Beacon 23, Season 1 Episode 5 - Rocky

This is a fantastical episode that goes a little further to explain the mysteries of the rocks and the beacon. There seems to be no more exposition on the AI personalities, which I find an extremely interesting part of the show. But with only three more episodes to wrap things up, I can see the need to use what film time there remains on the story itself.

This episode begins with Aster reflecting on the recent events and deciding that she will not go back to QTA. She takes it a step further and decides to run away with the rocks in her possession for further study. She is then informed by Harmony and Bart that another QTA ship is coming due to non-communication from Coley. Harmony shows Aster footage from Halan's battlesuit from his mission on DX113 where he went AWOL. it shows Halan inhaling the blue essences/gases that the rocks give off. Harmony further shows him analysis of Halan's brain that suggests he is infected by a virus from the inhaled essences. This is the basis for his hallucinations. However it appears the rocks, specifically one with a Northeastern USA accent is the main person speaking to him. 

Halan's hallucinations appear to be getting worse as he is now seeing Harmony speaking to him as well as his platoon ex-girlfriend. It is so bad that he is tricked into entering space without a suit on. He is saved by Aster and later raises the old-fashioned antennae in the top part of the beacon, thereby freeing the rocks. As the rocks all leave the Beacon, they orbit the beacon but doing considerable damage to it as well as the docked ship. 

The rocks swirl around in formation and join together into a larger monolith as the show fades to black.

Trivia and Technical Mumbo Jumbo

• The gibberish he hears from his hallucinations: "Ear score  at tess  Aught Denoi"
• Amboyna is the name of Halan's ship. 
• UGMC - United Galactic Military Command
• Intelligence Rights Concord - settled AI to be real and higher intelligence 100 years ago.
• Solominium - the would-be name that was to be given to the rocks/mineral/isotope.
• Soy sauce made from unprocessed soy beans and what derived from original Saga cultivars
  

Analysis

This episode and perhaps story has very strange parallels to the Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 episode 6 Lost in Translation where there are life forms in the minerals being gathered for fuel by the federation. I can only wonder if it eventually goes the same route. If so, I would have to give credit to Howard Hughes on this as his story was written roughly 10 years ago and that episode came out in the past couple of years.

There are a lot of references to Aster's childhood with sound bites of children laughing when she looks at the swarming rocks at the end of the show. The pendant does resemble what the rocks look like and was given to her by her mother. Aster definitely has a deeper connection to the rocks that what has so far been revealed. 

We learn quite a bit about Solomon in this episode. That he enjoys the finer things in life and we also learn about the past between Solomon, Halan and Bart.

Food in this episode

We see a nice view of Solomon working in the kitchen, as he is preparing his dishes. Beacon Keepers tend to have an intense passion for their hobbies as they are very much on their own. Here he serves Ricotta Ravioli with Pesto Sauce and Blood Orange foam. The soy sauce is prized and took years for him to obtain. We see an intense relationship from the beginning between him, Solomon and Bart.

Characters of Interest

• Rocky - the minerals entity, communicates with Halan, likely the cause of his hallucinations, tells bad jokes.
• Solomon - appears to be a happily solitary effeminate and high cultured beacon keeper. Not the dark, gritty character I imagined from previous episodes. He is a very colorful and entertaining character.
• Aster - always seems to have a different plan that what she shows, very unpredictable character, purposefully so.
• Halan Kal Nielsen - blooming love interest? His only rival was killed by Aster herself. Seems to be alone in this world, and was revealed more than once to have traveled over 84,000 star systems to get to Beacon 23.
  
• Harmony - Aster's personal AI, revealed to be bound to QTA. Her recommendations are for Aster to go back to the QTA and even supplies evidence to support this suggestion.
• Bart - The AI of Beacon 23, the beacon keepers, shows he grows quite attached to the particular human he serves and has severe abandonment issues.
  
• Alpeh, the holographic transcendic consciousness, appears to be in the beacon computers. Does not appear in this episode

Mysteries and Questions

• Is Solomon still alive?  It appears Solomon is dead after taking off in Halan's ship that had little to no Oxygen.
• Did he steal Halan's ship and escape? it appears he made it out of the beacon but there was little or no oxygen on the ship he left on.
  
• Where is Halan's ship? Is it near the beacon as well?
  

• Is the mineral and isotope exposure causing Halan's PTSD/hallucinations or is there more to it? This could be the product of the minerals/rocks being a life form trying to speak with him.
• The lighthouse picture - is present even 180 years ago on the beacon. Was not shown in this episode.
  
• Why so many unauthorized trips from the beacon by Solomon? It seems it was just to collect the rocks.
• Will Chick Kannedy return or is that it? We haven't seen him since the 2nd episode. With only 3 more episodes left, I would be surprised and possibly disappointed if he returned.
• The same symbol on Aster's pendant is in the rocks as seen under microscope. How are they connected?
• What is a QTA class-c mission?
• Is Harmony ultimately loyal to QTA? During her dying moments, Coley calls out to Harmony expecting the AI to help her. This episode certainly lends itself to this theory. Harmony herself says she is legally bound to QTA. 
• Did the wreckers work for QTA?
• Is Alpeh, the ghost in the machine, there in present day, secretly directing things? He seems to have disappeared since the last episode.