Season 1 - 8 episodes
Watch 3 Body Problem on Netflix // Buy the book (paid link)
Created by: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Alexander Woo
Starring: Jovan Adepo, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Benedict Wong, Jonathan Pryce, John Bradley
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
A fateful decision made in 1960s China reverberates in the present, where a group of scientists partner with a detective to confront an existential planetary threat.
Verdict
This is such an intriguing concept with big ideas. Earth finally makes contact with another species. The nature of the relationship sours, but space is so vast, that communication and preparation can take centuries. How do you prepare to fight an enemy that's four-hundred years away? How do you account for future technology in those plans? This is an enemy that sees and hears everything. There's no way to conceal plans. I'm a huge sci-fi fan. I love big concepts, and this is so creative with science and interactions as well as how each side prepares for the eventual meet. More than that, the core of this series, like the book, is a physics problem; the three body problem. How a species develops with those restrictions sets the motion for much of the story.
Watch It.
Review
Based on the Chinese book trilogy, the first book, The Three-Body Problem, was published in 2006. The Dark Forest was published in 2008, followed by the final book, Death's End in 2010. The idea was developed for television as a Chinese series, Three-Body, released in 2023.
Conceptually, this is amazing. The series does a great job adapting the books. The first book, I didn't like it until I completed it. Once I considered the book as a whole after finishing the last page, I liked it much more. The second book was amazing once I got through the prologue. Season one steps into the first couple of chapters of book two and touches upon book three. Knowing the second book, I'm very excited for season two. The series is planned for three seasons. I don't know how book three can be adapted into a single season. Book three could be it's own standalone series. It's twice as long as the first book, but I'm excited to see the adaptation. It presents some amazing concepts about the future of Earth, the future of the universe, intelligent species, game theory in the universe, and Earth's place in the cosmos.
The first episode is a question wrapped in a mystery. It's difficult to know what's going on, but that's the point. The series jumps back and forth in time. Aliens made contact in the '60s, and in 2024 there are strange phenomena. Auggie (Eiza González) has a perpetual countdown in her vision, and that may be connected to her work. Da Shi (Benedict Wong) is tracking a group of scientists, following the trail of some strange suicides.
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| Eiza González, Benedict Wong play Auggie, Da Shi |
Jin (Jess Hong) and Jack (John Bradley) get headsets for a strange next generation game, trying to solved the three body problem. How do you calculate the orbit of a planet in the vicinity of two stars? Jin asks the right questions and levels ups. The game is a recruitment tool.
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| John Bradley, Jess Hong play Jack, Jin |
The big reveal occurs much earlier in the series than in the book. I'm impressed at how well adapted this is. While the series changes a number of items, it streamlines the series. The writers know the books well, but change the plot as needed to fit. In the book, it was a bunch of disparate characters, but in the series we follow a group of scientists that went to school together.
Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) made contact with the San-ti. In the book they were the Trisolarans. San-ti is much easier. She along with Mike Evans (Jonathan Pryce) want to pave the way for the San-ti arrival. The thing is, due to how far away the aliens are, their trip will take centuries. The San-ti are advanced enough that they've developed faster than light communication. While Evans helps them learn about human culture, an innocuous joke changes how the San-ti regard humans.
The San-ti supporters blindly trust them. Whatever happens or doesn't is controlled by them. If the San-ti don't protect someone it's because they're no longer needed. The San-ti are regarded by their followers as all seeing and knowing.
The humans and San-ti are in conflict. The San-ti know that humans will surpass their knowledge in the next four hundred years. That's why the San-ti want to eliminate scientists. The humans have to plan for a war using technology that hasn't even been developed. Human technology has progressed rapidly, but due to the San-ti's chaotic planet it's taken them much longer. Additionally, the San-ti know everything. How do you create a plan when the enemy can track all communications? They can spy on anyone, anywhere. Their method of communication is how they appear to different characters, why the game seem so real, and how they've instituted permanent counters in the vision of different scientists.
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| Jovan Adepo, Jess Hong play Saul, Jin |
The final episode reveals Earth's plan to fight the San-ti. It's the wall facer project. Three individuals have been designated for the assignment. Saul (Jovan Adepo) is a wall facer even if he claims he's not, it's part of the ruse. He's stuck with that title whether he wants it or not. The season concludes with Da Shi, Saul, and Jin talking about bugs and how resilient they are, a metaphor for humans versus the San-ti.
I love this show in a large part due to the books, but the concepts are awesome. The possibilities, the rigors of communication and travel, the technology gap and progression, and a plan to defeat an enemy that has spies everywhere. My view is biased. I love sci-fi properties with big ideas, and this does a great job of not only presenting numerous ideas but finding a way to connect them.
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