The Queens Gambit premiered on Netflix in late October and has held the number one spot on Netflix for almost a month being knocked down just a few days ago. The fictional series explores the world of chess, yes chess.
Although I know nothing about the game of strategy and wasn’t able to pick up or learn much of anything about the game throughout the series, it still proved to be captivating and at times nail biting.
I would have personally never thought a series where chess being the main theme would be so interesting, but it was and with every episode you watch the more you want to keep watching.
We meet our main character Beth Harmon in the first episode and follow her on her journey of attempting to beat the world’s best chess player. Beth’s background is captured quite well. We are given her origin story in the first two episodes and from there we see childhood flashbacks every so often. Beth’s progression throughout the series gets quite dark, but nonetheless we get a satisfying ending. Her downfalls throughout the series can be predicted as many warn her of what could happen and try to help.
The progression of the series is quick as the Netflix original only has seven episodes, each an hour long. The show is a quick watch, if you are a binge watcher like me it will take you a weekend or if you only have the time for an episode a day, you can finish the show within a week.
The series itself is set mainly in the 1960s with dates appearing on screen throughout each episode. The set design and wardrobe designers do a fantastic job at portraying the time period with fairly good accuracy. I personally thought the time period worked quite well with the show, and there were no time slips or inaccuracies that I saw. This series was incredibly thought out and filmed well. As someone who enjoys cinematic series, it did not disappoint. I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for something to watch, it’s dark and takes you on a wild journey of chess tournaments and friendship. Most fans are craving another season but it is unclear if Netflix will choose to produce another season. If they do there is so much more that can be explored through the characters and relationships but if not the ending answers almost every question you could have throughout the series.