The Queen's Gambit Review

I know absolutely nothing about chess, yet I found The Queen’s Gambit to be extremely engaging from beginning to end. Set during the cold war era, it follows the orphaned chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, on a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world, whilst developing substance addiction from an early age. She goes through different phases in her life that develops Beth as a character, but with the same purpose. The first episode was a great opener and it did a good job of setting the tone and setting of the story that would carry on for the rest of the show, and it gets even better as the story moves forward.

The Queen’s Gambit is slow yet perfectly paced, some would call it boring, but I’d describe it as the complete opposite of that. It’s so well-written, shot, and directed. The cinematography is simply phenomenal, the best I have ever seen in a TV-show. Set mostly during the ’60s, the technical challenges were difficult but they did nail it, everything looked perfect. From the set design to their hairstyle and clothing, attention to detail was apparent. The production design and cinematography mash together to create a perfect image, every frame looks like a painting. It was just beautiful to look at, I have never seen the '60s portrayed more finely. The soundtrack was a perfect collection of songs that also plays a role in setting the mood and atmosphere of some scenes. As well as the overall captivating score.

I really liked the chess scenes where there’s some sort of competition that Beth takes place in, they were very well directed since they make the viewer really care and invest in Beth’s winning streak, it makes you just cheer for her even if you don’t care about chess. They also had a lot of tension sometimes, the director did a great job at keeping us intrigued throughout it all. One little detail I was also really fond of was how the chess pieces and clocks looked different according to each state. The overall aesthetic and feel of Moscow had to be different than Las Vegas, so the chess pieces had to be different as well. These details really do matter and are what separates a well-crafted show/film from a mediocre one. You could tell that the creators of this show were really passionate about making this, that they were genuinely having fun, it’s just a passion project.

Last but not least, the characters and performances; Anya Taylor-Joy positively carries the entire show, delivering a performance that exceeds expectations in every single way. Her eyes alone are capable of expressing a wide range of human emotions. She is quiet and innocent when she needs to be, completely broken when she needs to be, charming and sassy when she needs to be, arrogant when she needs to be, and a mean drunk when she needs to be. I absolutely loved her as Beth, and credit also to how the character itself was written, and the director of the show that specifically wanted the character to be like this. The acting was marvellous from the rest of the cast as well. The Queen’s Gambit has surprisingly memorable and likeable characters and actual good arcs for them considering it’s a mini-series consisting of only 7 episodes.

Overall, The Queen’s Gambit is different from anything you’ll ever see and if I had to describe it with one word I’d say it’s a masterpiece. The ending is poetic with very good meanings and the best last page in a story you could imagine, there should not be a second season whatsoever, this is a finished show, but a remarkable one. Totally binge-worthy as well. It is highly recommended to those who prefer quality over quantity;

10/10