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When it was announced that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss‘s first project after the HBO hit’s polarizing finale would be a Netflix adaptation of Liu Cixin’s groundbreaking sci-fi masterpiece The Three-Body Problem, well, TV fans and genre nerds were understandably skeptical. Like Game of Thrones before it, Liu’s work had the kind of scope and scale that seemed impossible to translate to the small screen. The trilogy is propelled by theoretical physics, huge time jumps, disappearing protagonists, and technological wonder. Furthermore, it was an indelibly Chinese work of literature, starring mostly (male) Chinese characters and full of footnotes elucidating various cultural touchstones that might have otherwise eluded even the most studious Western reader. How would this possibly work for Netflix? Well, with the help of co-showrunner Alexander Woo, the answer is quite well.
Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is better than it has any right to be. That said, even for its narrative wonders and clever changes, it still falls paces behind epic sci-fi contemporaries like Apple TV+’s Foundation or Max’s woefully cancelled Raised By Wolves. The places where 3 Body Problem falls short are a reflection of what a wonderful era we’re living in for science fiction television; the places where it soars are proof that Benioff and Weiss’s wild success with Game of Thrones wasn’t some fluke. They are pretty darn savvy showrunners.
3 Body Problem — note the Netflix show’s title is a shade off of Liu’s The Three-Body Problem — opens in 1966 Beijing. A young woman named Ye Wenjie (Zine Tsang) watches in horror as her professor father is put on public trial by a mob of fervent Communist revolutionaries. Leading the horrific spectacle is a maniacal teenaged girl, barely out of puberty. When Wenjie’s father refuses to renounce Western science, the girl beats him to death. It’s a scene that eerily echoes one of Game of Thrones‘s most iconic moments, when Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) sees a similar fate befall her father, Ned Stark (Sean Bean). And like Arya, Ye Wenjie is about to quietly embark on a bitter journey in her pursuit of revenge.
Before we learn what Ye Wenjie winds up doing, we are introduced to the first wave of her actions’ consequences. In 2024, Detective Da Shi (Benedict Wong) is investigating a string of baffling deaths. Brilliant scientists all over the world are suddenly dying by suicide. There’s the haunting implication that a “countdown” of sorts is involved. In the wake of yet another perplexing death, Da Shi and his mysterious boss Wade (Liam Cunningham) begin following the protegés of one of the victims. “The Oxford Five,” as they are nicknamed, bonded as college students before pursuing their very different paths in life. And now, one of them, Auggie Salazar (Eiza González), has started seeing a mysterious countdown clock everywhere she looks.
Adding to this mystery is a hyper-advanced AI “game” that is passed on to another member of the Oxford Five, Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), by her deceased mentor’s own mother (Rosalind Chao). When you put on the headset, you are immediately transported to a hyperrealistic world where everything feels all too real. As Jin and college pal Jack Rooney (John Bradley) become obsessed with the game, it becomes clear that this game, the countdown, and whatever Ye Wenjie did in the past are all connected…
Readers of The Three-Body Problem will immediately notice the most jarring change that Benioff, Weiss, and Woo have made in their adaptation: the Oxford Five. The original book follows this same initial storyline through the eyes of middle-aged Chinese scientist Wang Miao. Wang doesn’t have much to do in later stages of the story and, to be honest, doesn’t have much of a personality. So although purists may complain that this role has been usurped by five hot young actors of various ethnic backgrounds, creating fully formed characters who are deeply invested in each other’s lives sort of makes sense? At least, it gives the otherwise cold, theoretical story of Liu’s work a television-friendly soap opera to latch onto when talk of sophons and multiple dimensions gets to be too much. (David S. Goyer’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s similarly stark Foundation also plays fast and loose with character development to thrilling effect.) More importantly, completionists who have read all three books will see easily how Liu’s characters graph on to all five, especially the most obvious 1:1 character, Jin. Via the Oxford Five, these disparate characters get to interact early on, and more urgently, mean something to each other — and the audience.
In fact, the most impressive aspect of 3 Body Problem has to be all the sage ways in which the showrunners have tweaked Liu’s saga for the small screen. All eight episodes of 3 Body Problem Season 1 are propulsive in energy. The series even eschews the trend of adapting one book per season, happily delving into parts of Book 2, The Dark Forest, and clearly setting up Book 3, Death’s End, before the finale’s credits even roll. The show’s quieter scenes provide more context for the characters or work to lull the audience before a major shock. And, yes, the men who gave us the aforementioned Ned Stark’s death, the Red Wedding, and the exploding Sept of Baelor still have some great twists up their sleeves.
Where 3 Body Problem sadly lags is in terms of cosmic wonder. While the effects employed in the perplexing game are successful, the scenes set in the real world are shot in a way that seems flat and cheap. There are moments where the set dressing is so nondescript, the lighting so uninteresting, I wondered if the directors were intentionally trying to evoke a boring old network procedural. It cheapened an otherwise ambitious story.
While 3 Body Problem doesn’t quite hit the high grace notes that transform a good show into prestige, it’s still pretty darn good show. Benedict Wong is perfect as Da Shi, a seemingly grizzled investigator harboring a soft heart of gold. Zine Tseng is revelatory as the young, tortured Ye Wenjie. And by the season’s end, I fully expect Alex Sharp’s Will Downing to have quite the fervent online fanbase.
3 Body Problem may fail to inspire true awe, but there’s enough fun, shock, and horror to keep sci-fi fans engaged. It is a completely competent season of television. Considering what the showrunners were up against — in terms of both epic backlash and impenetrable source material — that’s a massive win for Netflix, Benioff and Weiss and Woo, and TV watchers.
3 Body Problem premieres on Netflix on March 21.
