TV Tellings I: The Queen's Gambit

Here we go: Queen’s Gambit. This is my first watch, but it seemed like this show completely took over the pop cultural conversation for, like, a full eight days or something.



Anya Taylor-Joy looks 100% like an anime character. I do not know anything about chess.

Logline
An orphaned gamine and functional addict completely destroys the overwhelmingly male world of competitive chess through the 1960s.

Episode Rundown

1. "Openings"
   So, like, in a tragic accident, Elizabeth Harmon gained the powers of...chess? Which are kept in check by sedatives? Ten minutes in, I was convinced I was accidentally watching a Legion remix. Twenty minutes in, I figured it was a gritty version of Annie? When would we get to see "Easy Street"?
   
   
   
   Thirty minutes in, I was like, what the hell kind of boarding school gives space for a kid to disappear into a basement for hours at a time?
   
   
   
   Anyway, say no to drugs, kids.
   
   
2. "Exchanges"
   What happened after she took thirty tranqs at once? We're just gonna skip over that? FINE.
   
   Kudos to hair, makeup, and lighting on making a 25-year-old look ten years younger. Make sure all the clothes look just a little too small, get really creative with cheekbones to make the chin look smaller and the cheeks rounder, make sure the eyebrows look very natural, have her hair almost a little too shaped. Egads.
   
   Watching Beth utterly demolish in that first tournament is unbelievably satisfying.
   
   
   
   And also: MENSTRUATION.
   
   
3. "Doubled Pawns"
   Beth's got a predator's walk, now with the fans and the reputation to match. And Alma's more and more clearly a parasite. (Uh, how are they planning to keep Beth out of school playing sick when she's out pulverizing the chess world?) And the flashbacks couldn't make it more clear that Tiny Beth had to care for her mother, too. Ooof.
   
   Did I hope Beth would snap and murder her way through the Apple Pi party? This might not be my genre, guys.
   
   Beth is also now old enough that she is noticing boys. Townes, who turns out to have a friendly partner named Roger. And Jojen Reed cosplaying as Raylan Givens (Benny Watts, I GUESS) throws her by beating her.
   
   
   
   That's, like, two things that didn't go the way Beth wanted and it's both kind of nice to see Beth discover what it's like to lose, BUT ALSO, to realize even after all the work she's done, she still can't control everything.
   
   
4. "Middle Game"
   I'd say good on Beth for getting stoned and laid, but she doesn't actually seem to have feelings about either of those things? Nor does Alma, who continues to be the most ineffective guardian ever. It's less disconcerting now that Beth's...seventeen, they said? Getting adultish. They make a little more sense as friends at this point. Which, y'know, makes the thing that happens extra awful.
   
   
   
   I continue to delight in her friendship with Mike and Matt, which is possibly the only normal relationship she has.
   
   
   
   Beth psyching out the tiny Russian boy was pretty fun. Beth eavesdropping on the Russians in Mexico City is...I'm not sure how I feel about it. Beth being terrified of Borgov is unsettling. Beth failing to murder that hotel guy who dared to throw shade at poor Alma's drinking is inexplicable. Beth having to deal with frickin' Mr Wheatley is gross.
   
   .
   
   Oof.
   
   
5. "Fork"
   It's sort of weird how every guy who met Beth way back when greets her now with, like, Hey, you've got boobs now! But when Beltik's face just, like, blue-screens at seeing Beth dance to "Fever"...I get it, man. I get it.
   
   
   
   Seriously, if I were Beth I'd be opening up a discount bed and breakfast for wayward chess players. (Her chess winnings can't possibly cover the mortgage along with everyday life.) Then everybody could circle around her constantly, wondering if she exhibits feelings when not playing chess. BELTIK. Put your heart back behind your ribs, friend, because she doesn't even see you offering it.
   
   Meanwhile, Benny Watts is the weirdest, guys. He's the kind of folk who make every conversation a lesson about the philosophy by which they live their life. Those folks are so tiring. Seeing Benny beat Beth at speed chess until she ran out of cash was rough. Doing a smash cut to Beth having defeated Benny in the tournament proper was pretty sweet. ALSO, Beth has got some moves, dang.
   
   
   
   Which makes Benny's definitive rejection pretty surprising--apparently dudes who don't feel threatened by Beth are also immune to her charms? I did actually like Benny more after that, go figure.
   
   
6. "Adjournment"
   Benny observing Beth being admired by everyone and Beth only paying attention to Benny and Cleo...I suddenly remembered this is set in the 60s. Then, uh, chess orgy? That was all kinda weird, guys.
   
   GET IT GIRL.
   
   
   
   Argh, Cleo, you temptress! BUT ALSO, Beth, do you seriously think you're in love with Townes? I mean, I guess you have zero models of healthy relationships, so. (Beth/Cleo is something I am willing to reflect upon but cannot fully endorse.)
   
   Anyway, Wheatley is trash and Beth essentially just throwing money on the table because she can afford a monetary Fuck you is amazing. And we follow that up with Benny telling Beth he misses her! (Did I sit up and shout OH MY GOD, yes, obvs I did, you know me by now.)
   
   Hey, diegetic music bleeding into a montage! My favorite.
   
   
   
   Also, GIRL. This is...a look.
   
   
   
   Anyway, Beltik's a good egg.
   
   
7. "End Game"
   So they telegraphed that Beth's mom actually crashed in a murder-suicide thing a couple of times early on, and yiiiiiiikes.
   
   Yay, Jolene! There are some friends who'll always be who they are. Everybody needs a couple of those. And sometimes we need someone who knew us before, because how else will we know we need to get our shit together?
   
   
   
   Oh no, Mr Shaibel! That wall of articles about Beth is heartbreaking.
   
   
   
   So, like, I grew up fundamentalist. The nice church ladies talking about the ungodliness of Communism was terrifyingly familiar. And once again, Beth throws some money on the table as a fairly clear Fuck you. Would that we all could be so bold, no?
   
   I would have been down with this show suddenly turning into The Americans, but with chess. There were, like, three minutes where they almost went there. SO CLOSE.
   
   I was 100% annoyed when Townes showed up in Russia. "Ugh, that guy." And then he joined forces with Beltik and Benny for Team Beth! And everyone else! BETH HAS FRIENDS. (And a lovely counterpoint to the Russian masters worriedly going over her game with Luchenko.)
   
   
   
   
   Beth looking entirely freaked out when she realizes she won the game against Borgov? My heart grew three sizes. And I seriously burst into tears seeing everybody hearing the news about the win.
   
   

Bottom Line
Ye gods, no wonder everybody was buzzing about this. Someone can be a genius without connection to feelings without being a BBC Sherlock sociopath!

And the clothes, y'all. The clothes.





Queen. Of. My. Heart.