The Queens Gambit Pays Off.

If you have been remotely active on the internet in the past couple of weeks, you have probably been fairly distracted, like everyone, by the recent 2020 Presidential Election. Something that has been dominating the popular conversation, and rightly so. But there has been something else that has slipped through the cracks and into the public eye. A new Netflix original, The Queen’s Gambit.

The show is centered around a young chess prodigy by the name of Beth Harmon. A girl who had a very troubling childhood, after a terrible car crash in which she was left unharmed but her mother was not, she was sent to an orphanage where she would acquire the two things that would follow her for the rest of her life. A love of Chess, and her problems with substance abuse.

The show follows Beth's story as she grows into a Chess phenomenon, beating almost everyone she goes against, and all while only around 18 years old. And let me tell you, though the idea of a whole show that is focused on Chess of all things may sound terribly dull, Gambit makes sure it is anything but.

Due to incredible work done by the show's Director, Scott Frank (a name you may not recognize, but you almost certainly know his writing work.) the scenes focused on the chess games will have you entirely engaged, even if you know nothing about chess, like me.

Gambit is a show that many have already praised for finding a great balance between the writing and the directing, something that I would have to agree on. It is a show that knows when to just let the writing speak for itself, and when to just shut up and show you what you need to know. This obviously would not be possible without the show's DP Steven Meizler, who does amazing work giving the show an aesthetic that fits its ’60s setting.

And of course, credit must be given to the amazing performances done by, well everyone. But I was especially impressed with Anya Taylor-Joys ability to simple own every scene she was in. She had this quiet intensity that was hard to ignore. And they really could not have cast anyone better for a show that has its main character stare into the camera as much as this show does.

But of course, the main appeal of any new show would be its story. So, does the story deliver? While I think it should be obvious what my answer will be, yes. It does. The story of Beth Harmon was one I really did not expect to enjoy as much as I did.

To be honest, I thought I sort of had the show figured out pretty early on. The first episode sets up the story in a pretty classic way. Character is sent to an orphanage, meets mentor character, learns a new skill, shows incredible talent in skill. Yada yada. We all know the drill. And the thing is… I was kinda right. The Queens Gambit is not a show I would exactly call surprising. Generally, you can tell what is going to happen most of the time. However, the strength of the show is not in what happens, but what that means to its main character.

The joy of this show to me is easily in watching the character of Beth react to the events of the story. Both good and bad things. Beth is a character that is constantly tilting on some imaginary edge. Most of the time the drama of the show is not in whether or not Beth is going to win, that is almost a given for the majority of the matches played. But rather it is about how Beth is going to handle it. For every good match played, or great victory achieved, it seems Beth also manages to find some new way to give in to her problems with addiction.

And as she climbs up the ladder to success in the world of chess, the further she falls into her dependency on these things. It's a back and forth that was incredibly engaging for me, and I am sure the same is true for anyone else who watched it. This back and forth kept me wanting until the end, and the ending delivers. Without spoiling anything, the ending of the show was something that made me genuinely happy. Beth Harmon's story was just as much about loneliness as it was about anything else, so for the story to end the way it does was incredibly fitting.

The idea of making a show based around chess must have been a fairly large gambit itself, but luckily, it pays off.