3
BODY
PROBLEM
Episode 101
Broadcast Draft 02/27/24
OVER BLACK, the FERVENT CHANT OF A THOUSAND VOICES
crescendos:
揪出反⾰命⼩爬蟲，
打倒⼀切⽜⻤蛇神!
A CHYRON reads: BEIJING. TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY 1966.
EXT. TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY EXERCISE GROUNDS – DAY
CROWD
(in Chinese)
Root out the bugs! Sweep away all
monsters and demons!
A THOUSAND RED GUARDS, young Chinese ages 12-20, are packed
to the gills on the exercise grounds of this prestigious
university. They are frothing with revolutionary fervor.
On a makeshift STAGE, a PROFESSOR (male, 50s, nameless
because this is the last we’ll ever see of him), collapses to
his knees, mentally broken.
PROFESSOR
(IN MANDARIN)
Yes! I am a counterrevolutionary!
I beg you to rehabilitate me!
The crowd JEERS. He is DRAGGED OFF the stage by three male
Red Guards.
CROWD
Strike down the
counterrevolutionary!
BEHIND THE STAGE
Reveal another professor, YE ZHETAI (male, 48) – he’s next.
He is already heavily BRUISED. His hands are tied behind his
back, with MALE RED GUARDS one-third his age on either side
of him.
But unlike the previous professor, Ye Zhetai’s face is
impassive.
MALE RED GUARD
Bring on the next one.
The Red Guards nearly lift him off the ground by the elbows
and carry him in front of the rabid crowd.
BACK ON STAGE
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 2.
Four FEMALE RED GUARDS (14-15) mount the stage to join in
dragging Ye Zhetai to the front. One of them, TANG HONGJING,
leads the crowd in a new wave of chants:
TANG HONGJING
Rebellion is just! Revolution is
righteous!
CROWD
Rebellion is just! Revolution is
righteous!
EXT. TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY EXERCISE GROUNDS – FOOT OF THE STAGE
- DAY
Meanwhile, at the foot of the stage, we reveal Ye Zhetai’s
daughter, YOUNG YE WENJIE (20), surrounded by the crowd on
three sides. She’s frozen in fear, in a cold sweat, knowing
what’s to come. She cranes her neck upward to bear witness to
her father’s “struggle session”.
YOUNG YE
(low whisper)
Father...
Two kindly UNIVERSITY JANITORS (male, 40s) huddle on either
side of her, trying to keep her calm.
EXT. TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY EXERCISE GROUNDS – DAY
One of the male Red Guards addresses him in a voice loud
enough to hush the crowd:
MALE RED GUARD
Ye Zhetai, aren’t you a professor
of physics?
YE ZHETAI
You should know. You were my
student.
MALE RED GUARD
Behave yourself.
The students grow frenzied.
MALE RED GUARD
Ye Zhetai! In your physics course
did you teach the theory of
relativity?
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 2.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 3.
YE ZHETAI
Relativity is one of the
fundamental theories of physics.
How can a basic survey course not
teach it?
TANG HONGJING
You lie! Einstein went to the
American Imperialists and helped
them build the atomic bomb!
Ye Zhetai only returns a withering glare, refusing to even
dignify her accusation. Enraged, Tang shouts just offstage:
TANG HONGJING
Bring up his wife! She is a genuine
physicist! She knows the truth!
The male Red Guards bring Ye Zhetai’s wife, SHAO LIN, onto
the stage as a witness for the prosecution. She’s teetering
on the edge of madness, having capitulated to the mob.
YOUNG YE
Mother!
For a brief moment, Ye Wenjie’s eyes give a glimmer of hope
which turns to horror when she sees her mother’s face.
Ye Zhetai’s breath seizes, knowing his wife has been broken,
and knowing what that likely means for him.
Shao Lin shouts:
SHAO LIN
Ye Zhetai! With the help of the
revolutionary youth, it has become
clear to me. I want to stand on the
side of the people!
The crowd ROARS.
ON YE WENJIE: her heart breaks at her mother’s betrayal. She
nearly shouts at Shao Lin but the janitors restrain her.
MALE RED GUARD
Bow your head, Ye Zhetai! Bow your
head!
But Ye Zhetai refuses to bow his head.
Irate, Tang Hongjing STRIKES him in the face with a BELT
BUCKLE, drawing blood.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 3.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 4.
TANG HONGJING
Bow!
Yet Ye Zhetai still refuses to bow.
Shao Lin steps forward again, continuing her verbal assault:
SHAO LIN
Ye Zhetai! You cannot deny, you
lectured on the
counterrevolutionary big bang
theory.
YE ZHETAI
It is the most plausible
explanation for the origin of the
universe.
SHAO LIN
Lies! The theory claims to know
when time began.
TANG HONGJING
Time began? What was there before
time?
SHAO LIN
It leaves open a place to be filled
by God.
The crowd gasps. Tang Hongjing, terrified by this
possibility, shouts in Ye Zhetai’s face:
TANG HONGJING
Are you suggesting God exists?
YE ZHETAI
Science has given no evidence
either way.
This sends the crowd past rage.
They CHANT their disapproval:
CROWD
Down with Ye Zhetai! Down with
academic authorities!
The Red Guards fly into a frenzy. The teenage girls descend
upon him, SWINGING their belts, the buckles SMASHING against
his head with a barrage of wet, sickening thuds.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 4.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 5.
At the foot of the stage, Ye Wenjie SCREAMS in horror, but
her voice is drowned out in the mayhem. It requires both
janitors to restrain her from rushing the stage.
The girls continue to beat and kick Ye Zhetai, well past the
point of obvious death. He lies motionless in a pulp.
Finally, mercifully, the Red Guards come to their senses.
They turn around to find that the crowd has fallen silent,
save for a few uncomfortable murmurs.
Ye Wenjie is devastated, still struggling against the
janitors.
YOUNG YE
Let me go! Let me go!
Slowly, the Red Guards leave the stage.
After a few moments, the crowd dissipates, their bloodlust
sated, tinged with a guilt no one will admit to. They leave
Ye Zhetai’s body behind.
EXT. TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY EXERCISE GROUNDS – DAY
An hour later. With the exercise ground now empty, Ye Wenjie
sits beside her father’s body, catatonic, all emotion wrung
out of her. She slowly reaches into her pocket and places a
MEERSCHAUM PIPE in her father’s hand – her father’s pipe.
TANG HONGJING (O.S.)
Ye Wenjie...
A LONG SHADOW looms over Ye. She looks over her shoulder to
find...
The four teenage RED GUARD GIRLS who murdered her father
staring down at her, rifles in hand, unsmiling.
MAIN TITLES
EXT. LONDON - NIGHT
We’re staring down at the nighttime cityscape from far
overhead. A creepy, ominous, disorienting view, made creepier
and ominouser by Ramin’s cue.
As we hurtle closer to a particular block, we see the blue
lights of police cars. Quite a few of them, parked outside a
house.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 5.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 6.
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
We follow CLARENCE SHI, better known as DA SHI, down a dim
corridor.
DA SHI
Another suicide?
Da Shi approaches COLLINS, who nods as his boss approaches.
COLLINS
Yeah, very unpleasant. Scotland
Yard has been helpful, for a
change. I told them we need to be
involved.
They enter a dimly-lit room.
POLICE OFFICERS and FORENSICS SPECIALISTS are tagging items
and collecting specimens. A PHOTOGRAPHER takes pictures.
There is blood everywhere. Quite a lot of it. Almost hard to
imagine that it came from one body, though it did.
