The Queen’s Gambit | Netflix

Myself and the gf finished this last night, said I'd throw a few thoughts down.

Generally enjoyed it - beautifully shot, well acted, they nailed the setting, I'll echo everyone in praising the costumes, they were excellent.

I like chess a lot so would've liked more explicit shots of the board so you know what's going on/would've liked if the chess games themselves and how they unfolded played a greater role in the plot - it doesn't, so the chess itself is actually relatively incidental to the plot. That's a minor gripe though, they definitely made the right call for appealing to the general audience.

Otherwise all I can say is that I liked the show, but can't particularly pinpoint why - I found Beth (and most of the characters honestly) to be quite unlikeable, she took herself very seriously, she was haughty and shallow, fickle with those who helped her after she'd gotten what she wanted (pushing Harry away, blanking Benny and then going asking for money only after her self indulgent dismissal of the Christian group, not to mention having to risk Jolene's savings and future just because she couldn't swallow her own pride...but worst of all never repaying OR EVEN CONTACTING poor Mr. Scheibel, literally didn't even acknowledge the person who gave her her start in chess and thereafter only to assuage her guilt after being prompted by their death). Her positive aspects derived mainly from godgiven talents...basically, excepting her tragic origin story, the character had almost nothing endearing about them - I found myself rooting for her less and less as the series progressed, though the ending was always going to be guaranteed.

Benny was a ridiculous and unbelievable character - I literally started laughing the first time I saw him on screen, completely took me out of it. It's like they took a 9 year old's conception of how to make a character "cool" and applied that "Hmmm let's give him a leather jacket..and a cowboy hat....and a knife! That'll definitely make him seem rugged and mysterious and not at all like an autistic school shooter".

On the whole "woke" thing...I definitely think a lot of the show's detractors are trying to make too much of an issue of this, seeing things that aren't there to back up their view. That being said I also feel many fans of the show and some on this thread are trying a bit too hard to disregard some things.

Pretty much all of the (white) male characters are initially either rude or mean or ugly or arrogant arseholes (barring Townes who is gay), but hey maybe that's just how the 60's were, I wasn't there. While the character Beth herself wasn't like this, a lot of the show's exposition laboured the point of "Women's struggle in world of men" for example noting that one reason behind Beth's popularity amongst the Russians is that Nona Gaprindashvili, the women's chess champion from the Soviet Union never faced men, so Beth becomes their champion of equality. This is totally made up - in real life, Gaprindashvili did play men regularly in the 1960s, even once taking part in a qualifying tournament for the men's USSR championship. Other needless You Go Girl! moments like “It’s much easier to play chess without the burden of an Adam’s apple.” or “Men are gonna come along and wanna teach you things. You just let them blow-by, and you go on ahead and do just what the hell you feel like.” - again relatively minimal stuff, though they may elicit a small roll of the eyes.
Finally I was disappointed in the end to see an interesting character like Jolene being wasted in pursuit of the tired "Magical black person" trope, who comes to save Beth with her folksy orphan wisdom.
So yeah in my view there were a couple of needless "woke" aspects to the show, but not to the extent being suggested and certainly no reason to disregard an otherwise good show.

All in all a decent, well-paced and fresh show, 7/10 would recommend.