The Three Body Problem

My (fairly stupid) rule of thumb when it comes to a TV miniseries is that I will only watch it if I have read and enjoyed the book it’s based on. Three Body Problem qualifies, though it’s probably the only trilogy I’ve read where the first book is my least favorite. Still, this is a solid adaptation of challenging material. Is it great? Not really. It’s consistently enjoyable and it gets slowly better toward the end where it delivers some emotional payoffs and stunning moments. It does sacrifice some of Liu’s intellectual ambition and it occasionally dips into melodrama, but both versions of Ye Wenjie are terrific, and there’s some fine character work outside the parts of it that feel like “Friends”. Worth the eight episode investment, and, believe me, I don’t say that lightly. (Netflix)