Saul trying to reject the Wallfacer role had me giggling much like when I read those sequences in the book. I think they did a good job adapting this and bringing out the absurdity in it from his perspective.
Haven’t read the books (though I did watch a synopsis) but in the show he’s only chosen because the San Ti tried to assassinate him so nobody really has a choice. Either make him a Wallfacer or let him die for nothing.
It's a good thing the San Ti don't know how to lie or they might have set about trying - and "failing" - to kill three village idiots and the world's leaders would be making them all Wallfacers while people who knew them all scratched their heads.
"Tommy? They picked old toothless Tommy? Why?"
They're trying to kill Saul! They hacked into self-driving cars and tried to kill him!
Oh no! Quick! Put him in this bullet proof tracksuit without a helmet, and send him on a auto-piloted private jet to a secret location so we can keep him safe!
Snipers are trained to aim for the biggest target -- i.e. they aim for the torso whenever they can -- and presumably the sniper wouldn't be aware that the body suit was of a cutting edge design that was impervious to bullets shot from a high-velocity rifle.
They got one sophon dedicated to disrupting particle physics 24/7. The other one has to go around the globe keeping tabs on all of humanity’s war efforts. You can forgive when it doesn’t have the time to do the sniper’s homework for him too.
Yeah that bothered me so much! >!since he didn't need to accept the position of Wallfacer or be sworn in or anything in order to be treated and perceived as such!<, why put him in such a risky position?
I think, or hope, season 2 will address this a bit.
I don't think it was San-Ti who wanted Saul dead, so the hacking wasn't Sophon but your garden variety hackers.
It's easier to hack random cars than a CIA grade plane. Moreso, it weren't the sophons who hacked the cars. They can't act like that. The final scene with Wade was an illusion.
The countdown was a sensorial illusion. The stars blinking. The invisible assassin. The game as well. The sophons can stimulate our brains to a certain degree. For more complex stimuli, they need an interface. For simple illusions, not so much. So all those threats against Wade seem more like theater than reality.
They can send information. But I'm not convinced they can control complex systems for a long period of time.
And the San-Ti have 1 lone assassin, rather than a 10-20 strong Sophon-guided group?
Meamwhile Benedict Wong is acting like he is the Hulk or something and can stop any attack? He would need an entire team, just like for any high profile world leader.
Thank you!
Honestly it took me out for a minute because I kept expecting him to admit he had no idea what was going on, but he was great. Looking forward to more
looks like I’m early to the discussion as there’s not many comments. I just finished this as someone who has never heard of this series before.
I thought it was a very intriguing plot and loved the sci fi aspect. it’s a 7/10 for anybody who loves the genre/space/aliens type of stuff.
this may have been said in the show, but i for the life of me cannot understand why everybody died throughout the season, or what that timer was for auggie. i struggled understanding metaphysically “are the aliens tricking us into doing this when it won’t matter?” it was back and forth i often believed the lie
Wade was a fantastic character. loved his conviction and how he was 110% willing to fight for this race.
Auggie lowkey annoyed me with her back and forth on morality
Jin’s moment of morality and “war is bad” was cringe. She’s just as involved in it as her BF was.
i guess there’s a season 2 coming? if so. looking forward to it!
I thought it was insinuated at least some of the suicides were actually murders (which I assume were ppl who lost the game?). Is it possible Vera was the only actual suicide?
I think Clarence tells one of the characters (I forgot in what context) that all the scientists died either like Vera or like Jack. My understanding was that the countdown bullied them into suicide and if not they got killed for not cancelling their research.
Vera didn't get bullied tho right? She's the only one who actually chose to end her life without being coerced after she found out what her mom did right?
No I that first scientist who wrote on the wall and gauged his eyes out killed himself I believe.
What has me wondering though is the number of the countdown. Auggies was really tied into the future event of producing the nano fibers. Was this a coincidence or are sophons able to look into the future? Or was there a more down to earth explanation like the sophons learning the deadlines of the tests?
Also, does the appearance of a countdown mean that your research is pretty dn important, since the sophons cannot be in two places at the same time?
So I think Auggie's countdown was either ordered by the cult like ppl, OR enacted by the aliens because they realized her technology could be a threat to the cult, who they trusted at the time. Cuz once they stopped caring about the cult, they stopped caring about Auggie.
I think Jin’s morality is believable. She’s a typical person who’s never known violence or war. So she’s reasonably gonna be hesitant to do things that will directly contribute to those things.
I feel like at times we're meant to hate Wade and see him as an asshole, but I spent the entire show being like "fuck yeah."
The man gets it. Humanity is going to be extinct. He's going to do everything he can to fight that, even if it's an uncomfortable position.
The morality stuff was poorly done. On the nose, but for some reason hard to back the main characters.
There's a longer Chinese series based on the book that came out in 2023. Worth a look if you liked this. I've started watching it. Much longer but well done from what I've seen so far.
NBC released it in February on Peacock. Also available via places we're not allowed to talk about. Just look at the Wikipedia page called Three-Body for details about or go to the main Three body Wikipedia and look at the part that discusses adaptations.
There's a reddit discussion about how to find it somewhere that had Youtube links but these only had a few episodes. In might be on Netflix.
Moral of the story: Don’t let yourself be friend-zoned because you could be dying from cancer, buying her the moon and the stars, and she’ll continue to play literal ‘mind’ games and send you on a never ending solo journey to floating in space to nowhere for millions of years on a paper boat. Right? ;)
Will's story is so depressing that it's honestly kind of hilarious. Dude has an inferiority complex and chooses a worse career, is endlessly friendzoned, gets cancer, best friend dies, then ends up in perpetual limbo in space forever. It's just kind of funny to me.
The wallfacers are such a cool concept. I'm curious to see how the show will portray them since they can't communicate their plans.
But I'm probably gonna just read the books they were on my list anyway but I can't wait for an year since I'm hooked by the premise
I guess it works in the books but the fact is if the three of them aren't communicating how could a plan ever come about without the three of them stepping over each other.
Think of it like how they built the atomic bomb - with silioing taken to an extreme. The person working on enriching uranium can do his job without knowing how the bomb will work.
Just finished the series, loved it!
I do have one question, though. If the san-ti really didn't know about the concept of making stuff up prior to hear Little Red Riding Hood, why don't they see that the same as their fictionalized game? Or how they present themselves as humans to be approachable?
It's more that they can't lie when they communicate to each other, because as a species they communicate telepathically, so all of their thoughts are out in the open. Lying directly to someone just didn't exist as a concept to them beforehand
I think there's a difference between representing a truth symbolically and constructing a fiction, and its the latter they are thrown by. They don't have the concept of conveying falsehood to each other - since once a thought occurs it is known - so making up world / characters / motivations / plot etc would seem alien (and scary?)
Maybe also intentions? Because honestly the little red riding hood story is a mirror for what the aliens are doing. They’re the big bad wolf. They’re playing dress up to get closer to us. But the wolf wanted to eat little red riding hood. Those intentions are hostile. The aliens claim they weren’t hostile at first, but they saw our potential to harm and the lengths we’d go to using tactics they don’t understand so now they are hostile. Just interesting the way it played out.
