I now understand why people talked about this series the way they did... At first, I was not even sure what to expect... A series about chess? Seven episodes of people thinking deeply over a board? I was wondering how they were going to make that interesting but surprisingly, The Queen’s Gambit does not really feel like a series about chess... It feels like a story about a troubled young woman trying to understand herself while also trying to become the best at something... The story follows Beth Harmon, a young orphan who discovers that she has an incredible talent for chess... She learns the game from a quiet and strict janitor named Mr. Shaibel and from there, her life begins to change... Beth goes from playing chess in the basement of an orphanage to competing in major tournaments and eventually facing some of the best players in the world but her talent comes with a price...
Beth is not exactly the easiest person to understand... She is intelligent, focused, confident when she is playing chess, but emotionally, she is a mess... Her childhood trauma, loneliness, addiction to pills and alcohol and difficulty connecting with people all follow her as she grows older and that is what made the series interesting to me... It would have been easy to make Beth just another “genius girl who defeats everyone” character but the show gives her problems outside the chessboard... Sometimes, her biggest opponent is not the person sitting across from her, it is her own mind..
Anya Taylor-Joy was honestly excellent as Beth Harmon.. Her performance is not loud or exaggerated... A lot of the time, she barely says anything but her eyes and facial expressions do most of the work... You can see when she is calculating, when she is angry, when she is scared and when she is slowly losing control... The way she looks at a chessboard almost makes it feel like she is seeing an entire battlefield in her head and even though I do not understand every chess move, the series somehow made me care about whether Beth would win or lose...
The supporting characters were also important. Mr. Shaibel, Alma, Jolene, Benny, Harry and the other chess players helped make Beth’s journey feel less empty... I especially liked how some of the people she competed against eventually became people who supported her... It showed that competition does not always have to end in hatred.
I also have to talk about the visuals... The costumes, locations, colours and overall 1960s atmosphere were beautiful.. Beth’s outfits became part of her identity and the production design made every tournament feel important.. Even the chess scenes were shot in a way that made them feel dramatic.
However, the series is not perfect... Beth’s rise sometimes feels a little too smooth. She wins so often that some of the tension disappears.. Also, the story occasionally makes her addiction feel more stylish than dangerous, especially with the way the pills are connected to her ability to visualise chess. The show does explore the consequences later, but I still felt that part could have been handled with more balance.
Some of the relationships also felt underdeveloped... There were characters I wanted to know more about, especially Jolene and a few of Beth’s chess rivals. Still, the seven-episode format helped the story remain focused, and it did not drag unnecessarily.. What I loved most about The Queen’s Gambit was that it did not make Beth’s victory the only important thing. The real journey was about her learning that talent alone cannot save her. She needed friendship, support, honesty and the courage to face her past.
The final episode was satisfying because it felt like more than a chess victory. It felt like Beth finally choosing to live instead of constantly running away from herself..
Overall, The Queen’s Gambit is beautifully acted, emotionally engaging and surprisingly addictive.. You do not need to know anything about chess to enjoy it... The chess is only the surface.. Underneath it is a story about loneliness, ambition, addiction, friendship and the struggle to become whole..
Rating: 75/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
