‘3 Body Problem’ Recap, Episode One: ‘Countdown’

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3 Body Problem Countdown Season 1 Episode 1 Editor’s Rating 4 stars * * * * Photo: Netflix 3 Body Problem, the new Netflix series adapted from the Chinese writer Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, begins with a scene that’s anything but science fiction. We’re in 1966 Beijing at the height of the cultural revolution, when academics perceived as class enemies were brought out onstage by Mao Zedong’s violently loyal Red Guards to be publicly humiliated and tortured in mass struggle sessions. The show quickly introduces us to one of those victims: Ye Zhetai, a physics professor at...