“3 Body Problem” (Season 1) is a new series streaming on Netflix. Based on Cixin Liu’s bestselling novel of the same name, the show is created by “Game of Thrones” creators – David Benioff & D. B. Weiss along with Alexander Woo. It’s a mix of fantasy, drama, and science fiction that follows multiple narratives across different timelines about a group of scientists and a detective trying to fight a looming threat to our planet. Through its eight episodes, “3 Body Problem” highlights the initial stages of discoveries that will decide their future. Besides, Benioff, Weiss, Woo, Rose Cartwright, and Madhuri Shekar share the credit for writing the show’s teleplay.
Spoilers Ahead
3 Body Problem (Season 1) ‘Netflix’ Recap:
What is Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ about?
“3 Body Problem” on Netflix is a science-fiction series that follows a fascinating narrative about a group of scientists trying to confront an imminent threat to Earth. The show consists of 8 episodes that are about 44–63 minutes long. Its cast includes Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Benedict Wong, Eiza Gonzales, Zine Tseng, Liam Cunningham, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Saamer Usmani, Sea Shimooka, Rosalind Chao, and John Bradley in central roles.
What happens in ‘3 Body Problem’ on Netflix?
“3 Body Problem” mainly unfolds in two different timelines—one in the 1970s and the other in the present (roughly 2024). So, the show often switches between these individual stories to explain how, where, and why they interject.
Episode 1: Countdown
In 1966, in Beijing, a crowd gathered against the people who opposed their ideas of cultural revolution. One of the people getting humiliated was an ex-physics professor Ye Zhetai, who spoke in favor of Einstein’s theory of relativity. He also admitted that the Big Bang Theory is the most plausible explanation for the origin of the universe. A young revolutionary considered it as his belief in God’s existence. Driven by her faith in revolutionary values, she beat him to death. Standing among the crowd was his daughter, Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng), who had to watch her father endure an inhumane amount of pain.
Decades later, in 2024, in London, Detective Da Shi (Benedict Wong) arrives at a crime scene of a scientist’s suicide. He sees a wall filled with numbers, followed by a quote – ‘I still see it.’ Meanwhile, at the Oxford University Particle Accelerator office, Vera Ye (Vedette Lim) asks her associate – Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo), for his opinion on the limitations of science and the possibility of God’s existence. Despite this conversation, she feels utterly hopeless. Moments later, she leaves his cabin and ends her life.
Why does Auggie see countdown digits?
While Vera takes her life, fellow scientists Auggie Salazar (Eiza González) and Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) have drinks at a karaoke bar. Suddenly, Auggie sees a weird cluster of lightning on the karaoke lyrics screen. She keeps seeing a similar cluster at other places, but no one else does. That cluster soon turns into digits that indicate a countdown. She consults a neurologist, who can’t explain the reason behind it. Later, Vera Ye’s funeral brings them together with their friends, Will Downing (Alex Sharp), who went on to become a teacher, and Jack Rooney (John Bradley), a cocky, money-minded businessman.
Saul believes Vera killed herself out of depression because she stopped receiving funds for her ambitious project. Auggie keeps seeing the countdown everywhere she goes. A mysterious woman warns her that the number must not reach zero. She advises Auggie to shut down the lab of her nanofiber research to stop seeing the digits. Since Auggie doesn’t believe her, the woman tells her to go outside and look up at the sky. “Has the universe ever winked at you?” she asks. Auggie can’t make heads or tails of it. Still, at night, she goes out as told, and Saul joins her. Out of nowhere, the stars start blinking across the world. Saul believes the blinking denotes a Morse code and starts decoding it. Turns out, it shows the exact digits that Auggie sees in the countdown.
What does Da Shi learn about the deaths?
Da Shi follows Vera Ye’s group of friends to find anything to help with his investigation. Through his research into the recent victims, he notices a recurring pattern: they are all scientists, and they had a golden headgear on or near them. Meanwhile, at Vera’s house, Jin notices the same headgear. Vera’s mother i.e., Wenjie, says Vera used it to play a VR game. Jin tries it on and finds herself in a virtual reality, in a desert with a skeleton next to her. So, she gets scared and takes it off.
What happens to Ye Wenjie after her father’s death?
In the 1970s, young Ye Wenjie started working tirelessly for the regime. While at work, a stranger offered her a copy of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring – a well-regarded book in the West. She read a line that says, “Here again, we are reminded that in nature, nothing exists alone.” He allowed her to keep it. Soon after, her superiors got hold of that book. They considered it propaganda and questioned her about its source. Since she did not reveal it, she was arrested. Eventually, the authorities realized they could make use of her vast scientific knowledge. So, they move her for rehabilitation at a military base. With her help, they tried to check a communication pattern with the extra-terrestrials.
Episode 2: Red Coast
The incident of unexplained blinking stars causes panic across the globe. Since Auggie continues to see the countdown, she decides to stop her nanotech work to put an end to her stress. To her surprise, it works. She stops seeing the countdown. Right after, Detective Da Shi approaches her for help in his investigation. It involves an inquiry about Mike Evans (Jonathan Pryce), the owner of the biggest privately held oil company on the planet, who was present at Vera’s funeral. Auggie has no idea how Vera is connected to Mike.
During further discussion, Da Shi shows footage from the night Auggie met the mysterious woman. Auggie explains that this woman lit her cigarette. Still, she is not in the footage, so Da Shi believes someone purposefully erased her from it. Later, he finds records about an attempt at communication made by the extraterrestrials. He realizes Mike Evans is somehow connected to it. Meanwhile, Will learns that he has pancreatic cancer and will likely die in a couple of months.
What does Jin learn about the VR game?
Jin uses Vera’s headgear to keep playing the VR game. In a snowscape, she finds herself in ancient attire. She meets a man of royal blood and a young girl, aka his follower (Eve Ridley). He takes her to meet Emperor Zhou in their chaotic era to help analyze the movements of the sun. A while later, they find themselves in the middle of scorching heat. To save Jin, the man tells the young girl to move away from the shadow. Because of the heat, she ‘deflates.’ Soon after, Jin takes off her headgear and returns to reality. She hands over that headgear to Jack to get him to play the game. Once he enters the virtual world, a swordswoman cuts his head off.
Later, Jin enters the game again and meets Emperor Zhou to help solve their problems. But the Emperor believes in pseudo-science to predict when the chaotic era will end in their planet. She learns that holding her hand on the ground can speed up time in this world. Eventually, they use a code to rehydrate the masses,i.e., to bring them back to life. Through this process, the deflated girl also returns to life. However, time starts changing rapidly, resulting in utter chaos. Because of this, the masses freeze to death. Right after, a swordswoman, Sophon (Sea Shimooka), appears next to her. She informs that Jin has reached the next stage because she advocated for science over mysticism.
What was Ye Wanjie’s plan for interstellar communication?
In the 1970s, Ye Wanjie kept helping the regime with its interstellar communication strategy. Based on her findings, she discovered a way to use the Sun to amplify their transmission. Comrade Yang (Yu Guming) presented this plan as his own. Commissar Lei Zhicheng (Deng Qiaozhi) rejected this plan, citing an issue with political symbolism related to the Red Sun (Mao). Still, she covertly followed through with this radical idea.
Later, she met Mike Evans (Ben Schnetzer), who was trying to protect an endangered species of birds. He pleaded with Wanjie not to resume work that could harm the ecosystem. On the verge of leaving her years’ worth of work, an incident changed her mind. She met her father’s murderer, who refused to repent. Soon after, Wanjie returned to her work. That’s when she saw a message appear on the screen that warned her that ‘they’ would conquer her world. She sent them a message offering her help in doing so.
Episode 3: Destroyer of Worlds
Da Shi finds another dead scientist who had the golden headgear. Meanwhile, at Jack’s house, Auggie notices the headgear that killed Vera. She gets angry at Jin and Jack for playing this VR game, considering what it did to Vera’s life. Although Jin agrees to stop playing the game, she and Jack become obsessed with their virtual reality quest. This time, they enter the VR together. Once again, they meet the young girl who had been constantly asking them to protect her life. This time, their emperor wants Jin and Jack to explain the behavior of the sun.
How does Jin contextualize the behavior of the Sun?
Jin recorded multiple measurements of the sun’s apparent size and luminosity. But they do not correlate. Later, she noticed the sun’s position relative to their planet receding on a short timescale. She also observed bright celestial bodies moving relative to the fixed background of the stars. Based on these findings, she believes that the planet is part of a three-body star system. However, if one of the other suns snatches their planet away, it will start wandering through the gravitational fields of all three suns, thus being part of its chaotic era.
Instead of praise, the emperor decides to punish Jin. Suddenly, the castle gets on fire. The girl, who met them before, rushes in on a horse, claiming that the world is ending. Despite this, Jin gets promoted to the next level because she reveals the truth about the three-star system. At this level, they meet two other scientists to propose a solution to end the chaotic era based on the structure of the abacus. They use a massive army of soldiers to build what looks like a human computer. However, Jin shows them how it is not feasible over time. The suns begin eclipsing each other, which results in high temperatures and a drastic change in gravity.
What does Da Shi learn about the VR game?
Da Shi informs his senior officer, Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham), about the VR game headgear. He explains the basic structure of the game and realizes that it collects a lot of biometric data. Thomas sees it as a tool to recruit the brightest minds. But for what? Meanwhile, Denys Porlock (Adrian Edmondson) threatens to cancel Auggie’s visa if she abandons her nanotech work. However, the countdown returns the moment she resumes the work.
What is the purpose behind the VR game?
In the VR game, Sophon congratulates Jin for understanding its true purpose: to protect the planet’s inhabitants. After getting closer to solving the complex riddle of the three-body problem, Jin and Jack get invited to meet Tatiana (Marlo Kelly) – the same woman who told Auggie to stop her nanotech work to stop seeing the countdown. She congratulates Jin & Jack for their impressive work. They enter the virtual world again to meet Sophon and the Follower. Sophon explains that there’s no single solution for the three-body problem and that each civilization is doomed.
Since the only probable option is to flee, the extra-terrestrials expect Jin & Jack’s help. Tatiana explains that these beings and their problems are real. They are called San-ti aka Three Body People, who are coming to Earth with their interstellar fleet. So, they want Jin and Jack’s help for their mission. Jack refuses to be a part of it. Then, he returns home and realizes that he has no network on his phone. While he walks around his house to find it, Tatiana appears in front of him and chokes him to death. However, Da Shi, who was keeping a watch on Jack’s activities, does not see it happening even through the glass.
Who was keeping a watch on the VR game activities?
Mike Evans, the oil industry tycoon who met Ye Wanjie in China, had hired an employee to monitor the VR game’s activities. We see him speak with the extraterrestrials about the human experience. After listening to Mike, the alien voice concludes that lack of fear leads to extinction. It believes that humanity must fear to escape the possibility of extinction.
Episode 4: Our Lord
Jack’s friends learn about his sudden death. Da Shi suspects Tatiana killed him, although the police couldn’t find her in any of the security footage. Jin presents the invitation she received for a gathering of a major summit for those like Tatiana, who are devoted to an otherworldly entity. So, Thomas decides to use her entry into this summit to learn more about Tatiana’s extremist group. Although she is hesitant at first, Thomas and Da Shi convince her. Meanwhile, Mike keeps speaking with the entity representative. He realizes that they do not understand or feel emotions as humans do. So, he offers his (the human race’s) help for their endeavors on Earth.
What shocking truth does Jin learn at the summit?
Jin drives toward the said location of the summit. Once inside, Tatiana meets her and tries to convince her that ‘their lord is real.’ Soon after, Jin learns a shocking truth. The person who was heading this meeting was Vera’s mother, Ye Wenjie. Until then, the aliens hid any such information from them. So, Da Shi & Thomas wonder why the aliens are letting them hear it. At the summit, Wenjie reveals that it will take them 400 years to arrive on Earth. Suddenly, the authorities break into the room and try to bring Jin safely outside.
