Firewall/Deadlock Review

We’ve reached the final climb to the climax of VisionQuest – the Client (whose identity I think the show tipped with their dialogue this week – more on that in a minute) has decided not to kill Vision, should he come to them, Jocasta and Ultron have created their own unholy union* and unleashed the first of Jocasta’s nanobots into the world to control Lisa, Thomas has a better understanding of who Tommy was and is, and Paladin is now on Team Vision. A lot happened, but at the same time, it didn’t feel like all that much happened. Or rather, there was an awful lot of chatter over the course of these two episodes to move our central characters minuscule spaces on the series chess board. No major emotional revelations, no major deaths, no major events. Just . . . getting Ultron out into the real world, really. Everything else? More of the status quo in the grand scheme of things.

*For folks who might have skipped out on their Greek Tragedy work, a note on the origins of the name Jocasta. In the play Oedipus – which was referenced by both Jocasta and Ultron in “Deadlock” – its the name of Oedipus’s mother, whom he falls in love with and sleeps with without knowing that she’s his mother (and her not knowing he is her son). Considering that Ultron was created from the code that Jo Carrington created – and from Jocasta’s base code – it could be said that she is his mother, in a technical way. So, while they joke about her name and its meaning, there’s also a touch of truth there – although both of them are well aware of their link.

There are a couple of things that have to happen in the final two episodes to bring VisionQuest to a satisfying close. First, and foremost, we need Vision to learn how to be a real boy himself (more on how that might happen in a second). Second, we need to have Tommy and Billy meet again – we got to hear WandaVision Billy ask Tommy to promise that they would always find each other in a flashback this week, so I sure hope the series ends with that reunion (ghost Agatha appearing would be a fun addition, albeit a really hard one to explain to Tommy). And third, we need to see if Ultron will decide that he doesn’t need to destroy or control humanity – the big potential emotional arc for the show outside of Vision’s impending change into a real boy himself. This is the one that I’m the most conflicted about, since we don’t have the time or the runway to offer up a satisfying change in Ultron from who he is to who he could be if he opts to give humanity a chance – he’s pretty apathetic toward everything about us. But I suspect he’s going to be put in a position to let Jocasta have her nanobots or to take them for himself. And he’s nothing if not a selfish bastard – he’ll take those suckers for his own use in a heartbeat. But what would he do with them is the major question. James Spader has been playing the hell out of Ultron (and T’Nia Miller has been such a delight, matching him beat for beat), so I would be sad to see him go. But the MCU can’t have Ultron hanging around with Doom on the way, right?

As for Vision’s impending move from emotionally empty to someone who could be a father to Tommy and Billy down the road, I think the Client is actually Hex Vision. After all, if Billy and Tommy’s Hex identities survived, what’s to say that Vision’s didn’t as well. The Client knows too much about how Vision was created, what he’s made of, and how he functions to be someone without intimate knowledge of White Vision. And that offer – come to me and I’ll give you back your heart? The one thing Vision keeps pushing back on when it comes to Thomas is that he’s not Hex Vision because he was a weapon created solely to destroy. He has a host of AIs to help him try to be more human. He claims he lacks the capacity to care – when it’s clear he’s started to care a heck of a lot for Thomas. Like the Tin Man, he needs a heart – but the Tin Man always had a heart, he just couldn’t recognize that he did. Vision has one, too, but until he’s faced with the person he’s been measuring himself against – the Hex Vision who represented the ideal Vision for Wanda – he won’t be able to see it for himself. And, on a show called VisionQuest, it would be fitting if that quest Vision was on was actually one to find not only himself, but the version of himself that he believes is the most “real” version of him.

So, while not a ton actually happened this week, we move a step or two closer to the official series climax. We have found the key tech that Ultron and Vision will need to negotiate over, we know more about what the Client is offering to Vision, and somehow, Paladin and Lisa will live to fight another day – which is pretty impressive considering how broken they both are. I still think we’re going to end up losing all of the AIs before the show is done – largely because Vision needs to start doing things on his own once he’s whole again – so I’m sure there are a few more sad goodbyes coming our way. And a reminder: the final two episodes will air one at a time, so only a single episode next week.