The Queen's Gambit Thoughts
Mar. 29th, 2021 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI loved it. Excellent series.
+ The cinematography was beautiful. There were so many beautiful visuals and shots that stood out. I loved how Beth visualising the chess board on the ceiling was shown. The directing was excellent. [The only issue I had was in the final scene when the camera was moved along with Beth's steps which I found very distracting.] These are two things that I rarely notice but they were so good I couldn't not see it.
+ The costuming was also great. Beth had so many lovely dresses. If there was one complaint to have it's that I wish her dress during the final game with Borgov had been more interesting and eye-catching - something more like the black and white one she wore to her first Moscow match. The grey dress was nice but also rather plain for such an important scene. I loved her final look.
+ Anya Taylor-Joy was fantastic as Beth.
+ I actually liked how unpleasant and rude Beth could be and that it was a continuing character fault.
+ The series on the whole felt very - kind. There were so many places it could have made things unpleasant but then didn't and I really appreciated that by the end. It was overall kind to people, and showed people as kind.
+ The final episode was my favourite. What a well done and wonderful ending to the series. I loved Beth's choice to walk in the park and that it all ended as it began for her - sitting across a simple man playing a game of chess. I liked how the episode emphasised her aloneness in the beginning and then in the end we get Townes showing up and Harry/Benny/and the others being there for her, working together to help her beat Borgov and giving her their support. I liked how she first beat her chess idol Luchenko earning his respect and admiration (their exchange after he concedes was so lovely) and then beat her white whale in Borgov, also earning his respect and admiration but with a smile.
+ The show also did a great job in their portrayal of chess and in making the games exciting and the players discussions about games interesting, and was overall excellent at suspense. One of the ways this was done was by audience reactions and seeing their tension, and awe, and worry and fascination. They were an audience standing in for the audience and dragging us along with their emotions. That was one of the things I loved about the finale - how much of the audience we see and hear and how they set the mood and tension of the episode. Beth's fan club outside the hall growing in size and fervour as she wins over and over. The announcers giving us details about the game as we see across Russia an enraptured audience. The actual audience in the hall spellbound. I was pretty sure going in that Beth would beat Borgov - it was the finale and her third attempt against him and yet I still found the lead up to and their eventual game enthralling. A+ job there.
+ I honestly just really loved watching Beth being a talented prodigy and kicking peoples asses while everyone around her watched in awe and delight, and even impressing the people she defeated. It felt a bit power-fantasy, a bit wish-fulfillment and was really satisfying all around. Beth destroying Benny and his friends at spend chess was so satisfying.
+ I liked how sexism was present in Beth's life and had an ongoing impact on her but that it wasn't the overwhelming focus of the story or the main antagonist she had to overcome. That so many of the men she beat reacted by being impressed with her skill and recognising her talent felt a bit like fantasy/wish-fulfillment but I really enjoyed it. I like that it wasn't Beth overcoming their sexism to win their respect but Beth simply gaining their respect by being better then them.
I had been surprised and pleased by Harry's reaction when Beth beat him - I was expecting anger and embarrassment, instead we got him accepting her hand and clapping - and it proved to be foreshadowing how games would (usually) play out going on.
+ I loved how little a role romance actually ended up having in the story of Beth's life. She had a long-standing unresolved feelings for Townes, she had a short relationship with Harry, then a short fling with Benny, and maybe a one night stand with Cleo(??) But in the end the story was about chess and Beth overcoming her own personal weaknesses to triumph. Romance was a side story and in the end friendship proved far more potent and important than romance and I was very pleased about that.
+ I also liked how sex and sexuality weren't portrayed negatively. She had some lacklustre sex and some really good sex, and at all times it was on her terms and she was never shamed for it. I appreciate that there so no sexual menace or assault in the show.
+ I wish we'd seen a) more about other women in chess, and b) more women in Beth's life. I loved her relationships with Alma and Jolene but it would have been nice if amongst all the male friends/competitors in chess that we'd gotten a female friend/rival too. Beth having a continuing friendship with Annette over the course of the entire series, for instance, would have been great. It could also give us more of a view of how things are for 'normal' female chess players. Also just having more women competing during the competitions would have been nice. Or maybe Beth playing in a women's tournament.
