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The Queen's Gambit: Fork (2020)
Playing the Long Game - Low 7
We've been with these characters for a while, so an episode like 'Forks' was overdue. Here we sit back and let these characters breath each other's air.
First of all, Harry Beltik is back! Harry Melling (Dudley) returns to coach Beth, who has this far been coasting on talent and dedication. It's menial study, but the same way Beth focuses on improving her game, the show spends its time improving these characters, or our understanding of them. I particularly enjoyed the time we spent with him, discovering his more romantic motives. Harry is a friend for Beth.
He cautions against her extreme lifestyle - the GM Morphy is set up as a cautionary tale of genius falling prey to madness. Using the Old Masters as thematic pieces is a terrific move by the story, and this episode does fantastic work tying Beth to the rich history and legacies of fellow chess masters.
Also, I've liked the score, but my god the Queen's Gambit has some scintillating soundtrack choices. One of my favourite moments of the series is Beth dancing to Peggy Lee's 'Fever'. It's freeing, fun and politely erotic all in one.
When Harry leaves, it's probably the best acted and written scene so far. Revelations emerge naturally; he gives her Morphy's book as a parting caution, and the pill bottle he's discovered. She earnestly tells him how much he's helped her, he tells her he's realised he can't love chess the way she does. I'm loving Anya Taylor-Joy's work.
The rest of the episode still has a smart emotional lens on. It's the little moments - when Benny humiliates Beth repeatedly by defeating her in blitz chess, she returns to bed and wraps herself up in her mother's old robe. And how the characters matter more than the chess. We don't even see Beth avenge her loss to Benny and win the US Open - we see them sitting in the bar after. A well put together episode.
The Queen's Gambit: Middle Game (2020)
A Hidden Sacrifice
Middle Game: High 7
The best episode yet. Beth leans into bohemia with her Russian classmates before travelling to Mexico City for games against a mini-Borgov and the titan himself.
There's a lot of playfulness in this episode. Beth's first experience with drugs and sex has a rebellious fun to it. Roaming around the house with lipstick on, wearing just a towel and a blunt, we see Beth unlace the tight collar of her propriety. It's a freeing and fun sequence. There's several lovely cross-cuts too: Beth's daytime drinking, one indelible night-time swim amidst the hotel's neon signs interlaces with the opening chess game, Borgov's stoic face mixes with Beth's recollection of her defeat. The music is excellent throughout, light on its toes and dancing around the plot.
The same lightness is brought when Beth plays a Russian child prodigy. Before long, the usual stuffiness has been replaced by a discussion of drive-ins and Beth's impatient ticks while she waits for this child to realise she's won. Then she runs aground against Borgov in the final. His impassive face is genuinely intimidating and set up beautifully by chance meetings at an orangutan exhibit and an elevator (in a nice piece of plotting, Beth's Russian lessons pay dividends here).
And the episode's mirth hides the punch perfectly - Mrs. Wheatley is dead. She spends most of the episode uniting with pen pal Manuel, and plays the piano for a lobby of people in a highpoint for her character. It's a real loss, for us and for Beth.
Now, the collar is back on, and Beth's as unmoored as we've seen her.
The Queen's Gambit: Doubled Pawns (2020)
Midgame
This episode settles in for a longer haul. Beth is now a sensation, and travels around the country winning tournaments left, right and centre.
We focus in on the US Open, where she suffers her first defeat at the hands of Benny Watts, played ostentatiously by Thomas Brodie-Sangster (from Nanny McPhee!). Sadly, this defeat is narrated to us after the fact, which cushions the impact it might have had. And as well as pills, we've now added the devil's water. Alcohol becomes an increase source of comfort for Beth.
Anya Taylor-Joy is still sensational - here she shows a brash overconfidence that is both warranted - the male world of chess continually underestimates her - and ultimate folly. When she reaches out and seeks her mother's hand after the defeat, it's a touching concession on her part. And her subtle hand-flex moments with Townes are so adorable! Those two have chemistry.
The mother's dialogue is still too novelistic for my liking. I thought the same about Skyfall. And the high school elements are undercooked. Beth goes to a girls' night, and doesn't fit in? Shocker!
The Queen's Gambit: Exchanges (2020)
Developing the Pieces
I admire the serialisation the Queen's Gambit is showing. This episodes deftly moves Beth from zero parents, to two parents, to one, and from basement games to a state tournament.
The chess tournament is exciting stuff - even if we can't see the moves, the atmosphere make it worth. The domestic material is more confused. The Wheatley's marriage disintegrates, which would be a bigger deal if Mr. Wheatley weren't such a non-factor and Mrs. Wheatley's dialogue weren't so overwrought. And, in a clever collision, the chess-powering tranquilising pills are back!
The acting belongs to the hyphens. Anna Taylor-Joy takes over as Beth and her bright, emotive eyes are one of the episode's delights. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up being the standout feature of the Queen's Gambit. And Jacob Fortune-Lloyd is a scene-stealer as the suave player Mr. Townes - finally we get some chess banter!
The score really establishes itself in this episode. There's a lovely piano theme the episode's director clearly loves, because it's splashed in most scenes. The 60s background is a bit broad here - there's one moment where Mrs Wheatley is discontentedly smoking and vacuuming in front of gaudy wallpaper and it's ... all a bit too much.
Still, a nice, contained episode.
The Queen's Gambit: Openings (2020)
A Decent Opening
There's something about the Queen's Gambit, and how it's mild period elements tie into the romantic tradition of Chess that makes me want to parse all my thoughts on it into chess terms. I'll limit that to the titles.
There's a lot to like here. This episode is doing a lot of heavy lifting and so the plot unsurprisingly feels mechanical. Beth's growing addiction to lucid-dream tranquilisers, and the steady drumbeat of her chess improvements, march to the beat of the script. We feel the push of the narrative, rather than an irresistible pull. When Beth finally steals the pills and collapses before everyone in this grand crescendo, the moment feels unearned. I'd actually be a lot more impressed if it turns out the pills aren't the source of her chess abilities, and she simply believes they are. Some emotional subtlety persists, though - like the mother's final words: "close your eyes" or her father's faulting attempts to reconcile with Beth's mother.
I'm impressed by the characters. The headmistress, Mrs. Deardorff, is stern rather than tyrannical. Jolene does impressive work, and while she is young and at times wooden, young Beth is inscrutable in a way that is very hard to pull off. Bill Camp was the standout. He has this firm and compassionate mentorship that reminded me of those hulking blacksmiths from fantasy novels who secretly tend to a hearth of kindness.
The dreary 'flashback' colours are maybe overdone, but it's a well handled camera so far. The score is appropriately present and adds to the emotion of Beth's ascent. Onwards we go!