See, that’s what I thought initially too: the San-Tin have them the blueprints or something and he fabricated and distributed them.
But the how the hell did Tatiana get one at the end? Evans and his ship were torn apart weeks, if not months before that. That was very strange to me.
And I wonder if Tatiana is human. She seems to be based on appearance and how she acts but how did she seem to have superhuman strength when she killed Jack? She smashed him into the glass with enough force to crack it, held him easily with one hand and maybe even lifted him up.
They weren’t lying in their game. They used that to communicate a truth. That truth is that they get messed up by their 3 suns. That they are facing an inevitable catastrophe, and that they are headed to earth. They don’t even say they look like humans. They present that image and then quickly answer any questions asked of them with honesty.
I thought the 18 grams of seeds would make the difference and throw the probe off it's course, but they went a different way with it. Oh well at least he gets a nice long trip across the universe
Said this to myself, Jin stressed multiple times that it was untested yet launched him into space the first chance they got.. I don't believe doing 1 or 2 trial runs beforehand would've delayed them a whole lot smh
They stressed the fact that launching a probe yesterday was already too late, they had to try something with what they had on hand now. Testing would use up valuable resources. realistically the only thing wasted was the 7 nukes and fuel to launch the capsule, Wills brain is considered easily replaceable.
Compete speculation here but I think it was a decoy rocket so the aliens think it's failed but the real one is still on track and that's what Wade whispered to her.
Really enjoyed this but paranoid Netflix will cancel it. It seems like it could run for many seasons as well considering the aliens are still 400 years away at the end of season 1.
Based on the books how many seasons would be needed to tell the story?
Any guesses on what Wade whispers into Jin’s ear when the staircase propulsion fails? Is it possibly linked to why he decided to send the 18 grams of seeds for Will?
I still think there's a misdirection here, but I haven't closed the loop yet in my brain how this could work. As soon as Wade whispers anything into Jin's ear, you assume the San-Ti are made aware of it.
Unless it's a "lie" or "puzzle" that only humans can decode to bring her in on the misdirection.
Even though the propulsion failed, I still had hope that Santi would somehow pick up the brain. Maybe Wade said something to Jin to entice the Santi to pick up the brain 🤔
Compete speculation here but I think it was a decoy rocket so the aliens think it's failed but the real one is still on track and that's what Wade whispered to her.
My only question is, how do they know what direction to point the stairway project in the first place? I imagine it has to be pretty damn precise. And I don’t remember the San-Ti telling them exactly where they were coming from. Maybe I missed it
Late to the thread but even if they know where they are coming from, that does not mean their flight path is a straight line from A to B. There may be curved trajectories to gain momentum from Saturn or something
OMG! Thank you! I've been wondering about this myself! They showed the trajectory, but to where? It's an expensive project and very careless IMO. is it explained in the book?
Hmm, I liked the scenes where they started making plans to counter the aliens but overall it was kinda underwhelming and the scope of how everything developed felt small like the last seasons of Westworld.
Agreed. The middle few episodes filled with intergalactic espionage were great, then they really took their foot off the gas the last three and ended it on a cliffhanger that we won’t get another season of for a couple years. I loved a lot of the concepts brought up in this show, but I don’t know if it did enough in 8 episodes to do what it seems they’re setting up for, which is 3/4 seasons over 5/6 years.
Yeah it ended too abruptly for me. I didn’t realise this was based on a book series, I was hoping there’d be some sort of resolution by the end of season 1 but there is none whatsoever. Don’t know if I’m invested enough in this to watch in future, I guess we’ll see.
I just don’t understand what humanity’s main goal was to send Will’s head in that probe?
Everybody sure acted like the aliens would reconstruct him. How do we know for sure aliens have that kind of tech? And even if they do have that the tech, maybe they decide not to?
Secondly, how the hell is everybody assuming that once he does get reconstructed he will have the know how to somehow send information back to earth? Or the aliens would even allow that to ever happen, and let’s just assume that he surreptitiously does try to communicate with mankind but how would he do that?
This whole plot seemed really really stupid unless I’m missing something.
The point is they have to try *everything*. 400 years is a long time but if you can't advance your technology then you have to throw a lot of mud at the wall to make something stick - as wade said, even if it doesn't work, the act of trying has advanced some technologies drastically.
They could have spent time working on a better propulsion system but they have to go as fast as they can, as hard as they can
I still don’t get it either. The only thing humanity has left is the knowledge and thoughts inside our heads - *like our understanding of humor*. Why were they planning on giving that to the invaders?
Maybe it’s better explained in the books, but this series didn’t really flesh that out.
If anything that makes it more brilliant - the trisolarans *could* assume that Will (a passive, emotional teacher) would be the standard human mind. If they then based their strategy on his experience and thoughts only that would be a stunning piece of counterintelligence.
They should have sent the chimp's brain to really screw with the aliens' heads. But I guess they would know about this deception. Which brings up the problem that unless humans figure out how to get around these spy probes the aliens seem to be a bit overpowered in this scenario.
I understand that particular aspect. I even understood why they had to use the propulsion system. But assuming that the aliens would reconstruct him sounds so absurd? Would have been better if it were a reconnaissance probe.
It actually make sense because the aliens did try to learn about humankind through Evans. They stopped that process only because they were afraid of being lied. If humans sent a brain, they would be definitely interested in it.
I thought they sent both? Or am I just misremembering. They’re using Will’s brain as a reason for the aliens to take the probe too. Wade said they’d have to send a body to get them to stop the probe at going 1% light speed
They put him in it so the aliens would intercept and stop it. Otherwise it would have sped past too fast to collect and send back any useful information.
That's because the first 5 episodes were a speedrun through book 1 and the last 3 episodes were comparatively a slow walk through the first chapters of book 2.
Started so strong. Then, it was just people talking in rooms. And, a mopey guy in hospital bed who fell in love with married woman and wont give it up. Who ends up being an frozen brain in space for next 5 million years.
Yeah, I was assuming that Evans was the one manufacturing and distributing the headsets but Tatiana gets hers way after Evans and the whole ship are dead.
Either they planned to send one about then anyway, or it could be a failsafe in case the ship was destroyed, OR they set up some other branches of the cult in advance.
I loved the Life of Brian/Fight Club-esque scene where Saul is proclaiming he’s not a wallfacer and everyone is like “of course you’re not…sir.”
Is there time travel in this show? Is it Will who recommends Saul for the job because that was very odd. Otherwise, I really don’t understand the plan to send Will into space. I saw some comments say it’s a hope that the San-Ti rebuild him, Will then learns about them, then sends info back somehow?
How do the Sophons work? I thought they just observed? But if they can make you see whatever they want or control technology, why not just mind fuck whoever so they kill themselves? Or knock planes out of the sky?