Collins casts his flashlight over the room, revealing numbers
hand-drawn on the wall in blood. Countdowns, dozens of them,
starting with relatively high numbers and getting closer and
closer to zero.
Da Shi looks over the bloody countdowns as Collins refers to
his notes.
COLLINS
Dr. Sadiq Mohammed. Born in
Karachi. Studied cosmology and
theoretical physics at MIT. Strange
suicide note.
DA SHI
Another countdown.
COLLINS
One of the betting sites had him
pegged as the favorite for the next
Nobel Prize in Physics.
Da Shi’s face is quite close to the bloody scrawl of
00:00:00.
DA SHI
You can bet on that?
COLLINS
You can bet on anything, boss.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 6.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 7.
Da Shi crouches down to look at a smudged scrawl near ground
level.
I STILL SEE IT
DA SHI
History of mental illness? Previous
suicide attempts? Anything like
that?
COLLINS
Nothing. Just like the others.
And now, finally, Da Shi turns to look at the corpse lying on
the floor. SADIQ MOHAMMED was a young man, not even 40.
He lies in his own dried blood, which covers everything. An XActo knife is still in his hand.
He has gouged out his own eyes.
DA SHI
Christ.
Da Shi looks from the mutilated dead man to the smudged I
STILL SEE IT on the wall.
EXT. OXFORD ACCELERATOR PROJECT - DAY
Drone shots of the Oxford Accelerator Project.
Chyron: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PARTICLE ACCELERATOR
INT. OAP - ANTIMATTER DECELERATOR HALL – DAY
VERA YE walks through the tunnel housing the beam pipes used
to accelerate particles. She passes by the most sophisticated
machinery humanity is capable of producing, but she doesn’t
look at any of it. It’s all useless to her now.
No one else is present. We feel the emptiness.
INT. OAP - COMPUTER ROOM - DAY
Vera enters and sees SAUL DURAND, alone by a bank of
monitors, staring at the data on the screens.
His workstation is a mess: an open bag of Jack’s crisps, a
bottle of Mountain Dew on some kind of plaque.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 7.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 8.
Around him are signs that he’s mid-move: an empty bookshelf;
framed posters leaning against walls; half-packed boxes with
person items spilling out of them.
VERA
I knew you’d be the last one here.
SAUL
Here ‘til the lights go out, boss.
I keep thinking if I just stare at
the screen long enough, something
will come to me.
The lines of data are dense, incomprehensible to most people,
but Saul studies them with keen interest.
VERA
They shut the project down.
SAUL
But the power’s on until midnight,
so...
He taps on the keyboard.
SAUL
You taught us it doesn’t matter how
beautiful your theory is, if it
doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s
wrong.
VERA
I think that was Feynman, but yeah.
SAUL
According to the experiments, all
our theories are wrong. All of
them. All of the physics of the
past sixty years is wrong. Science
is broken.
Vera looks in one of the moving boxes, which is filled with
empty Jack’s Snacks wrappers and crushed cans and Mountain
Dew bottles.
She pulls out a photo of Saul as a young, bespectacled geek
holding his Apker Award.
VERA
You were just a baby.
She puts aside the photo and picks up the actual Apker Award
(a certificate in a fancy leather cover).
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 8.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 9.
VERA
You’re not throwing this away, are
you? Oh, Saul. You mustn’t.
She reads:
VERA
You still “demonstrate great
potential for future scientific
accomplishment.”
SAUL
Missed my window. “A person who has
not made his great contribution to
science before the age of 30 will
never do so.”
VERA
How old are you?
VERA
31?
SAUL
32.
She wraps the award in a sweatshirt from the box to protect
it.
VERA
Einstein wasn’t right about
everything. If anyone can figure
this out, it’s you.
Again, she seems preoccupied. As he goes back to his screens.
She turns to go but then stops in the doorway.
VERA
Saul? Do you believe in God?
Saul is stunned by this question from his mentor.
SAUL
Is that what it’s come to?
He waits for an answer but gets none.
SAUL
No. I don’t.
He gestures at the screen.
SAUL
I accept that this... defies the
known laws of physics. But I don’t
think that’s an argument for God.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 9.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 10.
Vera stares at the screen.
VERA
So what’s left?
Saul wishes he had something helpful to say.
She looks as if she might say something else, but she
doesn’t. She smiles sadly and walks out the door, leaving
Saul alone and perplexed.
INT. OAP - NEUTRINO OBSERVATORY – DAY
A giant cylindrical stainless-steel tank, 150 feet high. The
walls of the tank are lined with thousands of photomultiplier tubes. A strange and beautiful space, like nothing
else on Earth.
Vera stands at the access door at the top of the tank,
staring down at the water far below her, at the thousands of
photo tubes mirrored there.
She lets herself fall. There isn’t much splash. Soon the
ultrapure water appears undisturbed again. We hold on the
water long enough to know she won’t be coming up.
INT. BAR - NIGHT
A regular bar with a karaoke setup in front.
A BLONDE TRYHARD, sexy if over-tanned, sings Katy Perry.
She’s good enough that it’s not funny and bad enough that
it’s not pleasant.
BLONDE TRYHARD
(singing karaoke)
I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry ChapStick
We find JIN CHENG and AGUSTINA “AUGGIE” SALAZAR seated on bar
stools, trying their best to ignore the singer.
JIN
Wow. Confidence.
A BARTENDER places shots glasses full of tequila in front of
them.
JIN
You know you’re gonna be carrying
me home, right?
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 10.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 11.
AUGGIE
I’ve done it before.
They lift shot glasses full of tequila and clink.
AUGGIE
Salud.
JIN
Salud.
They slam their glasses down on the bar. Auggie calmly eyes
the Tryhard; Jin looks like she might vomit.
AUGGIE
It’s possible our bar has gone to
shit.
JIN
Second Law of Thermodynamics:
eventually, everything turns to
shit.
(hiccups)
Physics is turning to shit. Bars
can’t be far behind.
AUGGIE
Explain to me what’s going on.
JIN
Okay--
A hot guy (RUFUS) leans into the bar.
RUFUS
So are you ladies gonna sing a
song?
JIN
(looks a little sick)
No.
RUFUS
No? What do you mean, “No”? Not
singers? Alright. Alright. What do
you do, then? Hold on, don’t tell
me. Let me guess. You probably are--
AUGGIE
I design self-assembling, synthetic
polymer nanofibers. I started a
company that manufactures them for
a variety of potential medical,
energy and materials applications.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 11.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 12.
Rufus looks like someone trying very hard to understand a
foreign language. He looks to Jin, hoping for something he
can get his head around.
JIN
I’m a Senior Researcher in the
Theoretical Physics Group at
Imperial College. I’m doing a
metastudy analyzing the results of
particle accelerator experiments
around the world.
Rufus thinks about this.
RUFUS
Nice one.
KARAOKE MC (O.S.)
Next up is Rufus!
RUFUS
(relieved)
Alright. That’s me! Enjoy it! Bye.
Exit Rufus. Auggie looks around.
AUGGIE
Okay. Why is everyone freaking out?
Jin organizes the words in her mind so she can take a sober
run at them.
JIN
About a month ago, all the major
accelerators started generating
results that made no fucking sense--
RUFUS (O.S.)
(singing karaoke)
It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday,
the regular crowd shuffles in...
Auggie turns to the source of the exasperation.
AUGGIE’S POV of Rufus singing, looking at the lyrics screen.
On the lyrics screen, some aggressive orange squiggles
obscure the lyrics for a moment, but the singer doesn’t seem
to notice. And then they’re gone.
Auggie notices, but doesn’t think much of it.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 12.
(MORE)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 13.
