3 Body Problem, the new Netflix series from the creators of Game of Thrones, is getting mixed reviews from viewers – but its creators are reportedly already preparing for a second season.
As we said in our review of the sci-fi series, Netflix is taking a big gamble with the show. The books by Liu Cixin that it’s based on are famously brain-melting, it takes some time to hit its stride, and it’s quite a hard sell to people who aren’t familiar with the source material. But it’s a show worth sticking with, and its creators say that things get better still in the as yet unconfirmed season two.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, showrunners David Benioff, Dan Weiss and Alexander Woo say that there’s a scene in season two that will make the current season’s jaw-dropper look like a wam-up: “there’s one scene, if we get to it, we’re golden – like when we got to the ‘Red Wedding’ on Thrones.”
According to Benioff: “It’s something we’ve talked about with the Netflix guys, too… The second book is far better than the first, and the third book just completely blew my mind. The story just gets more and more ambitious as it goes, and it takes a huge leap in book two. So I feel like if we survive to the second season, we’re going to be in a good place.”
What are people saying about 3 Body Problem?
As the Hollywood Reporter points out, the biggest negative against the show is that it’s really expensive to make. The show is believed to be the most expensive scripted series in Netflix’s history, with a budget rumored to be around $20 million per episode. It also hasn’t rocket straight to number one in the Netflix TV chart in the UK, coming in at number two instead.
In our 3 Body Problem review by Tom Power, we said that it’s “a cleverly constructed and sweeping epic that, once it navigates its clunky embryonic stage, finds an impressive balance between its high-brow plot, intimate and character-driven storylines, and grounding in real science and history-defining events… It won’t have the same, industry-altering impact that Game of Thrones had in 2011, but it’s more than earned a spot – a potentially permanent one – in my best Netflix shows guide.”
The show is currently sitting at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, where many reviewers share Tom’s view that it takes a while to find its stride. The Verge says that “by the finale, it becomes clear that these episodes are really just laying the groundwork for an even bigger, more deeply complicated narrative.” Den of Geek agrees that the first half is a little slow but says that “the back half of the season is consistently compelling, and sometimes downright thrilling”. But not every reviewer agrees that the show’s worth sticking with. The Chicago Tribune says that “somehow 3 Body Problem does not, in any way, feel urgent”, while The Independent says that “no book is really unadaptable; the problem is that rendering it on screen will simply be too dull, or confusing. 3 Body Problem is somehow both.”
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Netflix has a reputation for being driven by numbers, so even popular shows can get the bullet if they’re not being watched quickly enough or if too many people skip town after watching only a little bit. But 3 Body Problem could turn out to be a halo show, the kind of show that encourages people to sign up for subscriptions and for showrunners to want to be on the network. Could 3 Body Problem be a three season show that rivals Apple TV Plus’ sci-fi crown? We wouldn’t bet against it.
Each episode starts with a specific assignment and then goes deeper into the personal lives of the photographer. Mental health is a frequent topic. Love, too: love of family, the ocean, the thrill. Love for that exact moment when they know they got the shot, a feeling I’ve experienced vicariously often. Photographer’s mission, really, isn’t to show you beautiful photos; it’s to show you what it took to get them.
Insecurity also prevails. So does obsession with getting it perfect. They have a vision from the start. “Is it good enough?” asks Addy in reference to the results of any of his assignments.
Fashion photographer Campbell Addy is known for the way he captures Black and queer identities.Photograph: Courtesy of National Geographic
NatGeo’s new show also goes deep on just how wrong a photoshoot can go. In science photographer Anand Varma’s episode, he struggles with a time lapse of a hatching chick. Addy finds himself contending with his first solo exhibition. Despite this, they both emphasize they must get their client—usually someone, like me, sitting comfortably distant from the hassles—what they want.
There are so many similarities in these episodes, even though the genres of each photographer vary, from war to wildlife to celebrity portraits. These artists want perfection, and not just for their client but for their own sense of self, so they can move on to the next project in peace.
Science photographer Anand Varma works in his lab and photo studio Berkeley, California.Photograph: Courtesy of National Geographic
Netflix is used to taking gambles. From pioneering the crackdown on account sharing between households to remaking some of the best anime shows, the streaming giant has a penchant for persuing high-risk, high-reward strategies.
You can now count 3 Body Problem, Netflix’s TV adaptation of Liu Cixin’s brain-melting book series, among its big swings. Indeed, the streamer’s latest big-budget series isn’t just packed with abstract sci-fi fare; it’s also helmed by Game of Thrones’ (GoT) showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, whose reputation took a significant hit after the high-fantasy HBO show’s divisive final season.