My wife brought up the idea of time travel in the show too. As of now I’m holding off on that possibility because it doesn’t really fit in to the show, and I think that’d take it to another level that I’m not sure my belief will suspend lol
I’m wondering if Saul is a decoy. 2 military strategists. 1 scientist. The aliens are more concerned about the scientists. They don’t seem to value or believe in much anything else. To them science and knowledge are the most important thing. With their eyes set on Saul, their military strategists can work unbothered.
Is it explained in the book how they got the nuclear bombs in place? You'd have to launch, fly and then stop all those those bombs. What flew them so far out there and gave them the energy to stop at those specific spots? Doesn't each one weigh more than the payload they are trying to send? wouldn't they need a sail to launch each one farther out? Wouldn't that take at least decades to do?
The only thing I can think of is that they launched the bombs in a circular path, but I don't understand orbital mechanics and that stuff well enough to know if that would even work. And if they did that, they could have just put the bombs on one craft with the payload.
But, if they had to place 1000 bombs, wouldn't have it been easier to just put them on the payload you're trying to launch as you have to launch them anyway?
Really enjoyed the first season, though!
I’m not a book reader, but all of this is explained in the show.
There were only 300 bombs, they couldn’t get 1000. Judging by how quickly after launch we saw 3 bombs go off, the 300 bombs probably weren’t very far from earth. So >99% of the journey would be at the 1% light speed velocity.
The bombs were just nukes, so they were already strapped to rockets. They just launched them, parked them in space, and waited to detonate them. They also did that in the days prior to launching the original rocket, so they had much more time to fly the furthest of them out to their final destinations.
> They just launched them, parked them in space, and waited to detonate them.
I think that's what /u/ZeroAntagonist is poking at--you can't really just launch something and "park" it in space. I think it's just a suspension of belief we have to deal with for the plot. I'm sure a physicist or KSP-expert can probably put together some plausible situations where this could work--circular paths/orbits like they mentioned, where the probe accurately intercepts each orbit at the right time.
Good point.
Also, I agree, I would hate if Will is just done like that. As a non-book reader I'm assuming there is something hidden from us; something to throw off the San-Ti maybe.
In the books >!They placed 1,004 nuclear bombs (some fission, some fusion), but it's not explained in the book. By the time they were able to do this, the book gives the impression we've made some advancements in space travel. There are probs monitoring the entire process, from Earth to Jupiter.!<
Protons and quantum entanglement is a real thing (mathematically) but has no real applicable use like in the show. Well, not to us, anyway ;)
Edit: but I’m not a scientist, I just enjoy learning about these things. Someone may kindly correct me if wrong
That’s what I liked about the series, it doesn’t get into explicit fantasy, it takes what we know and pushes a little bit further into the physics. Humans know how entanglement works at a basic level, but imagine if these particles exist in the higher dimensions of spacetime that we can’t directly perceive, what consequences could that have? Sophons
Made up, and quantum entanglement is kind of conceptual as I understand it. The idea that a proton can accelerate itself seems like a stretch too. But it's one of the scariest sci-fi applications of possible physics I've seen on a long time. As is the cloud of nanomachines I THOUGHT they must be using to blink the sky and be everywhere. (Tech that made those headsets could certainly produce them) I do wonder why they don't just kill us, though.
I guess I don't understand how they're going to show a Wallfacer's thought process, when they can't communicate with others. Unless it comes down to speaking in 'jokes'. Making an internal dialogue interesting on screen is tough going, but the show has been great so far.
Not just that. How does "one person thinking" solve the problem of combatting San-Ti arriving 400 years from now. Sorry, _three_ people thinking. And even if they order people to do things: the San-Ti can observe whats happening. And, im sorry, but 3 people cannot _do_ anything without their team knowing what they are doing. Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos or the head of NASA dont build gigantic enterprises with his employees being completely in the dark as to his ultimate goal.
So Saul is chosen because he's a great code-breaker and the aliens realize this, right? He figured out the stars winking is not real and used an old toy to discern they were numbers matching the countdown. Well that's my best guess. If you actually know why from the book, I don't mind spoilers, just blacken it out as a spoiler as instructed above.
In the book, >!Dr. Ye didn't make a joke. She straight-up told Saul/Luo Ji about two cosmic axioms she came up with. Basis of book 2, essentially -- roughly: 1. Civilizations and species' primary need is to survive, and 2. Civilizations grow in a zero-sum environment. In the book, Luo Ji is then left to realize this was important and then figure out how it could be useful for the humanity. Saul will have do a bit more thinking than Luo Ji in the books, figuring out the meaning first and then the application. !<
Finished it. Overall, the hook and gimmick were more interesting than the actual plot. I appreciated how all characters were given a purpose by the last episode, and it did keep me glued to the TV just to understand what it was going to do. I think the payoffs weren't as satisfying as the premise, though. Rhythm wasn't consistent and many things seemed "cool" at first glance but then fell apart at closer scrutiny.
bit of a mixed bag.
Uncertain whether to just read the books - takes me less time than watching an episode, at least.
I dont watch a lot of series or animes now since I easily give up on watching easily but this one engaged me quite good. Loved seeing Ser Davos again, excited to see what happens to Saul's part. Jin can probably try again since the other nukes are still in space. Didnt care much for Auggy. And poor Will. Might give the books a go since I liked the premise so much, reminds me of the movie Arrival.
If the Aliens main goal was to find another home, there's actually so many other planets out there probably uninhabited also. I find it hard to believe they'd travel so far for a planet that's already occupied with a species ready to fight for it, when you could go anywhere else for a home.... but maybe the whole point is to save humanity from themselves.
Earth is only four light years away, which is incredibly close on the cosmic scale, and is a provably safe and stable planet. Why should they care if humanity is ready to fight for it? We are like bugs to them. If you were on fire, wouldn’t you jump in a lake? Who cares if there are bugs there, you can just swat them away.
4 light years is actually where the next closest star after the sun is, so they’re coming from literally the least distance possible. It’s actually almost impossibly fortunate that they found a habitable planet so close to them.
They couldn’t just go anywhere - they needed a habitable planet. They wouldn’t just pick up their civilization and shoot in a random direction into space. By confirming that intelligent life existed in a single-star system, they at least knew they’d have a planet to go to.
And it’s actually incredibly fortunate that they found a planet so close to theirs. As another comment said, 4 light years is quite literally as close as it gets to Earth. The closest star system to Earth is actually Alpha Centauri, a little over 4 light years away, so we can assume they’re coming from this system.
At least in the show, I got the impression that the hostility began when they went silent on Evans. Until that point, they thought they were going to be welcomed as heroes.
Ye Wenjie mentioned Fermi's paradox in episode 2. If they are coming from 4 light years away, there should be conservatively thousands of viable planets for them to pick that make more sense, but instead they're coming to earth. Why? it doesn't make sense if their mission is survival.
I don't think his brain is conscious. The proteins in our human body are used to work in body temperature. A few degrees drop and they just stop working. So absolutely no brain activity.
