The Queen's Gambit
Netflix dropped this new show last week and the kudos from my favorite NPR critics and a slew of Facebook and Twitter friends were so 'urgent' about how good it was, that we had to watch it.
They were right; it was so compelling that we started it on Saturday afternoon and watched all 7 episodes, finishing at midnight.
The story follows young Beth Harmon, orphaned at age 9 when her brilliant yet troubled mother commits suicide. At the Christian orphanage where she is placed, she picks up three key things--her friend Jolene, an addiction to the tranquilizers they used to feed kids in orphanages in the 1960s, and the game of chess she learns from the custodian in the basement.
The rest of the episodes follow the chess prodigy through her teens and 20s and eventually around the world on the international tournament circuit.
Now, I know very little beyond the basics of chess, but NPR brought along a professional player for the podcast panel reviewing the show, who assessed that all aspects of it and games played out in the show were spot-on accurate and well done.
What strikes the average viewer like me, though, is the intensity of the players and the matches, the study and practice and brilliance of the game. The filmmakers managed to make chess matches edge-of-the-seat suspenseful, the scripts were excellent and the whole cast of characters fully-realized, well acted, and genuinely interesting.
An excellent show; highly recommended!
They were right; it was so compelling that we started it on Saturday afternoon and watched all 7 episodes, finishing at midnight.
The story follows young Beth Harmon, orphaned at age 9 when her brilliant yet troubled mother commits suicide. At the Christian orphanage where she is placed, she picks up three key things--her friend Jolene, an addiction to the tranquilizers they used to feed kids in orphanages in the 1960s, and the game of chess she learns from the custodian in the basement.
The rest of the episodes follow the chess prodigy through her teens and 20s and eventually around the world on the international tournament circuit.
Now, I know very little beyond the basics of chess, but NPR brought along a professional player for the podcast panel reviewing the show, who assessed that all aspects of it and games played out in the show were spot-on accurate and well done.
What strikes the average viewer like me, though, is the intensity of the players and the matches, the study and practice and brilliance of the game. The filmmakers managed to make chess matches edge-of-the-seat suspenseful, the scripts were excellent and the whole cast of characters fully-realized, well acted, and genuinely interesting.
An excellent show; highly recommended!