Ugh too bad, was looking forward to this
Episode 2 is better, in fairness!
Seconded. Three episodes in.
Iām having a hard time nailing down the tone of this show as it canāt figure out the right balance between goofy humor and gravitas.
I also donāt care for the Brotherhood character. Heās unlikable and/or poorly acted.
Goggins is his usual excellent self but this show needs more than just him.
I loved it, myself.
Casting is great. Iāve never seen Ella Purnell before but I was quite impressed.
And Goggins, of course, is phenomenal.
I like that we see a lot of pre-apocalypse stuff, and that it actually ties into the story.
3 Body Problem:
This is some solid scifi TV, based on some very solid scifi novels, brought to us by some very solid TV producers (aka, Those Guys Who Made Game of Thrones).
Iāll try to avoid spoilers, and I wonāt bury the lede: itās a great show, with a ton of tension, a very wide-scale story, and generally excellent acting. Unlike a lot of modern scifi, it very firmly keeps the āscienceā present in the science fiction, and it doesnāt treat the audience like weāre idiots and need everything signposted. The production values are super-high, much as they were for GoT, and the characters usually act like adults. Compare this to another recent and highly hyped Netflix project like Damsel, where everything was telegraphed and the acting was cartoonish, and it feels like night and day. The tone and quality of this isāto meāwhat Netflix should be shooting for with more of its projects (scifi and otherwise).
All of that said, though, there are some minor, er, problems I had with 3BP.
I donāt think itās giving anything away to refer to these silver VR helmets that are used by some characters during the course of the show because theyāre shown in the trailers. And the experience of people using them is handled very well. But they donāt use the things enough! Some of the best parts of this scifi (and a lot of other scifi) are making the audience feel the sense not knowing whatās going on, immersing them in alien culture, and showing off amazing tech. The headgear segments do all of this really well, so I donāt know why we donāt get more of it. And I could be less irked by that if what we got instead was also usually gripping and fun, but we often donāt. Sometimes we get juicy plot stuff or weird bits that add to the mystery. But too often we get our own dreary world and a couple characters that are frankly not very interesting for a large percentage of their screen time.
The three bodies above are not the problem in this regard. All three are interesting on their own, periodically surprising, and generally do things that propel the plot forward. The two bodies below are the problem.
These guysā¦. They make no sense. Both are ostensibly brilliant scientists, like several of the characters. But UNlike the other brilliant scientist characters, they show no apparent interest in solving any of the big issues at hand. Instead, theyā¦hang out. They are meant (I think) to represent the micro, personal human side of things, while the macro, big-plot side of things goes on all around them. Despite being brilliant scientists, they seem rather disinterested in world-changing sciency-events and treat them more as inconveniences to their micro drama playing out. The micro-drama leads to something for each of them by the last ep (one of which you can see coming, the other of which is so out of the blue to be nonsensical), but it tested my patience.
Maybe Iāve become (more) heartless in my advanced years, or maybe the grand, macro stuff is just so interesting that I didnāt want breaks from it, but I just did not care about those characters. And even knowing where they wind up, I still donāt care.
Second problem was the violence/gore. Iām ok with violence usually. I took little issue with the violence-porn that was GoT. But here, itās not in service of the plot, and it doesnāt help to deepen our sense of the world, because we already live in the world this story is set in. Westeros was fantasy. If a white walker ripped someoneās spine out, well, that tells us about a creature we didnāt know much about. It gives us a little more info about the world. In 3BP, we know the world already. Thereās no reason we need to see gory violence vividly portrayed.
And I keep comparing it to GoT because seeing this same level of violence-porn here makes me think that this is somehow the ābrandā of the 2 guys who directed both properties. And that is disappointing.
Another aspect of their ābrandā that I like, though, is that, much as in GoT, characters that appear to be main characters can die. That creates a sense of real stakes, which I like. However, I will admit that in 3BP, I was irritated about which characters got killed off. And maybe thatās the point of their choices. I wonāt say anything else on this topic so as to avoid spoilers.
