The fuss about Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit
Please bear with me. I know your mind was blown away by the new Netflix hit and I am hoping to change your mind in a few minutes and words. I am not talking as a director, how dare I? A series that was described as “terrific entertainment” by Forbes, watched by 62 million households in 28 days and with an undoubtedly huge budget, puts me in a critical position here. So let me start with what really works well: cinematography is a beauty, production design is marvelous (I am using big words here so you can forgive me later on) and very intriguing beginning (a recently orphaned kid discovers her greatest talent) that targeted my curiosity about the journey of that main character.
How wonderful to see the passion in Beth’s eyes when they fall on the chess board in that orphanage basement. Cut to: the famous blue pills. Beth invades the orphanage’s pharmacy like a hungry animal, does not stop at just a pocket full of blue pills, but comes back to conquer over the big full jar! And here comes the journey with: drugs! Oh wait, so is she really talented? Or is it the drugs and hallucinations talking? Seeing her shove a handful of pills in her mouth is all I can think of at this moment, I totally forgot that this girl is a chess prodigy! I truly did.
Then she gets adopted, by a selfish creepy man and a woman unaware of her alcohol addiction to the point where she offers a drink to Beth at the age of, was it 14 maybe? And asks for a share of Beth’s income from the cash awards she gains at chess competitions in different states. I could not define the nature of the relationship between these two. I could not understand how Beth found a mother figure in her.
There were a couple of side characters, other chess players, like Benny Watts and Harry Beltik. I think they were planted in the story for the sole reason to cheer and applaud like all American fiction at the end, once victory is made.
We were supposed to be waiting for the climax when Beth will play with Soviet champion Borgov; the whole series is a build-up, supposedly, to that moment. In my very humble opinion, during her journey, I strongly missed the subtlety in cinematic language that makes you understand her inner struggles and her ultimate want, unlike what I witness in one of my favorite series The Crown (oh but The Crown is British!)
And please remind me, why did the proud Soviet people crazily cheer for the American player, when they had 7 national geniuses that brought victory to the nation over decades?
One good thing about the series, it ticks all the Netflix boxes: drugs, homosexuality, black character (why is Jolene even part of the story?) and of course women empowerment!
