3 Body Problem: Eps 2
Warning Spoilers: In 1977, the Ohio State University Observatory received a signal, it was so out of the extraordinary it was circled “wow” by the scientist who first saw it. The signal was too weak to be interpreted and until this day it has been unabled to be replicated.
In episode two of the 3 Body Problem, in 1977, the same signal, this time being reflected off the Sun, caused it to be intensified. This resulted in it being fully received and able to be decoded, by a Chinese observatory.
Unfortunately for the human race, the person who gets to read the signal is Wenjie. A person who has seen the destruction and suffering mankind can cause. The message starts off chilling;
“ DO NOT REPLY. DO NOT REPLY”
It is from a pacifist on another world, imploring who ever received it to remain silent, as replying will cause Earth to be invaded and conquered.
Wenji, hesitates for a moment as she responds, for the other beings to come, replying that she will help them conquer Earth. Such is her despondency with the human race.
As with Episode 1, the 3 body problem, climaxes with a gripping finale to the episode, the rest though, although intriguing, doesn’t quite match.
Quiet how all the different strands are going to be knotted together is what’s going to keep the viewer watching.
Jen's scenes in particular are like a Black Mirror episode. She lies comatose in her bed with the VR headset she received from an older Wenjie last time. Lost in the hyperrealistic game, she attempts to save a civilisation from destruction. An unsettling part of the show occurs as dehydrated bodies which have been wrapped up like carpet rolls, are thrown in the water to come back into existence. Their revival, as the dried-out bodies absorb water, is not to be seen whilst eating. Only an error has been made by a character in the game and the people freeze to death. With one young girl breaking into pieces in front of Jen.
We do get some light-hearted relief via Jack Rooney. After receiving his own VR helmet, he proceeds to continuously punch a character in the face, amazed by how realistic everything is.
Auggie manages to stop her countdown by telling everyone at her company to stop working. Although if the tech she was working on is so groundbreaking, it’s difficult to see how they won’t carry on without her. She finds out the next day, being told she is to be sacked.
Detective Da Shi is still trying to figure out what’s happening. Being visited by what now seems to be the supernatural figure that visited Auggie to give her warning. His visit to his dead wife's grave is unnervingly disturbed by the character.
So again the scenes in the past are what holds the show together. Especially Wenjie meeting the young girl who delivered the fatal blow to her father, now breaking rocks with one arm. The other arm had been amputated after she got gangrene. It’s hard not to feel sorry for this young brainwashed almost child. Until that is, she says she has no regret over Wenjies father's death, and she would do the same again if she had the chance, unwittingly sealing humanity's fate.
So hopefully the scenes set in the present can catch up with the quality of those from the past because at the moment they feel like two separate shows. Also hopefully the cliffhanger from this episode has a better resolution than the last one which fell kind of flat. The blinking universe is assigned to background television news and office chit-chat.