AUGGIE
Come have a smoke with me.
JIN
That shit will kill you.
AUGGIE
So will this.
EXT. SMOKING AREA - NIGHT
Auggie is watching a video on Jin’s phone. We see the same
particle collision representations that we saw in the scene
with Saul and Vera.
Even before she speaks, Auggie’s face tells us that she knows
what she is seeing is impossible.
JIN
Saul sent that one just last week,
from Oxford.
AUGGIE
It’s been a while since particle
physics, but this can’t...
JIN
No, it can’t.
AUGGIE
Well then maybe it’s a hack?
JIN
In every accelerator on the planet?
I went through the CERN code, line
by line. Nothing.
AUGGIE
The code? For the centralized
software? How many lines is that?
JIN
It’s a lot, Auggie. It’s a lot of
fucking lines.
AUGGIE
Okay, so it’s a hardware issue.
Jin shakes her head.
JIN
Dipole magnets, muon chambers,
calorimeters. (MORE)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 13.
JIN (CONT’D)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 14.
Every component checked four times
over in every collider from here to
Beijing.
AUGGIE
Okay so what does Saul say?
JIN
He says it’s impossible.
AUGGIE
What about you?
Jin takes her phone back and looks at the frozen image on the
screen.
JIN
These experiments teach us how the
universe works. And that... that’s
fucking Alice in Wonderland.
Auggie feels her phone vibrating in her purse. She pulls it
out and sees that Saul is calling. [We see his picture on her
phone.]
AUGGIE
Now he calls. I texted him to come
three times and he wouldn’t even
text me back.
Auggie looks at the phone.
AUGGIE’S POV of Saul’s picture on his phone. More, thicker
orange squiggles appear over Saul’s name, obscuring it.
Auggie looks away from the phone. The squiggles remain in the
center of her field of vision for a beat. Her gaze returns to
the phone, at which point the squiggles disappear.
The phenomenon has a more visible effect on Auggie this time.
She sends the call to voicemail. When she does so, the
squiggles disappear.
AUGGIE
(putting phone away)
See how you like it.
JIN
You guys are like 14-year-olds.
Jin’s phone is ringing now. Saul.
Auggie shakes her head.
JIN (CONT’D)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 14.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 15.
AUGGIE
Take it. He’s probably high as
fuck.
(beat)
It’s fine. Take it.
Jin steps away from the other smokers to a quieter part of
the smoking area and takes the call. We stay with Auggie.
JIN (O.S.)
Hey.
Auggie stares at the wall. She frowns, blinks, opens her
eyes.
She turns her head, closes her eyes, turns back.
She grabs Rufus as he walks by.
AUGGIE
Hey.
RUFUS
Oh, hey. Hi!
AUGGIE
Do you see that?
RUFUS
See what?
AUGGIE
That.
She steps away from him and stares at the wall.
RUFUS
You all right, love?
Auggie’s POV of: the countdown, fully manifested for the
first time.
She’s so distracted and disturbed by what she sees that she
doesn’t notice Jin approaching behind her, phone held by her
side, face slack with shock.
JIN
Auggie.
Auggie turns to her.
JIN
Vera Ye just killed herself.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 15.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 16.
INT. BLACK PALACE - CORK BOARD ROOM - DAY
This room is dim, and our view of it is intentionally
limited. We don’t see Da Shi yet; we just see a picture of
Vera Ye in the middle of a cork board.
Beneath the picture, a notecard on which her name is written
above “OXFORD ACCELERATOR PROJECT.”
A hand reaches into the frame and adds something over the top
of Vera’s photo in red pen: a red ‘X’.
Da Shi steps back and looks at the board. We see him in
reverse. A bunch of photos are arrayed around Vera, orbiting
her like planets. All the people in her life, grouped
according to association.
[Ye Wenjie is on the board amidst the others, though not
featured: “DR. YE WENJIE. MOTHER. BORN BEIJING, 1950. MOVED
TO LONDON, 1985. RETIRED.]
“DR. SAUL DURAND. PhD 2016, THEORETICAL PHYSICS. APKER AWARD.
VERA’S LAB ASSISTANT, 2016-PRESENT.”
We see Da Shi’s face as he scrutinizes the board, like
someone trying to put together a difficult puzzle.
“DR. JIN CHENG. PhD 2016, THEORETICAL PHYSICS. DIRAC MEDAL,
EDDINGTON MEDAL. KLEIN INSTITUTE, QUANTUM GRAVITY PROJECT
DIRECTOR.”
“DR. AGUSTINA SALAZAR. PhD 2016, APPLIED PHYSICS.
NANOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CENTRE, FOUNDER AND CHIEF SCIENTIFIC
OFFICER.”
“DR. WILL DOWNING. PhD 2016, THEORETICAL PHYSICS. 6TH FORM
PHYSICS TEACHER, BROMLEY.”
“JACK ROONEY. DROPPED OUT 2015. STARTED JACK’S SNACKS. VALUED
AT £90 MILLION.”
INT. FUNERAL HOME LAVATORY - DAY
Close on the order of service for Vera’s funeral. Held by
WILL DOWNING, who places it down and stares at himself in the
mirror. He’s not particularly happy with the Will he sees.
JACK ROONEY comes to the other sink, glancing at Will as he
washes his hands.
JACK
Excited to see Jin?
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 16.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 17.
WILL
Well, it’s not exactly ideal
circumstances, is it?
JACK
How long’s it been?
WILL
I don’t know.
JACK
Bet you do. Bet you remember to the
day.
WILL
(he does)
It’s been a while.
(stares at his tired face)
Fuck. I did not sleep at all last
night.
JACK
Why not?
WILL
I don’t know Jack, maybe it’s
because Vera’s killed herself?
Jack pulls out a golden flask (monogrammed with his initials,
JR). Jack offers the flask to Will, who shakes his head. Jack
shrugs, holds it up.
JACK
To Vera.
He takes a deep swig.
He takes out a bag of Jack’s Snacks, a Chili Cheese variety,
opens them and munches on a handful.
Will stares at him, horrified.
JACK
Hides the tequila smell.
He offers the bag to Will.
JACK
You want?
WILL
No.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 17.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 18.
JACK
Go on.
WILL
I don’t want one.
JACK
It’s my most popular flavor. Third
highest-selling crisps in the UK,
after Walker’s Cheese and Onion and
Monster Munch Beef.
WILL
Congratulations.
JACK
Suck a dick, Pringles.
They laugh.
JACK
Have you heard that Jin’s got a new
boyfriend. Don’t worry. Bet he’s a
total squid.
CUT TO:
EXT. FUNERAL HOME - DAY
PRITHVIRAJ “RAJ” VARMA, a dreamboat in his Royal Navy
uniform. He holds Jin close, comforting her: then she grins.
Saul rides into the parking lot on his bicycle.
JIN
Fucking Saul. Come and say hi.
He hops off and walks over to Jin and Raj.
She opens her arms for Saul and embraces him.
JIN
I’m so sorry.
SAUL
Yeah, me too.
JIN
Saul, this is Prithviraj--
RAJ
Just Raj, mate.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 18.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 19.
Saul and Raj shake hands.
SAUL
Nice to meet you.
Jin points at the untied necktie around Saul’s neck.
JIN
What is going on here?
Saul’s a little embarrassed.
SAUL
I was trying to figure it out on
YouTube but...
Jin pushes aside his hands and ties the tie, quickly and
expertly.
JIN
Winner of the Apker Award, can’t
tie a tie.
SAUL
Lord Kelvin thought that atoms were
knotted vortices in the aether.
JIN
Did he?
