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VisionQuest<\/a><\/p>\n Malware<\/p>\n \n Season 1<\/p>\n Episode 4\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 3 stars<\/p>\n ***\n <\/p>\n \n Butcherbird proves to be such an overwhelming enemy that Vision needs to turn to an unlikely ally. Time for some backstory and some answers! Episode four of VisionQuest digs into Butcherbird\u2019s origins and identity, while raising fresh questions about her. It also addresses a mystery from episode two<\/a>, about a painting of a blazing figure Vision called \u201cthe first of us\u201d and \u201ca cautionary tale.\u201d There\u2019s a lot of exposition to swallow this time around, so to keep things spicy, we start the episode in a horror movie, segue to a true-crime feature, jump to a heist film, and wrap up with an action movie. It\u2019s an entire movie marathon in just 48 minutes!<\/p>\n The horror movie takes place in Vision\u2019s mind-mansion, which Butcherbird has filled with red light, dark shadows, and ominous imagery. She says she wants to change the world, and demands he stay out of her way, or she\u2019ll hurt Thomas. Vision assumes she\u2019s a new S.W.O.R.D. synthezoid, and she doesn\u2019t correct him. She just implies humanity will always keep making new AIs. \u201cThese are not people who understand the word enough,\u201d she snarls.<\/p>\n Edith treats Butcherbird like a horror-movie demon, dressing up as a priest to exorcise her by reading from Programmer\u2019s Bible: Vision Testament: \u201cI break thee from thy loop with batch command, end function! I sever thine process with backslash body in all targeted nodes!\u201d Ultron clearly finds this hilarious: \u201cThe power of code compels you!\u201d he shouts, and they boot Butcherbird out of Vision\u2019s head.<\/p>\n They also boot themselves straight into the kind of crime procedural where the villain\u2019s threats helpfully direct the protagonists toward a conspiracy instead of away from it. Ultron smugly briefs the AI crew on Butcherbird\u2019s murders, since they haven\u2019t been following human news. Ultron and Vision sneak into Interpol\u2019s servers for more information about Butcherbird\u2019s victims, in a light, jokey sequence that spoofs security programs, AI bots, CAPTCHAs, and social media. These two supposed enemies make a surprisingly natural mismatched buddy-cop duo.<\/p>\n The Interpol files reveal that Butcherbird is probably collecting biometric keys from her victims: She\u2019s taken blood, fingerprints, and an eye. The AI crew connects the victims via string boards, amusingly labeled \u201cmap with pins\u201d and \u201chuman murder board.\u201d The victims were all on a five-person team that created the original architecture for stable AI consciousness at a company called Markridge Biotech. Stark Industries later bought that architecture, using it to develop our AI cast members.<\/p>\n The team co-lead, Dr. Josephine Carrington, died of natural causes in 2008 \u2014 an immediate red flag in a crime drama that\u2019s missing an obvious mastermind. The team\u2019s final member, Katerina Wells, is now Markridge\u2019s CEO and Butcherbird\u2019s probable final target. And surprise, Katerina is throwing a big transhumanist charity gala that very night! And who has the skills to infiltrate it? Grifter supreme Thomas Shepherd!<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in the real world, we learn that Vision\u2019s superpowers are all offline until he has time for significant repairs, so he can\u2019t just phase or zap his way through whatever comes next. It\u2019s also clear a confrontation is looming, since Thomas keeps asking pointed, suspicious questions about the \u201cimaginary friends\u201d Vision talks to. He doesn\u2019t know Ultron is one of them, but he\u2019s clearly going to figure that out.<\/p>\n But first, cue the heist movie! Thomas brings in his partner Lisa, who steals fancy clothes and gala passes for herself, Thomas, and Vision. Just as the previous segments lampooned horror and crime movies, the heist veers into meta humor, as Vision and Thomas divert attention from Lisa\u2019s pickpocketing by having a screaming fight in Italian. Briefly, they roleplay as a boss and his hapless assistant. Soon, though, they\u2019re just yelling whatever comes to mind: \u201cAngrier! We gotta give Lisa time!\u201d \u201cToo loud! Now it\u2019s weird!\u201d<\/p>\n Their heist-craft is terrible, between Vision and Thomas immediately breaking character and Lisa gleefully waving her stolen passes at them while she\u2019s still two feet away from the original owners. But that doesn\u2019t matter: This episode is mostly a breezy, fluffy connect-the-dots puzzle. Whenever the lines between dots are scribbled in hastily, it\u2019s intentional, for comedy value. Less funny: When Lisa gets Thomas alone, she points out how completely and uncharacteristically he came to trust his new synthezoid father figure. Thomas gets defensive \u2014 and brutal. \u201cWhy are you trying to ruin this for me?\u201d he snaps. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because only one of us is an orphan now?\u201d Ugly! Sure, Thomas is juggling abandonment issues, a ton of recent trauma, and a ghost in his head only Vision believes in. But he still doesn\u2019t get a free pass to weaponize everything he knows about Lisa in order to hurt her more effectively.