Posted in: Review, streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: episode 5, Review, TenCent, The Three-Body Problem, three-body

The Three-Body Problem Episode 5 Review: A Meltdown & A Cop's Wisdom

The Three-Body Problem Episode 5 reaches the story's first turning point as a cop's wisdom becomes the key to saving a scientist's life.

Bad news, kids. Tencent has locked all YouTube episodes of The Three-Body Problem past Episode Four behind a subscription wall. But hey, it's a lot cheaper than a Netflix subscription which you have to pay for too, and they still don't have their own version of The Three-Body Problem scheduled. We'll let you know if more episodes get unlocked for free. For now, you get the first four as a taster.

Which is a shame because Episode Five is really The Three-Body Problem's first turning point. Wang Miao (Edward Zhang) is in full-sweaty-paranoid-mode about the universe flickering just for him between 1 am and 5 am on Friday night. But first, we get a pre-credits cold open where Shi Qiang (Yu He Wei) gets approached by a sneaky reporter named Mu Xing (Yang Rong), who tries to secretly record a quote from him that she can blog about. He's remarkably restrained with her compared to how mean he gets with everyone else. He's polite but irritated, never losing his cool, especially when she's done her homework on him and knows he's been suspended from the normal Police. She's probably going to show up again.

Anyway, Wang Miao visits Beijing's main observatory in the middle of the night after Science Grandma, aka Yu Wen Jie (Chen Jin), called in a favour with the astrophysicist in charge, who used to be her student. The series has been filming at real observatories, real particle accelerator labs, and the real nanotech lab in China. It's a showcase of the country's scientific progress and institutions and a celebration of Science in the end, even if the high concept of the show is about the Laws of Physics being manipulated by an alien intelligence to mess with Humanity.

Wang needs to see if the universe is really going to flicker for him like Shen Yu Fei said it would, and that means looking for fluctuations in cosmic radiation waveform that the satellites would pick up. Cosmic radiation waveform has been constant for centuries and should be till the end of time, showing up as a steady straight line on a graphical readout. A flicker on the line would be like the universe suddenly blinking like a fluorescent light and should be impossible. And Guess what happens? Wang flees outside with special goggles to see if this is true and finds the numbers that were plaguing him writ large in red radiation patterns laid over the whole city. Just like Shu Yu Fei said, but even she doesn't know what would happen at the end of the countdown. Wang Miao has a full-blown panic attack, and that's when Shi Qiang, who'd been following him, stops him. He takes him to breakfast and orders booze.

It's the Smartass Cop's Show, After All

This is the point where Shi Qiang reveals himself as the heart and soul of the show. He has a mortgage to pay, his kid still can't find a job, and he has an unending pile of cases to close. He has no time for all this high-falutin' existential crap. "If I stop to look at the moon and the stars, the suspect's gonna get away." He says out loud what some of us have been thinking: why is Wang having a meltdown over a couple of light shows and hallucinations they now know someone is sending to his eyes somehow, and Wang isn't just imagining it? Shi Qiang figures that's why it's all bullshit. You're being played, bro. If somebody's going through all that trouble to freak you out, don't give them the satisfaction. Who cares if you're seeing things? Unless the world is exploding and everyone's dying, what's the point in freaking out about it? Wang asks what he's supposed to do now. Shi Qiang tells him he's taking him home, where Wang is going to get some sleep. Then he's going to wake up in the evening and have dinner, then go back to sleep, then he's going to wake up in the morning and go back to work. Because that's what you do. Shi Qiang's bored "SO WHAT?" is the most refreshing reaction to not only Wang falling into the rabbit hole of Doom but also to every real-life conspiracy theory of the last three years.

The moment is unexpectedly moving. Shi Qiang doesn't have to like Wang Miao to save his life because it's his duty and the right thing to do. We've spent hours inside Wang Miao's head and sharing his paranoia and fear that the universe is not what he thought it was. Shi Qiang cuts to the chase – how does it affect your everyday life? If it doesn't, why waste energy worrying about it? He becomes the embodiment of Proletarian heroism. He's working class, pragmatic, with no time for existential crap about the universe if there are no lives in danger. As a cop, he also represents that reassuring power of the State, protecting lives and being ready to fight any threats to its citizens. Shi Qiang is "copaganda" at its finest, the reassuring cop at the centre of every cop show in the world. "When I said you were too scared to kill yourself," he tells Wang. "That was a compliment."

Wang and Shi Qiang end the morning finally with some mutual respect and understanding, and maybe a bit of affection. Shi Qiang probably had a soft spot for Wang all along, the way he might put up with an annoying puppy. Wang finally comes clean and gives his photographs to Shi Qiang to investigate using the resources of the police-military organization. Shi Qiang has kept one last hilarious detail to himself: Wang is listed in his phone contacts as "Nano Coward." Makes you wonder if he has other categories of cowards on his contact list.

The Three-Body Problem is Really about Science and Love

Wang Miao decides to follow Shi Qiang's advice and get on with his life. He authorizes the resumption of work at the research lab on the nanoblade. The timecode comes back to his eyes, but he doesn't panic anymore. He'll live with it. He agrees to show up at his daughter's primary school to teach her class about Science and Physics. This is his happy place, to pass Science to happy kids learning about the world. Science is how we understand the world. He does this for his daughter. It's the love of his daughter that redeems him.

We end on a flashback to Yang Dong (He Du Juan) at her particle accelerator the day her experiment failed. She's shattered like her world has fallen apart. Her boyfriend Ding Yi (Eric Wang) tries to cheer her up with jokes about probability and proposes marriage. She turns him down, but we know she'll eventually agree. We don't know if she committed suicide or if she was coerced, but unlike Wang Miao, Love wasn't enough to keep her alive.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!