The final chapter in the WandaVision trilogy is Marvel’s best show in years

It’s become a tired cliché, more well-worn than the joints in Tony Stark’s Mark I armour, to claim that the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t what it once was. 

Yet while the superhero franchise’s vibranium casing might have lost some of its shine, its last few releases – Wonder Man, Born Again Season 2, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day – have proven this isn’t a series doomed for the scrap yard anytime soon. 

Which brings me to VisionQuest, the latest and last offering from Marvel Studios before time runs out and we must all face Doomsday. 

I’m delighted to say this VisionQuest isn’t a clunker; in fact, I think it might be the best Marvel show since WandaVision – but, like an overclocked quantum computer, I’m getting ahead of myself: let’s slow things down by doing the synopsis. 

Marketed as the final chapter in the loose WandaVision trilogy, VisionQuest follows the New Vision (Paul Bettany), whom we last saw fleeing Westview after Old Vision (also Bettany) forcibly beamed his memories of life with Wanda and their children Billy and Tommy into his head.

This action has left New Vision (Vis from now on) with something of an identity crisis, as he has all of the memories but none of the feelings or emotions that go with them. 

Anyway, when we catch back up with Vis, he’s living in anonymity in Scotland while also operating a sort of bed and breakfast in his head for Stark AI – including J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D’Arcy), F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady), E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire), D.U.M.-E. (Henry Lewis), and U (Jonathan Sayer).

Oh, and there’s also the mechanical megalomaniacal maniac in the loft, Ultron (James Spader), whom you remember from that time he tried to do a little genocide on humanity. 

Sadly, Vis’s cosy Caledonian life comes to a close when the bounty hunter Paladin arrives and literally blows it up, and so begins an adventure to discover who sent the merc, what it has to do with the Butcherbird Killer terrorising London, and a mysterious young man called Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica).

Phew, that’s a dense plot, isn’t it? And I’m going to be honest with you: there’s an awful lot going on in this show; every episode is jam-packed with plot, action, jokes, clever bits of metaphor – it can be overwhelming. 

Thankfully, for the most part it works; showrunner Terry Matalas proved with Picard season three that he knows how to weave a compelling mystery out of a trillion or so different plot threads. I must admit I was hooked by the mystery and ever-escalating stakes and had to be talked out of bingeing the whole series in one night. 

The jumble of ideas also allows the show to bounce with surprising ease between genres; at one moment it’s a brilliant comedy, then an edge-of-your-seat thriller, and even a horror story at times. 

Still, I worried at times that Terry and the team might drop a stitch at some point, and I do think the latter part of the series shows a slight exhaustion as the reveals crash into your brain one after the other. 

It’s not that the revelations don’t work; it’s just that they come so fast that there’s not a lot of breathing room to process one before you’re hit in the face by another. 

The reveals were satisfying, though, in part because Matalas and his writers have provided just enough breadcrumbs for you to get to the reveal before the characters do, allowing you to feel the smug satisfaction of outsmarting Vision and Ultron.

Speaking of smug, I’d be loath not to mention the references. The show is jammed with them, something I normally find slightly irritating, but Matalas et al. actually know how to use them in a world-building way, not an ‘I’m contractually obligated to mention ‘things you might remember’ kind of way. 

It definitely comes close at times, especially when characters say: ‘What is grief if not love persevering?’ but as this is a sequel to WandaVision, I’ll forgive it. 

It helps as well that VisionQuest does a good job of intertwining its themes, easter eggs, and story, which means none of the plot points feels wasted. 

Now, on the surface, it may seem like this is a show about family and finding your place in it, but that’s the obvious interpretation. This is really a series about coming to terms with your past and learning to love yourself before you can love someone else. 

That’s why I think the decision to bring back Ultron is such a brilliant one. It’s not stunt casting or done for the sake of a cameo; it’s integral to the story as we see an older and wiser Ultron evolve beyond his apocalyptic aspirations and embrace something new; his journey of self-acceptance parallels Vision’s. 

It also allows the show to comment on its other central theme, the sometimes strained relationship between fathers and sons, and I would argue that Vis and Ultron’s scenes are easily the show’s greatest strength.

You see, Ultron has two things that Vis doesn’t: an understanding of humanity and a GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARD, which means our hero relies on his digital daddy to navigate the human world. 

Indeed, I actually think Ultron is the best part of the show, and if I had a single note for Terry and the crew, it would be ‘When Ultron isn’t on screen, all the other characters should be asking, “Where’s Ultron?”’ 

James Spader just makes the character so brilliant; he’s fierce, funny and fiendish all at once. I adore that character, and I’m delighted that Marvel’s most underrated villain got another chance to shine. 

Of course, the whole cast is brilliant, and the only thing stopping me from pontificating wildly about the rest is an arbitrary word count, but I will say Paul Bettany is the backbone of this show, and he will make you believe a robot can cry. 

I need to say as well that the show looks great, which is normally reserved for reviews where you’ve got nothing nice to say, but in this case is meant in earnest. 

The house Vision built in his head is a wonderful bit of set design and is used in a myriad of clever ways to show how the outside world is affected by Vis and the robots living in his noggin. 

All in all then, I adored VisionQuest not just because it’s a well-made mystery series featuring my favourite MCU villain but because it feels like it has something to say about people’s proclivity to let their past define them, when in fact we can be who we want to be in the future. 

Basically, I can see the vision here, and I hope you do too. 

VisionQuest premieres exclusively on Disney Plus on October 14.

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