Photo Courtesy of The Guardian
“The Queen’s Gambit is the most popular show on Netflix as of Oct. 28. The limited series has garnered widespread praise, pulling in fans of all kinds. Despite its 1950s and 60s setting, it sets itself apart from typical period pieces that may only attract a certain audience – by the time the credits roll on the first episode, everyone is hooked.
“The Queen’s Gambit” follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) on her path from orphaned 9-year-old to chess grandmaster. The show has far more twists and turns than one might expect, as it casts chess in a whole new light and makes a notoriously dull game feel like the most enthralling thing in the world. Touching on themes of addiction, feminism and obsession with greatness, “The Queen’s Gambit” uses the viewers as its pieces, moving them around the board of Beth’s life with great ease and capturing them in her grip before they can even realize it.
One of the shows strengths is its ability to jump from year to year without making the viewer feel as though they’ve missed out. For example, Beth goes from 9 to 15 years old from the first to second episode. However, the first episode does such a good job at giving a glimpse into her life at the orphanage in her childhood years that nothing feels left out or skipped over. This acceleration of time also serves as a way to quickly plunge the viewer deeper and deeper into Beth’s addiction quickly and skillfully. One minute she’s a stiff, focused child, and the next she’s a teen with a complete lack of inhibition in her daily life but a drive to win so sharp that her vices only serve it. Yet these two people are seamlessly interwoven, with the seeds of the older Beth having been planted early on.
Furthermore, Anya Taylor-Joy, who is already well know from performances in films such as “The Witch” and “Thoroughbreds,” provides a breathtaking performance as Beth, masterfully taking the viewer on the journey the writers laid out for her. From a gawky-eyed awkward teen to a sophisticated woman in her early twenties, one thing Taylor-Joy never loses is her authenticity. Beth feels so real as a person that it would be impossible not to root for her, even at her lowest points. Anyone would find themselves sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for her to win every chess match. As a female lead in a show about a male-dominated game, she is captivating, pointing out flaws in the system like how one of her first magazine interviews focuses only on her gender.
There are some weaker points in the series, like how this gender gap could have been explored a bit more. There are many times in the show when it feels Beth is being somewhat taken advantage of by the older men who have competed against her in tournaments since she was a child, and the problematic nature of these interactions aren’t really addressed. Her friendship with Jolene (Moses Ingram), her only friend from the orphanage, also could have been explored more. Lastly, Beth’s early childhood before her mother died felt a bit underdeveloped, although it’s not quite clear what else could have been done to go deeper into that period of her life.
All in all, though, “The Queen’s Gambit” is a refreshing take on chess, womanhood and the revolution of oneself. Anya Taylor-Joy is as powerhouse and delivers a performance sure to take home awards. While the series is definitely one of the standout pieces of media to come out of this year, it seems the audience hopes that the showrunners don’t give in to the popularity by doing a second season, as it was left perfect the way it was.
