‘3 Body Problem’ Review: ‘Game of Thrones’ Producers May Have Delivered Netflix’s Next Sci-Fi Obsession

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Series rarely come as well scaled for long (potentially very long) multi-season runs as “3 Body problem“, a clever sci-fi concept from a production team – “game of Thrones‘” DB Weiss and David Benioff, whose last major company shared similar attributes. The opening eight-episode salvo, which quickly reveals secrets, plants a hook for many more problems to come.

Based on the books by Chinese author Liu Cixin, revealing details about the program risks spoiling it for the uninitiated, but it’s safe to say that the premise sets in motion a major mystery: someone appears to be killing scientists, for reasons that remain. clear. given the pace of most freshman series, surprisingly quickly. Furthermore, some of the scientists are plagued by strange visions, seeing numbers that seem to be counting down: to what, being the operative question.

Much of this unfolds through an extended group of friends who work in the sciences (played, among others, by Eiza González, Jovan Adepo and Jess Hong) losing one of their members. Elsewhere, a detective (“Doctor Strange” star Benedict Wong) investigates these seemingly connected cases, while another government official (Liam Cunningham, one of the “Thrones” alums in the cast along with John Bradley and Jonathan Pryce) begins to understand the bigger problem. image and prepare for the somewhat nebulous battle ahead.

Another thread, connected slowly but intelligently, involves a young scientist in China during the 1960s after the communist regime took power, Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng), who becomes aware of the problem that those aforementioned characters will face decades later. .

In that sense, “The 3-Body Problem” (a title derived from physics) shares certain attributes with “Game of Thrones,” which established the threat posed by the White Walkers from the beginning, then became caught up in other politics and relationships of Westeros while that tempting, existential danger loomed and got closer as the show progressed.

The details of this globe-spanning, time-jumping series pose an even thornier challenge, narratively speaking, in the same way that a novel like “Base” has become an unwieldy offering for Apple.

For the most part, though, this show (overseen by Benioff and Weiss along with “The horror” Producer Alexander Woo (though he has a long list of co-producers that includes Brad Pitt and director Rian Johnson) proceeds with such a firm hand that he remains very visible throughout what amounts to this extended overture.

Netflix could certainly use another obsession within this genre like “Strange things” is nearing its end, and “3 Body Problem,” while a very different kind of show, seems well-positioned to scratch a similar itch.

The culmination of A long trip from the page to the screen, it remains to be seen what the future holds for such a complex and demanding construction; Still, after rabidly consuming the first season, most of the show’s problems seem to be strictly high-class.

“3 Body Problem” premieres March 21 on Netflix.