San Francisco Chronicle

Scientists unravel mysteries and find a threat to humanity

- By Michael Ordoña

Just when it seems there’s nothing original to watch, “3 Body Problem” falls from the skies.

The new Netflix sci-fi series has quite the pedigree: It’s adapted from the first Chinese novel (“The Three-Body Problem” by Liu Cixin) to win the Hugo Award, and the show creators have quite the resume. Along with Alexander Woo of “True Blood,” there’s David Benioff and D.B. Weiss of “Game of Thrones.” “Thrones,” of course, became a sensation, and if viewers can get behind a mind-bending thriller that unabashedl­y celebrates science “3 Body Problem” could be the next big thing.

It would be optimal to experience the show without knowing what it turns out to be about, as its surprises do reward. The entire first episode would have viewers guessing what the gag is right up to, and beyond, its knockout ending. (Skip the next paragraph if you want to know nothing of the central issue.)

For the purposes of this review, we’ll confess the gag involves humanity’s first conscious contact with alien intelligen­ce. But getting even that far means navigating puzzle after puzzle that pretty much only brilliant science-types can solve. It’s fascinatin­g. And that’s without figuring out what these not-necessaril­y friendly extraterre­strials want (let’s not forget what noted smart guy Stephen Hawking warned about aliens).

Early episodes jump between the Chinese Cultural Revolution and present-day England, in the company of scientists confronted with enigmas that turn out to be related. In 2024, when physics itself seems to be breaking, a shocking suicide reunites college friends who unearth some awfully strange informatio­n.

Auggie (Eiza González), who has been working on revolution­ary nanotechno­logy, starts seeing a fiery countdown wherever she looks. Jin (Jess Hong) discovers their departed

mentor had been obsessivel­y playing an impossibly advanced virtual-reality-like game, then falls into that rabbit hole herself. Back in the Cultural Revolution, Wenjie (played as a teen by Zine Tseng), struggling to survive that era’s violent anti-intellectu­alism, makes a stunning discovery about a government project.

Among the friends, González and, especially, Hong, are effective as the young geniuses trying to understand the mosaic. Alex Sharp is sympatheti­c as lovestruck Will, but Jovan Adepo’s roguish Saul could use some sharpening (though perhaps this is by design).

“Thrones” fans will get a kick out of John Bradley, who gets most of the laugh lines, and enjoy Liam Cunningham as an authority figure, while Marvel Cinematic Universe enthusiast­s will dig Benedict Wong (“Doctor Strange”) as a grizzled sort of cop.

Meanwhile, the visuals are top-notch and the narrative unfolds absorbingl­y, with each episode’s ending baiting viewers to stay up another hour for just one more.

The main attraction is the knot of brain-busters that are the fabric of the show. Because everything seems so well thought out, the stakes feel high. It matters that these problems get solved. When a character dies, it matters as well. And when we see the fruits of their genius deployed — especially in one extended action sequence in the middle of the season that might just break the internet — it hits hard. That sequence, memorable as it is, is a rarity in a series that relies on ideas rather than action. Its intensity derives from stakes, not jump scares.

The series explores big ideas as well, such as the desperate rigor and, sometimes, the consequenc­es, of science; notions of god and our place in the universe; the danger of cultlike belief and the utility of fear.

We’ve seen intelligen­t approaches to first contact (Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” and Robert Zemeckis’ “Contact” come to mind), but wrapped in this thriller genre, with these mysteries, these characters and this interestin­g structure, “3 Body” feels unique.

 ?? Ed Miller/Netflix ?? Liam Cunningham, from left, Eiza González, Jess Hong and Benedict Wong in “3 Body Problem.”
Ed Miller/Netflix Liam Cunningham, from left, Eiza González, Jess Hong and Benedict Wong in “3 Body Problem.”
 ?? Ed Miller/Netflix ?? John Bradley, Jess Hong, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Jenson Cheng in “3 Body Problem.”
Ed Miller/Netflix John Bradley, Jess Hong, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Jenson Cheng in “3 Body Problem.”

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