+ I ended up loving Beth's relationship with Alma a surprising amount. It didn't go in the direction I was expecting - that Beth would be more companion than daughter, that Alma would end up using Beth - but instead there were genuine feelings from both of them. Sure, Alma was using Beth a bit and she was a bad influence as far as alcohol but in the end they sincerely ended up loving each other and I bought Beth calling her mother. I found their relationship overall really lovely. They had their issues but in the end they supported each other and were there for each other. I liked that when Beth remodelled her house she kept Alma’s piano.
+ Jolene was great and I was very pleased that she'd gotten her life together and her confidence in herself. I loved her reappearance in Beth's life and them falling back into their old friendship. I loved Jolene's offended reaction to being called Beth's guardian angel and her informing Beth that she's there because they're family. I wish we'd gotten more of them because what we saw was great. (Squash, ha!) Also the reveal that Jolene had been following Beth's successes and failures all this time was great.
I would love a sequel series following Jolene becoming a lawyer and radical working to change the world, and to get an episode where Beth can come in and offer her own much needed support and help in a time in need. (While also making it obvious that they've been keeping in close contact since reconnecting.)
+ I was really annoyed when child Beth won in the first episode, after Jolene managed to find two more pills for her, and then Beth didn't bother to share any of the chocolate she got with her.
+ When Jolene was looking around Beth's lovely house she noted that she's certainly not an orphan anymore - but with Alma's death she actually is an orphan for a second time.
+ I really enjoyed Beth’s face off against Allston – the way she kept bringing up that he was legally her father, her defending Alma "she wasn’t pathetic, she was stuck", the way she didn’t let him rattle her or gain control of the conversation.
+ I liked Borgov a lot and would have loved him and Beth to have an actual conversation. I loved his sort-of defence of her in the elevator scene and how clear it was even then that he respected her and her ambition and drive to succeed. I like that she's on his radar that early. I loved his half smile when she spoke Russian at the Paris press conference. I loved him getting up after she wins against another competitor to study her board in Moscow. And then of course the end with his smile when she beat him, and offering his hand with his Queen and then pulling her into a hug. Also the fact that he goes back to serious as he claps for her and then a smile sneaks out again.
+ Beth envisioning the game board on the ceiling without her pills for the first time was very triumphant – and a little unexpectedly funny when she was staring at the ceiling and Borgov and others looked up to see what she was looking at.
+ Shaibel dying without him and Beth ever speaking again was sad and made so harshly bittersweet when she found his collage of newspaper and magazine clippings about her with the picture of them together proudly in the middle. Ouch. Why didn't she ever go visit him or send him a letter/the $10? It makes me so sad for both of them. I liked her making sure to give him credit to the reporters.
+ Did Cleo purposefully sabotage Beth in Paris? I think she genuinely liked her but all her talk about how great Beth had it made me think she was jealous while hating her own life. She'd been around chess players enough to know that getting black out drunk the night before a big game would be bad. It made me wonder.
+ I was glad that Alma was happy in her final days - her first trip to Mexico, meeting Manuel the long-standing pen pal and crush and just enjoying the hell out of it, playing the piano, being free.
+ I like to think that during Moscow all her friends and opponents over the years were keeping close watch on the competition - and laughing at the Russian's underestimating her and being gleeful about her knocking them down one by one like she once did to all of them.
+ I did have a slight issue when they switched the actress from the kid actress to ATJ when she was 15 and I found it difficult to buy her as 15 let alone a 15 year old who could pass for 13.
+ I also had an issue with how time passed over the course of the series. I had a hard time figuring out the amount of time that passes between events. Even something like her relationship with Beltik - how long passed between him moving in with her and him moving out? Days? Weeks? Months? I have no idea. It was like that throughout the series.
+ While I loved the ending scene I found it weird that after all his warnings and always being there with her when Beth left the car the agent assigned to her apparently accepted it and drove off without her.
