I was wrong about 3 Body Problem

#150: A few humble corrections after reading the entire trilogy.

My brain has melted. I just finished the most ambitious trilogy I’ve ever read. Yes, that’s hyperbolic but that’s where I’m at.

I’m talking about Chinese author Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, which consists of The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End.

Photo credit Andrew Liptak

These books took me on a journey across space and time. I hesitate to mention any plot details because the journey is most enjoyable when you have no idea what is coming next. Brief synopsis: Humanity has made contact with an extraterrestrial entity and is facing existential questions about its place in the universe. This is hard core science fiction that is fun to discuss with nerdy space friends.

Now that I’m done with the entire trilogy, I’m realizing I was wrong about the Netflix adaptation 3 Body Problem. Very wrong! I wrote about it a couple weeks ago from a position of total ignorance. I’m shocked that nobody called me out on it! Not a single person was like “Bro, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” The adaptation doesn’t make sense if you’ve only read one or two books; the entire trilogy is required. The show does a great job setting up all the future events.

Today I’m recanting much of what I said and trying to make things right. I hope if you’ve read the books and watched the show, you can chime in with your thoughts. I’m beyond pumped for future seasons and have no idea how they’re going to adapt these crazy books.

There will be spoilers!

***********************Spoilers Ahead!********************************

I was wrong about the characters

In my original review, I said “I think the show did a smart thing by adding characters (the “Oxford Five”) and an interpersonal dynamic between them that isn’t in the book.” WRONG! These characters are in the books and to some extent, so is their interpersonal dynamic. Each of the Oxford Five is a named character from the trilogy:

• Jess Hong as Jin Cheng (book character: Cheng Xin ← see what they did?). Now that I’ve finished book 3, I know that Cheng Xin is the major character we follow, so Jess Hong will be getting a lot more screen time. I’m glad I liked her so much!

• Jovan Adepo is Saul Durand (book character: Luo Ji). Luo Ji is another fantastic character with a major part in book 2 and a minor role in book 3. I’m so excited for them to adapt his Wallfacer solution from book 2! It’s going to be epic.

• John Bradley as Jack Rooney (book character: Hu Wen). Even a version of Jack’s Snacks is in the book! Hu Wen shows up in book 3 and is wealthy from selling mineral water. He gifts a bunch of money to Yun Tianming, who uses the money to buy a star for Cheng Xin. All of this is depicted in season 1.

• Alex Sharp as Will Downing (book character Yun Tianming). Alex Sharp’s performance makes WAY more sense now that I’ve read the trilogy. In book 3, he loves Cheng Xin! He pines for her! I think their storyline was set up well and I’m looking forward to seeing it develop in future seasons.

• Eiza Gonzalez as Auggie Salazar (book character Wang Miao). I wasn’t very nice to her in my last post and I stand by what I said.

Also, Thomas Wade is a book character, and quite a good one I might add! I’m very happy that Liam Cunningham will have such a fascinating role in upcoming seasons.

Did I mention I’m VERY excited for upcoming seasons?

The series showrunners are the guys behind Game of Thrones and I think this book trilogy is way more ambitious and technically challenging. I’m looking forward to seeing how they visualize all the events and concepts. I have an entire list of scenes in my head and I’m asking myself: “How are they going to do that?” My imagination barely contained these ideas so seeing it adapted is going to be very interesting. Adaptations are the best.

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We all make mistakes and I appreciate you indulging this correction.

Thanks for reading!

Kyle