"VisionQuest": How good is this series, seriously?!
An artificial intelligence in search of its humanity. 'VisionQuest' picks up where 'WandaVision' left off – and asks surprisingly profound questions about identity, memory, and love in the very first episode.
This series review is spoiler-free for "VisionQuest", but not for "Infinity War", "WandaVision", and "Agatha All Along". "VisionQuest" has been airing on Disney+ since October 14, with two new episodes per week.
So there he sits. Alone in a small cinema, somewhere deep within his own consciousness. Memories flicker on the screen before him. Of a woman he once loved. Of a life he once led. Of a man he is supposed to have been. Over and over, Vision plays the same scenes, as if he could discover something in them that has eluded him until now.
Yet he has known the footage for a long time. Every image. Every word. Every tiny detail. After all, he is an artificial intelligence capable of remembering everything and analyzing it in fractions of a second. So why does he keep watching these memories?
"He knows the facts," another AI explains. "But he is trying to understand the humanity within them."
And with that, I think the core of "VisionQuest" is wonderfully captured. Because Marvel's new series isn't just about a superhero who has lost his past. It is about an artificial being who possesses the memories of another, but must first figure out if those memories have anything to do with himself at all.
One body, two lives – and a complicated family history
To understand why Vision is sitting in front of this film projector at all, we have to rewind a bit. Specifically to 2015, when an artificial being was created in "Avengers: Age of Ultron", whose body was originally intended by the megalomaniacal Ultron as the perfect vessel for himself.
As we know, that didn't happen. Instead, Vision came to life, with the Mind Stone in his forehead, the remnants of Tony Stark's AI J.A.R.V.I.S. in his consciousness, and the moral values of the people who created him. Vision became an Avenger. Learned to make his own decisions. Developed feelings and eventually fell in love with Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.
Until Thanos ripped the Mind Stone from his forehead in "Avengers: Infinity War" and killed him.
Wanda, in turn, could not overcome this loss. In "WandaVision", she used her magic to create an alternative reality around the small American town of Westview, where her beloved Vision lived again. The two even started a family and had two sons, Billy and Tommy. Only these versions existed exclusively within the so-called Hex, the magical sphere of influence with which Wanda held Westview captive.
When she finally dissolved the Hex, her family and her artificially created life disappeared as well. However, the government organization S.W.O.R.D. had meanwhile recovered and revived Vision's original, dead body. Without his original personality, but with the ability to access his memories. The result was a completely white Vision who, after an encounter with his magically created counterpart, disappeared without a trace at the end of "WandaVision".
Until now.
A house full of artificial intelligences
"VisionQuest" picks up this plot thread and turns it into something that thrilled me within the first few minutes: a character study of a being desperately trying to understand its own identity.
To do this, Vision has created a virtual world within his consciousness. A house where various artificial intelligences live together, all of whom are meant to contribute to his development in their own way. There is J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony Stark's former digital assistant, and F.R.I.D.A.Y., his successor. Then there is E.D.I.T.H., the AI from Stark's technologically upgraded glasses, and even the two robotic arms from his workshop that we know from the very first "Iron Man".
They all possess their own personalities, tasks, and quirks. They appear exclusively as humans because Vision does not allow any other avatars in his virtual home. After all, he is trying to understand humanity. Tin robots and disembodied computer voices would probably be of little help there.
This sounds at first like a nerdy excuse to bring back long-forgotten characters from the MCU. Admittedly: as a Marvel fan, it's a blast to see these old acquaintances again. But there is more to it. Much more.
The house is not just a digital gimmick. It is a metaphor for Vision's consciousness, in which different aspects of his personality are given their own faces. Security, social competence, pleasure, and reason. All of this is meant to help him become more like the heroic Vision whose memories he possesses.
But therein lies a fundamental contradiction: Vision is trying to find out who he actually is, but the answer is, in a way, already predetermined. He wants to become that Vision again who once loved Wanda, fought as an Avenger, and eventually died for his convictions. He doesn't seem to consider the idea that he might be someone completely different.
