3 Body Problem Recap: A Lie About a Liar

What would it feel like to know for sure that aliens were out there and coming to Earth? Part of the power of Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem comes from the slow-motion, existential horror of considering that scenario. It’s not just knowing that our civilization is marching toward an all-but-inevitable death. It’s the world-shaking revelation that there’s life outside Earth in the first place — not to mention life far, far more advanced than us. It’s the fear of being totally alone in the universe, yet also the equal and opposite fear that we’re not alone. I’m not sure which idea is scarier.

It seems like Benioff, Weiss, and Woo are at least somewhat interested in capturing that same type of cerebral terror in their adaptation. But I’m also not sure they can because that tone would require something slower, weirder, and uncannier. Instead, the show still indulges in enough traditional sci-fi thrills to make you sometimes crave something a little more action-packed, propulsive, and emotionally engaging. You want the show to pick either the 2001: A Space Odyssey route or the War of the Worlds route, but in splitting the difference, neither tone fully works. Part of that actually comes down to Ramin Djawadi’s score, which is effective enough for your average sci-fi thriller but not quite as memorable and alien as it should feel for this material. But those decisions are made from the top down.

The strongest scene in “Our Lord” leans into the bizarreness inherent to this premise, spending several minutes with Mike Evans and the San-Ti representative while they discuss the concept of lying. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a completely unfamiliar yet intelligent species: The San-Ti seem to communicate instantaneously through thought and frequently speak in the first-person plural, so metaphors are a foreign concept. Fictional storytelling is synonymous with lying — and liars scare them.

I’ve enjoyed these limited insights into San-Ti anthropology, delivered by the creepily serene female voice that somehow automatically translates their language into English (the same voice as Sophon from the game). The absence of that voice is just as foreboding as its presence; judging by those final messages and that unsettling silence, the San-Ti may have already changed their minds about protecting Evans and, more broadly, cooperating with humans. It’s just a bit of a shame that the show hasn’t treated these moments with the full gravity that they deserve, especially compared to Ye Wenjie’s choice at the end of the second episode. The reveals feel casually tossed off instead of mind-blowing.

At least “Our Lord” continues in the footsteps of “Destroyer of Worlds” when it comes to moving the plot forward and clarifying what exactly is going on. For one, we get a fairly complete timeline on the partnership between Ye Wenjie and Mike Evans, who turn out to be co-founders of the organization behind … seemingly everything that’s been happening.

Over two flashbacks to the ’80s, we see Evans and Wenjie fall in love, first connecting in London about the unanticipated ways they followed in their fathers’ footsteps (Evans as an oil tycoon, Wenjie as an astrophysics professor at Tsinghua University). I like the moment when Wenjie subtly points out that Evans has grown quite used to the ultrarich lifestyle, even if he intends to use his inherited wealth to “fight power.” But she trusts his ultimate motives and does what she came here to do: open up to an old friend about her communications with aliens. From there, history is born once again.

When we check in two years later, Evans and Wenjie are landing a helicopter on Judgment Day, the big oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea destined to become the new research base and hub for communication with extraterrestrials. The San-Ti have been trying to reach Wenjie since she left Red Coast Base, and they hope she can teach them as much about Earth as they can teach her about their planet. Forty years from this point, there will be a whole colony of alien worshippers on this ship, treating the San-Ti like literal deities who can save humanity from extinction.

As usual, Wenjie actually ends up being the most grounded character here, reacting organically to news of the San-Ti in a way the other characters just don’t. Sure, we get a nice little scene of Jin and Auggie agreeing that the aliens explanation makes more sense than anything else, but that’s about all the time they have before Jin is whisked away to avenge Jack’s death by infiltrating the summit. Just an episode ago, it felt like Jin might be seduced into joining Tatiana and helping the San-Ti, but Jack’s death pretty much extinguishes any possibility of that happening in the near future — and then Tatiana tries to gun her down barely an hour after saying our Lord will protect her. So much for the flood in Hubei.

The summit itself is pretty interesting, and I do wish we got more of a look at this organization that has taken up so much real estate in the plot. (If this were a 20-episode-per-season show like Lost, we could spend a whole hour on that boat. And I didn’t even have Charles Widmore’s freighter in mind when I thought of that comparison.) These are the people at least partially behind the countdowns, the VR game, and a whole lot of dead scientists, but we’ve only really spent time with the founders.

The reveal that the top dog is Wenjie, rather than Evans, is an exciting moment, even if it’s a bigger shock for Jin than it is for the audience. This is framed as a sort of villain-reveal scene, and it’s true that we’ve only ever seen this older version of Wenjie in grieving mode, appearing as another maternal figure for the Oxford Five because of their connection through Vera. But we already grasp her basic philosophy without her needing to speechify about it, and that’s actually a testament to the smart, concise writing of her material in this first half of the season.

“When they arrive, you’ll be so grateful,” Wenjie says, beaming at Clarence after being arrested at the summit along with many of the other members. From her perspective, this is all part of the San-Ti’s plan. However, Evans’s interactions with them have shown us that this is not a species that can be easily understood or persuaded by humans. How do you build trust and faith in people so alien to you who have such a different set of values and beliefs? At its best, 3 Body Problem seems eager to explore that quandary. I just worry that we’re moving too fast to stop and think about it.

Subatomic Particles

• Another recap where I confine Will to the very end. Poor Will. It’s good to spend some time in the emotional aftermath of Jack’s death, but his final interaction with Jin feels more like a “let’s keep the whole cast updated on what’s going on” moment than a meaningful beat in and of itself.

• The scene of Clarence shooting the shit with his son is nice and elegantly shows the recurring issues in their dynamic (Clarence thinking his “entrepreneurial” son is lazy) while also showcasing an easy camaraderie between them. Their final interaction about the Heart-Snatcher is a good way of defusing the tension.

• If that one conversation about lies was enough to completely derail the San-Ti’s relationship with their Earth welcome party, how did they manage to communicate for all this time? Then again, we don’t really know how long “all this time” is. Evans’s interactions feel somewhat new, so maybe they only began a month or two ago, around the time the scientist suicides started.

• Is there an actual name for the society on Judgment Day and the organization at large?

• And really, I’d like to see more of that society: the undoubtedly propagandistic school lessons and all the other ways this unconventional religion manifests.