The Queen’s Gambit Series Review.
A high gamble period piece that largely pays off.
Netflix’s latest offering The Queen’s Gambit is an artistic, rags to riches, underdog story with a welcome and refreshing female protagonist. It deviates from the typically male dominated Tortured Genius archetype and trope, which is often a dramatic cautionary tale about the cost and burden of a having a talented mind. The limited series is a stylised fly on the wall insight into the world of chess. A drama about chess was always going to be a risk, solely relying on chess as the main subject wouldn’t have given the series much punch or longevity, thankfully the series has drama through its storytelling, themes and characters that manage to stoke the fires of interest and engagement beyond chess and its 64 squares and 32 pieces.
The game of chess, nay sport, isn’t the most riveting topic by any means, to most, chess just a game but chess much more than that, it’s a war of attrition. The series could’ve easily been bloated with play-by-play study mercifully though, the series reigns it in considering the likely fresh and beginner audience. The series portraying chess in a welcoming manner, making it feel open and approachable for a fresh audience or rather new set of spectators. It isn’t filled to the brim with an encyclopaedia of terminologies, the chess elements never feel forced and are done sparingly that it doesn’t feel like a “technical jargon overload”. After all The Queen’s Gambit isn’t an in depth documentary, it’s a drama series.
Watch The Queen’s Gambit for Anya Taylor-Joy’s commanding performance as Beth Harmon and her rise to prominence, the challenges she faces along her journey pursuing the title of Grandmaster. Taylor-Joy not only brings life but fire to her character Beth, there’s an undeniable energy that compels the audience and other characters to gravitate towards her. Taylor-Joy’s presence on screen and superb acting for the camera mesmerizes the viewer not with her words, but her facial expressions, body language and captivating eyes as Beth Harmon. She’s able to draw you in with just her intense gaze, mannerisms and quirks alone thanks to Taylor-Joy’s masterful acting.
She’s helped by a decent supporting cast in The Queen’s Gambit. Each doing their part and playing their role well enough within the time frame they are given. The likes of Thomas Brodie- Sangster as Benny Watts, rival turned friend and wayward bishop, Harry Welling as Harry Beltik, another early rival turned aid, newcomer Moses Ingram as Jolene, Beth Harmon’s first real friend at the start of the series offering sisterly love and support, a role she later reprises before the series finale. Alma Wheatley takes a break from her usual director role to play Marielle Heller, Beth’s alcoholic adoptive mother turned manager and confidant. Rounding of the noteworthy characters is Bill Camp playing Mr. Shaibel the recluse janitor, Beth’s chess teacher and becomes somewhat of a surrogate father figure.
The series uses tried and tested universal concepts like coming of age, finding one’s self and place in the world to bolster longevity fortunately, The Queen’s Gambit avoids making the aforementioned themes feel like stale writing and part of a checklist. It uses them effectively as a character development and learning opportunities for Beth Harmon. There’s a carefully constructed ebb and flow to the sequence of events in the series. There’s a balanced fragility that swings back and forth the euphoric highs and joys of winning matches and competitions are followed by breaking the equilibrium to set up a new conflict to resolve or challenge to overcome in the form of the bitter lows and curveballs that life throws. There’s a rhythm to the series the follows your typical underdog story (think Rocky franchise) but it doesn’t come across as a lazy afterthought, it’s not a vicious cycle by any means, more like running through the motions to have story progression and character development in the process.
During her character’s adolescent years Taylor-Joy captures the youthful mischief, energy and spirit of rebellion during 50’s perfectly. As we transition into the 60’s we see Harmon’s confidence in herself develop more with the string of victories and games under her belt, her movements become a little more minimal, refined and composed to display a sense of maturity during tournaments but outside them, she’s still full of the burning energy and drive she had when she was younger. In doing so, Beth becomes a more rounded and fleshed out. She knows her strengths, she has her goals set, she has the hunger and drive to win. She has the vices to impede her, she has the sceptics that doubt her and she has many opponents to beat on her way to the top. The trade-off between contrived situational conflict in favour of fleshing out the main character was a smart decision.
