The Queen’s Gambit: Season 1 —Netflix Original review

The Queen's Gambit is an American drama streaming television miniseries created by Scott Frank and Allan Scott released on 23 October 2020, on Netflix. The six-episode series based on Walter Tevis's novel with the same name. The plot of the series revolves around a young orphan, Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) as she grows up and battles to become the best chess player in the world during the Cold War. 

As suggested by the introductory scene of the series, The Queen’s Gambit is about the protagonist’s addiction and the suppression of pain as it is about chess. As soon as young Beth reaches the orphanage, she is given a daily dose of sedative, a treacherous way for the staff to make sure the girls stay quiet and controlled. Since Beth’s visions begin to manifest at that time, she starts to have faith that her chess magic is inseparable from the meds. Ultimately, she adds alcohol to the mixture where the pills open her mind, it seems the wine and liquor wash away her issues of abandonment and inadequacy.

With four episodes that run for an hour or more, The Queen’s Gambit occasionally spends more time on a certain point more than required. Every moment spent on the relationship between Beth and her adoptive mother, Alma Wheatley, played by director Marielle Heller gives a treasured look at a connection in which both parties empower each other and show compassion for each other. The concluding episode also takes on an almost out of box turn that doesn’t sit well with the rest of the series. 

In conclusion, the series is still a largely satisfying piece of work - a consideration of anxiety, unrefined trauma, and how both can so easily combine to drive a genius in the conflicting direction to her visions.