+ The cinematography was beautiful. There were so many beautiful visuals and shots that stood out. I loved how Beth visualising the chess board on the ceiling was shown. The directing was excellent. [The only issue I had was in the final scene when the camera was moved along with Beth's steps which I found very distracting.] These are two things that I rarely notice but they were so good I couldn't not see it.
+ The costuming was also great. Beth had so many lovely dresses. If there was one complaint to have it's that I wish her dress during the final game with Borgov had been more interesting and eye-catching - something more like the black and white one she wore to her first Moscow match. The grey dress was nice but also rather plain for such an important scene. I loved her final look.
+ Anya Taylor-Joy was fantastic as Beth.
+ I actually liked how unpleasant and rude Beth could be and that it was a continuing character fault.
+ The series on the whole felt very - kind. There were so many places it could have made things unpleasant but then didn't and I really appreciated that by the end. It was overall kind to people, and showed people as kind.
+ The final episode was my favourite. What a well done and wonderful ending to the series. I loved Beth's choice to walk in the park and that it all ended as it began for her - sitting across a simple man playing a game of chess. I liked how the episode emphasised her aloneness in the beginning and then in the end we get Townes showing up and Harry/Benny/and the others being there for her, working together to help her beat Borgov and giving her their support. I liked how she first beat her chess idol Luchenko earning his respect and admiration (their exchange after he concedes was so lovely) and then beat her white whale in Borgov, also earning his respect and admiration but with a smile.
+ The show also did a great job in their portrayal of chess and in making the games exciting and the players discussions about games interesting, and was overall excellent at suspense. One of the ways this was done was by audience reactions and seeing their tension, and awe, and worry and fascination. They were an audience standing in for the audience and dragging us along with their emotions. That was one of the things I loved about the finale - how much of the audience we see and hear and how they set the mood and tension of the episode. Beth's fan club outside the hall growing in size and fervour as she wins over and over. The announcers giving us details about the game as we see across Russia an enraptured audience. The actual audience in the hall spellbound. I was pretty sure going in that Beth would beat Borgov - it was the finale and her third attempt against him and yet I still found the lead up to and their eventual game enthralling. A+ job there.
+ I honestly just really loved watching Beth being a talented prodigy and kicking peoples asses while everyone around her watched in awe and delight, and even impressing the people she defeated. It felt a bit power-fantasy, a bit wish-fulfillment and was really satisfying all around. Beth destroying Benny and his friends at spend chess was so satisfying.
+ I liked how sexism was present in Beth's life and had an ongoing impact on her but that it wasn't the overwhelming focus of the story or the main antagonist she had to overcome. That so many of the men she beat reacted by being impressed with her skill and recognising her talent felt a bit like fantasy/wish-fulfillment but I really enjoyed it. I like that it wasn't Beth overcoming their sexism to win their respect but Beth simply gaining their respect by being better then them.
I had been surprised and pleased by Harry's reaction when Beth beat him - I was expecting anger and embarrassment, instead we got him accepting her hand and clapping - and it proved to be foreshadowing how games would (usually) play out going on.
+ I loved how little a role romance actually ended up having in the story of Beth's life. She had a long-standing unresolved feelings for Townes, she had a short relationship with Harry, then a short fling with Benny, and maybe a one night stand with Cleo(??) But in the end the story was about chess and Beth overcoming her own personal weaknesses to triumph. Romance was a side story and in the end friendship proved far more potent and important than romance and I was very pleased about that.
+ I also liked how sex and sexuality weren't portrayed negatively. She had some lacklustre sex and some really good sex, and at all times it was on her terms and she was never shamed for it. I appreciate that there so no sexual menace or assault in the show.
+ I wish we'd seen a) more about other women in chess, and b) more women in Beth's life. I loved her relationships with Alma and Jolene but it would have been nice if amongst all the male friends/competitors in chess that we'd gotten a female friend/rival too. Beth having a continuing friendship with Annette over the course of the entire series, for instance, would have been great. It could also give us more of a view of how things are for 'normal' female chess players. Also just having more women competing during the competitions would have been nice. Or maybe Beth playing in a women's tournament.
