This Context Is Instrumental To Understanding This ‘3 Body Problem’ Character’s Motive

Netflix isn’t usually known for making great decisions, but 3 Body Problem isn’t your usual sci-fi series, and the somewhat spooky collaboration of these two abnormalities have made winners out of many a viewer.

Indeed, with some some deliciously lucrative source material in Liu Cixin’s novel The Three-Body Problem, showrunners David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo have crafted some incredibly imaginative and intelligent television here, and we’re all just waiting for the stars to align and gift us that second season that we seem to be barreling towards.

But, for those of you who aren’t terribly keen on subtitles for whatever reason, the show’s opening scenes in Cultural Revolution-era China might have turned you off in the same breath you turned the show on. If this is you, my advice would be to broaden your horizons and fine-tune your media consumption habits a bit more, but you needn’t fear either way.

Is 3 Body Problem in English?

Yes, the safe majority of 3 Body Problem uses English as its primary language, albeit with a hearty dose of Chinese throughout, as we move through the different eras and locales that 3 Body Problem’s story is built upon.

And yes, the measurable amount of time that 3 Body Problem spends in China is incredibly important, as it helps us understand the motive of Dr. Ye Wenjie, who more or less summoned the San-Ti invaders to Earth back when she was working for the Chinese government.

Ye, after all, is living in Cultural Revolution-era China, a period in the 1960s and ’70s marked by heinous violence, massacres, and elimination of history, a period in which she also watches her father get bludgeoned to death before her very eyes. When such a period made up so much of her life at that point, why would she ever not beg the San-Ti to invade and teach humanity their ways on the belief that, as she puts it, humanity cannot save themselves?

The show as a whole, of course, doesn’t pose the question of “are the San-Ti right?” and then call it a day. Nevertheless, it will be nothing short of fascinating to see how 3 Body Problem’s more philosophical musings unfold as we await confirmation of season 2.

(featured image: Netflix)