Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with a review/reaction of VisionQuest’s pilot, “No Strings.” Ahead of beginning this series, I had moderately high expectations for VisionQuest. Wanda Maximoff and Vision mini series are the best thing the Marvel Cinematic Universe has released since Avengers: End Game. That’s high praise. That includes two Spider-Man films (No Way Home and Brand New Day), Wonder Man (which I still love), and at least one Deadpool film. WandaVision and Agatha All Along are great. While it’s too soon to tell if VisionQuest will live up to the previous series in this set of series (as of writing this post, I’ve only watched the first episode a few times), “No Strings” delivers a solid premise with a couple of hiccups.
Since they’re so great, you should watch WandaVision and Agatha All Along before watching VisionQuest, but if you haven’t yet watched them, you don’t need to because VisionQuest does a good job recapping all necessary story elements from these two series and MCU movies in its opening minutes. If Marvel continues to tell ongoing stories, they should continue this trend. VisionQuest takes advantage of The Vision’s identity crisis, having its titular character replay scenes from past MCU vehicles. It works but slows down the momentum.
Even though VisionQuest dropped two episodes this week, this review or reaction will only concern itself with the first of these two episodes. We will release a second post on “Theseus” later this week. Before we continue, a spoiler alert is in effect. If you have yet to watch VisionQuest “No Strings,” you may want to pause and return to this point in the post. Consider yourself warned.
The Vision lives in two worlds: the outside world, and The Vision’s rich interior world. I love how VisionQuest adapted aspects of The Vision’s life in the comic book series The Visions. Obviously, the MCU can’t adapt The Visions wholesale in VisionQuest; Marvel borrowed some elements of that series in WandaVision. The Vision shouldn’t construct children to replace the ones he lost in WandaVision. It’s been done. Instead, Marvel opted for bringing back several of the helper AIs Tony Stark created in the MCU thus far: J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H., D.U.M.-E., and U. Throw in Ultron, and you have a party. And it’s the inclusion of Ultron that stirs trouble and sparks the inciting incident.
I like how VisionQuest showed how these AIs interact with each other and the roles they take. I’m not going to list all of these AIs again; those are a lot of acronyms. James Spader’s Ultron and Emily Hampshire’s E.D.I.T.H. serve as great foils to J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y., who serve as The Vision’s restrained persona, while the other two are great comic relief. Not that the other four don’t have comedic moments. They’re a joy to watch.
I wouldn’t mind if VisionQuest stayed within The Vision’s inner world for an episode or two (that may happen in a future episode) because this is a rich world, but I’m glad The Vision must interact with the outside world. Returning to Ultron sparking the inciting incident, he sends out a crypted message to a bounty hunter (Paladin) who is looking for The Vision and gives the bounty hunter The Vision’s position. Ultron says himself that he’s giving The Vision the kick in the pants to get moving. Evidently, The Vision has remained in his past self’s shadow. He’s retraced the original Vision’s footsteps, refusing to make any new moves. Ultron’s action forces The Vision to something. Anything. Even though this is only the first episode, VisionQuest is playing with the dichotomy of Ultron as The Vision’s father and his greatest foe. I love this balance. It also plays into the cliffhanger “No Strings” ends with its closing minutes: Paladin has kidnapped The Vision’s son, Tommy.
Yes! Billy returned in Agatha All Along. If I remember correctly, Wiccan (Billy) was last seen looking for his brother. Could we see a large family reunion by the end of VisionQuest’s runtime? Seriously, if you haven’t yet watched Agatha All Along, you should. It’s excellent. With Tommy’s kidnapping VisionQuest combines elements of Finding Nemo and Taken. The act itself comes straight from Taken, but the vibe I’m sensing (with Ultron congratulating The Vision for having a son) gives me Finding Nemo. And I love how watching that scene multiple times I could read this moment at the end as Ultron being a sarcastic jerk or being sincere. In a way, Tommy is Ultron’s grandson. James Spader is a treasure. This entire cast is amazing.
VisionQuest introduced plenty of interesting threads with its debut, “No Strings.” Someone hired Paladin to retrieve The Vision. Paladin believes S.W.O.R.D. is behind it, but who knows. Ultron works within The Vision’s head. He’s biding his time for the right moment to strike, and that moment will occur at some point. I’ll be disappointed if Ultron never takes a shot at freedom. Heck, Ultron could be the one who hired Paladin, though I doubt it. VisionQuest “No Strings” was a solid–if not rocky because of the flashbacks–first outing. So far, it’s shaping up to be a worthy third part of a WandaVision, Agatha All Along, and VisionQuest trilogy.
Those are my thoughts on VisionQuest “No Strings.” Let us know yours in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