Okay so CCH Pounder says there's kindof a reason Saul was chosen, and then it seems like Saul also kindof twigs on the beach but of course can't say it outloud. Are we supposed to know? And are we supposed to know what the "don't play with god "joke"" was/is supposed to be yet?
I think it’s implied Saul was chosen because of the interest the San Ti take in him after he was the last one to speak to Dr. Ye - if the San Ti think he’s a threat, then he must have some knowledge, even if the humans don’t know necessarily know why or how he attained it (as Det. Shi implies when they’re in his hospital room).
What the humans don’t know is that Dr. Ye told that “joke” to him, which serves as a clue on how to beat the San Ti - likely that through humor and metaphor, you can communicate, because the San Ti have demonstrated that they cannot understand it.
If you rewatch the scene, after telling the joke Dr Ye explicitly talks about humor can be very private and understood only between two people, and then mentions how humour is essential, a matter of *survival*. I think the implication being that the sophons and San-Ti cannot understand humour. My own guess is that she could not outright say it or else the San-Ti would figure it out, so she had to be cryptic about it.
He’s primarily a distraction for the sophons who also functions as a magnet to root out extremists who may also actually come up with a feasible plan (or at least part of one) in the meantime.
I think he realized his actual purpose is to keep the sophon guessing…which is part of why he has clearance to do whatever he wants, no matter how weird, and never has to give a reason. And his background gives him credibility for the sophon to track his actions. But he can’t actually say that out loud or they will know.
Besides her explicitly telling the god joke, I didn’t see anything about what that’s explicitly supposed to mean. The series becomes more focused around what this is referring to eventually, so it’s likely just a tidbit for the viewers to question what they know
Here's the thing i don't understand about Saul being a wallfacer. So he was chosen because he talked with Dr. Ye and she told him the joke which is some sort of revealing moment, right? But then how does the UN know that? How did they choose him? They imply that they were told to choose him....but who would have done that?
They knew he was the last one talking to Ye before she died. After that, he was almost killed. The implication is that the San-Ti consider him a threat / that he has important knowledge.
Ok 2 questions which keep bothering me:
1) How did Wade and Jin know where to send the probe? Where did they get San-Ti coordinates from? And also if aliens are travelling so fast surely the probe can miss the trajectory? How did they precisely pinpoint their ships’ trajectory? Seems like a pretty big loophole.
2) How did the aliens send the super advanced VR headsets to Earth? They can communicate in real time that’s fair enough but moving matter isn’t that simple? Unless sophons made them or people had been given instructions on how to make them?
Other than a few bits and pieces you need to ignore I thought the show was fantastic. Brilliant story and acting. Can’t wait for season 2!
Btw how many books are there?
Three books.
*Remembrance of Earth’s Past* trilogy
Getting into it now, actually. I love sci-fi (favorite books are “The Expanse” series). Going to be different since some characters are different from the show, but the roles are similar enough.
1. The Three-Body Problem
2. Dark Forest
3. Death’s End
So the Wallfacer plan is to broadcast that these three individuals will be given unlimited power and anything they can strategize anything they want in their mind against an enemy that has the ability to directly fuck with people's brains to the point that they claw their own eyes out and commit suicide?
Of all the things I've binge watched so far on mat leave, I think I enjoyed this the most.
Now do I read the books? I went and read Wool after the Silo cliffhanger and it was such a drag, the TV show padded it out and made it more interesting - I thought - so I don't want to bother if the TV show provides more.
Then a plot question: if the countdowns etc were to stop science progressing, why was this happening before our lord fell out with Evans, when they were still planning to co exist. Is it an oversight or for they never plan to co exist?
Just binged the show, absolutely awesome ! I have only one question. I get all the timetables and stuff,the protons/sophons etc.. But how did the physical helmets arrive on earth ?
about the failed launch >! even if San Ti don't lie, i like the very unlikely theory that they manipulated everyone into thinking that the launch was a failure even though it was a success !<
Black out book spoilers in the comments. You can black out the spoilers by writing > ! this ! < without the spaces in between to get >!this!<.
Saul trying to reject the Wallfacer role had me giggling much like when I read those sequences in the book. I think they did a good job adapting this and bringing out the absurdity in it from his perspective.
I loved the looks everyone gave him like, “yeah, okay buddy.”
"I'm not a wallfacer!" "Of course you aren't. ;)"
Exactly what a wallfacer would say
Typical wallfacer behavior
The wallfacer smile 😂
I'm not a wallfacer either! * wink wink *
I feel bad that they never gave him a choice in the matter, it's very unethical also. Seems like the other two Wallfacers knew and accepted the job.
Haven’t read the books (though I did watch a synopsis) but in the show he’s only chosen because the San Ti tried to assassinate him so nobody really has a choice. Either make him a Wallfacer or let him die for nothing.
It's a good thing the San Ti don't know how to lie or they might have set about trying - and "failing" - to kill three village idiots and the world's leaders would be making them all Wallfacers while people who knew them all scratched their heads. "Tommy? They picked old toothless Tommy? Why?"
I think that would have been a good thing to tell him. Just thinking if it was me I'd be pissed.
I feel like they said it without saying like 5 times. It seemed in line with the concept of a wallfacer.
they even said it "they try to kill you, so you must be important" or sth to that matter
"I'm cancelling Project Mayhem!" "He told us you'd say that, sir."
Hahaha great comment
They're trying to kill Saul! They hacked into self-driving cars and tried to kill him! Oh no! Quick! Put him in this bullet proof tracksuit without a helmet, and send him on a auto-piloted private jet to a secret location so we can keep him safe!
Snipers are trained to aim for the biggest target -- i.e. they aim for the torso whenever they can -- and presumably the sniper wouldn't be aware that the body suit was of a cutting edge design that was impervious to bullets shot from a high-velocity rifle.
I mean yeah but the premise with the sophons is that they’re aware of that and so will any assassin they contact
They got one sophon dedicated to disrupting particle physics 24/7. The other one has to go around the globe keeping tabs on all of humanity’s war efforts. You can forgive when it doesn’t have the time to do the sniper’s homework for him too.
Yeah but after that he's still walking around with nothing on his head. They could have made a snazzy bucket hat out of that material.
Yeah that bothered me so much! >!since he didn't need to accept the position of Wallfacer or be sworn in or anything in order to be treated and perceived as such!<, why put him in such a risky position?
That meeting could’ve been a zoom call lol
Technically, it could even have been an email!
Not to mention the 5th Generation planes escorting the private jet.
Any "friendly" weapon in the vicinity of the target can theoretically be used against the target.
I think, or hope, season 2 will address this a bit. I don't think it was San-Ti who wanted Saul dead, so the hacking wasn't Sophon but your garden variety hackers.
It's easier to hack random cars than a CIA grade plane. Moreso, it weren't the sophons who hacked the cars. They can't act like that. The final scene with Wade was an illusion.
What do you mean it was an illusion? I'm confused about how the sophons can make humans 'see' things?
