The first thing you need to know about "The Queen's Gambit" is that it's a miniseries about a fictional female chess prodigy during the 1960s, and it's currently being hailed by chess fans as one of the few pieces of media that is actually fairly accurate in its depiction of chess. The second thing is that you don't need know anything about chess to enjoy the story, which uses the format and many of the storytelling tricks of a sports film, but is more of a character study of its central character, the brilliant and troubled Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy as a teen and adult, Isla Johnston as a child).
Beth's story is one of tragedy and constant setbacks. At the age of eight, after the death of her mother (Chloe Pirrie), she's sent to an orphanage that liberally doses the children with tranquilizers to make them easier to manage. She learns chess from the janitor, the stoic Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp), and befriends an African-American girl named Jolene (Moses Ingram). When she leaves the orphanage to join the household of Mrs. Alma Wheatley (Marielle Heller) as a teenager, Beth brings with her not only a fixation on chess, but lifelong substance abuse issues and plenty of emotional baggage. As she enters the chess world, and begins to compete in earnest, her genius quickly propels her into the ranks of the top players, but her unstable home life and unhealthy coping mechanisms keep holding her back.
Written and directed by Scott Frank, and based on a novel by Walter Tevis, "The Queen's Gambit" takes place in an idealized version of the 1960s. The series is an absolute pleasure to look at, from the period fashions to the decor to the glimpses of various international cities. Initially I was expecting Beth to face more push back for being a very young woman competing in a world of men, but almost all her male rivals are friendly ones, and she forms friendships and relationships with several of them, including Harry Beltik (Harry Melling), Benny Watts (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), and the man she wants to be more than friends with, Townes (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd). Even the Russians, lead by the intimidating Borgov (Marcin Dorociński) turn out to be perfectly sympathetic human beings.
Instead, Beth's greatest challenge is charting her own way through life after years of neglect and loss. Anya Taylor-Joy does a great job of portraying Beth from an awkward fourteen year-old to a nervy grown woman in her twenties, struggling to stay sober and avoid burnout. She's very visually striking, and able to show so much of Beth's thinking without saying a word. I appreciate that she isn't a nice person for much of the series, too wrapped up in her own self-preservation to respond to other people's vulnerability and kindness. She's downright terrible at times to many of the people who care about her, often out of fear or ignorance. And yet, Beth is very easy to root for as an underdog, both in chess and in finding happiness.
I haven't seen much of Scott Frank's directorial work, but what he does with the material here is very impressive. I rarely binge series, but "The Queen's Gambit" is so engaging that I went through the entire miniseries in one day. Beth's story is the stuff of very predictable melodrama, but there's such a specificity to the characters, and there's such a clear love of the subject matter, it was a real pleasure to follow along with all the familiar story beats as Beth grows up and takes on the world, step by step. The ending may come off as too happy and unlikely for some, but the characters earn it. And there are some strong, positive messages about feminism here, though conveyed more indirectly than we usually see in period dramas. The contrast between Beth and her various mother figures is especially well done.
From what I've read, "The Queen's Gambit" is also a treat for chess players, full of references and gameplay easter eggs that show a real care and consideration for the history of the game and its community of devotees. I can't vouch for that, but I can say that its dramatic bona fides are considerable, and easy to enjoy. And it's been a while since I've had a straightforward drama in any format surprise me the way that this one did.
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