re: The Queen's Gambit Netflix

The ending scene got me warm fuzzied af.

Massive spoilers therein,

LINK

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And it got me fired up about chess again! I was once infatuated with the game.

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It made me realize how terrible of a chess player I was when I did play. My dad tried to teach me, but it just didn't take.

Phenomenal show. Loved it from front to finish and shed a tear at a certain part in the finale.


Spoilers











I did find the romanticism of the Russian culture to be far fetched, and am a bit tired of seeing the Americans (and Christians) being painted as the bad guys. Other than that, in my top 5 shows this year.

Agree.

She was the balance of a sane person in that entire show.

She helped her at the beginning and then helped her at the end.

Smart bookend by the writers.

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I actually thought the ending scene was pretty touching. I don't think that was romanticism of russian culture, just her loving chess and chess players being excited to be in the company of greatness.

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I thought it was more just an expression of her recognizing her roots and who she is. Thought that was the theme of the entire final episode actually.

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I actually thought the ending scene was pretty touching. I don't think that was romanticism of russian culture, just her loving chess and chess players being excited to be in the company of greatness.

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Yeah, I can definitely see that, and my girlfriend saw it the same way. Might've just had my arse a little too high up near my shoulders during this election.

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Finished it up tonight. Such a fantastic series. I absolutely lost it when she took the photo of her Mr. Shaibel.

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The emotional payoff of that photo/newspaper wall was pretty awesome.

Loved the show.

Anna Taylor Joy is a really good actress
Some weird choices for the roles she's taken but she nails every role she's in

Misc small gripes or note:

1. Show is painfully slow sometimes.

2. They make her way too weird and awkward as a child, she doesn't come across as a gifted girl with problems she comes across as the most autistic person to have ever lived. Her personality as a teen is much more believable.

3. The dialog is way too constructed at times. The way her mother speaks is just absurd. Even the most pretentious people don't talk the way she does.

4. As someone who plays fairly decent chess (~1600'ish), they do a pretty good job in that department, about as good as they can I guess. They use the "OMG I'm so surprised by that move" trope way too much. Great players are very rarely surprised by some amazing tactic. Sure it does happen (and happened more in those days than today) but games with magical combinations are not the norm. Games between two great players are usually slow positional slogs where one side gains a very small advantage and just sorta strangles the other player slowly with it. That doesn't make for great tv I guess.

Just finished watching and really enjoyed it. I thought her awkwardness as a child was completely believable.

My only issue with the show is I found the pacing to be very inconsistent and often distracting. I don't have a specific example, but I thought it was very noticeable.