I’ve seen a lot of movies and television shows about sci-fi concepts. 3 Body Problem is one of the most interesting I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. There are ties to history and space. Along with a lot that goes on in the present day. The book trilogy by Cixin Liu is adapted by two guys who know a lot about adopting popular literacy properties. They were the architects of one of the greatest shows of all time, Game of Thrones, by George RR Martin. This is their follow-up to that worldwide phenomenon. 

As mentioned, the story deals with multiple periods. The first takes place in communist China in the 1960s. The series flashes back to this time periodically.  The second is when a group of scientists, Saul Durand (Jovan Adrpo) Jin Chang (Jess Hong) Augusta “Auggie” Salazar (Eiza Gonzalez) Will Downing (Alex Sharp), Jack Rooney (John Bradley) start to come under threat by an alien force they can’t see. When one of their own Dr. Vera Ye (Yedette Lim) commits suicide they don’t know what to think. Along with a police detective, Da Shi (Benedict Wong), who is trying to uncover who is responsible for a series of murders in this community. Together, they find out that the planet is under threat from beyond from aliens.

This series is very dense and has a lot going on. There is a virtual reality element to the show. This part of the series is a bit weird and crazy.  Characters get helmets that they put which transport them to a fantasy world. There are multiple levels to this world which the people who get accepted to go to it have to figure out. This was a game for the alien species to see how smart the people were. This is how they choose who they want to work with.

With the flashback element to the show, there is a character who is in both the past and the present Ye Wengie (Zine Tseng, Rosalind Chao), who has a tie to the aliens based on a decision she made in the past. Her past choices lead to future repercussions with everyone. With this being a mystery all of this has to be uncovered by the scientists and the detective. Throw in a tie to an aloof businessman Mike Evens (Jonathan Pryce) and his company Evans Energy and you have quite the mysterious story.

The directing credits are Minkie Spiro’s 3 eps, Jeremy Podeswa’s 2 eps, Derek Tsang’s 2 eps, and Andrew Stanton’s. There are different kinds of vibes in each episode which lend themselves to the individual talents of the directors. An added element to the series is the titles of the episodes. 1 ep, writers David Denioff & DB Weiss, Cixin Liu based on the Novel by, Titles Ep1 Countdown, Ep 2 Red Coast, Ep 3 Destroyer of Worlds, Ep 4 Our Lord, Ep 5 Judgment Day, Ep 6 The Stars Our Destination, Ep 7 Only Advance, Ep 8 Wallpaper. These tiles play a major part in what goes on in the series. They give clues to what goes on. 

DB Weiss and David Benioff did a great job on Game of Thrones. Especially when they had the books to go off of for reference. They have the books to go off of here as well. I’m sure this material wasn’t easy to adapt to. They do a phenomenal job balancing the various time jumps, the virtual worlds, and the present-day situation.  The writing was truly amazing. The text seemed to be very dense and they tackled it with ease. It just goes to figure when they have the material to adapt they do a great job.

With all stories, there is a villain and this one has several if you will. The first is Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham) He is the leader of a group that is trying to figure out why the alien species, the San-Ti, are doing what they are doing. He has some unusual methods in getting what he wants done. The others are Tatiana (Mandy Kelly) and Saphon (Sea Shimooka) They both are a bit aloof. One is an emissary of the alien in the virtual world the other does their bidding on present-day Earth. All the so-called villains in the series have their motivations for why they’re doing what they’re doing. Some good reasons.

As I mentioned this series is very dense and filled with all kinds of sci-fi goodness. One of the oddest things about the series is the Staircase Project which is meant to send a man into space to visit and have contact with the aliens. With all the time displacement things going on the writers, Weiss and Benioff, explain this quite well. Without getting into too many details the aliens are quite a ways off and the scientists are trying to reach them. It is a lot harder than it seems though.

There a few things that are a bit strange that the series deals with expertly. One of them is a ticking close that some of the characters see. At first this was quite alarming but the writers explain it. The alien race, the San-Ti have their methods of getting their way. They are a much more sofisticated race that we are. Their various tactics come into play in different ways and in different pain thresholds.

The series explains the title,3 Body Problem, so I won’t go in-depth on it but it refers to three different worlds and times intersecting. That idea is a fascinating one and while watching the show I was completely engrossed in it. Watching these different stories come together was amazing. Seeing how the directors and writers worked through all these difficulties was very interesting to me. They made this subject matter enjoyable and entertaining.  This is one of the most interesting sci-fi concepts I’ve seen on streaming or otherwise. I think fans will be drawn to it because of the names attached to it but they will keep watching it because it’s so damn good.

All Episodes of 3 Body Problem will be streaming on Netflix

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen