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The Queen's Gambit (Netflix)


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6 hours ago, someguy said:

I loved it overall and found it incredibly captivating and subtle at times.  The last episode, while enjoyable on a superficial level, kinda sucked and was a betrayal of the excellent storytelling from episodes 1-6.

Spoiler

Part of the story I disliked is that Beth really only cleaned up her act when Jolene shows up deus ex machina. Informs her of the custodian's death which leads Beth to cleaning herself up when she sees a photo of herself with the custodian.  I understand the book has Beth deciding for herself that she needed help and reached out to Jolene which seems more realistic.  I also found Towns showing up in Moscow as lame besides all the vague hints on whether he's gay, bi or who knows. Even though it was obvious in the Vegas scenes.

 

But overall I agree that the last episode could be the weakest but I can't recall where each episode begins and ends. 

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I loved it overall and found it incredibly captivating and subtle at times.  The last episode, while enjoyable on a superficial level, kinda sucked and was a betrayal of the excellent storytelling from episodes 1-6.

Except that the show didn’t pretend past the moment. Her demons are still there in the what’s next (non)episode.
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On 11/14/2020 at 6:56 PM, Jive Turkey said:

I wish more shows were like this. Limited series. 7 episodes to tell the story based on the book, and we’re done. But I hope this doesn’t become like Big Little Lies (or worse, A Handmaid’s Tale, although that was clearly intended to go beyond one season), where they have a hit and decide to make more episodes with new storylines not based on source material. 

There are rumblings there might be another season. I kinda hope not. 

 

9 times out of 10 I agree.  But then I remember I saw "The Leftovers."

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On 10/30/2020 at 7:40 PM, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

This is excellent.  I love it.  But the way, the actor who played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies (Henry Melling) is in this.  He is having a nice post Potter career (also in The Old Guard and another Netflix movie that has Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson in it).

Henry Melling was also in the Coen Bros. movie "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (which is an incredible movie, imo). 

 

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On 11/14/2020 at 12:01 PM, tantric superman said:

I was all in.  Then they sealed the deal with the Classical Gas montage during the Ohio tournament. 

It's a bummer seeing some of the actors you liked as a kid dying, but it's cool to see some of the younger folks coming up.

I'm to lazy to do the research, but any of the MadMen folks have a part in this? 

Dunno. 

But I also had a "hey! this looks like Mad Men shit!" moment when they were in the Mexico City hotel. 

So far I (and my wife) love it. 

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On 11/16/2020 at 1:27 AM, someguy said:

I loved it overall and found it incredibly captivating and subtle at times.  The last episode, while enjoyable on a superficial level, kinda sucked and was a betrayal of the excellent storytelling from episodes 1-6.

 

On 11/16/2020 at 8:28 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:
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Part of the story I disliked is that Beth really only cleaned up her act when Jolene shows up deus ex machina. Informs her of the custodian's death which leads Beth to cleaning herself up when she sees a photo of herself with the custodian.  I understand the book has Beth deciding for herself that she needed help and reached out to Jolene which seems more realistic.  I also found Towns showing up in Moscow as lame besides all the vague hints on whether he's gay, bi or who knows. Even though it was obvious in the Vegas scenes.

 

But overall I agree that the last episode could be the weakest but I can't recall where each episode begins and ends. 

Spoiler

so what was the deal with Towns? He's gay but thought he might be straight for Harmon?

also, was there a thing between Jolene and Mr. Fergusson in the book? 

 

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Dunno. 
But I also had a "hey! this looks like Mad Men shit!" moment when they were in the Mexico City hotel. 
So far I (and my wife) love it. 
Cinematography is incredible.

Anya Taylor-Joy (Beth) makes me wish I was 20 yrs younger.

Tell me there was no CGI enhancement used on her face. There were shots where her doe eyes were just huge. It almost looked like Pixar in some scenes.

Great show. And I loved the storyline about her adoptive mom living vicariously.
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On 11/14/2020 at 10:47 PM, satyanash said:

I think it's forgivable. 1. d4 d5 would have been the Queen's Gambit most of the time in those days, unless you were going for the Chigorin, QBA or something weird like Blackmar-Diemar.

Good point. Although, my recollection from the show is that they called it before d5 was played.  Definitely not a huge deal and could be chalked up to any number of things. 

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We (family) binged it over a few days.  It was mostly excellent, though I thought some of the scenes dealing with the drug addiction were overwrought.

I read that the author/book (and presumably the Netflix series) used real (historical) chess games from tournaments.  Also, Beth's  chess career loosely mimics the story/career of Bobby Fischer.  The drug addiction stuff was the book author's own personal demon.

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On 11/16/2020 at 1:27 AM, someguy said:

I loved it overall and found it incredibly captivating and subtle at times.  The last episode, while enjoyable on a superficial level, kinda sucked and was a betrayal of the excellent storytelling from episodes 1-6.

I thought the last episode was very good. On par with the prior ones. 

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I wasn’t familiar with this actress before this show. I could never decide if she was hot or an alien. She would make a perfect model, she can look completely different depending on what she wears or her hairstyle.

Probably looks weird as hell with no makeup and hot when all dressed up like a lot of models

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1 minute ago, Mileslong said:

I wasn’t familiar with this actress before this show. I could never decide if she was hot or an alien. She would make a perfect model, she can look completely different depending on what she wears or her hairstyle.

Probably looks weird as hell with no makeup and hot when all dressed up like a lot of models

Check out the vvitch, one of her early movies. Her other big movies were split, glass, and the new mutants

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I would’ve equally hated and loved it if the final episode ended the moment after she declined the draw offer, never knowing how the match ended but just her having the balls

That would have been good too.

I guess I don’t see how it was cornball, we knew she was the best, they all told her she was for the last half of the show. The team work part was kinda cornball but her winning wasn’t. The problem we as watchers make is assuming that the story is over. It really isn’t, she won, and now she has to deal with her demons and no mountain to scale. The movie of her life if it were to continue has a lot of bumps to come. And just because the movie ended on the high doesn’t change that.
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On 11/9/2020 at 5:10 PM, Hank Scorpio said:

The premise of Queens Gambit is what makes it one of my favorite science fiction shows. I mean a woman being able to play chess is so ridiculous that I really admire the male writers imagination for even coming up with it. Those guys deserve all the credit. 

It's not that original.  From memory: Joy Luck Club and Murdoch Mysteries revealed that women would prevail at chess but for our sexist society. 

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On 11/19/2020 at 8:36 AM, Mileslong said:

I wasn’t familiar with this actress before this show. I could never decide if she was hot or an alien. She would make a perfect model, she can look completely different depending on what she wears or her hairstyle.

Probably looks weird as hell with no makeup and hot when all dressed up like a lot of models

She did do modeling for a while, but quickly transitioned to acting, and she is very talented.

Go watch Emma.  It is really good and she is excellent in it. And gorgeous.

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On 11/17/2020 at 11:15 AM, Viper said:

 

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so what was the deal with Towns? He's gay but thought he might be straight for Harmon?

also, was there a thing between Jolene and Mr. Fergusson in the book? 

 

Spoiler

No, actually when Beth OD'd Fergusson showed her kindness and understanding.  But the beginning of the book featured some rather uncomfortable scenes where Jolene did some pre-pubescent experimentation with Beth.

 

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I never would have just picked this out to watch, but after reading this thread I thought I would watch an episode last night.  I ended up staying up all night and watched the whole thing.  Don’t skip over it just because you’re not a chess nerd.  It’s really excellent and great to watch just as a period piece (not a reference to the bathroom scene at the first tournament).

Edited by NeverMarryAStripper
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58 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I never would have just picked this out to watch, but after reading this thread I thought I would watch an episode last night.  I ended up staying up all night and watched the whole thing.  Don’t skip over it just because you’re not a chess nerd.  It’s really excellent and great to watch just as a period piece (not a reference to the bathroom scene at the first tournament).

Oh, a period period joke. 

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