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Hello once again to the creators of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and DB Weiss. This time, they have partnered with Netflix to adapt Liu Cixin’s renowned science fiction trilogy, starting with The Three-Body Problem. The eight-episode series, titled “3 Body Problem,” begins with a traumatic scene from China’s past, where a respected professor of physics is publicly beaten to death for teaching Western science during the Cultural Revolution. His wife, who also denounces him, watches in horror as her daughter and student, Ye Wenjie, witnesses the heartbreaking event. The story follows Ye Wenjie as she is sent to a labor camp in Inner Mongolia and later recruited for a mysterious scientific project on the outskirts, involving a large satellite dish and numerous buttons.

Currently, various particle accelerators across the globe are producing outcomes that defy established laws of physics. Furthermore, esteemed scientists are dying by their own hand, or giving the appearance of doing so, at an astonishing speed. These supposed “suicides” are being looked into by a former police officer named Da Shi, who takes on more intense acting roles despite my continued surprise following his comedic role in 15 Storeys High. He answers to Thomas Wade, a mysterious individual connected to a potentially even more mysterious organization with a goal of safeguarding humanity. Or not…I’m not entirely sure.

However, a mysterious death has reunited a group of five former students of their deceased teacher. The group includes underachiever and borderline nihilist genius Saul (played by Jovan Adepo), engineering prodigy Auggie (portrayed by Eiza González), who is on the cusp of a groundbreaking discovery in nanofibre technology, brilliant theoretical physicist Jin (played by Jess Hong), dropout Will (portrayed by Alex Sharp) who now teaches science to high school students and still holds a strong infatuation for Jin since their university days, and Jack (portrayed by John Bradley), who sacrificed his ideals for wealth in the snack food business. The late teacher being referenced is Vera Ye, daughter of a witness to her father’s murder in Beijing in 1966. This is just the first of many connections that will intertwine and circle back upon themselves throughout the story.

Auggie soon experiences a visitation or hallucination of a countdown to her own upcoming death. The only way to stop it is by giving up her ambitions involving nanofibres. An incredibly advanced virtual reality game becomes a factor and may or may not be linked to the deaths of Vera and the other scientists. Mysterious characters begin to appear, not captured on CCTV, who seem to possess knowledge beyond what they should know about others and the future. Even more alarming, a growing number of individuals start using whiteboards and blackboards to explain complex concepts such as higher dimensional geometry, orbital mechanics, the “Wow! signal,” and other significant matters. Despite the adaptation team’s efforts to add human interest to a book about intricate and theoretical physics, there will still be challenging concepts that we must strive to comprehend.

However, the book 3-Body Problem effectively propels the story forward, not only through the constant suffering and fortitude of Ye Wenjie and her confinement at the project site, but also through the present-day mystery. The arrival of Jonathan Pryce as Mike Evans, a former environmentalist turned secluded billionaire oil tycoon, adds to the intrigue. The revelations of the identities, motives, and summoners of the extraordinary forces occur at a steady pace.

However, it cannot fully eliminate the detached concept that lies at the core of the books, which is highly admired by its followers. It is indeed impressive and can be intriguing at its peak, but the danger it presents remains distant both figuratively and literally. There are puzzles to be solved, but only if one is capable, and there is no one or nothing to cheer for. Despite trying to serve as a metaphor for the climate crisis and human inaction in the face of potential destruction, it lacks enough significance and may even push us further away from emotional involvement. It cannot be considered as Netflix’s equivalent to Game of Thrones. Nonetheless, Benioff, Weiss, and their collaborator Alexander Woo have once again proven that no novel is truly impossible to adapt into film.

Source: theguardian.com