Saul’s about to answer but Jin cinches the tie tight,
interrupting him.
JIN
Is Auggie here yet?
INT. TRAIN – DAY
SAUL (O.S.)
She said she’s running late.
Auggie sits on the Great Western train from London to Oxford.
Her eyes are shut. She takes deep breaths, as if she were
trying to calm herself.
A little BOY sits across the aisle from her, staring at her.
The boy’s MOTHER, tapping on her phone, ignores her son.
Auggie opens her eyes. She looks up at the roof of the train.
She sees something there, something horrifying.
In her POV we see what she sees:
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 19.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 20.
01:18:02:46
01:18:02:45
01:18:02:44
Days, hours, minutes, seconds, steadily shifting numbers
plastered across her field of vision.
Auggie squeezes her eyes shut, then opens them, but the
numbers stay with her wherever she looks, adjusting for light
and dark and color to remain perfectly visible at all times.
INT. FUNERAL HOME – DAY
Vera’s body lies in an open casket at the front. The
morticians have done a good job.
Wreaths of white irises on the wall bear the names of wellwishers.
Jin stops at the front of the reception room and bends down
beside an older woman – Vera’s MOTHER.
JIN
I’m so sorry for your loss. We all
loved your daughter very much.
YE WENJIE
Thank you for coming.
Vera’s mother pats Jin’s hand and Jin walks back to sit
beside Raj.
Will and Jack are already sitting near the back, watching
this interaction.
JACK
Jin’s looking good.
Will just stares. He’s been in love with Jin since pretty
much the moment he first saw her, and a long time has passed
since they last met.
And then he sees Raj. Tall, handsome, in uniform.
Fuck.
JACK
Phwoar, he’s looking good, as well.
Will gives Jack a dirty look.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 20.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 21.
JACK
What?
WILL
Fuck off.
Jin sees Will and Jack. She gives them a small, funeralappropriate wave and smile.
Jack smiles and waves back. Will is too paralyzed at first to
do anything. He finally raises his hand for a wave after Jin
has already faced front again.
Auggie enters. Saul sees her and stands to make room.
They embrace. She studies him.
AUGGIE
Hey. How are you doing?
SAUL
Yeah, you know.
She kisses him on the cheek. It’s not quite the kiss you give
a friend and not quite the kiss you give a lover, but
somewhere in between.
She sits between Saul and Jin.
Jin leans closer so she can whisper with Auggie without being
overheard.
JIN
Did you see the neurologist?
AUGGIE
Yeah.
JIN
What’d he say?
AUGGIE
She.
JIN
She. Oof, Jesus.
AUGGIE
She has no clue why it’s happening.
JIN
So it’s still happening?
Auggie nods.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 21.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 22.
JIN
Like, right now?
AUGGIE
Like all the fucking time.
A newcomer walks into the room – a white American in his 70s,
MIKE EVANS.
He approaches the casket and stares down at Vera’s dead face,
his expression unknowable.
Finally Evans turns away from the casket. He sees Vera’s
mother staring back at him.
They maintain eye contact for a beat, before Evans walks to
the back of the room and takes a seat.
BACK IN AUGGIE’S POV: The countdown continues over a
Buddhist monk at the front of the room, as he begins to
chant.
EXT. FUNERAL HOME - LATER
The mourners have begun to exit the funeral home.
Across the street, unseen by all, Da Shi takes photographs
from a nondescript car.
The doors of the funeral home open.
Da Shi takes several shots.
Evans walks over to a waiting black SUV. The SUV pulls out.
A moment after the SUV drives off, Da Shi follows.
EXT. PRIVATE AIRFIELD – DAY
The SUV has parked by a helicopter with a distinctive EvEn
logo (Evans Energy). Evans steps out and climbs into the
chopper.
Sitting in his car outside the airfield fence, Da Shi watches
all this. He continues to take photographs.
INT. OXFORD PUB – NIGHT
All the young characters we’ve met are gathered here at this
crowded University pub, sitting around a table, drinking.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 22.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 23.
We enter in the middle of their conversation.
JIN
What does that even mean?
‘Do you believe in God?’ It’s a
strange question, don’t you think?
SAUL
Yeah. Not as strange as jumping
into a Cherenkov tank, but sure.
JIN
Was she acting weird or?
SAUL
I don’t know. Yes? But everything
has been weird lately.
JIN
That project was her baby. So when
it shut down--
JACK
(to Saul)
You shut down?
SAUL
Can’t justify using enough
electricity to power a small town
when we’re getting nonsense
results.
JIN
Not just Oxford either. Every major
accelerator on the planet.
Auggie, who has been distracted the entire time, now turns to
look at Jin and Saul.
WILL
She must have been depressed about
that.
SAUL
Yeah, but to kill yourself?
JACK
She was a bit of a killjoy, if
we’re being honest.
Everyone glares at him.
SAUL
Don’t be a dick, Jack. Come on.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 23.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 24.
JACK
Listen to him. You were her
favorite. She would have happily
kept you on as her research
assistant until the end of time.
But the rest of us? Ha. Good luck.
JIN
That’s fucking rich, considering
you’re the one who quit.
JACK
And trust me, all of you fucking
noble academics, you’ll be coming
to me and Auggie for loans in a few
years. Isn’t that right, Auggie?
When your company goes public?
He’s looking at Auggie but Auggie is staring at something
unseen.
JACK
Auggie!
She turns to look at him.
JACK
I was just saying - what’d you call
your company?
AUGGIE
The Nanotechnology Research Centre.
JACK
That’s... possibly the most boring
name I’ve ever heard.
JIN
Oh, says the guy who named his
company “Jack’s Snacks”.
Auggie turns from Jack to Will.
AUGGIE
Will how’s teaching going?
WILL
I don’t know, I have about one kid
in every class who actually listens
to what I’m saying, and the rest
are just there for their mandatory
science course.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 24.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 25.
SAUL
We were all that one kid.
AUGGIE
Yeah, that’s true.
Jack, whose face is getting redder and redder the more he
drinks, looks between Saul and Auggie.
JACK
Are you two fighting right now? Or
fucking?
Auggie glares at Jack, who nods knowingly.
JACK
Ohhh. Fighting and fucking.
The group protests.
JACK
Oh shut your mouth. You want to
know as well.
AUGGIE
Jack, I love you. But I swear to
god, if you don’t shut the fuck up
I’m gonna punch a hole straight
through your head.
She puts down her glass.
AUGGIE
I’m just gonna grab a cigarette.
She doesn’t invite anyone to join her. She stands and heads
outside.
EXT. PUB/STREET – NIGHT
Auggie walks away from the pub, toward a more empty street.
Blinking hard, as if to scrub something from the surface of
her eyes.
Certain she is losing her mind, Auggie breathes heavily and
drops down onto the stairs, shutting her eyes and rubbing
them with the palms of her hands in a futile effort to make
the numbers stop.
As she takes out a cigarette and unsuccessfully tries to
light with shaking hands, someone approaches behind her.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 25.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 26.
The flick of a lighter makes her look up to see an unassuming
young woman (TATIANA) standing nearby with a lit lighter.
TATIANA
Need a little help?
Tatiana lights Auggie’s cigarette, then lights another one
for herself.
AUGGIE
Thank you.
Tatiana motions to the stairs.
TATIANA
May I?
Auggie nods. Tatiana sits down next to her. They smoke in
silence for a moment.
TATIANA
It’s a clear night. You can see
stars. Where I grew up, you could
see stars every night.
If she’s waiting for Auggie to ask where she grew up, she is
disappointed.
TATIANA
It’s not easy, is it. Being a
person in this fucked world. I
understand what you’re going
through.
