DISCLAIMER: This recap of Beacon 23 Season 1 Episode 6, “Beacon Twenty Three,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
“There is no weapon as powerful as an idea.”
Beacon 23 finally kicks things into high gear with its best episode yet after floundering somewhat for the first half of the season. “Beacon Twenty Three” serves as an origin story for multiple reasons. We learn more about Aster’s backstory. Additionally, we discover more info about the first Beacon Keeper, how she found The Artifact and how Aster and Halan are genuinely connected. We even find out how Aster got her necklace and Bart his name. It’s an incredibly informative outing that’s quite entertaining and brimming with narrative tension.
The episode also introduces us to The Column, an organization filled with dissidents who’ve already destroyed a beacon. While the present-day timeline in this episode is somewhat challenging to place, my guess is it’s just before Solomon’s arrival and 10 years after Grisha, Farut and Parsim (ahem, Aster) departed.
Ready to delve into “Beacon Twenty Three”? Let’s get to it.
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A Ticking Bomb
We open with Keir (Marc Menchaca), who poses as a maintenance worker to conduct repairs on Bart (Wade Bogert-O’Brien). Bart chats with Keir about a mysterious someone exploding Beacon 24. He worries the same thing will happen here. Keir reassures the AI that he’s attaching protections to ensure this beacon won’t succumb to the same fate. However, as Keir departs, Bart declares his knowledge of what the former actually did — attach a bomb, which Keir will detonate upon his departure.
Next, Bart reveals he knows Keir is part of an organization called The Column, predicated on the mystery of “The Relics,” aka The Artifact, aka Solomon’s rocks. Keir admits his curiosity about the rocks certainly made him join. Bart states that he knows their origins. He vows to tell Keir all about their backstory. Bart has 30 minutes for story time until the bomb detonates.
Dr. Ree Avalon
Let’s throw it back roughly two centuries, wherein Dr. Ree Avalon (Carolina Bartczak) arrives at the beacon as the first Beacon Keeper. She’s welcomed virtually by an ISA representative and Milan Aleph’s voice (Eric Lange). This is before he became “Aleph.” Avalon names our resident AI “Bartholomew” and forgoes giving him an avatar, thus establishing the beacon as a main character. Avalon decorates her space. We learn she’s from a coastal community on Earth and grew up near a lighthouse. She puts up the lighthouse picture at which Halan constantly stares. More origins!
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Then, Avalon sees something peculiar outside the beacon. Of course, Bart doesn’t detect it (it’s also worth noting that Avalon came up with the nickname “Bart”). Avalon stops at nothing to identify what she saw. She urges Bart to help her find it again.
A Discovery
Avalon tries to observe the beacon’s exterior through various locations on said beacon, including the GWB. After finally pinpointing The Artifact, Avalon exhibits a symptom identical to what Halan was doing in last week’s episode — she sleepwalks. Her sleepwalking takes on the vision of her standing outside the lighthouse on Earth as the waters rage around her. Bart wakes her up, jolting her back into reality. She notices she’s preparing to do a spacewalk without a suit. Well, that could’ve ended badly.
So, to Bart’s dismay, Avalon dons a space suit and boards a picker. He tries to dissuade her from exploring the space phenomenon. When Avalon spots the swirling, seemingly sentient ball of energy before her, she returns to that Earth lighthouse. However, this time, she’s rowing toward The Artifact in a boat on the water. Suddenly, Dr. Ree Avalon vanishes.
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A Fallen Comrade
In the present, Bart informs Keir that he diligently searched the perimeter for Avalon and beyond. She simply disappeared. Keir realizes the rocks aren’t on the beacon. Bart offers food and beverages for Keir while he finishes his story. Keir claims he must meet his rendezvous. Unfortunately, the woman who bombed Beacon 24, Keir’s partner, died in the explosion as shrapnel struck her ship.
