I thought this show had a great start, and now I’m looking forward to this episode!
At the end of the first episode, we saw Paladin tell Vision and his assembly of AIs that he’s got his son, Tommy. Vision’s wondering how the hell Tommy managed to survive Wanda taking down the Hex, but this might just be what pushes him to go out there and come out of hiding.
But we don’t immediately get the resolution to that, as the episode starts a year ago, when Tommy is at a prison talking about the time kids literally drowned him, and now he feels like he’s someone else. He’s been saying it six months before this evaluation, so this means VisionQuest is happening a year and a half after the events in WandaVision.
This is where we find out the backstory between him and his partner-in-crime, Lisa, who he met in…I don’t know if this is juvenile detention, but the two of them are going to be sent to some sort of jail. Lisa’s the one who taught him that each morning is a chance to become someone new, so it’s a little off that she’s the one trying to talk him out of it in the first episode. But whatever, that’s a tiny nitpick. We find out that Tommy, Lisa, and all the kids on this bus aren’t going to juvenile detention, but to a sanitarium named Saint Mabyn’s that no one gets out of. Sounds nasty! Fortunately, Lisa and Tommy manage to escape, thanks to Tommy’s speedster powers that he is refusing to acknowledge.
Back to the present time, Vision and the AI board are talking about how to tackle this new development. As Friday points out, the person hunting him isn’t the Paladin, but a Paladin that doesn’t stop until the target has been acquired, so Vision can’t just hide forever, because the search for him won’t stop at all.
I can’t blame Vision for wanting to hide from this Paladin, though, because he’s brought Tommy to Saint Mabyn’s, and I think this is the second headshot we’ve seen in the show? A second headshot perpetrated by him? This has got to be the most violent of the WandaVision trilogy. Vision is still debating whether to go and meet with this bounty hunter, but he’s moved by a video Friday’s found of Tommy saying “Grief is love persevering” and expressing his own struggles with trying to understand who he is.
Vision decides to meet with the Paladin, who has arranged for it to happen at the same bar where Vision was attacked in the first episode. Vision tries to convince him that he’s an unfeeling robot who doesn’t care about Tommy, but Paladin isn’t buying it. Vision chokes him for his arrogance, and to make matters worse for this Paladin, his client is unhappy with his performance. The client that may or may not be Ultron. Ultron says it’s not him, but can you really trust him?
Or maybe you can trust this version? I really liked the discussion he and Vision have on what to do with this Tommy situation, especially when he dismissed that Ship of Theseus riddle from WandaVision. I thought it was a great way to acknowledge the links to that show, while also declaring that this is their show and they’re going to do it their way.
Vision decides to rescue Tommy, but before he does that, Jarvis tries to caution him and remind him to use reason and logic, while also referencing a painting of a burning man. Vision says it’s the “first of them”, so is it referencing another AI? I don’t think we’ve been introduced to this particular AI, but then again I am no MCU expert and may have just missed it when it was introduced in another show or movie.
Vision walks into the trap this Paladin has set for him, and my goodness, he just vaporized that guard! Nothing left for his family to grieve, my golly. The mercenaries are light work for Vision, and he finally gets to the room where Tommy is being held. But it turns out it’s not just any room, it’s an EMP cage that incapacitates Vision for a bit until Tommy helps him snap out of it and they manage to escape the room.
Unfortunately, they walk right into the Paladin hunting Vision, who is using adamantium rounds that can actually damage Vision’s vibranium shell. So we now know that the adamantium from the giant Celestial in the Indian Ocean is already being mined for that particular mineral. While Vision survives this encounter, his body is compromised enough that he starts to shut down. To give Vision a chance to survive, Jarvis sacrifices his code to free up power, and wouldn’t you know it, Tommy disobeys Vision’s order to run and comes back with a car so he and Vision can escape Saint Mabyn’s.
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