Beacon 23 – Season 1 Episode 6 “Beacon Twenty Three” Recap & Review

Beacon Twenty Three

Episode 6 of Beacon 23 follows the path of Episode 4 and takes a non-linear detour into the past. It begins with a strange man trying to blow up the beacon. He attaches explosives to Bart’s quantum systems and the countdown begins. However, as he is leaving, Bart engages him in a conversation. The man belongs to an organization called the Column. They are also after the Artifact to unlock the mystery of the glowing rocks. The man is interested as soon as Bart mentions the relics.

Bart begins his story by returning to the beacon’s first keeper – whom Milan alluded to in the flashback episode – in Dr Ree Avalon’s account of the comet phenomenon. She is the one who gave Bart the texture of his voice and his name. Bart explains that Avalon was born on Earth and was far wiser and more sophisticated than all the other keepers. We learn that this alliance between the QTA and the ISA was to establish beacons that could detect dark matter in space and help ships navigate their path.

Ree is the one who placed the picture of the light tower in the cupula. After her stint started, Ree began noticing a strange phenomenon in the vicinity of the beacon. This is similar to the glowing mass of light we saw in the last episode. However, strangely, Bart’s detection systems couldn’t pick it up. This confused Ree, who tracked the phenomenon in the following months. Quick note: this is because only humans – a few gifted among them – could see the relics. Milan and Bart’s statements indicate this reality. 

Just as Halan suffers from the relics in the present, Ree also experiences hallucinations in the past. On one occasion, Bart recalls, Ree almost expelled herself into space without any protective gear on. Ree’s obsession meant that soon, she was able to trace the source of these rocks. In order to advance scientific knowledge about the phenomenon, she took a Picker and travelled to the site. But its allure was so strong that Ree got out of the vehicle and her space suit and disappeared without a trace. 

Bart tells the man another story, this time about a couple onboard B23. Grisha and Farut were sent at a time when beacon keepers felt isolated and imprisoned in their lonely state. The couple were an experiment to see the effects of companionship. However, Grisha was made infertile due to the fear of her birthing another life. As fate would have it, she soon found herself to be pregnant. Bart warned them that this revelation would end their mission. 

But the couple decided to keep the child whom they named Parsim. They decided to leave a few months before their assignment ended, whenever the time came. But once again, the rocks threatened to derail the family. Parsim was clearly under its influence. She started singing in a foreign voice and grew violent over time. Farut speculated that the Artifact was a portal to an alien civilization. This is perhaps their language as they are trying to communicate with humans. There is no claim backing his theory.

When Farut also became obsessed with the rocks like Grasim, she decided to destroy them using drones. She was livid at Bart for not revealing what happened to Ree. Even more so, Grasim was concerned that Farut did not care for her daughter’s security. This incident alerted the ISA. Grasim and Farut knew that they would send an inspection team to the beacon, where their daughter might be. This is how Parsim became Aster Calyx and was sent away by their parents to Menelaus. It was Bart who made the pendant for Aster with the symbol of the rocks. 

After getting blown up, Bart was able to see pieces of the Artifact he called “relics.” The man, whose name is Keir, is quite taken aback. He remarks that all human expansion must stop at some point since there is no telling what effect it would have on their surroundings. Keir suddenly notices that the ISA has arrived at the ship, informed by Bart, to arrest him. 

The Episode Review

The non-linear approach works fine in Episode 6. At first, it looked like we were heading toward a similar, open-ended ending like Episode 4. But kudos to the writers for instilling it with a purpose that ties into the larger story. Aster’s origin story and her mysterious connection to the rocks are well documented, although a lot is left to the imagination.

Ree’s disappearance is a very intriguing narrative point. It is quite possible that she might be alive. Since she touched the Artifact, she might have been transported to a different place as it is theorised to be a portal. What’s even more titillating is that the phenomenon that appeared extensively in this episode has just emerged in the present-day timeline.

How will Aster react to it now? Will all the memories come back to her about her first sojourn at Beacon 23? Or will we have a new beginning altogether? All these questions place Season 1 of Beacon 23 invitingly at the cusp of a breakthrough.