3 Body Problem Review: Plot and Ending Explained

3 Body Problem Netflix Series Review! What Is It About?

3 Body Problem is a sci-fi Netflix series adapted from Liu Cixin's novel of the same name and created by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss and Alexander Woo. The series first came to Netflix on March 21 and has had a steady audience ever since. As someone curious about these kinds of intriguing productions coming to Netflix, I gave the show a chance. I started watching a show that was already being praised heavily before it even came out, and I finally finished it. In this piece I'll talk about my 3 Body Problem review, and I'll also share what I liked and disliked about the show. But before I start, let me give the spoiler warning. :)

3 Body Problem Netflix Series Review

Where It All Began

3 Body Problem Netflix Series Review: What Is It About?

According to Wikipedia, the series' plot is as follows:

Ye Wenjie is an astrophysicist who watches her father be brutally killed during China's Cultural Revolution. She is later conscripted by the military because of her scientific background and sent to a secret radar base in a remote region of China. Her fateful decision in the 1960s echoes across space and time, reaching a group of scientists in the present day and forcing them to confront humanity's greatest threat.

Warning: Contains Spoilers!!!

Now let's move on to the first episode and get a bit deeper into this...

The first episode of the series begins with events from China's Cultural Revolution in the '60s. Our character Ye Wenjie's father (Ye Zhetai) is one of the famous physicists of that era. But because of the issue of belief in God and some experiments he was working on, he's put on trial in front of the entire public. When soldiers ask him about God and he says "there's no scientific proof of it," the whole thing blows up, and after being abandoned by his own wife, he is beaten to death in front of the public. Ye Wenjie, meanwhile, can only sob among the crowd over her father's tragic death. After this event, Ye Wenjie sees this cruelty in the world and realizes that the world's order needs to change. That's why, in later episodes, she tries to make contact with another planet. When the beings living on that planet also make contact with her and warn her, "Do not answer this message, or we will come. We will conquer your world," she ignores the warning and sends the message "Come, I will help you," effectively setting everything in motion.

After this tragic event, the series suddenly jumps to London in 2024. We meet an officer and several physicists working on possible experiments. The physicists start committing suicide one by one for no apparent reason. Two of the physicists, Saul and Vera (who we later learn is Ye Wenjie's daughter), are working on a project, but a decision is suddenly made to shut it down. After Vera visits Saul at the office to tell him this, she asks him whether he believes in God, and right after that she throws herself off a hill in the middle of the experiment site and kills herself. I don't want to skip over this either: every physicist who dies claims to have seen something... If you notice, there was a God problem at the very start of the series too, and here the issue is tied back to God again. While all of this is happening, we also start getting to know our other physicist characters: Auggie, Jin Cheng, Jack Rooney, and later, Will Downing, who will come down with a relentless illness.

The Mystery Behind the Numbers

While working on her experiment, Auggie starts seeing certain numbers, and later realizes that these numbers are actually a countdown. From that point on, we start wondering whether these numbers have anything to do with the physicists who died. Auggie and Saul go after this mystery together, and while chasing it, a strange girl named Tatiana shows up. This character bothers Auggie further by telling her to look at the sky at midnight. Auggie goes to look at the sky at midnight together with Saul, and what do they see but "The sky is winking at them." Once not just Auggie but the whole world starts seeing this, things get a bit out of hand. While we're wondering what just happened and who that girl was, in the following episodes we see that another physicist, Jack Rooney, has also died by apparent suicide (but is actually killed by Tatiana). Tatiana is a character who doesn't show up on cameras, who kills physicists, and who communicates with aliens. So yes, aliens are involved... And they're somehow trying to destroy the science humans have created.

Virtual Reality and Video Games

There's also a part of the series involving virtual reality. Jin Cheng finds a shiny silver headset in Vera's mother's (Ye Wenjie's) house. Wondering what this headset is about, when she puts it on, she finds herself inside a video game. Yes, yes, inside a video game. (Actually I meant to bring this part up first, because what I found quite interesting about the series was its interest in video games and virtual reality.) This video game has a very different side to it: Jin Cheng can feel everything in the game as if it were completely real. The game has levels just like other video games, and there's a mission in it. The main mission is to save our little sister, who keeps dying and coming back to life. Jack Rooney soon joins his friend Jin Cheng and starts playing the game too, but the game affects both of them psychologically... In fact, Jack Rooney is killed by the strange girl Tatiana simply for quitting the game. So this game is one made with the aliens' advanced technology... Certain parts of the series keep referencing video games again.

The Ultimate Ending

In the series finale, it's revealed that the one responsible for all this mystery (the numbers, the killing of the physicists, the video game) is an alien race called San-Ti. In other words, while Ye Wenjie thinks, "Let me save the world from savage humans, let me create a new world order, let us live in peace with the San-Ti," she doesn't realize she is dragging the world into massive chaos. Because the San-Ti race soon realizes that, alongside good people, the human race also harbors malicious people who lie and kill each other (something they also test in the game), and they refuse to coexist with such a race. In the end, they seize all of humanity's science, create a far more powerful technology, and start watching every human movement on Earth. The series hasn't ended yet, and will most likely return with a new season. The San-Ti race, for now, is only observing from their own planet, meaning they haven't reached Earth yet.

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3 Body Problem: What I Liked/Disliked

• There's a part in the series where the San-Ti race reveals themselves and hints that they've started watching humans. After that point, I don't understand why they never show themselves again. They come in with a "we winked and left" vibe and suddenly retreat back into their own corner.
• The series generally moves along with a tense atmosphere, but there are also plenty of slower stretches, and in some parts you find yourself thinking, "Come on already, San-Ti people, get here."
• It reflects a bit of a Squid Game and a bit of a Black Mirror vibe, but overall it has an original story.
• The atmosphere, effects and cinematography are quite high quality.
• The casting is strong, with every character performing well individually.
• The references to video games and human behavior take the series to another level.
• It has a different subject from other sci-fi series.

As a result, since I went through the series episode by episode and evaluated various parts, you might be a bit confused, but overall I think you understand that humanity is facing an alien invasion. Those who've watched the series already know all the events. But it's worth remembering that this alien invasion stems from humans lying to each other and the world becoming an increasingly bad place. In other words, I think there's a lesson we should take from this as humanity. We'll see whether, in the second season, we finally get to meet the San-Ti race and hear someone say, "A body is approaching, sir." :)