An Arthurian Trek Into Philosophies of the Future
BEACON 23 – created by Zak Penn – (limited spoilers) ⁓
Neither knows why, but Halan Kai Neilsen (Stephan James) and Aster Calyx (Lena Headey) find themselves drawn to Beacon 23. one of many beacons positioned along galactic travel routes to detect hazardous concentrations of dark matter. It is a remote place, surrounded by gas, dust, and other debris.
Halan deserted his military unit and traveled halfway across the galaxy to get there, and when he did, he captured the beacon’s keeper, Solomon Smythe (Stephen Root). Not long after that, Halan rescues Aster, the only surviror of a ship that crashed because Halan didn’t know how to operate the beacon. Aster is the only survivor of the crash, and she was going to Beacon 23 anyway. Solomon escaped the beacon in Halan’s ship, but did not survive.
Aster works for a company called QTA (the Q stands for Quantic) and has a holographic personal AI called Harmony (Natasha Mumba). In Greek, Aster means “star” and Calyx means “seed pod”. Aster convinced QTA to send her to Beacon 23 to investigate mineral deposits reported by Solomon. Shortly after her rescue, Aster tells Halan that the star field seems vaguely familiar, but that she has “never seen this side of Orion before.” (She means the Orion Nebula.) This will become signnificant later.
Bart (voiced by Wade Bogert-O’Brien), is the beacon’s AI. He has a more machine-like appearance than Harmony, and is considerably more whimsical.
Space exploration has revealed no alien life, intelligent or otherwise.
KIER OF THE COLUMN
A religious group called The Column worships an aretfact and related objects called “the relics”. Years ago, a Columnist named Kier (Marc Menchaca) tried to destroy Beacon 23. (His companion blew up Beacon 24.) To delay Kier’s sabotage and keep him occupied until the cops arrived, Bart tells him the Beacon’s history, starting when Keeper Dr. Ree Avalon (Carolina Bartczak) first observed the artefact 180 years previously.
Bart was unable to perceive the artefact (a problem shared by all AIs) but using Avalon’s calculations, he was able to infer its behaviour and predict its next appearance. When that happened, Avalon left the beacon and went toward the artefact saying: “I hope I’m not too late to save it.” Then she vanished without trace.
The next keeper was Sophie (Barbara Hershey), and she got a surprise visit from QTA’s CIO Milan Aleph (Eric Lange). Milan designed the Beacons, but his true ambition was to turn humanity into something akin to a collective artificial intelligence. Bart calculated that Milan’s efforts would inevitably result in an “extinction event”, and, over Sophie’s objections, killed him, Milan was prepared for this and with the help of his personal AI Hope (a facsimile of his possibly deceased daughter) is uploaded into the cloud and converted into the “first transcendent intelligence“. Sophie is aware of this development, but still regards Bart’s action as murder and believes that, consequently, she and Bart have been “cursed”.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Grisha (Sydney Ozerov-Meyer) and her husband Farut (A J Simmons) succeed Sophie as co-keepers. Grisha almost immediately becomes pregnant, which should have been impossible since potential keepers are required to prove their infertility. They name their child Parsim (Matilda Legault), and after she is born they conceal the girl’s existence. Parsim seems to communicate with the artefact. Farut, who might suspect that the artefact is Parsim’s actual father, believes the artefact is alien, and wants to use Parsim to attempt First Contact. Grishsa perceives this plan as a threat to her daughter; attacks the artefact with an explosive drone; and the resulting fragments become the relics.
Grisha fles the Beacon with her husband and daughter using false IDs. Before they leave, Bart gives four-year-old Parsim a pendant with a design that mimics the crystalline structure of the green rocks. The name on Parsim’s new identification is Aster Calyx. Solomon later deletes all of Bart’s memories, so when the Aster shows up again as an adult, Bart fails to recognize her.
Shortly after Aster returns to the Beacon, Kier also returns, and brings along Finch (Daniel Malik), a tech guy who requires regular doses of a drug administered through a port in his neck and Saldana (Jess Salgueiro), an under-trained, over-enthusiastic revolutionary who should probably be hanging with a less religious bunch. Saldana regards AIs as being less than human. Being outwitted by Harmony seems to modify her opinion on that, but not very much.
The Amboyna, Halan’s ship, also returns to the beacon, just in time to allow Halan to destroy two QTA cutters sent to apprehend Aster. Solomon’s corpse is on board.
POINT AND COUNTERPOINT
Two of the Wreckers that visit Beacon 23 between Kier’s first and second visits could be viewed as moral counterpoints to Halan and Aster. Their leader, Timor Ondi (Paulino Nunes), aka “Battle”, is, like Halan, a military deserter. Battle goes against orders and boards the station in search of more lucrative plunder. Dr. Rojan Kaneddy (Marnie McPhail), was once Minister of Equity on Elau, a colony that suffered the a similar fate to the colony where Grisha died and from which Aster needed to be rescued. On Elau, Kaneddy committed crimes similar to those of Kodos in the Star Trek episode “The Conscience of the King“.
Kaneddy’s teenage son Chick (Jaeden Noel) is confused about where his loyalties should lie. Battle makes a point of trying to make a man out of Chick by putting him in situations for which he is not prepared. Chick is the only Wrecker who gets off the Beacon alive, and it seems likely that he will eventually be back.
Aleph the AI returns to Beacon 23 in the company flagship. He still wants to understand the artefact, and he needs Aster for that because his senses cannot detect it. Aster’s only condition for helping Aleph is a pardon for Halan. When that seems impossible, she insists that Halan comes with her into the artefact. At Aleph’s suggestion, Harmony will go along as well to take notes. Aster tells Kier that she will deliver the artefact’s message, whatever it might be, to AI and human alike. Kier tries to stop her.
Miscellaneous Info
Since the time of the first keeper of Beacon 23, technology has regressed. As Aster Calyx puts it: “Those data haulers, they really know how to pack ’em. Especially out here, this side of the galaxy. It’s the only way they get any updates. Two hundred years ago, we beamed everything at the speed of light. And now we’re back to stuffing shit in boxes.”
Beacon 23’s first episode is titled “Corbenic”, the name of the Grail castle in Arthurian legend. Avalon is the island where Excalibur originated.
Solomon did not remove his spacesuit before he died, and therefore did not deplete its remaining oxygen supply, allowing Halan enough breathing room to destroy the QTA cutters.
Grisha died at the Melelaus colony before Aster was rescued from it. According to Kier, Farut was found traveling alone on a transport ship and arrested, presumably by the ISA (Interstellar Space Authority).
The gravity wave generator that powers the beacon (and probably provides it with artificial gravity) has a psychotropic effect if one leans against it. The mysterious green rocks give off neurotoxic fumes that affect the human brain like a virus, causing paranoia and unusual behaviour. The rocks seem to have been dislodged or ejected from the artefact after Grisha’s attack, and Halan encountered one of them on Asteroid DX-113, which caused him to abandon his unit and head for Beacon 23 eighty-four thousand star systems away.
New episodes of BEACON 23 drop Sundays on MGM+.