Netflix’s 3 Body Problem—an adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s acclaimed sci-fi novel from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (Game of Thrones) and Alexander Woo (The Terror: Infamy)—delves into enormous questions. But though its central conflict is planet-sized, it manages to feel like an intimate story, with characters who feel real despite the unbelievable and often elevated circumstances they find themselves in.
Figuring out the specifics of what all that means is as easy as picking up the novel; 3 Body Problem is a mostly faithful adaptation, at least up to a certain point, aside from some casting choices that make it a more diverse, more universally accessible story. But if you haven’t read the source material, you’ll be more rewarded by going in without much advance knowledge of what’s to come.
That said, it’s no spoiler to say that 3 Body Problem’s characters face a dilemma carved from classic science fiction, but presented in such a grounded way that it feels like it could actually happen. With 400 years to prepare for an event that could end the human race, those in the present day must decide how involved they’ll be in trying to protect future generations. At times, the story feels a bit like a comment on the way people react (or don’t react) to climate change. There’s also a religious or cult of personality parallel, as some in 3 Body Problem react to the situation by serving a leader they don’t really know, but worship with zealous fervor.
Since 3 Body Problem is about an extraordinary event in human history, it makes sense that its main characters are all extraordinary people. Geniuses across the board, in fact. The “Oxford Five”—Auggie (Eiza González), Jin (Jess Hong), Saul (Jovan Adepo), Will (Alex Sharp), and Jack (John Bradley)—met in a physics lab at the famed university; though they’ve gone on to pursue different careers, they share a deep bond that tightens when they reunite for the funeral of someone who held great importance for the group.
Elsewhere in the story, we meet another brilliant scientist, Ye Wenjie (played with equal ferocity at different ages by Rosalind Chao and Zine Tseng), as well as a reclusive billionaire (Jonathan Pryce) and two determined operatives (Benedict Wong as Clarence, Liam Cunningham as Wade) working for a mysterious, top-secret government organization. Surveillance, and particularly the exploitation of privileged access to shape perceptions, is a big theme in 3 Body Problem—not just as it relates to those latter two characters—as is communication, or perhaps more accurately, the perils of not being able to communicate clearly.
These are heavy topics that certainly had room to breathe on the pages of a novel, but 3 Body Problem does have eight episodes, averaging about an hour each, to make its approach feel dynamic and ideally paced. It takes place in different locations—China, England, New York, Panama, the middle of the ocean—but it never feels overly sprawling; we’re kept in the loop on how the public is reacting via snippets of TV news, so we understand this is a worldwide affair, but the narrative keeps its focus on the different but often intertwining dramas of its key characters.
It must be said, 3 Body Problem makes being a science whiz feel like the coolest thing ever, though its egghead characters all deal with agonizing setbacks that remind us how human they are, and science itself takes a beating as things escalate. These nerds are likable—as is the rumpled, fiercely loyal Clarence, and it’s even hard to stay mad at the prickly, sharp-tongued Wade; you can’t help rooting for them as they draw on their various areas of expertise as part of the save-the-world plan. There are moments of extreme anguish and heartbreak along the way, not to mention tragedy and horror; this comes from the Game of Thrones guys, after all, and while 3 Body Problem isn’t nearly as graphic as that show, it does boast some moments of visceral violence. The production values across the board are top-notch; basically exactly what you’d expect from a Netflix production of this caliber.
It’s also, somehow—despite holding a very dark mirror up to our own reality—shot through with moments of tender affection and wry humor, as if taking a step back to remind 3 Body Problem viewers that yes, humans might be horrible creatures a lot of the time, there’s still something about them worth preserving… even if it’s couched in a tale that’s very often mind-blowing, even to the people who are exposed to its clandestine details. “Adjust your weirdness horizons,” Jin wearily advises someone who dares to remark that something they’ve just witnessed is very odd. “This is maybe the 28th weirdest thing I’ve seen this month.”
Season one of 3 Body Problem premieres March 21 on Netflix; though additional seasons have not yet been announced, let’s just say the door is left yawning wide open for more—and if subsequent seasons are as thought-provoking as the first one is, we’re all for it.
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