Or even allowed to be.
Ultron of all people understands what life means
This concept becomes most interesting with another inhabitant of the house. One who, however, is not allowed to roam freely, but is kept prisoner in a locked room.
Ultron.
Yep, exactly that megalomaniacal, sociopathic robot who once wanted to wipe out all of humanity. Again wonderfully portrayed by James Spader, this time even in flesh and blood. At least as a human avatar.
Vision apparently discovered a backup copy of Ultron in Sokovia and took it into his digital home. Why remains unclear at first. In any case, he aptly describes his function with a single word: asshole. And Ultron does everything to live up to that title.
He manipulates the other AIs, provokes Vision, and tries to disturb his painstakingly built digital balance. Especially when he digs up memories of Wanda and the children that Vision obviously would rather suppress. In the process, a conversation develops between the two that I particularly liked.
Ultron talks about his preference for hats. For him, they are symbolic of departure, adventure, and the beginning of a journey. Vision, on the other hand, prefers stiff shoes, which might look excellent but hardly invite travel. They are made more for standing around upright and proud. That, Ultron thinks, is exactly what Vision is doing: He is standing still.
A wonderful metaphor. Because in fact, Vision spends his time studying memories instead of gaining his own experiences. He tries to understand how his former self felt love instead of loving himself. He analyzes what made the original Vision a hero instead of making his own decisions. Ultron of all people, who once wanted to destroy humanity, seems to better understand that life does not consist merely of knowledge. It consists of experiences. Of mistakes. Of decisions whose consequences cannot always be calculated.
So he helps out a little. In his own unique, psychopathic way...
Two lost souls who cannot find themselves
In parallel, we meet Tommy, a young man who scrapes by as a con artist with his girlfriend. A swindler who seems less fascinated by money than by the act of swindling itself. Why doesn't he just steal from people, his girlfriend asks him at one point. That would be much less complicated.
Tommy disagrees. A thief has to remain as invisible as possible, he explains. A con artist, on the other hand, can be someone different every day. Constantly coming up with new personalities, playing new roles, and thus deceiving his victims. It's much more exciting! His girlfriend sees it differently. Anyone so busy being someone else instead of being themselves might as well remain invisible.
Ouch. That hits home.
Because Tommy is none other than one of the two sons that Wanda created within the Hex. After its dissolution, his soul ended up in the body of another boy. Only Tommy doesn't know what exactly happened back then. He possesses memories of a life he never led and simultaneously sees images of Wanda and Vision in his mind's eye, without understanding who these people are.
This leads to him suffering from panic attacks as soon as his contradictory memories overwhelm him. That's why his conversation with his girlfriend is so successful. Because suddenly it becomes clear that Tommy is not just a charming con man. He is fleeing from his own identity by constantly inventing new ones.
This makes Tommy an exciting counterpart to Vision. Neither knows who they actually are, but they deal with this uncertainty in completely different ways: Vision clings to the memories of his former self because he desperately wants to become like he was back then. Tommy, on the other hand, flees from his memories by constantly slipping into new roles. Where Vision elevates his past to an ideal, Tommy tries to escape it.
The most human story is told by a machine
In recent years, Marvel has told more than enough stories that raise big questions, only to bury them eventually under a mountain of action and CGI (cough, "Secret Invasion", cough). "VisionQuest" could do better. At least the first four episodes suggest that the series actually knows what to do with its philosophical questions:
What makes us who we are? Our memories? Our experiences? Or the decisions we make?
Above all, "VisionQuest" reminds me of the best of "WandaVision". That was about a woman who created her own reality in her grief because she could no longer bear the real one. "VisionQuest" in a way turns this thought around: Here, an artificial being tries to grasp its own existence by clinging to the memories of a life it never led itself.
Whether the series consistently pursues this thought or sinks into the usual Marvel spectacle remains to be seen. If it succeeds in the former, an artificial intelligence could end up telling one of the most human stories Marvel has ever produced.
I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.
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