Unlike her earlier smile, Auggie’s grim laugh is genuine.
AUGGIE
I doubt it.
TATIANA
It’s not hopeless though. Really.
The Lord has a better way.
Shit. A God person.
AUGGIE
Listen, you seem like a very nice
person. I’m just not interested
okay?
Tatiana is unfazed. She continues with warm concern:
TATIANA
How far has it got?
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 26.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 27.
Auggie is confused, so the woman elaborates:
TATIANA
Your countdown.
Tatiana’s expression doesn’t change, but Auggie’s face goes
slack.
TATIANA
How much time do you have left?
Less than two days, yeah? It’s not
much.
Her speechlessness makes the young woman smile.
TATIANA
It’s easy to make it stop. You put
an end to your work. No more
nanofibers. You shut down the lab.
Simple.
AUGGIE
Who are you?
TATIANA
I’d be suspicious as well. Tell you
what: tomorrow at midnight, at
exactly midnight, go outside and
look up at the sky.
(beat)
Has the universe ever winked at
you?
Tatiana places the rest of her cigarette pack on the stone
stair next to her and taps it: for you.
TATIANA
Tomorrow at midnight.
She stands.
TATIANA
You don’t want it to get to zero.
Nothing good ever happens at zero.
She walks away, leaving Auggie alone.
AUGGIE
Hey!
Auggie picks up the cigarette pack. Something is inside the
box, next to the remaining three cigarettes. Auggie pulls it
out.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 27.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 28.
It is a plastic decoder medallion from a box of Toasty-OSters: a defunct brand of English breakfast cereal from the
1950s.
She stares up at the night sky, at the brilliant stars above.
And sees the countdown pulsing against the heavens:
01:15:35:28
01:15:35:27
01:15:35:26
EXT. GREATER KHINGHAN MOUNTAINS - LOGGING AREA - DAY
A CHYRON reads: INNER MONGOLIA. 1967.
It’s now autumn. Ye Wenjie’s hair is chopped to a much
shorter, utilitarian length. Her skin is darkened by the
unyielding sun. From her uniform, we can infer that she is
in a work camp of some kind. Those who can read Chinese can
see that she is now part of the Inner Mongolia Production and
Construction Corps.
She and several hundred other “RE-EDUCATED” YOUTH, mostly
city kids unequipped for harsh rural life, are tasked with
clearing an endless forest with nothing but axes and saws.
They work in the shadow of a GIANT ANTENNA DISH perched atop
a nearby mountain.
Ye drops her saw for a moment and watches, crestfallen, as
the workers haul trees off indiscriminately, heedless of the
destruction left behind. She runs her fingers along the stump
she just exposed, counting the rings as if speed-reading in
braille.
A young man named BAI MULIN approaches her. Bai is handsome,
less beaten down by years of manual labor like the others.
The fact that he wears glasses suggests he’s not like the
others.
BAI MULIN
How old?
YOUNG YE
Between three and four hundred, I
assume.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 28.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 29.
BAI MULIN
That tree saw the Ming emperors.
(off Ye’s non-committal
shrug)
You must have considered the
consequences of all this
destruction.
YOUNG YE
These thoughts are dangerous. I
have nothing to say to the Great
Production News.
BAI MULIN
I’m not asking on behalf of the
paper. I’m just Bai Mulin, fellow
comrade.
A sound in the distance draws Ye’s eyes to the radar dish.
BAI MULIN
I’ve climbed up there. No one knows
what goes on behind those gates.
Things get odder the closer you
get. The soldiers working there
have lost their hair. Clear weather
turns stormy. The animals make
strange sounds.
(beat)
You read English, don’t you?
Young Ye returns a glance that suggests she does read
English, but it’s a bit dangerous to say so out loud.
Bai Mulin reaches into his bag and pulls out a copy of SILENT
SPRING by Rachel Carson.
BAI MULIN
(in English)
Silent Spring.
(beat)
This book was very influential in
the West. It’s about how people are
poisoning the world.
Bai offers Ye the book. Ye is hesitant to take it but
eventually she does.
BAI MULIN
It’s like reading into the future
if we persist with this
destruction.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 29.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 30.
As Ye Wenjie leafs through it, fascinated, Bai Mulin points
to a passage on a dog-eared page:
YOUNG YE
(in English)
“Here again we are reminded that in
nature, nothing exists alone.”
BAI MULIN
Keep it for now if you want to read
it. But be careful. Don’t let
anyone see.
Ye accepts the book gratefully. They exchange a smile – a
promise of a friendship to come. And maybe more.
INT. GREATER KHINGHAN MOUNTAINS - DORMITORY - NIGHT
By flashlight, Ye Wenjie reads Silent Spring, deeply moved.
Ye Wenjie’s hands tremble as she turns the page...
EXT. GREATER KHINGHAN MOUNTAINS - LOGGING AREA - DAY
Ye Wenjie and Bai Mulin watch helplessly as the men and women
of the Construction Corps pillage the land, more automaton
than human.
EXT. GREATER KHINGHAN MOUNTAINS - WOODS - DUSK
Ye Wenjie and Bai Mulin walk together through the wintry
forest at night. Hesitantly, he takes her hand. She lets him.
It’s the first time for both of them.
EXT./INT. CAMP - BAI MULIN’S TENT - NIGHT
Bai Mulin invites Ye Wenjie into his tent. Two ARMED PLA
GUARDS patrol the deep BG, but Bai and Ye avoid their gaze.
From Ye and Bai’s body language, we can tell that an afterhours visit such as this is clearly forbidden. We can also
tell that they can’t help themselves. It’s a risk worth
taking.
They sit together on his bed for brief moment. Hesitantly,
their hands meet, and they come together and kiss.
Soon, they fall into bed together.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 30.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 31.
EXT. GREATER KHINGHAN MOUNTAINS - CAMP - DAY
Winter has bloomed into spring.
Flush with the hope of new love, Ye plants a few SEEDS she’s
smuggled in her pocket – her tiny act of rebellion against
the destruction all around her.
We then track Ye Wenjie back to...
INT. GREATER KHINGHAN MOUNTAINS - DORMITORY - DAY
Ye reaches under her bed. To her alarm, her copy of Silent
Spring is gone. She searches the dormitory in a panic. Still
nothing. She rushes toward the exit...
... and nearly collides with COMPANY COMMANDER SONG and
POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR WEI.
Bai Mulin stands beside the two men, mortified.
YOUNG YE
Commander Song. Forgive me. I
didn’t see where I was going.
COMMANDER SONG
Have you lost this?
Commander Song holds Bai Mulin’s copy of SILENT SPRING. Ye
immediately seizes up.
COMMANDER SONG
How did you get this toxic
propaganda?
YOUNG YE
It isn’t mine.
INSTRUCTOR WEI
It’s in English. You speak English.
Who else’s could it be?
Ye exchanges the briefest of glances at Bai, who cannot bear
to meet her gaze.
INSTRUCTOR WEI
A truthful response is in your best
interest.
YOUNG YE
I forget.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 31.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 32.
COMMANDER SONG
You will pay the price if you are
protecting someone. Someone must
have given it to you!
But Ye won’t give Bai up. She holds her tongue, refusing to
say any more.
Commander Song sighs, resigned.
COMMANDER SONG
Take her to Division Headquarters.
Wei leads Ye away by the arm. She averts her eyes from Bai.
Bai watches her go, heartbroken, but unable to muster the
same courage Ye has shown.
EXT. GREATER KHINGHAN MOUNTAINS - DORMITORY - DAY
Wei walks Ye out toward a transport truck, past the stares of
dozens of other workers.
