VisionQuest Episode 8 ‘Forever’ is the end of the story of Vision (Paul Bettany) figuring out who he is. At the end of this hour of this show, he doesn’t just know that; he feels it. And he’s made that journey for himself, but he’s also made it for Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica) and in ways he probably cannot put into words, for Billy (Joe Locke) and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen). For his family. The one he loved, the one he lost, the one he’s getting back, piece by piece.
That ‘Forever’ brings Billy back into Vision’s life is just the unexpected cherry on top of the sundae. Because Vision had already come to terms with the fact that he’d lost Billy and Wanda in ‘Inmolation‘, so not just getting his son back, but having his son play such an instrumental role in saving him, is more than Vision thought he could get. It’s a dream come true. And yet, the dream is not complete.
In many ways, ‘Forever’ is the end of one story. It brings Vision and his sons back together, not to mention it finishes the job of giving Billy and Tommy agency and personality that started with Agatha All Along. But this also feels like the beginning of another story, one that needs to bring the entire family back together. Vision himself teases that it would not be surprising if they said hello to Wanda again. Now, we need to see that on-screen.
WITHOUT UPDATES, WE’RE OBSOLETE
One of the most underrated and yet clearest messages in VisionQuest is the message of growth. “You can rewrite your own code. Become the next version of who you once were” feels like both a platitude and a line that applies to the artificial intelligence Vision is dealing with, but it applies to us all. We’re never the final version of ourselves. There’s always an update; there’s always a lesson. We can always get better.
That is a comforting thing in a world that will continue to change around us. And it applies not just to personal growth, but also to the journey of grief. Tommy himself recognizes grief in someone else in this episode, and compares it to his mother’s grief. That’s not just interesting because of the comparison, or because of the awareness, but because of the fact that he, Vision, and Tommy have, by the end of this show, fully embraced who they really are.
And that is growth, too. Vision spends the entire episode fighting against himself because to feel love and hope meant he needed to feel the grief of the loss. Later, he finds out he hasn’t actually lost Billy, and Tommy is right there with him. Sure, he has lost Wanda, but he has his sons, and they can be there to support him, just as he can be there to do the same for them. And hey, if they get to say hello to Wanda again at some point soon, all the better. They’re probably going to need to save her from Doom first, but that’s a story for another time.
FAMILY IS FOREVER
Outside of the message of growth, the one thing VisionQuest leaves us with is a lesson on family. And, of course, a show like VisionQuest makes it very clear that family is not just blood. It could be no other way. “Family is found the moment their joys, their heartbreak, become your own.” But VisionQuest isn’t just about who is family; it’s about what family means, and that is perhaps more important.
Because Wanda lost Vision, and her grief led her to create a world where she had him, and the family they always dreamed of. And then she lost that family, but she never really did. Not fully. Because love doesn’t disappear. But that still left a journey for Billy, for Tommy, and yes, for Vision, a personal journey first and foremost, but one back to each other.
That’s what family is, the people the roads brings you back to, despite every changing paths. For Vision, that even includes Ultron (James Spader), despite the fact that he often wishes it didn’t. And Tommy and Billy aren’t kids anymore. The Young Avengers await. There’s clearly a lot more story to be told for them. But whatever might be next for them… we gotta imagine part of that journey will take them back to Wanda. How else could this story end?
A THING ISN’T BEAUTIFUL BECAUSE IT LASTS
‘Forever’ also closes out the message of grief that started in WandaVision and continued in Agatha All Along, and it does so with basically the only message anyone who has ever felt grief can understand. Because there are no platitudes for grief, no easy fixes. In a way, that’s why the message of this weird trilogy of shows resonated so strongly. And yet, what is grief? Is it really love persevering? Is it fear that without them, you’re no one?
Does it even matter? We don’t need to understand the emptiness and the pain. We don’t even need to be able to explain it, not really. We just need to find ways to endure it, and sometimes knowing you’re not alone in that pain helps. But when that doesn’t, there’s some comfort in the understanding that grief requires you to have had someone worth losing. And a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts.
“We have said goodbye before. Stands to reason we could say hello again,” Vision says about Wanda. For those of us who have lost loved ones, it’s not as simple. We don’t live in the MCU, and no one’s going to come save us from death. But whatever faith you hold onto, whatever helps you get through the day, the idea that, somehow, someway, we might find a way to be with our loved ones again is a pretty comforting one.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of VisionQuest Episode 8 ‘Forever’? Share with us in the comments below!
All episodes of VisionQuest are available to stream on Disney+.