+ I ended up loving Beth's relationship with Alma a surprising amount. It didn't go in the direction I was expecting - that Beth would be more companion than daughter, that Alma would end up using Beth - but instead there were genuine feelings from both of them. Sure, Alma was using Beth a bit and she was a bad influence as far as alcohol but in the end they sincerely ended up loving each other and I bought Beth calling her mother. I found their relationship overall really lovely. They had their issues but in the end they supported each other and were there for each other. I liked that when Beth remodelled her house she kept Alma’s piano.
+ Jolene was great and I was very pleased that she'd gotten her life together and her confidence in herself. I loved her reappearance in Beth's life and them falling back into their old friendship. I loved Jolene's offended reaction to being called Beth's guardian angel and her informing Beth that she's there because they're family. I wish we'd gotten more of them because what we saw was great. (Squash, ha!) Also the reveal that Jolene had been following Beth's successes and failures all this time was great.
I would love a sequel series following Jolene becoming a lawyer and radical working to change the world, and to get an episode where Beth can come in and offer her own much needed support and help in a time in need. (While also making it obvious that they've been keeping in close contact since reconnecting.)
+ I was really annoyed when child Beth won in the first episode, after Jolene managed to find two more pills for her, and then Beth didn't bother to share any of the chocolate she got with her.
+ When Jolene was looking around Beth's lovely house she noted that she's certainly not an orphan anymore - but with Alma's death she actually is an orphan for a second time.
+ I really enjoyed Beth’s face off against Allston – the way she kept bringing up that he was legally her father, her defending Alma "she wasn’t pathetic, she was stuck", the way she didn’t let him rattle her or gain control of the conversation.
+ I liked Borgov a lot and would have loved him and Beth to have an actual conversation. I loved his sort-of defence of her in the elevator scene and how clear it was even then that he respected her and her ambition and drive to succeed. I like that she's on his radar that early. I loved his half smile when she spoke Russian at the Paris press conference. I loved him getting up after she wins against another competitor to study her board in Moscow. And then of course the end with his smile when she beat him, and offering his hand with his Queen and then pulling her into a hug. Also the fact that he goes back to serious as he claps for her and then a smile sneaks out again.
+ Beth envisioning the game board on the ceiling without her pills for the first time was very triumphant – and a little unexpectedly funny when she was staring at the ceiling and Borgov and others looked up to see what she was looking at.
+ Shaibel dying without him and Beth ever speaking again was sad and made so harshly bittersweet when she found his collage of newspaper and magazine clippings about her with the picture of them together proudly in the middle. Ouch. Why didn't she ever go visit him or send him a letter/the $10? It makes me so sad for both of them. I liked her making sure to give him credit to the reporters.
+ Did Cleo purposefully sabotage Beth in Paris? I think she genuinely liked her but all her talk about how great Beth had it made me think she was jealous while hating her own life. She'd been around chess players enough to know that getting black out drunk the night before a big game would be bad. It made me wonder.
+ I was glad that Alma was happy in her final days - her first trip to Mexico, meeting Manuel the long-standing pen pal and crush and just enjoying the hell out of it, playing the piano, being free.
+ I like to think that during Moscow all her friends and opponents over the years were keeping close watch on the competition - and laughing at the Russian's underestimating her and being gleeful about her knocking them down one by one like she once did to all of them.
+ I did have a slight issue when they switched the actress from the kid actress to ATJ when she was 15 and I found it difficult to buy her as 15 let alone a 15 year old who could pass for 13.
+ I also had an issue with how time passed over the course of the series. I had a hard time figuring out the amount of time that passes between events. Even something like her relationship with Beltik - how long passed between him moving in with her and him moving out? Days? Weeks? Months? I have no idea. It was like that throughout the series.
+ While I loved the ending scene I found it weird that after all his warnings and always being there with her when Beth left the car the agent assigned to her apparently accepted it and drove off without her.