Tatiana realizes that Jin lied to her. So, she tries to shoot Jin and gets shot herself. Da Shi protects Jin while chaos ensues in the room. Tatiana escapes the summit. However, Wenjie gets arrested. She warns Thomas that the aliens are capable of things far bigger than what they witnessed. There’s a history to her connection to Mike in this pursuit. In the past, Wenjie and Mike had met each other a decade after their meeting in the woods. Mike had inherited an oil empire from his parents. However, he used it as a front to keep working on interstellar communication.
Episode 5: Judgement Day
After the chaotic incident at the summit, Jin & Auggie are made to stay in a safe space. Da Shi questions Wenjie about her past in communication with the San-ti. Wenjie says she lost faith in humans to solve the problems they have. She also admits that Mike is Vera’s father. Be it her or Mike, they both see the attack on their comrades in England as a part of their Lord’s plan. Da Shi requests Auggie to resume her nanotech work. She starts it again to realize that the countdown has stopped. Meanwhile, Will learns that he is going to receive half of Jack’s estate. Still, he refuses to spend his time on Earth seeking treatment.
What does Thomas plan to get intel from their enemies?
Thomas brings Jin’s partner, Raj (Saamer Usmani), for his ambitious mission to retrieve intel from Mike Evans. Before the plan’s execution, he makes Raj and Auggie keep a watch on each other to ensure the plan goes well. Auggie questions Raj about why he is choosing to blindly follow Thomas. Raj firmly believes in his idea of war. Eventually, they begin executing their plan and get closer to Mike’s Judgement Day ship. However, their actions lead to the loss of several lives. So, Auggie looks at the destruction in disbelief, whereas Raj & Thomas see it as a natural course of action.
Thomas retrieves a drive from the rubble. His team tries its best to open the drive’s contents. Eventually, they see the contents opened on their own. They include multiple audio files where Mike spoke with the San-ti. Thomas hands over a device to Wenjie with these recordings. Later, in the file list, they see a 100-million-gigabyte file under the name – ‘sophon.’ So, Thomas brings Jin to decode what’s on it.
What does Thomas learn about the San-ti’s plan?
Jin shows him the way they use the headgear to enter the VR game. Once inside, Sophon explains the looming threat to the San-Ti. She explains how they plan to kill the science as known by human beings. They plan to do so with Sophons, which are proton-sized super-computers. These supercomputers are the reason behind the countdown, the sabotage of scientific experiments, and so on. Centuries later, when science has died on Earth, the San-Ti’s arrival and their technology will be seen as miracles. It will build fear and, thus, make the San-Ti dominant. Moments later, Jin and Thomas take off their headgear. Then, on screens across the world, people start seeing an ominous message: ‘You are bugs.’ The skies suddenly get enveloped in a strange layer with an eye at the center. Tatiana sees it as a sign of the arrival of the Lord that she believes in.
Episode 6: The Stars our Destination
The ‘Eye in the Sky’ incident creates fear and unrest across the globe. It provokes all sorts of reactions, from religious cults considering San-ti, their saviors to folks protesting that they are not bugs. Wenjie still refuses to share any details of her plan with Da Shi. So, the detective brings Jin to make Wenjie speak. Eventually, Wenjie acknowledges her belief— ‘they need to forge a new world.’ This angers Jin, who respected Wenjie as a great physicist.
What is Thomas’ ambitious plan?
Thomas decides to gather the world’s greatest minds to prepare a defense plan against the San-ti. He wants to probe their enemy fleet and do what the San-ti did with Sophons – against them. Unlike his expectations, the scientists believe that it is nearly impossible to achieve in a short amount of time. So, Thomas speaks with Jin and tries to convince her of the urgency. Jin proposes a plan to accelerate a probe enough to reach the San-Ti fleet. Other scientists believe they should wait rather than rush into pursuing Jin’s ambitious plan. Still, Thomas decides to pursue it.
