"3 Body Problem" held my attention longer than most T. V. series. It's a mysterious sci-fi with enough moving parts to keep you guessing, but not so many as to keep you totally confused. Some of the world's smartest scientists were killing themselves and no one knew why. The most significant information we had as viewers was a terrestrial satellite in China that was being run by a physicist named Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) roughly fifty years ago, and separately, a super-advanced VR headset being used by a physicist named Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) and a rich guy named Jack Rooney (John Bradley) in the present day. It was all mysterious, awesome, and unnerving. Some very unexplainable events were happening that had even the most preeminent minds baffled.
I thought "3 Body Problem" was great as long as they didn't go too deep into the interpersonal relationships. That kills shows for me unless that's what the shows purport to be from the beginning. If I'm watching a sci-fi, I want sci-fi; if I'm watching an action film, I want action, etc. I want the interpersonal drama to be as limited as possible. Give me what I need in order to know the personality of each character then pivot off of it into the matter at hand. I think shows that spend too much time on personal drama and relationship drama are wasting valuable time. I feel like they do that to fill space which is a sure fire way to make me checkout.
"3 Body Problem" largely stayed away from the interpersonal drama until episodes seven and eight. It was as if they ran out of steam a bit and needed content. I don't know where "3 Body Problem" goes after season one, but I think they have enough momentum to go far so long as they don't get in their own way.
Netflix.
