possible. If this is the last project before Avengers: Doomsday, there couldn't be a clearer message: Wanda is important.

But she is also the reason Vision even exists as he does. She was his lover, his soul and the reason this version of Vision – the White Vision – has anything resembling autonomy or independence. She created a version of Vision during the events of WandaVision in her Hex reality. They had two children together in that isolated reality, Tommy and Billy. When she brought down the Hex and erased that reality Vision, Tommy and Billy ceased to exist. Except that isn't exactly what happened.

Vision transferred his memories into White Vision, who was a product of S.W.O.R.D. which is the shady organization created after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, created as a weapon but took off on his own only to be seen now. Billy's soul escaped the Hex and bonded with a teenager who had just died in a car crash a couple of miles away. His story was tackled during the events of Agatha All Along, where he also helped his brother Tommy find a body using magic during the final episodes of that show.

Here Tommy is grown and I'm a bit fuzzy about the logistics on this one since Tommy was shown to be a boy when he merged with his body. I suppose it was magic and Billy didn't have to be limited by something as silly as time, but it does feel a bit weird. Of course some time has passed since WandaVision and Agatha All Along, but not enough for a pre-teen to now be a twenty-something.

Anyway, here Tommy is an outcast on the run and a petty criminal working with a woman named Lisa whom he flirts with but I'm not entirely sure is his girlfriend. He seems to be holding back a bit, and it is hinted he has powers but we don't see them on screen. At the end of the episode he is taken by Paladin (Todd Stashwick). I think I like both Tommy and Lisa, but they aren't given a lot of generally positive attributes, shown to be thieves and manipulators.

I guess I should talk about the actual plot a bit, but don't worry, the review is almost done. The stand out for me was Paladin, who is hunting Vision as a paid mercenary. His benefactor is mysterious and clearly coded as the ultimate big bad of the season. But starting off Paladin is a bit of a formidable threat. He is your standard quick talking, kill the minion if they fail type of mid-level villain but works because Stashwick is a really good actor. His voice in the chair handler is played by Diane Morgan, a British actress best known (by me) for the Cunk comedy-documentries.

With all of the name dropping and actor/character stuff mostly out of the way, I don't have a ton to talk about with this episode. There was some action that worked pretty well, and I loved the dynamics between all the characters a lot. Specifically the tense relationship between Ultron and Vision. I also loved that while this version of Vision isn't calling himself a hero, he has already shown to default to heroism, despite being far more willing to kill. We'll see how the character arc plays out, but I'm hoping this will lead to getting Vision back if only so that Tommy and Billy have their dad again.

Bits:

During the opening scenes we get a montage of various nods to foods and products renamed with a quirky retro-tech or computer coded names.

When Vision is heading to the theater there are movie posters for Vision's life, birth, love and death.

Ultron is shown in full robot glory for less than a minute of screen time. Actually, the fact all the AI's are shown in human form is a nice way of saving budget.

The set decorators for the mind-scape house are really on the ball, and I loved when Ultron was punished how each of his gathered belongings were systematically erased.

Fiona was a nice character. It is a shame she was killed off. As a non-romantic interest for Vision it was a bit tropey as a motivating tool, but with a character struggling with their humanity it was perhaps needed.

Quotes:

Ultron: "Well done! You've perfectly simulated humanity's ineptitude at mastering the bare basics of food delivery. I cannot believe that you actually programmed these idiotic data bits to deliver fake food to your fractured psyche, ice cold and 40 minutes too late!"

Vision: "Who am I? I was an Avenger. But I'm not a hero anymore. I have his face, but not his virtue. All I have is his name."

Ultron: "You're late! And incessantly ringing the doorbell of my neighbor! Zero stars! No recommend! No tip! Strike that – lousy tip!"

As a first episode, "No Strings" handled the heavy lifting of establishing this new series very well. The mindscape house construct reality is a lot of fun and all the characters work (so far). I'm tempted to hold off a rating until we see more, but instead I'll err on the side of caution.

3 out of 4 Wayward AI's who have found a new home.

Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.

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