Alongside Netflix and True Blood showrunner Alexander Woo, though, Benioff and Weiss have returned to form with an effective, mind-bending series that delivers a fitting take on Cixin’s dense and seemingly unfilmable source material. Its occasionally reductive plot threads and storytelling deviations will irritate fans of Cixin’s novels, while its more cerebral elements and plot pacing might baffle others. As a deep-thinking, multi-genre, and surprisingly intimate series, however, 3 Body Problem largely hits the sweet spot.
Secret Invasion
Ye Wenjie (right) is the character who sets 3 Body Problem‘s narrative in motion. (Image credit: Netflix)
3 Body Problem’s plot jumps between two storylines set in different time periods. The first, which takes place in the 60s and 70s, follows Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng), a Chinese astrophysics prodigy who becomes increasingly misanthropic as a result of numerous personally traumatic events. Disillusioned by the cruelty of the human race, Ye makes a fateful decision – one that echoes across time and space – when a seemingly benevolent alien race reaches out to her during her research into extraterrestrial life.
Half a century later, unorthodox detective Da Shi (Marvel star Benedict Wong) investigates a series of gruesome, unexplained deaths involving scientists across the globe. Under the command of a mysterious organization led by the enigmatic Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham), Shi soon finds himself trailing the Oxford Five – a group of scientific experts who might hold the key to staving off an invasion that humanity is ill-equipped to deal with.
3 Body Problem shines brightest when it leans into the human aspect of its story
3 Body Problem spends its early episodes flitting between these timelines, which isn’t a novel storytelling approach for a sci-fi show, but it nonetheless succeeds in slowly untangling the biggest mysteries within its core narrative. It’s not a superficial show by any means, either, with its layered story posing philosophical questions – mainly of the existential variety – and other brain teasers throughout its eight-episode run. Plotwise, 3 Body Problem also poses more questions than it answers, meaning viewers looking for an easy watch are in for a rude awakening.
3 Body Problem’s science-led subplots aren’t as complex as you might think. Well, mostly anyway. (Image credit: Netflix)
If you really focus on the narrative playing out, however, 3 Body Problem rewards you. Indeed, those who concentrate can spot clues that foreshadow events to come. It’s an interactive form of storytelling that showcases one of 3 Body Problem’s biggest strengths, i.e. its ability to subconsciously turn you into a prescient detective, rather than simply being an objective observer. I found myself trying to solve its largest puzzles before the answers were revealed by way of plot exposition, and I’d recommend you do the same if you want to add an extra dimension to your viewing experience.
Speaking of story exposition, there’s a frustration in how some of this is delivered. At times, 3 Body Problem does right by its narrative explanations – Da Shi’s evidence board, which contains important details about the Oxford Five in episode 1, for example, is a smart way of relaying important background information about each individual. Other times, characters vexingly repeat facts from one episode to the next. The revelation that the invading alien race is 400 years away from reaching Earth, for instance, is ‘revealed’ multiple times throughout episodes 3 and 4. My memory isn’t what it was, Netflix, but come on.
3 Body Problem is a cleverly constructed and sweeping epic
Its genre-bending makeup is also periodically erratic. A trailer that landed in January teased the potential for 3 Body Problem to be a sci-fi epic, VR horror, and mystery thriller rolled into one, but the tonal shifts throughout its early episodes are disappointingly temperamental. The lurching from sci-fi spectacle to tragicomedy, particularly during scenes that are seemingly set in a virtual reality (VR) world, typifies the show’s struggle to achieve equilibrium, something it doesn’t manage until its midway point.
You won’t look at virtual reality in the same way again after 3 Body Problem. (Image credit: Netflix)
I previously suggested that 3 Body Problem had the capacity to give you VR nightmares when its first clip surfaced online in November 2023, but some of its more terror-positioned visuals just aren’t frightening. Some are spooky and unsettling – the seemingly perpetual and unexplained countdown timer that plagues Auggie Salazar (Eiza Gonzalez), one of the Oxford Five, early on is unequivocally haunting. Other moments have a macabre flavor to them, including scenes where Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) and Jack Rooney (Jon Bradley) – other members of the aforementioned quintet – interact with obscure, state-of-the-art, minimalist VR headsets. Alas, that’s as terrifying as things get.
There are, though, moments that are genuinely shocking. One sequence in episode 5 is deeply disturbing in its simplicity; its body horror unnervingly juxtaposed with the eerily still atmosphere that accompanies it. Throw in more bloody, at-times physical and psychological violence, plus other adult-weighted material – and morbid, R-rated, and deadpan jokes – and the narratively dark aura that epitomizes Benioff and Weiss-led projects is as prominent here as it was in Thrones. They might have traded high fantasy for mind-bending sci-fi, but their fingerprints are evident across the final product.
A sky full of stars
The Oxford Five (Raj, third from the left, not included) are the heartbeat of 3 Body Problem. (Image credit: Netflix)
For all of its big-brain concepts, multi-genre scope and exorbitant scale, though, I believe 3 Body Problem shines brightest when it actively leans into the deeply human aspect of its story.
