Lena Headey made the first season of Beacon 23 quite bearable, and her absence was felt throughout season 2. It seemed like season 2 was repeating the same things over and over again, up to the point that it became irritating. I mean, there wasn’t a single thing in the entirety of the second season that was worth our time. Milan’s AI, Aleph, was repeating the same dialogue like a broken record. Harmony, on the other hand, had been the struggling AI since the beginning, with a messy character transformation in the end that doesn’t make any sense. And Halan Kai Nelson is still down with his PTSD, the symptoms of which started to appear more in the viewers than the character itself. I am glad Beacon 23 season 2 ended, and I will surely elaborate on its finale in the best possible manner I can.
Spoiler Alert
What happened to Sybarrans?
While trying to escape QTA and its savage military forces, the Sybarrans and their ship got stuck in a pocket universe and ended up near Beacon 23, where they had to let go of their ship. The Sybarrans, aboard the lighthouse, needed a new ship to travel to a safe place where Aleph and his military friends wouldn’t be able to find these tribals. However, to their surprise, they found a familiar face, Dosto, who had betrayed the Sybarrans and threw one of their own from the ship. After a bit of conflict with Halan and Iris, the Sybarrans finally got hold of Dosto and stabbed him to death in a brutal manner.
The Sybarrans tried to scrape the lighthouse to build a spaceship for their escape, but before they could do so, a military vessel, the UGMC long-range gunship, the Durta Fyx, arrived on Beacon 23 to capture Halan. The commander of the warship was none other than Halan’s father, and yes, Aleph had sent them to the lighthouse to steal Halan’s memories of the artifact and space rocks. So, as soon as the military came onboard, they started shooting at the Sybarrans and finally trapped them in the air-lock chamber. The Sybarrans wanted to steal the warship to travel to safety, and at the end of episode 8, Iris helped them escape in an extremely messy and illogical scene. While the entirety of the Sybarran party left the lighthouse, their leader, Xalterrica, stayed back so that she could help her new friend, Iris, and fulfill her promise. In the next season, we will most likely see Xalterrica helping Iris rebuild Beacon 23, which has been in shambles since the beginning of season 2.
Will Halan survive?
After finishing the entire season 2, I am still trying to figure out the purpose of episode 6. In broad strokes, was it trying to tell us that QTA had been “brain-wiring” the soldiers to turn them into a killing machine? But was it really necessary to deliver this information over the course of an entire episode? I mean, they did fill in some blank spots in Aster Calyx’s past, but it doesn’t really change anything or have any effect on the present narrative. Additionally, it just tried to trick the viewers into thinking that QTA’s implant was to turn Halan into a monster, and he couldn’t see through these lies because his father wanted him to get it done.
The ending of Beacon 23 season 2 made it explicitly clear that Aleph just wanted to take Halan’s memory and his knowledge of the artifact because he consciously refused to share the information with the genius AI. Therefore, Aleph went an extra step and sent a doctor to pick it up for him so he could access it. However, a brain surgery took Halan’s life while his consciousness was stuck in a matrix or simulation that Harmony had created unknowingly. So this means Halan is still alive, right?
At this point, Beacon 23 is a mess. It is trying to pretend that everything is lost and that it’s a tragic story, but the narrative lacks conviction. Any person can guess that Aster is not dead, and neither is Halan. Aleph himself tells the audience that the artifact has kept Aster’s spirit alive, and the same will happen with Halan, as he, too, has come into contact with the space rocks. At the end of it all, the alien, or extraterrestrial being, is going to save humans and AI from Aleph’s tyranny and put an end to his expansion for the better. But why stretch the narrative to the point of boredom?
Can Harmony Talk To The Alien Now?
Since the beginning of Beacon 23 season 2, Harmony has been visiting quite a few intangible realms. At first, it was QTA headquarters, then her own consciousness, and then a simulation that she unknowingly created to save her new imprint, Halan. And yes, we heard the word “imprint” a lot. So, basically, it is some kind of a thread that connects an AI with its user or master. At first, it was Aster, which was why Harmony could replicate Aster’s consciousness. Then it was Aleph, who indeed left his mark on Harmony as he was her creator. She also accessed Bart’s memories while trying to save him from a total blackout in the first season, so yes, she had his imprint, too. And last but not least, it was Halan. In the end, Harmony synthesized both humans and AI to become a neutral being who was ready to receive her enlightenment.
During the ending of Beacon 23 season 2, the alien who showed itself to Harmony made it quite clear that through her journey, Harmony had conquered fear and hatred and replaced it with compassion, because of which she was able to see the extraterrestrial beings coming from the artifact. The showmakers even gave Harmony a new white dress (how original). And the depiction of the alien is like nothing we haven’t seen before. Recently, Jordan Peele’s NOPE portrayed a similar version with an octopus-like head and limbs. Now that Harmony was imprinted on all these individuals and AIs, she had access to all their core memories, which allowed her to see the artifact as well, at least in the simulation. In a way, the show is trying to hint that through Harmony, the aliens are going to resurrect both Aster and Halan. Additionally, they’ll use her data to bring back Bart and destroy Aleph.
What Will Happen to Iris and Xalterrica?
So, judging from the pattern of the show, we wouldn’t be seeing Stephan James’s Halan and Aster for quite some time in the third season, as they will be playing dead. It is now Iris who will steer the narrative and unwillingly become the new keeper of Beacon 23. With Xalterrica’s help, she will try to bring Harmony back online, whose totem was destroyed at the end of season 2. Harmony is the key to all the mystery, as she establishes a link between the aliens, humans, and AI, therefore making her the most important character in the series. So, Iris might use Harmony’s help to bring Halan and Aster back and, in the meantime, plan a coup against the evil AI, Aleph. But beyond these theories, I have a strong feeling that the show won’t be renewed for a third season because it has already killed its audience with boredom.
