On the heels of Peacock’s own take on Liu Cixin’s Hugo award-winning sci-fi series of books, 3 Body Problem has dropped on Netflix, and we got an early look at the first episode of their take on the series.
Unlike other adaptations of The Three-Body Problem, Netflix has, instead, chosen to spice things up by pulling material not only from the first book but elements and characters that typically show up later down the line, a smart move that helps differentiate itself from other adaptations.
Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have taken the helm on 3 Body Problem, along with everyone’s favourite Night Watch member, John Bradley, as Jack Rooney, a crude but loveable physicist turned junk-food tycoon.
For those unfamiliar with The Three-Body Problem, the basic premise, which the first episode of the show seems to adhere to, revolves around a string of mysterious suicides involving high-profile scientists, all seemingly connected by their research. Taking place and spanning both a 1960s communist China and a more Western-focused contemporary setting, 3 Body Problem’s opening act does a great job of introducing audiences to its extended cast of characters.
Similarly to Games of Thrones, 3 Body Problem doesn’t really have a central protagonist. Instead, like the book, the first episode takes its time to flesh out the cast, which primarily consists of the “Oxford Five,” a group of scientists hailing from the legendary Oxford University who have come face to face with paranormal happenings that have resulted in the death of their colleagues.
“3 Body Problem’s opening act does a great job of introducing audiences to its extended cast of characters.”
After the death of her father for radical scientific ideologies in communist-controlled 1960s China, a young girl by the name of Ye Wenjie is sent off to a Mongolian lumber camp where her own radicalism sees her thrown into prison, only to be allowed her freedom by willing to work for a secret government project that may or may not be trying to communicate with alien life.
From here, the episode jumps ahead in time to a contemporary 2024 setting, in which the audience is introduced to the Oxford Five, which chief among them, at least for the first episode, focuses on Auggie Salazar (Eiza González) and Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo), along with Jack Rooney as mentioned above.
The episode focuses on Auggie, a fellow scientist gripping with the loss of one of their own while also dealing with what, at first glance, appears to be strange visual hallucinations in which a mysterious nixie-clock-style countdown clouds the gifted woman’s vision.
If you’re an anime fan, these sequences feel reminiscent of the sci-fi visual novel and TV series Steins; Gate, which in itself may have drawn some inspiration from Liu Cixin’s body of work.
The episode’s climax ends with Auggie and Saul outside in the courtyard of Oxford University, where the literal stars in the night sky have seemingly started to fade and flicker in a deliberate sequence that Saul quickly decodes as the same numbers that hover over Auggie’s sight.
As far as pilot episodes go, 3 Body Problem does a good job of creating a sense of intrigue and mystery that feels reminiscent of shows like Fringe and the X-Files, with the added character drama found in shows like Game of Thrones and its own source material.
