The “Game of Thrones” showrunners return to the small screen with their polarizing adaptation. Meet Netflix’s latest binge contender, “3 Body Problem,” a sci-fi opus based on Liu Cixin’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” book series.
Does it live up to the hype? It’s a two-front war: an adaptation of something so beloved and the next big thing from TV titans David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. In short, it’s hardly terrible but not quite the high-concept game changer it pretends to be.
“3 Body” begins in 1960s China during the Cultural Revolution. Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng) must watch a mob beat her father to death for teaching scientific concepts that conflict with the movement’s purge of ideas beyond the country’s borders.
Then the story cuts to two mysteries in present day. First, scientists around the world keep dying or ending their work prematurely. They all see a countdown and visit from someone warning them of what will happen if they don’t comply. Da Shi (Benedict Wong), an agent leading the investigation, can’t determine why. Nanotech developer Auggie (Eiza González) is the latest potential victim.
Separately, Auggie’s friends, all together called the Oxford 5, undergo their own dilemmas that eventually converge. Saul’s (Jovan Adepo) colleague commits suicide at a research site. In response, Jin (Jess Hong) visits the deceased’s mother only to discover a VR game that might be related to the death. She then recruits Jack (John Bradley), the rich college friend, to play along.
Everything about this game is an enigma. The experience is well beyond current advancements, and the game’s goal is unclear as well. Meanwhile, the final friend Will (Alex Sharp) receives bad medical news.
Dear reader, are you seated? The Bridgerton Season 3 trailer has ARRIVED. Let Polin season commence!
— Netflix (@netflix) April 11, 2024
Part 1 premieres May 16 🐝 pic.twitter.com/MgC4UxtMTV
All will be revealed in record time. By episodes four and five, most of the above issues resolved themselves before the series moved on to new challenges. To a degree, that feels like a “Lost” tactic – keep the story going by answering questions quickly, then introduce new questions – but the story meanders a bit for the final three episodes.
It all feels like a massive setup for something more outrageous to come. And this is the kind of story that can go big. But it needs to take a lot more risks. As of now, characters with the most promise are underused or dispatched. That might be in service of the source material, but permitting drab characters to run the show is, well, kinda drab.
That’s a central problem: Any one of these characters, namely the Oxford 5, could die without concern. The showrunners – which includes Benioff, Weiss and third one, Alexander Woo (“The Terror,” “Manhattan”) – certainly try to elicit an emotional reaction, even giving the most boring character cancer. Still, any character moments could easily be skipped. And hey, you can. Thanks, 10-second skip feature.
Those “GoT” showrunners have a lot riding on this series, following the HBO series’ reviled conclusion and the profitability of the $200 million deal they signed with Netflix in 2019. This one proves they can still tell a good story, though it lacks the gusto, the pomp of “GoT.”
For all its flaws, “3 Body Problem” is a fun ride that will hopefully return soon (without a quick turnaround, viewers will easily move on and forget this universe). But a complete recast, minus Benedict Wong and Liam Cunningham, as the leader of a planetary defense organization – the only characters keeping the show from going off course – wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen.
