Last week I talked about how I had started a bunch of shows, but I couldn't get past the pilot episodes. Luckily, one show interested me enough that I was able to finish its first (and only, so far) season. 3 Body Problem.
I had heard some rumblings about this Netflix show, but they weren't the sort of rumblings that would normally draw me in. Incomprehensible. Violent. Weird...
Okay, weird I'm okay with. I'm not fond of violence, but I can put up with it for the right sort of story. As for the hard to understand part, I am familiar with the 3 body problem from my physics studies (in that it's not solvable).
As nothing else was sticking, I figured I'd give it a go.
The pilot episode didn't turn me off. I was ambivalent, but willing to give it a second episode. It wasn't until episode four or five that I felt like I got my feet under me, and then I was on board. (That's about the time the underlying mysteries got explained. It went from what the heck? to oh, I know these tropes.)
The show starts off with some weird things happening in science. Particle colliders are turning up weird results that are upending all particle physics theories. Something's wrong with the accelerators or something's wrong with the theories. Science is broken.
At the same time, various scientists are dying--many by their own hand. It's too many to be a coincidence. And one of our main characters is seeing a countdown in her vision that no one else can see. It's clear that some of the other now-dead scientists had seen this same countdown. (She goes to see a neurologist. They can find nothing wrong.)
The show centers on a group of people (age: 30-ish) who went to university together (I think it was Oxford--they're in the UK). They studied physics. Two are working scientists. One went into developing something in the private sector. One became a physics teacher. And the last one left the field and became a millionaire selling chips (food, not computer chips).
And then there's a parallel story set in China in the late '60s. That connects it all together. Eventually.
This is a great sci fi show. If you like that sort of thing. And if you have Netflix. (Sorry if you don't.)
Have you seen it? Are you tempted if you haven't?
I enjoyed this series.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it turned out pretty good, didn't it?
DeleteI don't even know if "I" have Netflix! Now and again my son signs up for free/discounted streaming services. It sounds a bit more interesting than a regular sci-fi, in that it seems to be a mystery as well. I do like mysteries!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, which streaming do we have? I know how that goes. Worth it if you have Netflix.
DeleteI don't have Netflix so I'm out but ot does sound intriguing and I would like to see it...one day.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Netflix would be worth it for you even just to see this. They don't do a lot of classic movies and such.
DeleteUnfortunately I’m not fond at all of anything that is not real (= fantasy, sci-fi, super heroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc). I don’t even like magician shows. I do like mysteries, though, but they must be realistic. Any fantasy plot is acceptable only in animation movies. Those are the best!
ReplyDeleteAh, then you would really hate this. No worries.
DeleteI think we might enjoy this, especially my husband the science geek. We don't have a Netflix subscription, though. And we have plenty to watch, so all is good. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI think you might enjoy this, but yeah, I wouldn't subscribe to Netflix just for this.
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