VisionQuest, like its narrative forerunners,
WandaVision and Agatha All Along, dips in and out of reality and
asks us to believe in a digital world as well as a real one. With AI suddenly
front and centre in the news it makes the show even more timely than the
previous chapters. For those who may be
less up to date with the lore relating to this most unusual character, the
first episode of this new miniseries provides a succinct update, with clips,
that tells you what you need to know. It’s an essential introduction to what
might otherwise be a somewhat baffling show. Even with this opening montage
some may still struggle with all the whys and wherefores and the fact that, for
all the sharp action scenes, there’s a lot of philosophical musing about life
and existence in the dialogue. Dig in though and there is treasure to be found…
The question of who we are and whether something can be the
same thing if every part has been replaced is the hook on which VisionQuest’s
opening duo of episodes hang. It’s a knotty dilemma and one which White Vision
– different from the crimson hued version with whom we are more familiar –
wrestles with as he tries to hide in a normal life. It’s some time after we
last saw him and in human form he is now working at a remote Scottish pub which
he and Wanda once frequented,, gently rebuffing efforts by its landlady to
expand his empty social life. She doesn’t know that instead of going home at
the end of the day, he hides in the walk-in freezer, literally in his own
world. Though a different Vision he seems to have retained some memories and is
determined to find out what it’s like to be human and unlock his past.
His AI `home` (or `mind castle`) is an imagined mansion decked
out like its still the Sixties or Seventies and with a staff comprising solely
of other AI creations like himself, all of them named with acronyms. He also
has the AI mind of Ultron imprisoned albeit relatively comfortably in the attic.
A slippery customer prone to cryptic responses and untrustworthy moves while
maintaining the appearance of a bushy bearded gentlemen the viewer sort of
likes him despite knowing he’s probably up to no good. This scenario is soon shattered in the
series’ first shock scene when that amiable landlady is a casualty of an attack
on the pub organised by bounty hunter Paladin who has been tasked with finding Vision.
Meanwhile we also
follow a teenager who could be Tommy, one of Vision and Wanda’s sons. This starts
with him living a grifting pickpocketing life in London. Episode two shows the
background to this, the boy traumatised by who he is with vague memories of
Vision and co who is sent to a mental institution (in the sort of prison bus we
don’t actually have in the UK!) before
escaping courtesy of his latent super powers with the help of another young
prisoner Lisa. Yet he ends up in the clutches of Paladin though this is a trap
to goad Vision.
It’s a busy mix and it may be that your enjoyment of it
depends on how much you both buy into the conceit or how much detail you know
of the knotty backstory. Yet the
combination of the very English discussions in Vison’s mansion carried out with
some humour with the action scenes fit together well. Its not (so far) as
outrageously over the top as Agatha All Along or as meta clever as Wandavision.
Like most recent Marvel and DC shows, the emphasis is on
character with any powers sparsely used and being as photo `realistic` as such
things can be. If its difficult to always know what’s at stake in the real
world the dialogue and actors do some of the heavy lifting. Tommy could be any
teenager failed by the system, Vison could be a man having an existential
middle aged crisis. The duality of both Vision and Tommy’s scenarios plays well
because much of it takes place in the real world. And whether or not you do buy
into the whole concept, Vison Quest is a series where you’ll watch some
excellent performances.
Reprising a role he now knows well, yet at the same time
adding new levels, Paul Bettany captures moments of reflection and
determination conveying what Vision is feeling at all times. A real stand out is James Spader as Ultron
who brings a levity to the character’s gravitas. The to and fro debates between
Vision and Ultron in their human avatars is a highlight especially the way
Ultron seems to be helpful and supportive one minute and then mysteriously
putting everything at risk the next. You sense that on a purely intellectual
level, Vision needs Ultron around to provide opinions he will not get from the
other Ai inhabitants of his house.
Also impressive is Ruaridh Mollica as the troubled Tommy,
the actor bringing both vulnerability and defiance to the role of someone who
isn’t even sure who he is. We’ve seen this type of role so many times so it
takes a special kind of actor to make it feel fresh and different. James D’Arcy is great fun as the plumy JARVIS
and watch out for silent but co-ordinated comedy from Henry Lewis and Jonathan
Sayer as maintenance bots; they are two of the Play That Goes Wrong team.
Diane Morgan also brings comedy chops to her role as a deadpan handler working
for Paladin.
The results land somewhere between British and American
drama. The scripts by Terry Matalas are light on their feet even when it gets
to the serious stuff making even the knottiest sci fi bits palatable. At other
times, early on you feel like there should be a studio audience, a style
reminiscent of WandaVision which the mind castle seems to be channelling. This
opening duo of episodes bodes well for the third instalment of a sort of trilogy
to reach the same heights as the others.
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