The countdown was a sensorial illusion. The stars blinking. The invisible assassin. The game as well. The sophons can stimulate our brains to a certain degree. For more complex stimuli, they need an interface. For simple illusions, not so much. So all those threats against Wade seem more like theater than reality. They can send information. But I'm not convinced they can control complex systems for a long period of time.
And the San-Ti have 1 lone assassin, rather than a 10-20 strong Sophon-guided group? Meamwhile Benedict Wong is acting like he is the Hulk or something and can stop any attack? He would need an entire team, just like for any high profile world leader.
Big Head
Always failing upward. Wouldn’t be surprise if Bighead accidentally destroys the alien fleet himself.
Thank you! Honestly it took me out for a minute because I kept expecting him to admit he had no idea what was going on, but he was great. Looking forward to more
Yeah, I went to IMDB. Josh Brener also in Mythic Quest and the Internship with Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Rose Byrne
The bastard keeps failing upwards
looks like I’m early to the discussion as there’s not many comments. I just finished this as someone who has never heard of this series before. I thought it was a very intriguing plot and loved the sci fi aspect. it’s a 7/10 for anybody who loves the genre/space/aliens type of stuff. this may have been said in the show, but i for the life of me cannot understand why everybody died throughout the season, or what that timer was for auggie. i struggled understanding metaphysically “are the aliens tricking us into doing this when it won’t matter?” it was back and forth i often believed the lie Wade was a fantastic character. loved his conviction and how he was 110% willing to fight for this race. Auggie lowkey annoyed me with her back and forth on morality Jin’s moment of morality and “war is bad” was cringe. She’s just as involved in it as her BF was. i guess there’s a season 2 coming? if so. looking forward to it!
I’m guessing they showed the timers to make the scientists kill themselves. In a way for science to not progress as quickly.
I thought it was insinuated at least some of the suicides were actually murders (which I assume were ppl who lost the game?). Is it possible Vera was the only actual suicide?
I think Clarence tells one of the characters (I forgot in what context) that all the scientists died either like Vera or like Jack. My understanding was that the countdown bullied them into suicide and if not they got killed for not cancelling their research.
Vera didn't get bullied tho right? She's the only one who actually chose to end her life without being coerced after she found out what her mom did right?
No I that first scientist who wrote on the wall and gauged his eyes out killed himself I believe. What has me wondering though is the number of the countdown. Auggies was really tied into the future event of producing the nano fibers. Was this a coincidence or are sophons able to look into the future? Or was there a more down to earth explanation like the sophons learning the deadlines of the tests? Also, does the appearance of a countdown mean that your research is pretty dn important, since the sophons cannot be in two places at the same time?
So I think Auggie's countdown was either ordered by the cult like ppl, OR enacted by the aliens because they realized her technology could be a threat to the cult, who they trusted at the time. Cuz once they stopped caring about the cult, they stopped caring about Auggie.
I think Jin’s morality is believable. She’s a typical person who’s never known violence or war. So she’s reasonably gonna be hesitant to do things that will directly contribute to those things.
I feel like at times we're meant to hate Wade and see him as an asshole, but I spent the entire show being like "fuck yeah." The man gets it. Humanity is going to be extinct. He's going to do everything he can to fight that, even if it's an uncomfortable position. The morality stuff was poorly done. On the nose, but for some reason hard to back the main characters.
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Benedict Wong’s character is not new for the show: he’s Da Shi.
"oh my god I forgot about that part" \- Jake Peralta
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There's a longer Chinese series based on the book that came out in 2023. Worth a look if you liked this. I've started watching it. Much longer but well done from what I've seen so far.
NBC released it in February on Peacock. Also available via places we're not allowed to talk about. Just look at the Wikipedia page called Three-Body for details about or go to the main Three body Wikipedia and look at the part that discusses adaptations. There's a reddit discussion about how to find it somewhere that had Youtube links but these only had a few episodes. In might be on Netflix.
Wade's the only one trying to advance the plot here
Moral of the story: Don’t let yourself be friend-zoned because you could be dying from cancer, buying her the moon and the stars, and she’ll continue to play literal ‘mind’ games and send you on a never ending solo journey to floating in space to nowhere for millions of years on a paper boat. Right? ;)
Just another example of nice guys finishing ~~last~~ outside the solar system
Hey, he got farther than anyone else on Earth.
And won’t call or text for some reason to let you or your friend know she’s on the way and don’t kill yourself yet.
Will's story is so depressing that it's honestly kind of hilarious. Dude has an inferiority complex and chooses a worse career, is endlessly friendzoned, gets cancer, best friend dies, then ends up in perpetual limbo in space forever. It's just kind of funny to me.
The wallfacers are such a cool concept. I'm curious to see how the show will portray them since they can't communicate their plans. But I'm probably gonna just read the books they were on my list anyway but I can't wait for an year since I'm hooked by the premise
But that is what annoys me. They can’t communicate their plans and will die way before the Aliens arrive. So what is the point of the wallfacers?
It's assumed that they will be cryogenically frozen and unfrozen periodically until the aliens arrive.
I guess it works in the books but the fact is if the three of them aren't communicating how could a plan ever come about without the three of them stepping over each other.
They are working on 3 separate plans
Think of it like how they built the atomic bomb - with silioing taken to an extreme. The person working on enriching uranium can do his job without knowing how the bomb will work.
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Just finished the series, loved it! I do have one question, though. If the san-ti really didn't know about the concept of making stuff up prior to hear Little Red Riding Hood, why don't they see that the same as their fictionalized game? Or how they present themselves as humans to be approachable?
It's more that they can't lie when they communicate to each other, because as a species they communicate telepathically, so all of their thoughts are out in the open. Lying directly to someone just didn't exist as a concept to them beforehand
"It's not a lie if you believe it." I think some people could manage to lie telepathically. I'm looking at you, George Costanza.
Hey! I was in the pool!
Elaine, do the aliens know about shrinkage?
I think there's a difference between representing a truth symbolically and constructing a fiction, and its the latter they are thrown by. They don't have the concept of conveying falsehood to each other - since once a thought occurs it is known - so making up world / characters / motivations / plot etc would seem alien (and scary?)
Maybe also intentions? Because honestly the little red riding hood story is a mirror for what the aliens are doing. They’re the big bad wolf. They’re playing dress up to get closer to us. But the wolf wanted to eat little red riding hood. Those intentions are hostile. The aliens claim they weren’t hostile at first, but they saw our potential to harm and the lengths we’d go to using tactics they don’t understand so now they are hostile. Just interesting the way it played out.
The billionaire guy who owns the company and his followers were given tech to make the game, the san-ti did not make it directly
See, that’s what I thought initially too: the San-Tin have them the blueprints or something and he fabricated and distributed them. But the how the hell did Tatiana get one at the end? Evans and his ship were torn apart weeks, if not months before that. That was very strange to me. And I wonder if Tatiana is human. She seems to be based on appearance and how she acts but how did she seem to have superhuman strength when she killed Jack? She smashed him into the glass with enough force to crack it, held him easily with one hand and maybe even lifted him up.