EXT. DIVISION HEADQUARTERS - DAY
Establish a cold concrete building in an industrial city
hundreds of miles from the work camp.
INT. DIVISION HEADQUARTERS - PRISON - DAY
Ye Wenjie shivers in the damp cold of her prison cell, the
COAL-BURNING STOVE in the corner having long since
extinguished.
A female cadre, TENG LIHUA, sits opposite Ye, her face is
kind and genuinely sympathetic...
TENG LIHUA
I am Teng Lihua of the Intermediate
People’s Court. How long have they
made you wait?
Teng Lihua turns her attention to the stove in the corner.
She scolds the prison guard:
TENG LIHUA
Boy. How long has this stove been
out? Little Wenjie will freeze to
death! Fetch some coal.
The chastened guard rushes out to fetch more coal.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 32.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 33.
TENG LIHUA
I asked to see you. Do you know
why? Because not only are you the
daughter of the disgraced Ye
Zhetai, but his star pupil as well.
In the eyes of many in the party,
this makes you irredeemable.
(then)
But I don’t see it that way. I know
of your own accomplishments as a
scholar. I don’t want your talent
to go to waste.
Teng opens a briefcase and produces a SINGLE-PAGE DOCUMENT.
TENG LIHUA
All you need to do is sign this
paper, take a political class, and
you’ll be approved to rejoin the
Construction Corps.
YOUNG YE
I’d like to read it, please.
Teng clocks the request as unusual, but she acquiesces and
hands Ye the paper.
TENG LIHUA
You can trust me on this. This
document has nothing to do with the
Imperialist book.
Ye continues to read. She nods at the first few sentences.
But soon, her eyes narrow. She looks up coldly at Teng Lihua:
YOUNG YE
My father is dead.
TENG LIHUA
But there are others in his field
still spreading dangerous ideas. We
lack evidence against them.
YOUNG YE
I’ve never seen my father with any
of these people.
TENG LIHUA
The statements are all true. Even
your mother has signed.
(pointing to the paper)
See?
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 33.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 34.
YOUNG YE
I cannot sign this. I cannot
testify.
Teng’s face stiffens.
TENG LIHUA
If you fail to sign, the Military
Control Commission will prosecute
you. At that stage, I will be
powerless to help.
Ye drops the papers.
YOUNG YE
I cannot sign this. I cannot
testify.
Teng nods, in reluctant acceptance of Ye’s decision. She gets
up and gestures for a fellow cadre to open the cell door.
Teng then goes to the corner and picks up the washing bucket.
In a single, merciless gesture, she DUMPS the near-frozen
water onto Ye and all over the blanket.
TENG LIHUA
Stubborn little bitch.
Teng and her fellow cadre exit, locking the cell behind them.
Ye’s lips turn blue as she trembles from the bitter cold...
INT. TRANSPORT TRUCK - NIGHT
OVER DARKNESS, we hear the deafening, repetitive SOUND OF
TIRE CHAINS thudding against gravel. It feels like it’s
drilling into our brain…
Ye Wenjie’s eyes finally flutter open. She sees a dim pattern
of rivets in the ceiling, covered by some sort of protective
netting.
A BLURRY FACE in PLA military uniform fades into view. We’ll
soon introduce him as YANG WEINING (late 20s). In the BG are
four other indistinct PLA GUARDS.
Before Ye can question the oddness of that, she falls out of
consciousness again.
EXT. RED COAST BASE - MOUNTAIN ROAD - DAWN
The truck carrying Ye Wenjie heads up the mountain.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 34.
(MORE)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 35.
EXT. RED COAST BASE – FRONT GATES – MORNING
At daybreak, the truck carrying Ye Wenjie arrives upon a
mountaintop. YANG escorts a wobbly Ye from the rear of the
truck.
To Ye’s surprise, she finds herself atop Radar Peak. Down
below is the army of re-educated youth with whom she toiled
for the past two years.
TWO ARMED PLA UNIFORMED SOLDIERS (early 20s) and a PLA
MILITARY OFFICER (late 20s) stand in front of the iron gates
to greet Ye.
LEI ZHICHENG
Ye Wenjie. I am Lei Zhicheng,
Political Commissar of Red Coast
Base. This is Yang Weining, Chief
Engineer of Red Coast Base.
Yang produces an ENGLISH-LANGUAGE SCIENCE JOURNAL.
YANG WEINING
Ye Wenjie, you are credited as the
author of this article.
YOUNG YE
Yes.
YANG WEINING
(in English)
... “The Possible Extent...
Extenses... of...”
YOUNG YE
“The Possible Existence of Phase
Boundaries Within the Solar
Radiation Zone and Their Reflective
Characteristics.” Yes. I wrote it.
LEI ZHICHENG
We have a need for your specific
talents. The Commission has decided
to give you a chance. Rehabilitate
yourself here, rather than in
prison.
Ye hesitates, thrown by the sudden change in fate.
YANG WEINING
This is a military base. The
research here is of the highest
security classification. (MORE)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 35.
YANG WEINING (CONT’D)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 36.
And given your status, if you stay,
you will never leave.
But Ye has already made up her mind.
YOUNG YE
I want to go in.
(with finality)
I will stay here for the rest of my
life.
She locks eyes with Lei and Yang, who exchange a glance. Yang
gives a small nod. Lei gestures to the armed sentries, who
open the iron gate.
Ye Wenjie passes through into Red Coast Base.
The gate closes behind her.
EXT. BLACK PALACE - DAY
Establish the Black Palace, an ominous, windowless building
that doesn’t currently exist.
Chyron:
“THE BLACK PALACE”
HEADQUARTERS OF THE STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
LONDON
INT. BLACK PALACE - CORK BOARD ROOM - DAY
A lot of information has been added to the Vera cork board
around each of the Oxford Five and Vera herself.
Off to the side: a picture of Evans, as-yet unadorned.
Another pic joins it, of Evans getting into the Evans Energy
helicopter.
Da Shi puts a name card beneath it: “MIKE EVANS.”
He stares at Evans.
What does this guy have to do with Vera? Unsure.
His phone rings. The ID of the incoming caller: WADE.
Da Shi sighs, and answers on speaker.
YANG WEINING (CONT’D)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 36.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 37.
DA SHI
Yeah.
WADE (V.O.)
Any progress?
DA SHI
More than you think. Less than you
want.
WADE (V.O.)
Anything happening with the Oxford
Five?
DA SHI
Maybe. Some strange CCTV footage on
Salazar the night of Vera Ye’s
funeral.
Da Shi walks as he talks.
WADE (V.O.)
What about Evans?
Da Shi turns to looks at his laptop, on the table behind him.
On the screen, an article from a Wall Street Journal dated
April 23, 1982 appears, amidst articles about Reagan:
“MICHAEL EVANS SUCCEEDS FATHER AS CEO OF EVANS ENERGY.”
DA SHI
Rarely seen in public since 1984.
Next to nothing written about him
for forty two years, since he took
over Daddy’s oil company.
Da Shi walks as he talks. He passes another corkboard, a
photo of another scientist at its center: “DR. RUSS SINGER.
AI SCIENTIST, BOSTON DYNAMICS.” Red ‘X’ over his face.
WADE (V.O.)
Where’d he go in that helicopter?
Da Shi passes another cork board: “DR. MARIANNE SAID.
CYBERNETICS PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI, NEW DELHI.” Red
‘X’ over her face.
DA SHI
We lost him over the Atlantic.
Satellite malfunction.
WADE (V.O.)
My satellites don’t malfunction.
