The second and third episodes of the series begin fitting the pieces together. We learn that in China Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng) is the one responsible for contact with alien life and an invitation that the world now must contend with. In the present, we see much more of the video game with Jack (John Bradley) and Jin (Jess Hong) both playing, first separately and then together, to solve the problem that gives the show its name. That problem ties directly to an impending alien arrival and it’s in the solving of the game, and an invitation given to the pair of them, that the show also incorporates the mysterious woman (Marlo Kelly) who doesn’t take kindly to one of the pair turning her down.
3 Body Problem plays with ideas about the addictiveness of video games, even to those who should know better. Obviously, the man-child Jack wasn’t going to give in, but with Jin we see her need to solve the problem and compassion for those in the game that need to be saved force her forward. Despite promising to quit the game, and understanding it may be doing something to them they cannot perceive or control, they continue and eventually solve the problem learning dangerous knowledge one of them simply can’t accept. “Destroyer of Worlds” ends with another scientist’s death and how the others respond to that, and what they now know, should be interesting to see play out as (at least from what we’ve seen so far) it seems like the ingenious game makers have made their first big mistake.
How exactly the countdown and the flickering stars play into all of this is still unclear. Da Shi (Benedict Wong) continues to investigate and meets with Auggie (Eiza González) who chooses to scuttle her life’s work to go from scared about doing it to scared about whether she’s done the right thing. González seems to have drawn the short straw when it comes to storylines, but hopefully the show will work its way back to her, the importance of her work, and why the aliens need it undeveloped by the time they arrive.
