Recap: Vision Dives Deep Into His Code to Find Answers in "VisionQuest" Episode 7

With a powerful and dangerous new alliance created, another mysterious threat looming, and all of his usual family problems still very much in the way, Vision has quite a lot of work to do and only two episodes left in which to do it. Which means the penultimate seventh episode has a stage to set.

The episode opens with a flashback to 1939, during which Phineas Horton sells his family home, despite protests from his wife. Horton is played by Paul Bettany, hinting that Vision's human appearance was based on the creator of the first synth. We learn that Horton sunk his life into creating the synth as a way of bringing his deceased son back to life. We see him hold a small triangular arc reactor of sorts that seemingly contains the code of the first AI.

Back in present day, Vision and Thomas make their way through Madripoor while discussing how to save Lisa. The conversation steers to Thomas admitting that he knows Vision isn't really his father, but also that he understands Wanda. He says if he lost Lisa, he would lose himself, just like Wanda when she lost Vision.

The conversation is interrupted when Vision hears a phone ringing in his head. He answers a call from FRIDAY, who is still disguising herself in Jocasta's mind. She tells Vision about the nanobots Jocasta has locked away, which is obviously a big problem given what just one is doing to Lisa.

Jocasta and Ultron visit her grave, or at least the grave of her human body. They find the nest of her nanobots, and she begins to enter the biometric keys. Ultron gives her the fourth key, the face scan he took from Katerina Wells. Jocasta enters the fifth key, her own, by reciting Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." However, once that key is entered, the nest requires a sixth key, a passcode. Jocasta slips into anger as she clearly does not have the final key.

Suddenly, both she and Vision are hit with a shrieking sound. It stops, and they both hear knocking. Vision opens the door in his mind, but finds no one, until eventually, they both see a shadowy figure at a distance. It's the mysterious client who has been hunting Vision. They offer Jocasta what she needs to become Josephine Carrington again and offer Vision a way to save Lisa and himself. However, the offer comes with a contract. In Vision's case, it will rewrite his code so that once he saves Lisa, he will not be able to stop himself from being delivered to the one who has been hunting him. Both are left to contemplate opening their respective contracts.

FRIDAY examines the contract in Jocasta's mind and is surprised by Ultron. He says he has been covering for her since the moment she followed him. He tries to convince her he is still working in Vision's interest and that he does not agree with her plan. Instead, he is using her to uncover the real threat. FRIDAY believes him. Perhaps Ultron isn't the villain we thought he was. More on that later.

Vision considers opening his contract in his mind. In the real world, though, Lisa wakes up and calls for Thomas. She begins to panic and passes out as Thomas screams her name. Seeing this is enough for Vision to decide to sign the contract.

Given her current technology-based deteriorating mental state, it should be noted that Lisa Molinari is another character from Marvel Comics. In the comics, she takes on the name Coat of Arms as she has the ability to manifest multiple arms. She is also an adversary of the Young Avengers, a team of heroes that includes Thomas.

Jocasta also opens her contract and finds an address that will lead her to unlocking her memories. She and Ultron go off together. Meanwhile, DUM-E and U explain that Vision will need to connect to a power source while he explores his own code in search of the original AI source code. EDITH points out that they only know one person in Madripoor who can provide that kind of technology.

Vision and Thomas meet with Paladin, who unveils a power source. He opens a case with Wakandan writing on it to reveal the blade from the staff of Corvus Glaive, the child of Thanos. This is the same blade he used to stab Vision during Avengers: Infinity War, creating a wound that kept Vision from ever truly joining the fight. Paladin also mentions he had to burn any bridges he might have had with the Wakandan royal family in order to procure this power source.

When Vision tells Thomas he has seen this blade before, he says he looks forward to hearing that story when this is all over. That prompts Paladin to point out to Vision that he has not told Thomas the truth, because there is no "when this is over" for him. Vision shrugs it off, though, and prepares to attach to the power source.

Vision heads down into his code, flashing through memories of his old life on the way. His elevator drops him down into a hallway, where he sees glimpses of a painting of Horton's old home and someone painting the image of JIM, the first synth.

Meanwhile, Jocasta and Ultron head into her memory, which is curiously the same loft in which Vision had Ultron locked up for all this time. Ultron also notices a painting of Horton's home, which Jocasta points out should not be there.

Vision makes his way through the hallway, eventually following a laugh that leads him back into an elevator. This time, though, it opens up into a room where Ultron sits watching WandaVision on a TV. Vision refuses to believe anything Ultron says, including the fact that Thomas is his son. Ultron tells him he can never truly get rid of him, though, and he mirrors Wanda as she utters the same words in the show, "family is forever."