Alright. What about the thing in
Tehran? The shiny bicycle helmet?
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 37.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 38.
Da Shi stops in front of the corkboard for: “DR. ARASH
ILKHANI. COMPUTER SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN. X.”
Not much on this board. The predominating element is a
surveillance photo, taken through a window, of Dr. Ilkhani
sitting in a chair with a mirrored headset on his head.
DA SHI
Whatever it is, we can’t get our
hands on it.
INT. BLACK PALACE - WADE’S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
From behind Wade’s chair, we see Wade looking at the same
photo on an iPad (we do not see his face). He absently tugs
on the cuff of his tailored suit. We see the elevator door in
the b.g.
WADE
We’re sure he was a suicide?
DA SHI (V.O.)
I wouldn’t say “sure.” The Iranians
have been... less than completely
helpful.
WADE
Clarence, you’ve been fired from
Scotland Yard, MI5 and OSCT.
INT. BLACK PALACE - CORK BOARD ROOM - CONTINUOUS
WADE (V.O.)
That must be some kind of record.
DA SHI
Got a knack for failing upwards.
As Wade talks, We get a good look at the room around Da Shi.
Corkboards surround him, each representing a scientist
somewhere in the world. X, X, X, X.
WADE (V.O.)
You don’t fail any higher than
this, Clarence. This is your last
chance saloon. Don’t fuck it up.
Da Shi sighs. He gets it. He pulls out a cigarette.
WADE (V.O.)
No smoking in here.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 38.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 39.
Da Shi freezes, looking around. No cameras in sight.
Click.
INT. YE WENJIE’S HOUSE - LIVING/DINING AREA - DAY
In front of a tiered home altar, Ye sets a ceremonial meal
between two incense burners.
Jin and Ye bow their heads as the steam from the food joins
the tendrils of incense smoke.
The smoke rises upwards past the flowers, toward the black
and white photo of Vera at the top of the altar. The smell of
a favorite meal that she will never eat.
INT. YE WENJIE’S HOUSE - VERA’S ROOM - DAY
An Einstein bust sits on the bookshelf. Jin’s hand reaches
into frame to pick it up and examine it.
YE WENJIE
Take it. She’d want you to have it.
Jin looks to Ye, who is sitting on the bed.
JIN
I don’t understand it. I’ve tried,
but I just can’t wrap my head
around it, why she would do that.
That wasn’t Vera.
YE WENJIE
Her work... things weren’t going
well.
JIN
I know, it’s the same for all of
us. I’m sorry to ask but... did she
leave a note? Any explanation?
YE WENJIE
Nothing.
JIN
She asked Saul about God.
Ye is confused by this.
JIN
Did she ever ask you?
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 39.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 40.
YE WENJIE
About God?
(shakes her head)
We’re not believers in this house.
We’re scientists.
JIN
Did she say anything strange to
you? Did she do anything strange?
Ye shakes her head. She can’t think of anything. Until:
YE WENJIE
Videogames. She was playing a
videogame.
JIN
Vera?
YE WENJIE
Yes. Quite a lot. Hold on... where
is it...
Ye looks around, and from under the bed she pulls out a shiny
headset and hands it to Jin.
JIN
That’s a videogame?
Ye shrugs: guess so.
JIN
Where’s the rest of it?
YE
That’s it.
Jin examines it, looking for a jack or a button.
JIN
What kind of game is it?
YE WENJIE
I don’t know. I played Pong.
It’s the closest thing Jin has to a clue.
JIN
Can I have it?
YE WENJIE
Of course.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 40.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 41.
Jin stares at her own reflection in the headset’s mirrored
surface.
INT. YE WENJIE’S HOUSE – LIVING/DINING AREA – CONTINUOUS
Jin stops in front of a photo we do not see yet.
JIN
Is that you?
Ye nods.
YE WENJIE
In another life. My first job.
JIN
You were beautiful.
YE WENJIE
I was. Time is a motherfucker.
Ye takes a final look, and steps away from the picture and
out of frame. Jin follows.
When both women are gone, we push in on the picture.
It is a picture of Ye, standing in front of the Red Coast
radio dish. Vera’s Mother is the young woman from the
flashbacks.
FLASHBACK – INT. RED COAST BASE – MAIN CONTROL ROOM – DUSK
A spacious room filled with instruments and equipment: signal
lights, oscilloscope displays, control panels.
A dozen operators in military uniforms are entombed in the
rows of instruments as if in battlefield trenches.
At the doorway to the room, Ye stands between Chief Engineer
Yang and Political Commissar Lei. Several armed PLA soldiers
stand to either side of them.
LEI ZHICHENG
Only three months, and you get to
see your first test. You’re very
lucky. Most people have to wait
longer.
YOUNG YE
What are we testing? Missiles?
Lei is dismissive.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 41.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 42.
LEI ZHICHENG
Everybody has missiles.
EXT. RED COAST BASE – UNDER THE DISH – DUSK
Ye, Lei and Yang emerge onto the platform. The operator’s
voice sounds over the PA:
LEAD OPERATOR (V.O.)
Target Coordinates BN20197F.
Checked and confirmed. 10, 9, 8, 7,
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Begin
transmission.
An ultra-low frequency hum begins, growing louder.
Ye gazes in the direction the antenna is pointing.
A cloud in the darkening sky begins to glow with a dim blue
light.
A fluttering sound surrounds them all, layered over the hum
of the dish.
Through the mists, shadows rise from the woods below the peak
and spiral into the sky:
Birds, tens of thousands of them, maybe more. More than Ye
would have ever imagined were in these woods.
One flock veers off and flies over the antenna. Against the
backdrop of the glowing cloud, they all fall to earth like
stones.
The hum stops. Regular business resumes.
LEAD OPERATOR (V.O.)
Transmission complete.
Ye looks up at the sky.
YOUNG YE
BN20197F.
Yang looks at her quizzically, so she reminds him:
YOUNG YE
Those were the coordinates for the
target.
YANG WEINING
Ah, yes. You have a good memory.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 42.
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Ye is still looking at the sky. Beyond the wisps of clouds,
all she can see are the stars in the cold night.
YOUNG YE
What is the target?
Yang and Lei look at each other.
INT. JIN’S FLAT – DAY
A hand picks up a blister pack of prescription pills, amidst
a bunch of prescription blister packs:
Sertraline
And picks up another:
Alprazolam
Jin swallows the Alprazolam and looks around the room
aimlessly for a moment. She doesn’t know what to do with
herself.
She pulls the gaming headset from the box.
She sits down and examines the headset. What is this thing?
Is this what the kids are doing now? Is this the last thing
Vera did before she decided to kill herself?
She puts the headset on her head.
EXT. GAME - PYRAMID - DESERT – TWILIGHT
We see things from Jin’s POV at first, not unlike the first
person POV in a videogame: a wide, primitive road in the
middle of a vast rocky plain.
The landscape and lighting are alien, but appear utterly
real. This is not any videogame experience we have ever seen.
We return to a regular perspective of Jin as she takes in her
new surroundings. A cold wind passes over her, and she feels
it. All of her senses are telling her she is really here.
Rock formations and the twisted remnants of strange trees
crop up here and there, providing scale reference, but the
central feature of the scene is impossible to miss:
A massive pyramid in the Chinese style, stretching thousands
of feet into the sky at the end of the road.
The sun is rising behind the pyramid. Quickly. Too quickly.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 43.
(MORE)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 44.
Shielding her eyes from the brightness, Jin looks down, and
sees something at her feet. It takes her a moment to see it
for what it is:
A dehydrated human body.
She screams and reaches for her head.
