Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another review/reaction of a VisionQuest episode, “Forever.” If you want to see my thoughts on VisionQuest’s previous episode, “Immolation,” check out this link. “Forever” does a great job of tying up VisionQuest’s loose ends, while also giving the series a place to go in the future. I won’t discuss the mid-credits scene yet, but we’ll get their soon. I knew Billy would make an appearance. Last episode, “Immolation,” did a good job of redeeming Jocasta as a character, and it’s nice to see Ultron’s softer side. No. Virgil Horton (also played by James Spader and the basis for Ultron’s personality) separated himself as VisionQuest’s true villain.
Quick Note: This review will contain spoilers for VisionQuest “Forever;” consider yourself warned.
VisionQuest “Forever” dropped the shows inner space element (at least for the first seven eighths of its runtime), like I thought it would. This was a good choice. VisionQuest needed to focus on the present and future. It wasn’t all sunshine and unicorn farts. I didn’t care for VisionQuest making death a mild inconvenience. I know that comic book character seldom stay dead–just look at Tony Stark, who will be a variant of Doctor Doom in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday–but VisionQuest’s closing moments (and mid-credit scene) may stretch the boundaries of comic book characters seldom, if ever, dying.
VisionQuest “Forever’s” closing moments include Vision and Ultron surviving a server meltdown. Okay. F.R.I.D.A.Y. was lost, not killed, after Ultron pushed her. While I like that Ultron chose not to kill F.R.I.D.A.Y., it took the teeth out of his pushing her and disappearing. During the first half of “Forever’s” mid-credit scene, Ultron holds Jocasta’s code (hint: she’ll return), and “Forever’s” second mid-credit scene involves Doctor Doom (otherworldly Tony Stark) bringing Wanda back to life. Like I said, death no longer means anything. True. It’s the same in the comics. But I never said I liked this trend in the comics. I liked it when characters stayed dead for several years. Sure, RDJ’s Tony Stark has been missing for seven years; that’s okay, I guess, but Wanda has spent less than four years under a mountain.
Note: I do like how Vision reunites with Tommy and Billy, and that their cheery reunion will be short-lived after they’ll have to take on a resurrected Scarlet Witch.
Ultimately, VisionQuest turning death into a mild inconvenience (for the most part, RIP, J.A.R.V.I.S.) lowered the show’s stakes. I didn’t feel like most of these characters were in any real trouble. I didn’t think that Ultron would uphold his destruction of the human race. Watering down this threat made the final confrontation a little disappointing. I do like where VisionQuest took its story instead of “uh oh, humanity will die.” The episode’s title “Forever” refers to the phrase “Family is Forever.” The show has built up this idea from the beginning and makes good on this promise. While I like the mostly happy ending (which is fitting), I wanted higher stakes.
My heart sank each time a death got erased. F.R.I.D.A.Y. wasn’t dead. Okay, cool. Vision wouldn’t stay dead for long. Sure. That’s fine, I guess. Ultron isn’t dead. Okay, this is getting silly. Now, Ultron has Jocasta’s code, she’ll be returning (eventually). That’s downright goofy. I liked T’Nia Miller’s performance as Josephine Carrington and Jocasta, but are you kidding me? And of course, Wanda gets undeceased. I knew Wanda would return in Avengers: Doomsday, but this sequences of events made me think that Graham Chapman (Monty Python’s Flying Circus) would pop out and claim this show was getting too silly. Less we forget that Billy and Tommy are also undeceased characters. That’s so many Reverse Death Uno Cards played in a row. Eek!
At least Virgil Horton will stay dead. Maybe. Despite this sequence, VisionQuest “Forever” finished the series strong. Like I said, the show focused on family. It concluded with family. Most things may have concluded too clean in VisionQuest (Scarlet Witch eventually fighting her family against her will notwithstanding) but I had fun watching this show. VisionQuest did a great job of concluding the Wanda and Vision trilogy. Goofy undeaths aside, the show had a good, slow burn pace. Marvel shows often have abysmal pacing. That wasn’t the case with VisionQuest.
The show also did a great job of setting up its characters. I’m in the minority of viewers who didn’t want to see all of those characters’ deaths reversed. VisionQuest made its audience care about its characters. Ultron is a great villain because of his humanity, and so is Jocasta. I can’t wait to see how Marvel plans to use them in the future. Wanda and Vision’s family is one of the best things going for the MCU right now. It makes sense for the studio to continue this family’s adventures. I even liked the callback of the Sitcom formula (introduced in WandaVision) and the fact that VisionQuest didn’t belabor the format. We saw enough of that in the first series of this trilogy.
VisionQuest finished strong with “Forever.” While I have my nitpicks (plenty of nitpicks), I can see why the show made its choices, and they didn’t dampen my enjoyment of the series. If viewers were to watch any one set of shows in the MCU (post Avengers: Endgame), the Wanda and Vision trilogy is that series. Strong characters. Better pacing (for all three shows) than most Marvel series. Each one of these shows deploy interesting formatting: WandaVision (Sitcoms), Agatha All Along (walking the witches road), and VisionQuest (inner mind space). And somehow, all these series feel like they belong together. They have a great throughline.
Those are my thoughts on VisionQuest “Forever.” I know. I had too many nits to pick. What did you think of the show? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