FRIDAY, once again disguised, arrives in the memory with Ultron and Jocasta, but she pays her no mind. Instead, she examines a champagne flute and an award on the table. The television turns on, showing a news broadcast of Jo Carrington accepting a Stark Industries award along with her partner. Ultron wonders aloud who her partner was.

Vision continues to push through his "memories," and Billy and Tommy, as they were seen in WandaVision, run past him. He follows them through a door that leads him to the original Vision. The two Visions argue, with the original telling the new version that the only reason he cannot be who he is meant to be is because of his fear that comes with the memories of that past life. Vision blasts the old version of himself with a laser, evaporating him and revealing the painting of the original synth once again.

Vision's elevator opens once again, revealing the same hallway once more. This time, though, Vision refuses to keep going and calls to EDITH that he wants to come back up. His code will not allow him to escape, though, and the elevator returns him to the hallway. In the real world, Lisa wakes up, now fully controlled by the nanobot. She knocks Thomas down, and Paladin pulls a gun on her. Thomas calls for Vision to hurry, and he begins running through the hallway, eventually leading to a room where he finds the original synth, standing alone in Horton's library, on fire.

Vision approaches the synth, who makes his way to a fireplace and transfers his flames into it, revealing his face to be the same as the one Vision wears. Vision tells him he is looking for the source code, and Horton suddenly appears, painting the same image we've been seeing of the synth, JIM. Horton and JIM argue over whether or not it was right to create JIM without the ability to feel. Horton explains that the desire to feel sent JIM's mechanics into a manic state that would start fires. The argument eventually leads to the revelation that JIM killed both his father and himself when he let his flames consume them both.

Vision asks JIM for the source code, but he says he does not have it. Lisa magnetically pulls Paladin's drones to her back, creating two mechanical arms that mirror her comic book appearance. JIM tells Vision the source code is within himself, and he simply needs to accept himself as the Vision and face the truth of his history. Vision fights against this idea, saying he can't accept the truth that he lost Tommy, Billy, and Wanda. It's ironic that, in order to get what he's looking for, he must face his grief and let love persevere.

Eventually, he does exactly that, and he finds the source code in the form of the little triangular piece we saw Horton creating at the beginning of the episode. The piece fits itself into Vision's head, and he awakens just in time to save Thomas and Paladin from Lisa, by reprogramming the nanobot in her.

With the job done, Vision is once again summoned by the mystery client, who tells him to surrender to Paladin to be turned in. Vision mentions EDITH aloud, which Paladin hears. He puts on his glasses, allowing him to see EDITH and meet the AI that hacked his server.

The group leaves for their meeting with the client. Vision looks at Thomas and Lisa, sleeping on a couch, and he leaves Thomas a tablet. Meanwhile, FRIDAY approaches Ultron while Jocasta is distracted and asks how the loft can be both a memory of hers and exist in Vision's mind space.

Thomas wakes up to find the tablet Vision left for him. He opens it to find a touching message, in which Vision accepts him as his son. As we hear Vision read this message, we see that Jocasta has the same piece housing the source code in her memory. Vision's message also begins to play WandaVision for Tommy, finally letting him see the truth of his origin.

Jocasta picks up the source code, and her eyes begin to glow. Meanwhile, Vision and Paladin approach Horton's home. Jocasta remembers her full memory and sees Jo having a conversation with a man on the couch in the loft. In the real world, though, she is surrounded by armed men and shut down. Outside the Horton house, the same is done to Vision. Jocasta's memory continues to play, and we see that the man with whom she is speaking is Ultron.

When FRIDAY realizes this, Ultron tosses her off the balcony of the loft. The memory conversation leads Ultron, or the human on which he was based, to say "peace in our time." At the Horton house, a guard shoots a rocket launcher at Paladin's truck as he drives off, seemingly killing him. Finally, Ultron steps out of the house to find the unconscious villain. So much for Ultron not being the villain. But how is any of this possible? How is Ultron based on a real person when Stark and Banner created him?

The stage is now fully and officially set for a very interesting finale, though not in the way we typically see in these Marvel series. Typically, there is some kind of big battle to conclude the story. That doesn't quite seem to be where we are headed here. There is a mystery to unravel still, and while Vision and Ultron may come to blows, that doesn't seem like the ultimate payoff. We'll just have to wait and see.

Marvel's VisionQuest is now streaming on Disney+.