Tonight's penultimate episode of VisonQuest finally revealed the identity of the mysterious "Client" who hired Paladin to track down Vision.
There's been speculation that the Client might be everyone from Mephisto to J.I.M. Hammond to Hex Vision to the Scarlet Witch, but the character turned out to be someone we hadn't met before... even though we have seen their face!
Major spoilers follow.
Towards the end of "Immolation," we find out that Doctor Jo Carrington was in a relationship with a man with the same appearance as Ultron's human avatar (James Spader). When Vision arrives at the estate of the "great-grandfather of robotics," Phineas Horton, he is surrounded by mercs, and the Client is unveiled as Jocasta's former lover.
We don't find out exactly who this individual is and what he wants with Vision (all answers will be revealed during next week's finale).
During a recent interview with Polygon, showrunner Terry Matalas explained why we usually see Ultron's human avatar and not his robotic form.
"It's funny, people say it's a budget thing, it's not, it's a James Spader thing. I love James Spader. Who doesn't love James Spader? I just want to see James and I want to see Bettany. You'll get plenty of robot action in the show. The show is very much inspired by that last scene in Age of Ultron between the two of them."
"But watching Spader and Bettany chew up the scenery was something I saw in my head from the very beginning. It is prohibitively expensive to do a CGI robot 24/7, but I also don't want to see a CGI robot. It's not going to be able to emote and do the things that James Spader can do with just the twitch of an eyebrow. So that's pretty much the main reason."
What did you make of this episode and the climactic Client reveal? Let us know in the comments.
"When VisionQuest begins, Vision, rebooted and having escaped from those who sought to weaponize him, has been in hiding. Searching for new meaning, he consults the AI personas embedded in his programming, including F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H., J.A.R.V.I.S., and the infamous Ultron. His discreet existence ends when a bounty placed on his head thrusts him on the run with Thomas Shepard, a mysterious boy who may be Vision’s son, reincarnate.
As Vision evades capture, he must confront his nature, resist Ultron’s influence, and unravel the enigma that is his young companion if he’s to survive.”
VisionQuest also stars Ruaridh Mollica as Tommy Maximoff/Speed and Thomas Shepherd, Todd Stashwick as Paladin, T’Nia Miller as Jocasta, Lauren Morais as Lisa Molinari, Orla Brady as F.R.I.D.A.Y., Diane Morgan as an associate of Paladin, Polly Frame, Henry Lewis as D.U.M.-E, Jonathan Sayer as U, Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H., and James D’Arcy as J.A.R.V.I.S. Faran Tahir also reprises his Iron Man role as Raza, with Cristian Lavin and Mary McDonnell appearing in undisclosed roles.
The series is directed by Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Vincenzo Natali, Terry Matalas, and written by Terry Matalas, Cindy Appel, Christopher Monfette, Nicole Falsetti, and Matthew Okumura.