Keir grabs beer while Bart reveals The Artifact didn’t disappear and reappear at various points in time. It attempted to communicate with one Beacon 23 resident. We tumble headfirst into another flashback. This time, it’s more recent. We see Grisha (Sydney Meyer) in the bathroom as Bart explains that, down the line, ISA allowed couples to serve as joint Beacon Keepers. However, they must not have children while on the beacon. Farut (AJ Simmons), Grisha’s husband, gives Bart a shiny new apparatus to fly around.
Breaking the Rules
Grisha informs Farut that she’s pregnant. Bart tells the couple they must depart the beacon immediately per ISA’s protocols. Either that or get an abortion. Farut readies a patch. Grisha rejects it, citing that they’re scheduled to stay on the beacon for five years. Perhaps they can devise a plan to conceal their child from ISA.
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Flash forward five years later. Grisha and Farut are months away from finishing their assignment. We see their daughter, Parsim (Matilda Legault), running from Bart. He’s grown quite close to the little girl. While she plays with Bart, Farut and Grisha look up potential new homes. They plan to flee the beacon a few months early on a supply ship. Then, Parsim sees the same strange phenomenon that Avalon (and Farut upon their arrival) spotted.
At one point, Grisha catches Parsim sitting at a table, sketching peculiar designs while seemingly muttering gibberish. Or an alien language. Next, Farut and Grisha watch the cosmic display as The Artifact dances before their eyes. That’s when Farut admits that he observed it when they moved into the beacon. Later that evening, Grisha lies in bed next to a sleeping Parsim. She’s worried about her daughter. Ever since Parsim saw The Artifact, she’s been acting strangely.
Strange Behavior
Farut sees this as an opportunity to secure their position in ISA. How can they be mad at their procreating when they discovered a potentially alien being? Meanwhile, Grisha chases Parsim as the latter refuses to get away from the windows. Parsim climbs, getting as close to The Artifact as she can. Then, she kicks Grisha in the face.
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Grisha brings her concerns to her husband, who claims they can wait it out for a few more months. Grisha isn’t sure that Parsim has a few more months. Bart admits to Keir that he did what he could to protect this family. Returning to the flashback, we see Parsim’s behavior spiraling out of control. She screams and rages due to The Artifact’s influence. After Grisha finally gets her daughter to sleep, Bart discloses information regarding Ree Avalon’s encounter with The Artifact. She reads the incident report.
Later, Farut finds Parsim in the GWB. She watches The Artifact as it swirls before her eyes, putting on quite the light show. Parsim rattles off a string of alien words. Could she be communicating with it? When Grisha realizes that Parsim is out of bed, she takes matters into her own hands. She fires a drone to destroy The Artifact. However, her move merely breaks it into “rocks” or “relics,” becoming the glowing blue alien stuff we know today.
Consequences
Farut scolds his wife for firing that drone on The Artifact. The act could put them in more danger, and they’ve already broken a significant rule by giving birth to Parsim. They decide it’s time to escape. Before they depart, Bart gives Parsim a very familiar necklace as a token of remembrance. Then, Grisha hands her daughter an ID card with her new name, which is … wait for it … Aster Calyx. They’ve all got new names now.
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In the present, Keir notes that since Grisha smashed The Artifact into pieces, perhaps there are rocks all around them. He notices the approach of an ISA vessel. Bart reveals he informed the authorities as soon as Keir hailed the beacon. Keir attempts to detonate the bomb he planted on Bart but to no avail.
Bart hopes that Keir uses his jail time wisely. Perhaps he’ll emerge with new ideas and dreams. Bart promises to do his part by considering Keir’s words and The Column’s mission.
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Will The Column return to Beacon 23 to destroy it? If the rocks are trying to communicate something, what are they saying? Is there another alien force attached to them? Why did Dr. Ree Avalon vanish? Only time (and two more episodes) will tell.
Beacon 23 drops new episodes every Sunday on MGM+.
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