DISCLAIMER: This recap of Beacon 23 Season 2 Episode 7, “Free,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
The season’s penultimate episode, “Free,” is easily one of its strongest episodes to date. However, it feels too little, too late. While last week’s outing was interesting as a standalone piece, sandwiching it between “Free” and “Song of Sorrow” killed what little momentum was established in the latter. The placement of the flashback is as head-scratching as it is frustrating.
That said, “Free” delivers a legitimate plot twist regarding Halan’s backstory. His interactions with his father highlight one of the things this series has been sorely missing — deep connections. Our core characters seldom interact with family members, friends, etc. It’s missing that grounding element, those fun dynamics that are a driving factor for so many shows.
“Free” boasts plenty of action, so the story moves this go-round. With only one episode left, though, can we successfully (and satisfyingly) resolve the multiple plot threads flapping in the breeze?
RELATED: Read our recap of the previous Beacon 23 episode, “Luan Casca”
Free
We open with Halan (Stephan James) and Iris (Ellen Wong), bound by cords and levitating in the gravity well. Halan has a flashback to that fateful mission when he interacted with The Artifact. He sees Gashade (Bo Martynowska) die in his arms. Iris vows to free them. Meanwhile, the Sybarrans — Xalterrica (Tenika Davis), Saghée (Prince Amponsah), Yeiki (Ish Morris), Nybecca (Zarrin Darnell-Martin), Giciru (Dylan Taylor) and Tajiriki (Myrthin Stagg) — hook Dosto (David Tompa) up to an IV to drain him dry. They want him to suffer before he dies.
Speaking of Dosto, Dev (Noah Lamanna) finally imprints on him, saving him from death at the hands of the Sybarrans. Iris frees herself and informs the Sybarrans of her objective to get them off this beacon. It’s time to let bygones be bygones. Sure, they tried to kill Iris and Halan, but that’s water under the bridge now.
Dev and Dosto
Harmony (Natasha Mumba) finds Dosto and Dev. She’s shocked that the AI would do a selfless thing for a human. Of course, he did it to imprint on Dosto. Dev has ulterior motives. Elsewhere, the Sybarrans attempt to utilize parts from Iris’ ship to create their own vessel. Saghèe apologizes to Halan for his crew’s behavior. She gives Halan that fragment from The Artifact after trying to pocket it. Saghée encourages Halan to hold tightly to Iris.
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Next, Harmony informs the group about a UGMC long-range gunship, Druta Fyx, approaching. Xalterrica assumes the vessel is there to capture them. The discussion turns to letting Halan take them on since he’s a soldier. Then, the Sybarrans ask Harmony if they can fire on the gunship. Harmony reveals they can’t attack a QTA vessel.
After this, two officers, Endu (Josh Peace) and K-Cin (Jeananne Goossen), barge onto the ship. They summon Harmony, asking her to deliver an incident report. She reveals Beacon 23 has sustained some damage but nothing too significant. Endu asks if there are humans on board. Harmony lies, claiming she’s alone. She also states that the original Beacon Keeper is long gone.
Striking a Deal
The officers “sandbox” her, sending her away. Then, they run into Dosto and Dev. Dosto introduces himself as a QTA ambassador. He formerly served on Sybarra 82. Dosto informs them that “all six of them” are on the beacon. He believes the soldiers are there to take the Sybarrans captive. Dev tries to negotiate on Dosto’s behalf. He asks for him and Dosto to get safe passage to a peaceful colony as compensation for Dosto telling them what he knows.
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Endu orders K-Cin to cast Dosto aside for now. She puts him in one of the airlocks. Dev pivots, telling Endu he never liked Dosto anyway. Endu implements a “firewall protocol,” sending him away like Harmony. Endu and K-Cin search the beacon, calling for the hiders to show themselves. Bloodshed is the next step if they don’t cooperate. The officers state they are there for Halan Kai Nielsen. Anyone protecting the fugitive will suffer the consequences.
Halan versus Endu
Suddenly, Halan appears. He battles Endu while the Sybarrans go after K-Cin. K-Cin kills one of the Sybarrans — Giciru. Iris joins the fight to assist Halan. They send Endu over a railing, forcing the latter to land on his back. He urges K-Cin to give him a hand. She locks Halan in a simulation. He wakes up on the water on what looks like Earth. Meanwhile, the surviving Sybarrans find the dead Giciru. Xalterrica screams.
Halan reunites with his father, Commander Kadir Soon Nielsen (Ben Cain). We get more context into their fraught relationship. Halan served in the military under his father’s command. When he was a child, his dad would drill him instead of letting him play.