As I alluded to earlier, there’s a barely perceptible shift around the halfway mark as the show gravitates away from its staggering science-based theories and philosophical conundrums in favor of an intimate tale about life, love, death and survival. That’s not to say that 3 Body Problem throws its metaphysical and sci-fi-led elements away – after all, there’s still a pulsating, dread-inducing War of the Worlds-inspired story to be told and, hopefully in future seasons, concluded.
There’s a frustration in how some of 3 Body Problem’s story exposition is delivered
3 Body Problem’s ability to tell a meaningful, relatable, and tender story is what surprised me most about Netflix’s new lavish TV original, though. It displays a substantial emotional weightiness, particularly through Bradley’s Jack, Hong’s Jin, Alex Sharp’s Will (another of the Oxford Five), and Zine Tseng’s young Ye – based on her quietly intense performance, Tseng is a star in the making – that makes for a gripping melodrama to lose yourself in.
The dynamic between Thomas Wade and Da Shi is brimming with deadpan humor and occasional tension. (Image credit: Netflix)
It isn’t a completely somber and/or poignant affair, mind you, with plenty of adult-based levity, awkward humor, and even the odd slapstick moment that pleasingly lightens the mood amid the trauma-laced subplots. 3 Body Problem doesn’t shy away from giving each cast member their time in the sun, either, with the aforementioned actors – plus other important characters, including Jovan Adepo’s Saul, the only Oxford Five member I haven’t mentioned – installed as episodic leads. By the way, this is a Benioff and Weiss-created TV adaptation so, just like GoT, I’d advise not becoming too attached to any one character (if you know, you know).
Considering that I struggled to connect with its multidimensional cast of characters in its first half, it was remarkably gratifying to be able to identify and empathize with (albeit belatedly) them later on. The relationships between certain individuals – Wade’s interactions with Da Shi and Jin are notable highlights – crackle and fizz with pleasing intent, while the surprising team-ups between radically different characters add a dynamic flavor to specific scenes, too. Who would have thought that a trippy, paranormal, and theory-led show would do its best work in its character-driven component?
My verdict
3 Body Problem is a cleverly constructed and sweeping epic that, once it navigates its clunky embryonic stage, finds an impressive balance between its high-brow plot, intimate and character-driven storylines, and grounding in real science and history-defining events. An equal-parts international and intergalactic mystery, it’s an ambitious, mind-melting Netflix sci-fi show that demands your attention.
At times, it has the makings of an HBO-style prestige drama, with Benioff and Weiss’ work on Thrones paying dividends on their latest big-budget small-screen project. Largely, it’s a fitting adaptation of Cixin’s often unwieldy literary works, although it slightly trivializes its hypothetical source material through intermittent creative deviations and simplified conceptual explanations.
3 Body Problem was one of 10 exciting shows I couldn’t wait for in early 2024 and, after enjoying what it had to offer, I feel vindicated in my prediction. It won’t have the same, industry-altering impact that Game of Thrones had in 2011, but it’s more than earned a spot – a potentially permanent one – in my best Netflix shows guide. Once you’ve gorged yourself on all eight episodes on launch day, I’m confident you’ll understand why.
3 Body Problem exclusively launches in full on Netflix on Thursday, March 21.
For years, Registered Agents Inc.—a secretive company whose business is setting up other businesses—has registered thousands of companies to people who appear to not exist. Multiple former employees tell WIRED that the company routinely incorporates businesses on behalf of its customers using what they claim are fake personas. An investigation found that incorporation paperwork for thousands of companies that listed these allegedly fake personas had links to Registered Agents.
State attorneys general from around the US sent a letter to Meta on Wednesday demanding the company take “immediate action” amid a record-breaking spike in complaints over hacked Facebook and Instagram accounts. Figures provided by the office of New York attorney general Letitia James, who spearheaded the effort, show that in 2023 her office received more than 780 complaints—10 times as many as in 2019. Many complaints cited in the letter say Meta did nothing to help them recover their stolen accounts. “We refuse to operate as the customer service representatives of your company,” the officials wrote in the letter. “Proper investment in response and mitigation is mandatory.”
Meanwhile, Meta suffered a major outage this week that took most of its platforms offline. When it came back, users were often forced to log back in to their accounts. Last year, however, the company changed how two-factor authentication works for Facebook and Instagram. Now, any devices you’ve frequently used with Meta services in recent years will be trusted by default. The move has made experts uneasy; this means that your devices may not need a two-factor authentication code to log in anymore. We updated our guide for how to turn off this setting.
A ransomware attack targeting medical firm Change Healthcare has caused chaos at pharmacies around the US, delaying delivery of prescription drugs nationwide. Last week, a Bitcoin address connected to AlphV, the group behind the attack, received $22 million in cryptocurrency—suggesting Change Healthcare has likely paid the ransom. A spokesperson for the firm declined to answer whether it was behind the payment.