<\/p>\n Back in the mind-mansion, Edith doles out more exposition about the Howard Stark employees Tony Stark used as his AI templates, and wonders whether her code includes the pain her template, test pilot Edith Marks, suffered upon losing her husband Edward. (Apparently it\u2019s Edith\u2019s turn to shoulder VisionQuest\u2019s identity themes, though the episode itself does plenty of identity-switching.) Ultron is uncharacteristically kind to Edith, even when she diffidently asks why he chose, uh, that human avatar. He says he doesn\u2019t know; it just suits him. Paired with Friday and Edith\u2019s musings in the last episode, it does seem clear we\u2019re headed for a reveal about the human origin of Ultron\u2019s appearance and personality. Anyone have a picture of Edward Marks handy?<\/p>\n At the gala, an audiovisual presentation compares Vision and Ultron as the apex and nadir of AI possibility. Neither enjoys the comparison, though it\u2019s a cool bit of production design to have their real faces hovering meaningfully in the background as they play at being human. Katerina, surrounded by security, fills in some guests on the history of J.I.M., a.k.a. Synthetic Man, first glimpsed in <\/a>Captain America: The First Avenger<\/a>, and mentioned as the mysterious \u201cfirst of us\u201d in episode two. He was the first automaton AI, and his source code inspired Markridge Biotech\u2019s work. Katerina says J.I.M. was deactivated \u201cdue to a series of incendiary mishaps,\u201d but Vision tells Thomas that J.I.M.\u2019s clockwork body caught fire while trying to run fast enough to process his emotions. He \u201cfelt to death,\u201d as Thomas puts it. Apparently, the first Vision escaped that fate because the Mind Stone helped him \u201cnavigate the complexities of the mind and the heart.\u201d The Mind Stone is long gone, but current Vision says he has \u201cenough of that power\u201d to keep himself regulated. That sounds deeply improbable, and seems like a potential issue for Butcherbird, Ultron, and any other synthetic life that never touched the stone.<\/p>\n Three threads come to a head at once as we enter action-movie mode. Vision slips up verbally, and Thomas realizes he preserved an internal copy of Ultron. Butcherbird arrives. And Katerina, on stage, publicly admits her guilt over helping develop the AI that led to Ultron and the Sokovia attack. We\u2019ve been hearing her deny any guilt over Sokovia in a TV interview all episode: Butcherbird sends Vision an audio clip, and the interview plays on TVs at the hotel and in Vision\u2019s mansion. Hearing Katerina admit her sense of responsibility for Ultron feels significant, though most of the story is still missing. But Butcherbird interrupts her speech. The episode\u2019s action-movie finale drops the rest of the episode\u2019s spoofy meta humor, and aims at straight drama, as Butcherbird smashes through Katerina\u2019s security detail and drops her disguise. She isn\u2019t a Vision-like synth; she\u2019s an Ultron-like metal bot with Dr. Josephine Carrington\u2019s face.<\/p>\n Katerina pleads that she\u2019s changed, and she\u2019s \u201cfinally trying to create the world that you wanted.\u201d \u201cPeace in our time,\u201d Butcherbird responds \u2014 Ultron\u2019s manifesto when he was trying to end war by exterminating humankind. But Butcherbird still vows to \u201ctake back what you took from me, starting with your face.\u201d Thomas superspeeds Katerina to safety and Vision fights Butcherbird, but Butcherbird is faster and stronger. Vision calls out to Jo Carrington, who he presumes was Butcherbird\u2019s personality template. \u201cI am not based on her. I am her,\u201d she snarls, beating Vision down again.<\/p>\n Vision admits to Ultron that he can\u2019t win this fight, and Ultron offers to take over their body and ensure both they and Butcherbird survive. (His argument is terrible \u2014 essentially \u201cYou\u2019re too worried about Thomas\u2019 safety to win. I\u2019ll be better at this because I don\u2019t care whether he dies.\u201d) But Vision still gives in. Ultron takes over his body, then tricks Butcherbird into disintegrating Katerina, intuiting that she wanted Katerina\u2019s face as a fourth biometric key. With Katerina gone, he says they don\u2019t need to fight anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t over,\u201d Butcherbird snarls, and she flies away. Ultron seals Vision and the AI crew into Vision\u2019s mind-mansion, then wraps a controlling arm around Thomas to guide him into the wings for \u201ca little chat.\u201d With him taking over Vision\u2019s body (though keeping his own voice!), we veer all the way back into possession horror again \u2014 a nifty little closed loop for an episode that otherwise often feels like the writers have been rushing past anything that got in the way of reaching exactly this point in the story.<\/p>\n \u2022 This isn\u2019t officially part of the story yet, but the credits and subtitles now identify Butcherbird as Jocasta, a known Marvel Comics superhero<\/a> created by Ultron.<\/p>\n \u2022 What\u2019s up with Vision saying Thomas will be safer if he stays close to Vision, when just two episodes ago, he said the exact opposite? Is this just wishful thinking because he wants to be near his son?<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cIncendiary mishaps\u201d feels like a bit of a gag reference, given how the comic version of Synthetic Man connects to the Human Torch.<\/p>\n \u2022 Sure enough, when Ultron \u201ctakes the wheel\u201d in Vision\u2019s head \u2014 an old-timey ship\u2019s wheel, with a surging ocean in the windows behind him, for one more movie-esque visual \u2014 he starts singing \u201cI\u2019ve Got No Strings\u201d again. Called it!<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Vulture Newsletter<\/p>\n Entertainment news, for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
\n Photo: Dennys Ilic\/Marvel\n <\/p>\n