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Later, Iris tries to request emergency assistance, specifically ISA intervention, via the Quantum Tunneler. Harmony keeps an eye out for the QTA soldiers. Unfortunately, K-Cin barges into the room and destroys the Quantum Tunneler. The officers entrap the Sybarrans in one of the airlocks as they try to flee. K-Cin informs Iris that Harmony now only responds to her and Endu.
Systems Shutdown
However, after her chat with K-Cin, Iris effortlessly summons Harmony. Harmony insists she’s still with Iris, so Iris asks Harmony to run an automated shutdown of all the beacon’s systems. Then, Harmony returns to K-Cin to ensure the latter can’t halt the systems shutdown from the mainframe. K-Cin orders Harmony to release the airbridge. Of course, doing this would send the Sybarrans out of the airlock. Harmony tries to stall the QTA officer by “playing dumb.”
Harmony reveals she can’t release the airbridge without running a systems check. Meanwhile, Halan and his dad have some father-son time in the simulation. Halan asks Kadir why he’s there. Elsewhere, the Sybarrans tend to Tajiriki, who suffers from a critical injury. Dev visits Dosto in the other airlock and reassures him everything is going according to plan.
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He releases Dosto and suggests they take the ship the Sybarrans were building. However, Dosto isn’t a pilot. Then, Dev plants the seed that Dosto should steal the QTA gunship. He encourages Dosto to free the Sybarrans and persuade them to leave the beacon with him. I can’t believe Dosto is falling for this. Dosto opens the airlock housing the Sybarrans. But they don’t want to join forces with him. Instead, they chase him down, killing him. Dev smiles.
Halan’s List of Crimes
Meanwhile, in the simulation, Kadir opens a file about Halan’s rulebreaking aboard Beacon 23. He gave shelter to three members of The Column. Halan aided in the killing of QTA manager Coley. Then, he brought QTA defector Aster Calyx under his wing. (Of course, Halan doesn’t want to discuss Aster.) He has more than a few sins to answer for.
Then, Kadir addresses Halan’s military mission, which ended in him going AWOL. Kadir contacts Gashade, who’s alive and well despite Halan insisting she died in his arms. Gashade reveals she’s on a transporter ship. She claims she’s never met Halan before. That’s when we learn that Halan never went on that mission. It wasn’t real.
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Later, K-Cin demands that Iris turn the beacon back on. Iris refuses and reminds K-Cin that she’s an unarmed ISA employee under certain protections. K-Cin starts firing on Iris. The pair battle it out for a spell before Iris stuns K-Cin with a weapon. While wandering the beacon, Iris stumbles upon Dosto’s corpse. Then, she releases the Sybarrans, vowing to help them escape. They can take the Druta Fyx.
RIP, Dev
Then, Harmony notices Dev tampering with the aforementioned QTA gunship. She reveals she built Dev’s code (Was this revealed before?) before dismantling the AI. Dev glitches before vanishing. Bye-bye! Side note: I didn’t understand his motives. He played a hand in Dosto’s murder because he wanted to be a human? Sure, Jan…
Meanwhile, Halan’s dad gives him an implant for soldiers. It’ll help him separate reality from fantasy. Kadir doesn’t want to punish his son. He wants him to come home. Halan asks if he can think about it. Suddenly, Endu shakes Halan out of the simulation. He stares at the implant in his hand. Harmony appears, asking Halan how she can help him. He reveals he’s giving up.
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After getting the Sybarrans squared away on the gunship, Iris leaves them. Yeiki asks Iris to join them — she’ll be safe. However, Iris feels she’s past the point of safety now. They give each other weapons before parting ways. Then, Iris reunites with Halan. At the same time, Endu and K-Cin stall the Druta Fyx as another QTA vessel approaches. Iris vehemently protests, ordering the officers to at least turn on the life support. They plan on giving the wayward Sybarrans a slow, painful death.
Leaving Beacon 23
Halan tells Iris he’s leaving with his father, who appears on Beacon 23 in person. He reveals he never went AWOL or allowed his team to die during that mission—that mission never existed. Iris insists that Halan stay and that she’ll help him through this. QTA kills people.
Once Halan departs the beacon, he undergoes a procedure to get the implant. Then, he wakes up on Beacon 23, of all places, with Aleph (Eric Lange) sitting at a desk across from him. Well, so much for deciphering what’s fact from fiction.
Beacon 23 drops new episodes every Sunday on MGM+.
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