Beth Harmon is well aware of her male opponents underestimating her because she’s a woman. She knows most pay attention to her because of her gender, she’s an anomaly, her game and ability comes second to her sex during most of the series. She’s not naïve to that. Beth Harmon knows she can’t change that but she also won’t let that define her or belittle her achievements as she rises through the ranks at local state, national and world circuits. Beth Harmon is a formidable chess player. She wants to be judged squarely on her game. Not her sex. She wants to be taken seriously, seen on equal terms with her male competition if not standing, the fact is, she trounces the majority of her male competitors yet her being a woman tends to overshadow her skill and talent which are much more important. Her achievements are often overlooked and second to the novelty of being a female chess player. Beyond the world of chess and perhaps most importantly is that she’s a trailblazer. Harmon ages over the course of the series from orphan, prodigy, rebellious adolescent and a smart, capable independent woman not bound by or shackled to the home maker, submissive and unfulfilling secondary roles that society expected of women to adhere to and play. She has no plans to fall in line with the idea of women being lesser to or under men.
Professional Chess tournaments are only one side of ongoing battles by Beth Harmon, at the start of the series she’s made to take pills to keep her docile to deal with a traumatic event prior to the series’ beginning. The deeper, more personal battle for Beth Harmon is family: Beth Harmon has never had strong, lasting familial bonds, she has an underdeveloped sense of connection, she’s therefore incapable of true emotional ties or solid relationships with people on a deep level because she never got the chance to make them properly. That was taken away from her. She was robbed of it. Many people come and go, that’s not unusual or unheard of, but because of Beth’s significant losses so early in her life, there’s more weight and meaning to it. She’s never had a consistent person in her life, all characters have a finite amount of time with her at best. The pills are followed by alcohol when she gets older and more outgoing. The pair form a two-pronged attack working together to become her chosen vices. The topic of addiction has often been made to coincides with prodigious talent, it’s part of the tortured genius trope which The Queen’s Gambit belongs and plays up to, with substance abuse or mental health issues being the default flaws that hinder characters. Her dependency on the alcohol to unwind and the pills to help her game sequence becomes a problem for her general wellbeing as the series goes on but thankfully, the series manages to do so with a little more tact and taste than its predecessors.
Some of the criticisms for The Queen’s Gambit include the lack of consequences and details being brushed over. First is its portrayal of addiction, it willingly chose to fall in line with trope instead of challenging it. Beth had enough inner challenges to face and could have just relied on the ongoing pill addiction as it’s been there since the start and more than enough as the primary vice Beth to deal with but the alcoholism felt like a half-hearted add on. The cold turkey method it opted for to quell urges is far from convincing, the withdrawals and temptations were waved off with too much ease. She’s become dependent on pills and alcohol. Coffee and cigarettes are dull and unfulfilling by stark comparison. They’d hardly give her the fix she craves. The addiction felt like it was swept under the rug in lieu of the grand tournament in the finale.
Another notable criticism would be the duration of the series itself. It could’ve benefited with one or even two more episode before the penultimate one, it would have given a little more breathing room and time to address and temper Beth’s addiction and polish her skills more convincingly (sans training montage) before the grand finale. One episode for each would’ve greatly neatened up the story arc and make for more conceivable rounding up of other characters to help Beth as the final tournament drew near. The 11th hour save felt forced and rushed given the circumstances and timeframe.
The series needs time to be consume and digest properly. It was never going to be a quick watch so an episode or two more wouldn’t have hindered it. Adding a couple more episodes wouldn’t have felt like filler and the pace of the series wouldn’t have suffered from it. If anything, it would’ve given the series a better overall roundedness in the end. The last two episodes felt hastily put together taking away from the gradual build and steady flow from the episodes prior.