And there’s more. Each week, we highlight the news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click on the headlines below to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.
In January, Microsoft revealed that a notorious group of Russian state-sponsored hackers known as Nobelium infiltrated the email accounts of the company’s senior leadership team. Today, the company revealed that the attack is ongoing. In a blog post, the company explains that in recent weeks, it has seen evidence that hackers are leveraging information exfiltrated from its email systems to gain access to source code and other “internal systems.”
It is unclear exactly what internal systems were accessed by Nobelium, which Microsoft calls Midnight Blizzard, but according to the company, it is not over. The blog post states that the hackers are now using “secrets of different types” to breach further into its systems. “Some of these secrets were shared between customers and Microsoft in email, and as we discover them in our exfiltrated email, we have been and are reaching out to these customers to assist them in taking mitigating measures.”
Nobelium is responsible for the SolarWinds attack, a sophisticated 2020 supply-chain attack that compromised thousands of organizations including the major US government agencies like the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, and Treasury.
We’re approaching that time of the year that everyone dreads – the switch to Daylight Savings Time and the loss of a precious hour in bed that comes with it – and naturally people are asking whether it’s time to ditch daylight savings.
As my learned colleague explains in the article linked above, there’s a whole stack of evidence to suggest that changing the clocks back and forth every year is a truly terrible idea, and the people seem to agree with the experts, with most in favor of sticking to a year-round standard time.
Sounds like a done deal, right? Sadly I’m here to tell you why it’s not going to happen. At least, not any time soon.
Permanent DST in the USA
Here’s the thing: the USA has already tried shifting to permanent DST, and it didn’t work out so well. Back in January 1974, President Richard Nixon enacted year-round DST as a two-year energy-saving experiment in response to the 1973 oil crisis. It was a popular move at first, with 79 per cent of Americans supporting it when surveyed in December 1973.
It didn’t take very long for the public mood to change, however; by February 1974 only 42 per cent were still in favor of the switch. The main reason? The increased danger of traffic accidents involving children going to school on dark winter mornings. The two-year experiment only lasted until October 1974, when the clocks went back as usual.
British Standard Time
The same concerns brought about the end of a similar experiment in the UK a few years earlier. Between 1968 and 1971 the British government introduced British Standard Time, time-shifting the whole country to DST all year round. The move resulted in an increase in road casualties in the morning, but it also transpired that there was a much greater decrease in evening road casualties. This decrease was skewed, however, by the introduction of new laws on drink-driving around the same time.
Ultimately it was the small increase in children getting injured on their way to school that led to the end of this experiment. However, the switch to darker winter mornings also made life harder for farmers and other workers who relied more on daylight to do their jobs effectively.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Despite this, even in mid-winter half of the population was in favor of remaining on BST; that said, in Scotland 61 per cent wanted to go back to GMT. And this raises an important point: how hard you’re hit by permanent DST depends on just how far north (or south) you are.
For people in the north of Scotland during the British Standard Time experiment, in the middle of winter the sun wasn’t rising until 10am, which is a horribly late start to the day. Where I live in the West of England, the sunrise would have been 9.15am, and I don’t think having an extra hour of daylight while at work would have been much of a compensation.
And I have to say, in the US you have it pretty easy by comparison (except perhaps in Alaska. Sorry, Alaska), because you’re a lot further south. Even then, you’d still be looking at kids having to walk to school on dark winter mornings in most states (even Florida), and even if the overall result was fewer road accidents in total, an uptick in accidents involving children because of a switch to permanent DST would be a hard pill to swallow.
Keep changing the clocks
Obviously I’m talking about switches to DST here, while many are arguing instead for a move to standard time year-round. That has its own drawbacks, though: the sun setting earlier, meaning winter evenings are as dark and long as ever, and rising earlier in the mornings, which would mean a much greater need for blackout curtains in the summer months.
An eventual switch to permanent DST or standard time isn’t an impossibility – more of the world has abandoned it than currently uses it, and there’s a whole swathe of equatorial countries that have never had the need for DST – but the potential risks involved in switching mean that despite the clear benefits, there’s not much appetite for actually doing it.
(Image credit: Getty/pcess609)
Numerous states have voted in favor of permanent DST, but switching hinges on Congress changing federal law to allow them to do this. However while the Sunshine Protection Act for permanent DST passed the Senate in 2022, it failed in the House; it was reintroduced in 2023 but hasn’t made any progress. And it doesn’t help that while there’s a definite mood for a single year-round time, there’s disagreement over whether that time should be daylight savings or standard time, which is proving to be a major hurdle for the Sunshine Protection Act. Ultimately it’s a lot easier to muddle along with what we have, than to effect a change that’ll be unpopular with some.
