Beacon 23

The first season was pretty good. It followed along with the book enough that it held my attention. Just tried watching the second episode of the second season and I gave up about three quarters of the way through. I have no clue what is going on anymore. It is as if the writers are on drugs. The long plot is gone. There may be a secondary plot going on but it is not realistic and little to do with the long term plot.

The acting is ok. I could not see any problems with the CGI. Sound and background music is good. None of that matters though without a decent plot.

Watch the first season and think of it as a mini-series. Skip anything after that.

In the 23rd century, humanity has colonized the galaxy. Beacons are space lighthouses warning the presence of dangerous dark matter. Beacon 23 is malfunctioning and a passing spaceship is destroyed. Aster Calyx (Lena Headey) is the sole surivor and Harmony (Natasha Mumba) is her personal AI. She finds a lone lighthouse keeper, but he's actually military soldier Halan (Stephan James) with lots of issues. Nobody is who they claim to be.

It's a lighthouse in space. That's the concept. It has the spooky atmosphere of an old horror with a lot of techno babble. The characters get a bit too mysterious and too complicated. The show keeps piling on layers upon layers. It's a big problem when the show loses its biggest name going into the second season. Lena Headey can put an entire show on her shoulders. Without her, the seams start to fall apart. All the convoluted history and politics become too much to overcome. The show ends after two seasons.

I was hoping for a good new sci fi series but its pretty awkward and the effects are really off-putting. This is a long way off from Silo, another Hugh Howey based show. I have never read that book but so far I don't care about anything going on and it just sounds like sci fi nonsense from people who don't know anything about sci fi. I turned off the second episode during a terrible zero gravity fight scene, that was all I could take. Anyway I don't think I'll give it another go, the visuals are a big problem for me, it just looks like a bad Syfy channel show that will be cancelled soon. I'm happy Silo exists but it's too bad we can't get more decent space sci fi.

I've watched both seasons of Beacon 23. The first season was reasonably decent.... I would give it a 7. Not great, but decent.... I was looking forward to season 2 since there were so many unanswered questions in season 1.... But all I can say is.... WHAT???

No episode from season 2 seemed to go together. Nothing seemed to make sense...even when you get to the last show in S2, you really don't know what is going on. It's almost like the core of the story was lost, and never seemed to get back on track. I've watched a LOT of sci-fi and season 2 is a hot mess.

I'm not sure based on what I saw on S2 there is enough understanding of what has happened to make me come back for a Season 3...and that is a shame since Season 1 showed promise.

Annoys me when people give low ratings for no reason, or after just 1 episode!

Anyway, this is a decent sci fi, good claustrophobic in space vibes, and Lena Hadley is brilliant as always. If you liked the Expanse and generally like sci fi, give it a watch.

I wonder sometimes when there's low reviews if it's targeted to try and tank a show, which is pretty lame isn't it. I hope that doesn't happen to this show, the characters are likeable, I'm intrigued as to what's going to happen, the effects are good and the world they've created has been well thought out.

I hope this review has encouraged you to give this show a watch.