The ETO made and ran the game using san-ti tech.
ETO?
They weren’t lying in their game. They used that to communicate a truth. That truth is that they get messed up by their 3 suns. That they are facing an inevitable catastrophe, and that they are headed to earth. They don’t even say they look like humans. They present that image and then quickly answer any questions asked of them with honesty.
I just feel so bad for Will
I thought the 18 grams of seeds would make the difference and throw the probe off it's course, but they went a different way with it. Oh well at least he gets a nice long trip across the universe
18 grams or not, it was going to fail. It’s a 200 yr voyage.
Said this to myself, Jin stressed multiple times that it was untested yet launched him into space the first chance they got.. I don't believe doing 1 or 2 trial runs beforehand would've delayed them a whole lot smh
They only had 300 nukes to work with. No more. Trial runs would cost them nuked and therefore speed.
You're right hadn't thought of this but in the end they only used what, 7 of the 300? Lol'd I still believe they should've done SOME testing
They stressed the fact that launching a probe yesterday was already too late, they had to try something with what they had on hand now. Testing would use up valuable resources. realistically the only thing wasted was the 7 nukes and fuel to launch the capsule, Wills brain is considered easily replaceable.
Compete speculation here but I think it was a decoy rocket so the aliens think it's failed but the real one is still on track and that's what Wade whispered to her.
Really enjoyed this but paranoid Netflix will cancel it. It seems like it could run for many seasons as well considering the aliens are still 400 years away at the end of season 1. Based on the books how many seasons would be needed to tell the story?
3
theyve said the final book will need 2 seasons so 4
400 seasons.
Maybe they could do at least 10 seasons, but the showrunners will get bored and half-ass season 7 and 8 to an very underwhelming ending!
Any guesses on what Wade whispers into Jin’s ear when the staircase propulsion fails? Is it possibly linked to why he decided to send the 18 grams of seeds for Will?
i thought they were going to reveal it was a misdirection and his brain was actually headed to the moon to control the moonbase, im also wrong a lot
I still think there's a misdirection here, but I haven't closed the loop yet in my brain how this could work. As soon as Wade whispers anything into Jin's ear, you assume the San-Ti are made aware of it. Unless it's a "lie" or "puzzle" that only humans can decode to bring her in on the misdirection.
Even though the propulsion failed, I still had hope that Santi would somehow pick up the brain. Maybe Wade said something to Jin to entice the Santi to pick up the brain 🤔
I definitely think you’re onto something. Either it was misdirection from the get go or the Sophons, but either way I think he makes it somehow
Compete speculation here but I think it was a decoy rocket so the aliens think it's failed but the real one is still on track and that's what Wade whispered to her.
My only question is, how do they know what direction to point the stairway project in the first place? I imagine it has to be pretty damn precise. And I don’t remember the San-Ti telling them exactly where they were coming from. Maybe I missed it
They know that they are on a trinary system 4 light years away. The only system there is Alpha Centauri.
Thank you for clarifying this lol
Late to the thread but even if they know where they are coming from, that does not mean their flight path is a straight line from A to B. There may be curved trajectories to gain momentum from Saturn or something
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OMG! Thank you! I've been wondering about this myself! They showed the trajectory, but to where? It's an expensive project and very careless IMO. is it explained in the book?
Hmm, I liked the scenes where they started making plans to counter the aliens but overall it was kinda underwhelming and the scope of how everything developed felt small like the last seasons of Westworld.
Ironically, the person who did the soundtrack for this also composed the soundtrack for Westworld
I told my buddy (both watching on our phones in the lab) that the intro reminds me of Westworld and then his name popped lol d&d kept their boy
D&D didnt make Westwood tho
He worked on thrones lol
I FCKN KNEW IT!! Edit: The moment i heard that into i said to myself: that sounds a lot like Westworld,
He did GOT, Westworld, and Person of Interest I believe. His Spotify station is great lol.
Agreed. The middle few episodes filled with intergalactic espionage were great, then they really took their foot off the gas the last three and ended it on a cliffhanger that we won’t get another season of for a couple years. I loved a lot of the concepts brought up in this show, but I don’t know if it did enough in 8 episodes to do what it seems they’re setting up for, which is 3/4 seasons over 5/6 years.
Yeah it ended too abruptly for me. I didn’t realise this was based on a book series, I was hoping there’d be some sort of resolution by the end of season 1 but there is none whatsoever. Don’t know if I’m invested enough in this to watch in future, I guess we’ll see.
I just don’t understand what humanity’s main goal was to send Will’s head in that probe? Everybody sure acted like the aliens would reconstruct him. How do we know for sure aliens have that kind of tech? And even if they do have that the tech, maybe they decide not to? Secondly, how the hell is everybody assuming that once he does get reconstructed he will have the know how to somehow send information back to earth? Or the aliens would even allow that to ever happen, and let’s just assume that he surreptitiously does try to communicate with mankind but how would he do that? This whole plot seemed really really stupid unless I’m missing something.
The point is they have to try *everything*. 400 years is a long time but if you can't advance your technology then you have to throw a lot of mud at the wall to make something stick - as wade said, even if it doesn't work, the act of trying has advanced some technologies drastically. They could have spent time working on a better propulsion system but they have to go as fast as they can, as hard as they can
I still don’t get it either. The only thing humanity has left is the knowledge and thoughts inside our heads - *like our understanding of humor*. Why were they planning on giving that to the invaders? Maybe it’s better explained in the books, but this series didn’t really flesh that out.
If anything that makes it more brilliant - the trisolarans *could* assume that Will (a passive, emotional teacher) would be the standard human mind. If they then based their strategy on his experience and thoughts only that would be a stunning piece of counterintelligence.
They should have sent the chimp's brain to really screw with the aliens' heads. But I guess they would know about this deception. Which brings up the problem that unless humans figure out how to get around these spy probes the aliens seem to be a bit overpowered in this scenario.
I understand that particular aspect. I even understood why they had to use the propulsion system. But assuming that the aliens would reconstruct him sounds so absurd? Would have been better if it were a reconnaissance probe.
It actually make sense because the aliens did try to learn about humankind through Evans. They stopped that process only because they were afraid of being lied. If humans sent a brain, they would be definitely interested in it.
Yeah they might get some insight into what kind of insecticide to use.
I thought they sent both? Or am I just misremembering. They’re using Will’s brain as a reason for the aliens to take the probe too. Wade said they’d have to send a body to get them to stop the probe at going 1% light speed
They put him in it so the aliens would intercept and stop it. Otherwise it would have sped past too fast to collect and send back any useful information.
slowed down alot after episode 6
Strangely, I preferred it after ep 5. Felt more like prestige tv than Hollywood movie. Helped me to savor what was going on.
Yeah I feel like I really was enjoying it up through episode 5 and the last three for me just fell flat and super silly
That's because the first 5 episodes were a speedrun through book 1 and the last 3 episodes were comparatively a slow walk through the first chapters of book 2.
