Premium3 Body Problem Is An Out-Of-Body Viewing Experience (Not In A Good Way)
This is #RationalLampoon, where Harsh Pareek roasts the most deserving titles from among new streaming releases. Today: 3 Body Problem.
Last Updated: 04.02 PM, Mar 28, 2024
This column was originally published as part of our newsletter The Daily Show on March 28, 2024. Subscribe here. (We're awesome about not spamming your inbox!)
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IT IS A TRUTH UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED that adaptations are a tricky business. Even the best of them often pale in comparison to their source material. But every once in a while, along comes a television series or a film with a clear opportunity to improve upon the work it's been adapted from; say, a work with some interesting ideas at its heart, but also a few glaring shortcomings. Say, a book like Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem.
The Hugo Award-winning international bestseller boasts a fascinating premise and is packed to the hilt with outrageously amusing concepts, but also suffers from the classic (and often recurring) malady that haunts many a science fiction — poor writing and hollow characters. So much so that almost any reworked iteration of it is bound to be an improvement — let alone a big budgeted undertaking years in the making — and it would require some special skills to mess it up. Worry not, because when Game of Thrones fame duo David Benioff and DB Weiss are on the scene, nothing is impossible.
But before we get too ahead of ourselves, a little housekeeping. Set in the United Kingdom, 3 Body Problem follows a group of five scientist friends (sciends?) who team up with a detective in the face of an existential planetary threat stemming from a fateful decision made in the 1960s by an astrophysicist during China's Cultural Revolution.
Well, to be sure, from the locations to the characters and how things unfold, a lot of what happens on the screen is dramatically different from the book to the point of being disorienting (alas, not for the better). Some of this can be attributed to shows put together by streaming giant Netflix going for as broad a global appeal as possible; but the rest…well, your guess is as good as mine. Since the book itself is not the greatest model for storytelling practices to start with, and we are focusing on the show itself, we will try to keep the comparative analysis to a minimum.
Now then, with the preliminaries out of the way, let's get on with the important questions.
So, what's going on here, mate? Aliens. Always the aliens.
That can't be nice? And it isn't. Not only is it an existential level crisis for our species, they keep calling us names.
Like what? Bugs and… liars.
Why are they like this? A lady from China, disillusioned with humanity during the Cultural Revolution, gave them an invitational call to come over and straighten things out.
That's heavy. I hope the show is able to give its global audience a better understanding of this history and its legacy. Yeah… we get over it in the first 10 minutes. Same with most other grand themes the show touches upon, so don't think too much about it.
So what's the status? How are we planning to deal with these no-good aliens? Well, we have a team.
Like the Avengers? Not quite. I've heard them referred to as the Oxford Five, but they're more like the Famous Five.
Is one of them a dog, then? No, no. I meant purely in spirit. These are five brilliant scientists who already happened to be best friends. Amazing coincidence, I know.
Alright, so they all put their minds together to come up with a plan to save humanity? Again, not quite. See, two of them are actively engaged in that; one is just high most of the time, biding his time till we get to the very last episode; one is our comic relief; and the last one does the heavy lifting with all the emotional stuff.
That doesn't sound very promising. Eh. But we've also got Da Shi and Thomas Wade!
Who are they? The former is a cop, of sorts. He does things. And the latter is like Nick Fury. He swears a lot.
Huh… How's the acting? Good screen presence can always turn things around. Stiff and uncomfortable, just as Netflix likes it.
Surely there's some chemistry between all these characters? If by chemistry, you mean all their dialogues sound like acidic reactions, then sure. Exchanges so good they could make even Christopher Nolan blush. Have you heard someone say "I don't know how to fight aliens" in all seriousness, with a suitably sombre expression? Didn't think so.
But with all this tricky science and history stuff, how is it all communicated in a natural way? Not to worry, we've got an exposition train running every 15 minutes. It's fast, full, with no standing room even for good ol' Subtlety.
Okay, let's leave the humans aside for a second, and get back to the aliens. They sound powerful, if they can wipe us all out? They are very powerful, but also very stupid. And that's exactly how we'll win the war when they get here in 400 years.
So they are not a threat at the moment? Of course they are. They already have their supercomputer spies over, and a following of degenerate, traitorous human beings who are ready to do their bidding.
Are these spies powerful? When they feel like it. Sometimes they'll go to weird lengths to take care of business, other times they'll just start giving people visions to scare the bejesus out of them. It's like that hyperspace ramming logic from The Last Jedi. They'll do it whenever they want to look cool.
And how do they recruit these followers? Through a video game featuring a rather annoying child and an AI lady with a sword.
And that works? Of course it does! Who doesn't like video games?
But all this is being carried out in secret by these aliens so far, right? Like most things in this universe… kind of. They do as the plot pleases. Don't think too much about it.
Does the show feature dogs? Even better: a goldfish…and a sea of dead birds!
Well, with everything that's going on here, I guess the special effects must be amazing to make it all seem believable? About that… Let's just say they are right up there with some of those spammy mobile game ads that keep popping up on your screen when all you want to do is read up on the latest dognappings in Hollywood. But, as you said, with all this going on, who needs good special effects? I'm sure no one will even notice.
So, how would you describe the overall experience of watching 3 Body Problem? Out of body! Like when you're hungover and drifting between sleep and wakefulness, your head thumping, and you really want to take a wee. The line between the real and unreal blurred, and all you're left with is a sense of fear of the unknown. Around there, I suppose.