The Queen’s Gambit - Season 1

⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

When I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought it looked really cheesy. But literally every podcast I listen to was raving about it, so I had to check it out, and I am glad I did.

It follows an orphan who learns chess from the janitor at her orphanage and is clearly a prodigy, and you watch as she grows, moves up the ranks, and struggles with addiction. You meet some fun characters along the way, and it is impossible not to root for her. This show also looks amazing as a period piece, and I am again impressed at how amazing a smaller Netflix production like this can look.

Another huge pro to this show is the runtime. 7 episode mini-series, and you are in and out. It has great pace, and with absolutely zero filler you are on-board the whole time. It also feels unique to be following one character this entire time, but she is such a fascinating character that she has your attention the whole time. A real star-making performance for Anya Taylor Joy (watch your back Emma Stone).

As a person who plays chess pretty often, it all seemed very realistic, and I am pretty sure they used historic games so that the moves made sense. But you for sure don't have to like chess to watch this show. It has quite a few sports movie moments, and those are always very crowd-pleasing.

I would love to give this a 10, because i can't think of any negatives, but I think as a mini-series on Netflix it is destined to be forgotten about in a year. The amount of content they pump out just adds to their huge roster, and in a month when no one is talking about it it will just be another good show you can binge on Netflix in a weekend. I would love if it proves me wrong.