Raj gets himself appointed to this space fleet. Auggie thinks Jin shouldn’t support Thomas in his hasty measures. She warns Jin that their work can be a ticking bomb for disastrous events. Considering these results, Auggie refuses to help Jin. Later, Jin learns that Thomas wants to send a human being to learn secrets about the San-Ti fleet.
Episode 7: Only Advance
Thomas checks on the basic research of his plans to send a human for his Staircase Project. A scientist shows an ape in a hibernation rig who is neither dead nor alive. Thomas hopes to use this rig, oversee his plan for the Staircase Project, and bring it to fruition at the earliest. Auggie is principally against it because she wants to use her knowledge to improve the lives of those who suffered in the past. Still, Jin believes there is a merit to working on Thomas’ project. Considering the weight limit on the rig, Thomas shares a bold proposition – send a human brain, i.e., a severed head, for San-Ti to build up the rest.
Auggie opposes Thomas’s inclination to kill someone to succeed in this mission. Still, he chooses Will as the right candidate, knowing he is soon going to die. Hearing this, Auggie leaves her role in their project. Soon after, Denys fires her from her job. Hearing that, she makes her work available to people so that they can benefit from it. Instead of personal gain, she leads with the purpose she started working for. She also makes sure Denys cannot stand a chance if he chooses to sue those who use it. Thomas prepares an agreement for Will to sign, claiming his loyalty to the human race. Will refuses to sign it. Thomas sees it as a sign of Will being perfect for the job.
What happens to Wenjie in the end?
Although having worked as per the Lord’s wishes, Wenjie feels a pang of sadness for Vera’s death. She returns to a place she was made to work at in the 1970s. There, she looks at the remains of the work that began the communication with San-Ti. After walking right up to the cliff, she hears Tatiana speaking with her. Earlier, Sophon spoke to Tatiana, claiming her importance to their mission. In the present, she realizes Wenjie’s plan to fall down the cliff. They have a conversation where she explains how San-Ti values Wenjie’s work.
Episode 8: Wallfacer
Saul wakes up in bed with a woman. In the morning, they leave his house, speaking about their differing opinions on the course of action. He thinks there is no need to take any action to protect from the looming threat. She believes they should do at least something to ensure the safety of future generations. While they have this candid conversation, three remotely driven cars crash into each other, killing the woman Saul was dating. It looks like a plan gone wrong since Saul was the original target.
3 Body Problem (Season 1) ‘Netflix’ Ending Explained:
After witnessing a shocking death, Saul gets brought in for questioning. Da Shi explains how Saul’s recent history poses a risk to his life. Before Ye Wenjie left the country, she met Saul. Three days later, she was murdered in China. So, Da Shi believes someone tried to murder Saul. He gives Saul a bulletproof suit to wear and takes him to attend an important UN meeting. There, Secretary General Lilian Joseph (CCH Pounder) explains her Wallfacer mission against the San-Tis. Since the aliens can learn all the human actions and dialogues, she hopes the Wallfacers work on their plans only in their minds to be implemented at the right time.
During her speech, she announces Saul as one of these Wallfacers. Saul finds it surprising because he does not consider himself to be any special. Hence, he rejects the position and powers of a Wallfacer. Once outside, he does not let Da Shi or the appointed secretory, Kent (Josh Brener), join him. However, while walking on his own, he gets shot. Thanks to the bulletproof jacket, Saul survives the attack. But, after that, he allows Da Shi to provide him protection. Soon after, he meets the shooter, who says he acted as per the San-Ti Lord’s will. Despite his refusal to be a Wallfacer, Ms Joseph explains the things that are at stake.
Does the Staircase project become a success?
According to Thomas’ plan, a probe with Will’s brain is launched into space. Through this, he hopes to reach the San-Ti fleet to proceed with their mission. Unfortunately, it starts deviating from the expected value and starts floating around in the space. So, the Staircase project ultimately failed. Afterward, Sophon from the VR game interacts with him. She warns him of the constant surveillance of San-Tis wherever he goes. At the end of “3 Body Problem,” Da Shi tries to cheer up Saul and Jin to work for the future, instead of wasting their time wallowing in sadness.
