Someone once memorably said about the online streaming service Netflix: life is like Netflix. If you eliminate your standards, there’s more to enjoy. Well, that is true. There are limitless viewing options, and some are obviously closer to the ‘awful’ end of the spectrum than others. And then there are shows that everyone seems to agree on (well nearly everyone anyway). The Queen's Gambit seems to be one such. It is Netflix's top-rated show right now and with good reason:
This is a complex and layered story about a chess prodigy set in a time when chess was viewed as simply not a woman’s arena. So it a story about gender stereotypes, but so much more: it is about substance dependency, emotional issues, relationships and the downward spiral of a genius.
This is a limited series with seven episodes of roughly an hour each.
It is a riveting watch: an absorbing story set in beautifully authentic-looking 50s and 60s.
Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth Harmon who wants to be the best chess player in the world. She is effective, understated and quite terrific in her role.
Harmon lays low experts of the game. Anya Taylor-Joy's restrained but powerful performance has garnered widespread critical acclaim as well as popular adulation.
There is the janitor who taught her chess in the orphanage basement. There is Jolene, a fellow orphan at the orphanage. Then there is her adoptive mother who becomes her ‘agent’ and has her own set of issues.
The show features other intimate relationships and friendships --- each one nuanced and complex.
The Queen’s Gambit is, of course, a move in chess and this is a story that revolves around chess. Some detailed research has gone into creating the chess games in the series. Chess experts have confirmed the authenticity and integrity of the game as depicted.
I don’t play chess either. That didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the series, because there is nothing I enjoy as much as a great story well-told.
They started knowing nothing about chess and then became 'experts'.
So what if one doesn’t play chess?
Unlike chess, the complex characters of the series are not black and white. The genius orphan's tale sticks in the head long after you finish watching it.
So the series triggered some chess memes. I am too ignorant about chess to know if those make any sense; whether they are funny or otherwise.
Even after watching The Queen's Gambit, I still have no idea how to play chess. But that did not detract from me being completely riveted by the story of Beth Harmon --- I highly recommend it. I certainly understand why this is the highest-rated show on Netflix right now; and why reviewers say it is one of the best Netflix shows of the year.
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