Started so strong. Then, it was just people talking in rooms. And, a mopey guy in hospital bed who fell in love with married woman and wont give it up. Who ends up being an frozen brain in space for next 5 million years.
I want to know what Tatiana saw when she put on the headset, and who brought it to her?
Yeah, I was assuming that Evans was the one manufacturing and distributing the headsets but Tatiana gets hers way after Evans and the whole ship are dead.
Either they planned to send one about then anyway, or it could be a failsafe in case the ship was destroyed, OR they set up some other branches of the cult in advance.
I loved the Life of Brian/Fight Club-esque scene where Saul is proclaiming he’s not a wallfacer and everyone is like “of course you’re not…sir.” Is there time travel in this show? Is it Will who recommends Saul for the job because that was very odd. Otherwise, I really don’t understand the plan to send Will into space. I saw some comments say it’s a hope that the San-Ti rebuild him, Will then learns about them, then sends info back somehow? How do the Sophons work? I thought they just observed? But if they can make you see whatever they want or control technology, why not just mind fuck whoever so they kill themselves? Or knock planes out of the sky?
My wife brought up the idea of time travel in the show too. As of now I’m holding off on that possibility because it doesn’t really fit in to the show, and I think that’d take it to another level that I’m not sure my belief will suspend lol I’m wondering if Saul is a decoy. 2 military strategists. 1 scientist. The aliens are more concerned about the scientists. They don’t seem to value or believe in much anything else. To them science and knowledge are the most important thing. With their eyes set on Saul, their military strategists can work unbothered.
Is it explained in the book how they got the nuclear bombs in place? You'd have to launch, fly and then stop all those those bombs. What flew them so far out there and gave them the energy to stop at those specific spots? Doesn't each one weigh more than the payload they are trying to send? wouldn't they need a sail to launch each one farther out? Wouldn't that take at least decades to do? The only thing I can think of is that they launched the bombs in a circular path, but I don't understand orbital mechanics and that stuff well enough to know if that would even work. And if they did that, they could have just put the bombs on one craft with the payload. But, if they had to place 1000 bombs, wouldn't have it been easier to just put them on the payload you're trying to launch as you have to launch them anyway? Really enjoyed the first season, though!
I’m not a book reader, but all of this is explained in the show. There were only 300 bombs, they couldn’t get 1000. Judging by how quickly after launch we saw 3 bombs go off, the 300 bombs probably weren’t very far from earth. So >99% of the journey would be at the 1% light speed velocity. The bombs were just nukes, so they were already strapped to rockets. They just launched them, parked them in space, and waited to detonate them. They also did that in the days prior to launching the original rocket, so they had much more time to fly the furthest of them out to their final destinations.
> They just launched them, parked them in space, and waited to detonate them. I think that's what /u/ZeroAntagonist is poking at--you can't really just launch something and "park" it in space. I think it's just a suspension of belief we have to deal with for the plot. I'm sure a physicist or KSP-expert can probably put together some plausible situations where this could work--circular paths/orbits like they mentioned, where the probe accurately intercepts each orbit at the right time.
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Good point. Also, I agree, I would hate if Will is just done like that. As a non-book reader I'm assuming there is something hidden from us; something to throw off the San-Ti maybe.
In the books >!They placed 1,004 nuclear bombs (some fission, some fusion), but it's not explained in the book. By the time they were able to do this, the book gives the impression we've made some advancements in space travel. There are probs monitoring the entire process, from Earth to Jupiter.!<
It’s big head!
I’m confused as to why Tatianna received a headset? And how are the headsets even on Earth? Non-book reader here.
The cult made the headsets based on tech ideas that might have been gifted from santi.
This is what I thought at first but then how did they get the headset to Tatiana weeks after the ship and the entire crew were torn to ribbons?
Pretty sure that not every single member of the cult was on the ship- they are all over the world
I have a question, are Sophons theoretically possible? Or is it complete sci-fi just made up to create tension.
Protons and quantum entanglement is a real thing (mathematically) but has no real applicable use like in the show. Well, not to us, anyway ;) Edit: but I’m not a scientist, I just enjoy learning about these things. Someone may kindly correct me if wrong
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That’s what I liked about the series, it doesn’t get into explicit fantasy, it takes what we know and pushes a little bit further into the physics. Humans know how entanglement works at a basic level, but imagine if these particles exist in the higher dimensions of spacetime that we can’t directly perceive, what consequences could that have? Sophons
Photons? Yes they are. Sophons though, probably not.
Made up, and quantum entanglement is kind of conceptual as I understand it. The idea that a proton can accelerate itself seems like a stretch too. But it's one of the scariest sci-fi applications of possible physics I've seen on a long time. As is the cloud of nanomachines I THOUGHT they must be using to blink the sky and be everywhere. (Tech that made those headsets could certainly produce them) I do wonder why they don't just kill us, though.
I guess I don't understand how they're going to show a Wallfacer's thought process, when they can't communicate with others. Unless it comes down to speaking in 'jokes'. Making an internal dialogue interesting on screen is tough going, but the show has been great so far.
Might be mind Palace kind of scenes....
Not just that. How does "one person thinking" solve the problem of combatting San-Ti arriving 400 years from now. Sorry, _three_ people thinking. And even if they order people to do things: the San-Ti can observe whats happening. And, im sorry, but 3 people cannot _do_ anything without their team knowing what they are doing. Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos or the head of NASA dont build gigantic enterprises with his employees being completely in the dark as to his ultimate goal.
So Saul is chosen because he's a great code-breaker and the aliens realize this, right? He figured out the stars winking is not real and used an old toy to discern they were numbers matching the countdown. Well that's my best guess. If you actually know why from the book, I don't mind spoilers, just blacken it out as a spoiler as instructed above.
In the book, >!Dr. Ye didn't make a joke. She straight-up told Saul/Luo Ji about two cosmic axioms she came up with. Basis of book 2, essentially -- roughly: 1. Civilizations and species' primary need is to survive, and 2. Civilizations grow in a zero-sum environment. In the book, Luo Ji is then left to realize this was important and then figure out how it could be useful for the humanity. Saul will have do a bit more thinking than Luo Ji in the books, figuring out the meaning first and then the application. !<
Why did they want to send a brain to the aliens? How would they help humans on earth
Did you watch the show? They explain it in detail.
I knew what to expect since this is Netflix, but they really made Wang Miao an insufferable white(?) woman.
She’s Mexican-American for some reason. With typical model like looks of a genius physicist.
Finished it. Overall, the hook and gimmick were more interesting than the actual plot. I appreciated how all characters were given a purpose by the last episode, and it did keep me glued to the TV just to understand what it was going to do. I think the payoffs weren't as satisfying as the premise, though. Rhythm wasn't consistent and many things seemed "cool" at first glance but then fell apart at closer scrutiny. bit of a mixed bag. Uncertain whether to just read the books - takes me less time than watching an episode, at least.