INT. JIN’S FLAT – CONTINUOUS
Back in her room, she pulls the gaming headset off, cutting
her own scream short.
Breathing heavily, sweating, Jin looks like she just got shot
out of a cannon. She looks at the headset in her hands.
JIN
What the fuck?
INT. BLACK PALACE - CORK BOARD ROOM/HALLWAY - DAY
Da Shi and OFFICER COLLINS look at the photo of the headset
on the cork board.
DA SHI
Wade really wants one of these
helmets. Thinks they’re “highly
relevant.”
COLLINS
We ever seen one over here?
DA SHI
No, not yet.
The two men head down the hall, toward the elevator.
COLLINS
What else is relevant?
DA SHI
Mike Evans. That bicycle helmet
looks expensive. Evans is rich.
COLLINS
What about the countdowns?
DA SHI
Yes, if they happen to scientists.
Suicides, if they happen to
scientists.
(MORE)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 44.
DA SHI (CONT’D)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 45.
Anything strange happening to
scientists is relevant. Anyone
connected to anything strange
happening to scientists is
relevant.
COLLINS
Who decides what’s relevant?
DA SHI
Wade.
COLLINS
Who decided he decides?
DA SHI
Governments.
COLLINS
Which ones?
Da Shi approaches a retinal scanner next to the elevator
doors and allows it to scan him.
DA SHI
Most of them. They’re not too keen
on the notion of science being
broken.
COLLINS
I don’t really understand the
science that’s broken, to be
honest.
DA SHI
I don’t understand it either. But
it’s not good.
The elevator doors open and Da Shi enters.
DA SHI
Just be happy you’re not a
scientist. Shit time to be a
scientist.
EXT. CHRIST CHURCH – NIGHT
Auggie and Saul walk in Christ Church College on a moonless
night. Saul is smoking a joint.
AUGGIE
You’re smoking a lot of weed.
DA SHI (CONT’D)
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 45.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 46.
SAUL
Yup. Is that why we’re here? Is
this an intervention?
AUGGIE
No.
SAUL
Then what are we doing here?
AUGGIE
Not what you’re thinking.
SAUL
I don’t think anything.
AUGGIE
Yeah you are and it’s not that.
SAUL
You asked me to come, here I am. On
a moonless night. In this beautiful
place.
He puts his arm around her.
SAUL
Tú con tantas curvas y yo sin
frenos.
She elbows him in the side, pretty hard. Probably leaves a
mark.
They find a spot to sit and wait for midnight.
SAUL
What did the weird chick say to you
again?
AUGGIE
“Has the universe ever winked at
you?” She said it would happen at
midnight and gave me this.
Auggie pulls out the decoder medallion. Saul takes a final
hit off the joint, tosses it and takes the medallion.
AUGGIE
It came out of a breakfast
cereal... I looked it up. They
haven’t made it since 1963.
SAUL
What’s going on with you though?
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 46.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 47.
She wants to tell him. It would be a relief to tell him.
AUGGIE
I don’t want you to know. No
confirmation bias. Just watch, and
let me know what you observe. If
you observe anything. Science,
dude. That’s why you’re here.
SAUL
I understand my role.
AUGGIE
Thank you for being here.
He nods, and opens his hand to fiddle with the decoder
medallion, turning the rings, aligning the combinations of
dashes and dots to make different letters and numbers appear
in the little decoder window.
SAUL
It looks like Morse code, but it’s
not.
AUGGIE
You know Morse code?
SAUL
I know all kinds of shit.
He is silent for a long beat. Then he reads the name of the
cereal off the medallion:
SAUL
Toasty O-Sters. It’s not a very
good name. I could think of a
better name. I mean I would have to
taste it first. The name should
reflect and support what it feels
like to eat the cereal. It’s
toasted, we know that much.
AUGGIE
Shut up and observe.
They look up at the sky. The stars seem unusually bright.
AUGGIE
Two minutes ‘til midnight.
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3 Body Problem - Episode 101 48.
INT. RED COAST BASE – MAIN CONTROL ROOM
Young Ye enters the control room to find a retinue of PLA
OFFICERS waiting for her. No programmers in sight. Yang and
Lei are front and center.
LEI ZHICHENG
Sit.
She sits in front of them.
LEI ZHICHENG
Not everyone here agrees with what
is about to be done. Given your
political status.
The stony faces of the military men support this assertion.
LEI ZHICHENG
On Chief Engineer Yang’s
recommendation, we have decided to
inform you of the true nature of
the Red Coast Project.
EXT. CHRIST CHURCH – NIGHT
Saul and Auggie continue to watch the sky.
SAUL
The stars are so bright tonight.
AUGGIE
You’re so high.
SAUL
Yeah, but still. They’re pretty
bright.
Auggie’s watch ticks over to midnight. She looks up at the
sky.
AUGGIE
Saul...
Their bewildered expressions are bathed in a faintly
flickering light. They stand, never taking their eyes off the
sky.
AUGGIE
Oh my God.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 48.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 49.
INT. RED COAST BASE – MAIN CONTROL ROOM
YOUNG YE
Red Coast is not an experimental
weapons program.
Yang and Lei are both taken aback.
YANG WEINING
Go on.
YOUNG YE
The emissions from the system are
modulated. Frequency modulation is
not necessary for weapons systems.
Yang looks at her for one last moment before imposing this
information upon her.
YANG WEINING
You are correct. It is not
necessary for weaponization. But it
is necessary for communication.
EXT. CHRIST CHURCH – NIGHT
The stars are flickering. All of them, in unison.
SAUL
I observe the universe winking.
AUGGIE
How can it be happening?
SAUL
It can’t.
They stare at the sky, in shock.
INT. BLACK PALACE - STAIRWELL - NIGHT
Da Shi runs up the stairwell as fast as he can and throws the
door open.
EXT. BLACK PALACE - ROOF - CONTINUOUS
Catching his breath, Da Shi looks up to the blinking stars as
he walks toward a man looking at the same: THOMAS WADE.
He steps in next to Wade, and for a moment the two men watch
the sky together.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 49.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 50.
EXT. CHRIST CHURCH – NIGHT
Saul remembers the decoder medallion in his hand.
SAUL
Shit, it’s a code.
He looks at the flickering stars, grabs a pen from his pocket
and starts scribbling dots and dashes on his palm, and
checking it against the decoder medallion.
Auggie sees him doing it.
AUGGIE
What does it say? What does it say?
INT. RED COAST BASE – MAIN CONTROL ROOM
YOUNG YE
Communication with whom?
LEI ZHICHENG
With whomever is out there.
Lei’s unflinching gaze tells her he is serious.
Ye’s eyes widen as she understands the true nature of the Red
Coast project.
EXT. BLACK PALACE - ROOF - CONTINUOUS
DA SHI
What is that?
Wade turns to Da Shi.
WADE
That, Clarence, is our enemy.
EXT. CHRIST CHURCH – NIGHT
SAUL
It’s not letters. Just numbers.
With dread, Auggie asks:
AUGGIE
Which numbers?
As Auggie looks back to the sky, Saul starts to read off the
numbers he wrote down.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 50.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 51.
SAUL
Ten, thirty four, zero six, five,
four...
As we hear him read, we go to
Auggie’s POV of the sky, with the countdown superimposed over
it.
The numbers Saul is reading are the numbers Auggie is seeing,
as she is seeing them:
00:10:34:03
SAUL (O.S.)
Three.
00:10:34:02
SAUL (O.S.)
Two.
00:10:34:01
SAUL (O.S.)
One.
END OF EPISODE.
3 Body Problem - Episode 101 51.