Last irksome thing is all the smoking. So. Many. People. Smoke. Itās distracting. If it were just one or two characters, ok. But itās many characters, and many of them are hyper-intelligent people. Which is not me saying āOnly stupid people smokeā (althoughā¦), itās just a trait that doesnāt fit with their characters. And itās not subtle. There are several instances of the trite, āYouāre not supposed to smoke in here,ā and the character glares and does it anyway. Because theyāre rule-breakers! They do what they want! Icono-smokers!
Itās hackneyed, and the writers are better than that. It sticks out so much that it made me think for a while that this must be an alternate world to ours. But it doesnāt seem to be posited as such. Itās so heavy-handed that Iāve concluded it must be part of some anti-smoking-law jihad the creators are on.
But these things, all in all, are worth putting up with because this is some real science fiction that asks big questions, pulls no punches, and is made by thinking adults for thinking adults. Which we do not get enough of. 8/10
This review is great!
Here is one paragraph about how I like the show.
Here are 9 paragraphs about things that irk me.
8/10
Are they though. Because this stuff is new to the property, itās not from the books. Itās that really immature ālook at this fucking maverickā attitude you see from Hollywood writers. I read the books a while ago, and despite the third taking an abrupt turn for the worse, they were remarkably devoid of bullshit like this AFAI can remember, because Cixin isnāt from that culture.
Thatās very trueāI donāt remember any of that from the books either. Perhaps that contributed to why it felt so jarring to me. I donāt mind creators taking liberties in going from book to videoāitās a different medium. But this insertion makes no positive difference.
And I agree that Cixin did not stick the landing in book 3. Iām hoping that the series decides to go a different way by that point.
Hopefully they go mental by that point and the mavericks just fly a plane into the mothership in a determined suicide attack.
Im glad OhBolloxs stepped back from their original impression of fallout and saw there might be something to it. Ive got a lot of respect for your opinions, but your original poor impression didnt vibe with the way the series left me feeling. I understand Mirefoxs concern about the mix of goofy and gravitas, but the games are very goofy and gravitas, so id say they nailed the source material.
As for 3BP. I want to love it, but itll take at least 4 seasons to see the story through, and ive no faith in netflix as they may just pull the plug when weāre invested in half the story
Regarding 3BP: I had no prior knowledge about the source material, and I loved the series as it is. Maybe itās a classical case in which you wonāt enjoy the adaptation if youāve read the books.
I saw The Gentlemen series, which I also liked (but did not love) and Iāve started Manhunt, which seems promising (despite over-idealization of Lincoln)ā¦
Next will be Ripley or Sugarā¦ not sure yet
I think three storylines is two too many, and while it is goofy, thatās fine to a certain extent, as there had always been a jarring contrast between the wholesome 50s vibe of the vaults (some of them) and the horrific wasteland that the attitude created.
Not sure it all melds together that well, and I find the abduction of Kyle Maclachlan deeply uninteresting, unlike Ella Purnellās character. She should be out looking for a water chip.
Just started 3BP and am rather enjoying it; I read the books forever enough ago that I donāt recall the little details enough to contrast them with the show.
I absolutely loved The Gentlemen (Netflix) and hope they make a second season.
Need to finish Shogun but Iāve enjoyed the season so far.
Could use some recommendations from you fabulous people about what to watch next. Just finished The Gentlemen (after several of you reporting that it was good) and 3BP before that and liked both. Thank you very kindly.
Have you seen Resident Alien? Wife and I both love that show.
I havenāt tried thatāIāll give it a look tonight. Thank you!
Hopefully it works for you. Tried it based on my affection for Alan Tudyk and he knocks it out of the park. Itās really more of a small-town dramaā¦except for the random points where it intersects with the fact that heās a shapeshifting alien.
Seconding Resident Alien, also Slow Horses, Station Eleven, The Bear, White Lotus.
Beef (Netflix)
The Bear (Hulu)