Having finished the series I can now recommend it. I have zero problems with Benioff and Weiss culturally appropriating the fuck out of the original Chinese novel. I think they paid reasonable homage to it. And this is one of those times when the adaptation outshines the source - at least for me.
I saw a bit of shitposting about the ‘Oxford Five’ in the early reviews - but fuck that noise. I loved those guys, and they really pulled the focus in tight on a story that could have been massively bloated and meandering. (Looking at you Invasion, on AppleTV+).
Each of the five brought something extra to the story, and the strength of the casting and writing can been seen in all of the other characters who brought just as much.
I really hope this show gets renewed.
One thing I did notice, and I’m surprised how long it took me - nothing, and I mean NOTHING I read online about 3 Body could be trusted. Why? Because it was almost all click bait. As soon as it became obvious the show was popular, the dark satanic content mills started vomiting out rivers of shit to harvest those eyeballs. It wasn’t unusual to read entirely contradictory takes on the show, all presented as gospel truth, within the same timeline.
I guess I’ve always known that, but man it really stood out in this instance.
Curious about who’s seen it, who’s read the book, and how many people might be up for a chat about it.
Watched the Netflix series, watched the 30 episode Chinese language Tencent series, Read the four book Trilogy (sic), worn the T-Shirt and signed up for the extended disco remix.
What was that about a chat?
I mainlined it. I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The novels are pretty fucking grim, setting an entirely new level of dark feeling about the universe and I wasn't sure it would translate well. But it did, and it did it well.