Just finished The Queen's gambit on Netflix

[Anonymous]

In the book she called Jolene for help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought she defected in the end...her state department minder had warned her of anyone trying to make contact, hand her things...and then later obviously he warned her she would miss her flight back to the US.

The crowds outside the Moscow hotel which she obviously enjoyed, I thought were a ploy to get her to warm to Russia.

And finally when Borgov handed her the chess piece.

But I googled immediately after finishing and there was a story where the actress addressed this and said she didn’t think that was what happened.

Chess was and still is much more popular in Russia than here
It is closely watched and crowds are believable

[Anonymous]

I think the ending was about her being “free”— free of expectations, free from her past, free from her fear of the Russians. Just herself. I think where she lives is kind of irrelevant. She is a free spirit now and ready to make whatever choice she wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[SPOILER sort of]


So do we think she stayed in Russia? Or was that last scene meant to just hearken back to her games with the janitor in the basement?

She does not stay. It’s just her playing for the joy of playing with other people who live the game. It’s supposed to recall the basement games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Loving this series so far! (Watched 3 episodes yesterday while my son/husband was at practice.)

Can someone clarify - was she older or younger than 13 when adopted and what was her actual age? She started to correct the admin, but realized she needed to keep quiet. Does the difference come up ever?

I think she was actually 15. When the orphanage woman said she was 13, she started to correct her and it sounded like “fif-“

I was also wondering if her parents continued to think she was only 13. But she started off at high school when she first went to school, so maybe they figured it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the ending was about her being “free”— free of expectations, free from her past, free from her fear of the Russians. Just herself. I think where she lives is kind of irrelevant. She is a free spirit now and ready to make whatever choice she wants.

And, what, just hours earlier she relapsed and was on a binge again but now she’s free from her past?

I think it was just a throwback to playing for the sake of playing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just saw episode one last night and it seemed clear that she is on the spectrum. Is it even possible she's not?

As she grows up this doesn’t seem as clear - maybe this is also something that can happen with autistic children, but by the end she seems more typical but quirky

Given the level of childhood trauma that she experienced, culminating with her mother trying to kill her and being drugged up at orphanage, there are a lot of possible explanations for her affect. She was basically a genius, too. It is possible that she was autistic, emotionally stunted, ahead of her time, or some combination thereof. I do think that her development towards the end indicates that her earlier affect and behavior was more a product of her trauma. When she matured and faced her demons, she seemed to relax and level off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the ending was about her being “free”— free of expectations, free from her past, free from her fear of the Russians. Just herself. I think where she lives is kind of irrelevant. She is a free spirit now and ready to make whatever choice she wants.

And, what, just hours earlier she relapsed and was on a binge again but now she’s free from her past?

I think it was just a throwback to playing for the sake of playing.

When did she relapse? We just finished it, and I didn’t see it. In her last game, she was finally able to see her chessboard on the ceiling without substances. She had flushed her pills, the front desk wouldn’t get her more and Townes was there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the ending was about her being “free”— free of expectations, free from her past, free from her fear of the Russians. Just herself. I think where she lives is kind of irrelevant. She is a free spirit now and ready to make whatever choice she wants.

And, what, just hours earlier she relapsed and was on a binge again but now she’s free from her past?

I think it was just a throwback to playing for the sake of playing.

When did she relapse? We just finished it, and I didn’t see it. In her last game, she was finally able to see her chessboard on the ceiling without substances. She had flushed her pills, the front desk wouldn’t get her more and Townes was there.

I didn't see the relapse either. Unless it was the fact that she tried to get pills at the front desk. Sort of an attempted relapse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved how in the end it was a black woman that "saved" her.

I was cringing at this trope. The Magical African American Friend. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro

I think it’s pretty clear the writers were aware of the trope and avoided it.

I don't think they avoided it at all. I think they had Jolene say "I am definitely not a magical negro friend!" to try to obviate the tropes but it didn't work.


I still loved the show. It got weaker as it went on, for sure - like, no one in the whole show had a life outside of paying attention to Beth and trying to help her, and/or worship her - but we couldn't hit "play next episode" fast enough all the same.

And those CLOTHES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loving this series so far! (Watched 3 episodes yesterday while my son/husband was at practice.)

Can someone clarify - was she older or younger than 13 when adopted and what was her actual age? She started to correct the admin, but realized she needed to keep quiet. Does the difference come up ever?

I think she was actually 15. When the orphanage woman said she was 13, she started to correct her and it sounded like “fif-“

I was also wondering if her parents continued to think she was only 13. But she started off at high school when she first went to school, so maybe they figured it out.

I thought she was actually younger because her adoptive mom thought she was old for getting her first period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just saw episode one last night and it seemed clear that she is on the spectrum. Is it even possible she's not?

As she grows up this doesn’t seem as clear - maybe this is also something that can happen with autistic children, but by the end she seems more typical but quirky

Given the level of childhood trauma that she experienced, culminating with her mother trying to kill her and being drugged up at orphanage, there are a lot of possible explanations for her affect. She was basically a genius, too. It is possible that she was autistic, emotionally stunted, ahead of her time, or some combination thereof. I do think that her development towards the end indicates that her earlier affect and behavior was more a product of her trauma. When she matured and faced her demons, she seemed to relax and level off.

She was given and then voluntarily took tranquilizers and other drugs. That kills your affect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved how in the end it was a black woman that "saved" her.

I was cringing at this trope. The Magical African American Friend. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro

I think it’s pretty clear the writers were aware of the trope and avoided it.

I don't think they avoided it at all. I think they had Jolene say "I am definitely not a magical negro friend!" to try to obviate the tropes but it didn't work.


I still loved the show. It got weaker as it went on, for sure - like, no one in the whole show had a life outside of paying attention to Beth and trying to help her, and/or worship her - but we couldn't hit "play next episode" fast enough all the same.

And those CLOTHES.

But Jolene didn’t exist just to save her. She is her own ambitions and was working toward them. It’s also meant the stakes were higher for Beth in Russia. Coming on the heels of how she had never paid the janitor back, it was giving her not just a personal reason to win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just saw episode one last night and it seemed clear that she is on the spectrum. Is it even possible she's not?

As she grows up this doesn’t seem as clear - maybe this is also something that can happen with autistic children, but by the end she seems more typical but quirky

Given the level of childhood trauma that she experienced, culminating with her mother trying to kill her and being drugged up at orphanage, there are a lot of possible explanations for her affect. She was basically a genius, too. It is possible that she was autistic, emotionally stunted, ahead of her time, or some combination thereof. I do think that her development towards the end indicates that her earlier affect and behavior was more a product of her trauma. When she matured and faced her demons, she seemed to relax and level off.

She was given and then voluntarily took tranquilizers and other drugs. That kills your affect.

At all times even when you're not under the influence?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else feel that the adoptive mother modeled her character off of January Jones’ character in Mad Men? Very similar speech pattern/cadence.