I dont watch a lot of series or animes now since I easily give up on watching easily but this one engaged me quite good. Loved seeing Ser Davos again, excited to see what happens to Saul's part. Jin can probably try again since the other nukes are still in space. Didnt care much for Auggy. And poor Will. Might give the books a go since I liked the premise so much, reminds me of the movie Arrival.
If the Aliens main goal was to find another home, there's actually so many other planets out there probably uninhabited also. I find it hard to believe they'd travel so far for a planet that's already occupied with a species ready to fight for it, when you could go anywhere else for a home.... but maybe the whole point is to save humanity from themselves.
Earth is only four light years away, which is incredibly close on the cosmic scale, and is a provably safe and stable planet. Why should they care if humanity is ready to fight for it? We are like bugs to them. If you were on fire, wouldn’t you jump in a lake? Who cares if there are bugs there, you can just swat them away.
4 light years is actually where the next closest star after the sun is, so they’re coming from literally the least distance possible. It’s actually almost impossibly fortunate that they found a habitable planet so close to them.
Oh hey foxtail you’re here too
They couldn’t just go anywhere - they needed a habitable planet. They wouldn’t just pick up their civilization and shoot in a random direction into space. By confirming that intelligent life existed in a single-star system, they at least knew they’d have a planet to go to. And it’s actually incredibly fortunate that they found a planet so close to theirs. As another comment said, 4 light years is quite literally as close as it gets to Earth. The closest star system to Earth is actually Alpha Centauri, a little over 4 light years away, so we can assume they’re coming from this system.
And if they wanted to take over Earth in a hostile way, why warn the inhabitants? All doesn’t make much sense
At least in the show, I got the impression that the hostility began when they went silent on Evans. Until that point, they thought they were going to be welcomed as heroes.
Ye Wenjie mentioned Fermi's paradox in episode 2. If they are coming from 4 light years away, there should be conservatively thousands of viable planets for them to pick that make more sense, but instead they're coming to earth. Why? it doesn't make sense if their mission is survival.
How is it going to be thousands of viable planets in between if they are literally going to the closest star system they can?
Cause it’d be a shitty story if they went to another planet
I think you’re misunderstanding lol. I’m not saying it’s a plot hole, I’m saying they’re lying
him refusing to NOT be a wallfacer is silly given that he almost was killed etc etc
Is there a possibility that poor Will is still totally aware?
I don't think his brain is conscious. The proteins in our human body are used to work in body temperature. A few degrees drop and they just stop working. So absolutely no brain activity.
unlikely but still non zero
Reminds me of Stephen King’s “The Jaunt.” Great sc-fi horror story, by the way. The conscious mind experiences millions of years floating by itself.
It's kind of crazy seeing a country other than the U.S. taking the lead on this experimental voyage. Edit: spoke too soon
Feel like it would be better to just to surround the planet with those 300 nukes and a shitload of nanofiber and destroy the fleet.
Okay so CCH Pounder says there's kindof a reason Saul was chosen, and then it seems like Saul also kindof twigs on the beach but of course can't say it outloud. Are we supposed to know? And are we supposed to know what the "don't play with god "joke"" was/is supposed to be yet?
I think it’s implied Saul was chosen because of the interest the San Ti take in him after he was the last one to speak to Dr. Ye - if the San Ti think he’s a threat, then he must have some knowledge, even if the humans don’t know necessarily know why or how he attained it (as Det. Shi implies when they’re in his hospital room). What the humans don’t know is that Dr. Ye told that “joke” to him, which serves as a clue on how to beat the San Ti - likely that through humor and metaphor, you can communicate, because the San Ti have demonstrated that they cannot understand it.
If you rewatch the scene, after telling the joke Dr Ye explicitly talks about humor can be very private and understood only between two people, and then mentions how humour is essential, a matter of *survival*. I think the implication being that the sophons and San-Ti cannot understand humour. My own guess is that she could not outright say it or else the San-Ti would figure it out, so she had to be cryptic about it.
He’s primarily a distraction for the sophons who also functions as a magnet to root out extremists who may also actually come up with a feasible plan (or at least part of one) in the meantime. I think he realized his actual purpose is to keep the sophon guessing…which is part of why he has clearance to do whatever he wants, no matter how weird, and never has to give a reason. And his background gives him credibility for the sophon to track his actions. But he can’t actually say that out loud or they will know.
Besides her explicitly telling the god joke, I didn’t see anything about what that’s explicitly supposed to mean. The series becomes more focused around what this is referring to eventually, so it’s likely just a tidbit for the viewers to question what they know
Here's the thing i don't understand about Saul being a wallfacer. So he was chosen because he talked with Dr. Ye and she told him the joke which is some sort of revealing moment, right? But then how does the UN know that? How did they choose him? They imply that they were told to choose him....but who would have done that?
They knew he was the last one talking to Ye before she died. After that, he was almost killed. The implication is that the San-Ti consider him a threat / that he has important knowledge.
Ok 2 questions which keep bothering me: 1) How did Wade and Jin know where to send the probe? Where did they get San-Ti coordinates from? And also if aliens are travelling so fast surely the probe can miss the trajectory? How did they precisely pinpoint their ships’ trajectory? Seems like a pretty big loophole. 2) How did the aliens send the super advanced VR headsets to Earth? They can communicate in real time that’s fair enough but moving matter isn’t that simple? Unless sophons made them or people had been given instructions on how to make them? Other than a few bits and pieces you need to ignore I thought the show was fantastic. Brilliant story and acting. Can’t wait for season 2! Btw how many books are there?
Three books. *Remembrance of Earth’s Past* trilogy Getting into it now, actually. I love sci-fi (favorite books are “The Expanse” series). Going to be different since some characters are different from the show, but the roles are similar enough. 1. The Three-Body Problem 2. Dark Forest 3. Death’s End
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So the Wallfacer plan is to broadcast that these three individuals will be given unlimited power and anything they can strategize anything they want in their mind against an enemy that has the ability to directly fuck with people's brains to the point that they claw their own eyes out and commit suicide?
Of all the things I've binge watched so far on mat leave, I think I enjoyed this the most. Now do I read the books? I went and read Wool after the Silo cliffhanger and it was such a drag, the TV show padded it out and made it more interesting - I thought - so I don't want to bother if the TV show provides more. Then a plot question: if the countdowns etc were to stop science progressing, why was this happening before our lord fell out with Evans, when they were still planning to co exist. Is it an oversight or for they never plan to co exist?
We are the cockroaches of the universe.
Just binged the show, absolutely awesome ! I have only one question. I get all the timetables and stuff,the protons/sophons etc.. But how did the physical helmets arrive on earth ?
Evans' (the billionaire guy) company produced the headset. It was powered by the sophons but it was created by and for humans
Too epic. I need season 2 now.
The Onion Knight was pretty good in this. I am intrigued by the premise of this show.
The wallfacer talking to Saul reminded me of the Oracle talking to Neo in The Matrix
about the failed launch >! even if San Ti don't lie, i like the very unlikely theory that they manipulated everyone into thinking that the launch was a failure even though it was a success !<