Just finished The Queen's gambit on Netflix

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoilers


The parts of the final episode when her crush reporter who wrote for a KY newspaper showed up in Russia for her tournament and when all of her past loves/friends together called her with tips/encouragement, were too ridiculous and trite. Tie a bow on it!

I thought so, too. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but the way all the men rescued her at the end was a little silly.

I don't think it was about the men rescuing her. Benny longed for the camaraderie the Russians had, and he hypothesized that the teamwork was the reason for their success. In Russia, Beth observed the Russians prepping Bagrov before the game with her and felt alone. It turned out her guys + Jocelyn were her tribe who showed up for her, just like they thought Russians did for each other.

Yes, I agree Benny wanted her to have the camaraderie and teamwork the Russians had. And Townes was sent by the Russians as an asset. Remember Beth told Cleo, another Russian asset, that Townes was an unrequited true love? Cleo told the Russians and the Russians gave Townes an expedited visa. But Townes cared for Beth too much to sabotage her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoilers


The parts of the final episode when her crush reporter who wrote for a KY newspaper showed up in Russia for her tournament and when all of her past loves/friends together called her with tips/encouragement, were too ridiculous and trite. Tie a bow on it!

I thought so, too. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but the way all the men rescued her at the end was a little silly.

I don't think it was about the men rescuing her. Benny longed for the camaraderie the Russians had, and he hypothesized that the teamwork was the reason for their success. In Russia, Beth observed the Russians prepping Bagrov before the game with her and felt alone. It turned out her guys + Jocelyn were her tribe who showed up for her, just like they thought Russians did for each other.

Yes, I agree Benny wanted her to have the camaraderie and teamwork the Russians had. And Townes was sent by the Russians as an asset. Remember Beth told Cleo, another Russian asset, that Townes was an unrequited true love? Cleo told the Russians and the Russians gave Townes an expedited visa. But Townes cared for Beth too much to sabotage her.

Oh, wow, I missed the idea that the Russians wanted Townes to distract her. Now I feel dumb! Little did they know! I know it was a bit hokey but I loved how her tennis buddies all pulled together for her and were there for her. And I really loved the end where she is in the park with the everyday Russian chess players.

[Anonymous]

And also, I was SOOO happy with the return of Jolene!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoilers


The parts of the final episode when her crush reporter who wrote for a KY newspaper showed up in Russia for her tournament and when all of her past loves/friends together called her with tips/encouragement, were too ridiculous and trite. Tie a bow on it!

I thought so, too. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but the way all the men rescued her at the end was a little silly.

I don't think it was about the men rescuing her. Benny longed for the camaraderie the Russians had, and he hypothesized that the teamwork was the reason for their success. In Russia, Beth observed the Russians prepping Bagrov before the game with her and felt alone. It turned out her guys + Jocelyn were her tribe who showed up for her, just like they thought Russians did for each other.

Yes, I agree Benny wanted her to have the camaraderie and teamwork the Russians had. And Townes was sent by the Russians as an asset. Remember Beth told Cleo, another Russian asset, that Townes was an unrequited true love? Cleo told the Russians and the Russians gave Townes an expedited visa. But Townes cared for Beth too much to sabotage her.

Oh, wow, I missed the idea that the Russians wanted Townes to distract her. Now I feel dumb! Little did they know! I know it was a bit hokey but I loved how her tennis buddies all pulled together for her and were there for her. And I really loved the end where she is in the park with the everyday Russian chess players.

How do we know that Cleo was an asset? She actually lived in Paris, and actually was a party person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thought it was great. NYT gave it a so-so review, but it's WRONG! The show was mesmerizing start to finish. I binged it because I could not stop watching. Great performances, great costumes, great sets, direction, everything. Script was great. Really, I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed a movie about a game I know nothing about: Chess!!

I have now watched it three times because I loved it so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, I've just finished it.

Here's a thread that remains unresolved for me: what is up with Cleo? She seems so sinister in the way she urged Beth to stay up drinking after Beth explained why she needed to sleep: what Cleo did was not a neutral thing, but kind of malicious. Is Cleo...a Soviet plant?

Also:

I am not a Russian native speaker, but I worked in Eastern Europe for a number of years and went through some intense language training. The guy who plays Borgov is not a native speaker: his accent is worse than mine. What is up with that? So many other details are so authentic, and it would have been easy to get an actual Russian native speaker to play this guy, so I can't help but think this is a deliberate choice that must mean something.

My husband and spotted Cleo a mile away: a life ruiner. I also thought she could be a Russian plant, but regardless, she's just destructive.

The guy who played Borgov is Polish, born in '73, so you would think he'd grown up speaking some Russian, but certainly not a native speaker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Russian above here again: I must say all other Russians were native speakers.
Also, there would be no kids at the hotel/important tournament.
Let alone serving vodka.

I LOLed at the flight attendant’s outfit and scared the dog. I mean how hard was it to do some basic research? And the kid serving vodka for breakfast? smh.

While I didn't think that scene was realistic, I took that as the Soviets messing with her - they knew she had a drinking problem, and the kid was obviously meant to remind her of the young Russian phenom she had played. They even had the two soldiers who were clearly there to watch her toasting her!

[Anonymous]

I thought Beth's refusal of the Christian org's money to fund her Russia trip was selfish. She let her friend Jolene pony up her life savings on the off chance she would beat the guy she lost to in Paris. My controversial opinion is that she should have just taken the groups money and read the lines they wanted her to read. How many people would have a friend risk it all when there were other options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought Beth's refusal of the Christian org's money to fund her Russia trip was selfish. She let her friend Jolene pony up her life savings on the off chance she would beat the guy she lost to in Paris. My controversial opinion is that she should have just taken the groups money and read the lines they wanted her to read. How many people would have a friend risk it all when there were other options?

But Beth’s character never would have done any of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The night before she lost in Russia, she swore she wasn’t going out. She instead met the model, clearly got wastes, woke up in a tailspin and then had to play the final game after missing part of it. I’d call that a relapse after being sober and focusing on the game for a period of time before that. Before that final night before the tournament ended, she was clear headed and razor focused on replaying games and learning about mistakes and patterns - using her time wisely.

That was in Paris.

Yes, SPOILER:


That was in Paris and that took place weeks / months before. In fact after Paris she came back and spiraled to the bottom basically before Jolene came to the rescue.

[Anonymous]

Cleo's KGB connection is not directly stated, but is hinted at throughout the episode. I think someone even mentioned a coy smile between Cleo and Bergov's wife at one point.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/jkomwb/the_queens_gambit_2020_beth_harmon_was_a_victim/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cleo's KGB connection is not directly stated, but is hinted at throughout the episode. I think someone even mentioned a coy smile between Cleo and Bergov's wife at one point.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/jkomwb/the_queens_gambit_2020_beth_harmon_was_a_victim/

Why would Bagrov’s wife know about Cleo’s KGB connection?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought Beth's refusal of the Christian org's money to fund her Russia trip was selfish. She let her friend Jolene pony up her life savings on the off chance she would beat the guy she lost to in Paris. My controversial opinion is that she should have just taken the groups money and read the lines they wanted her to read. How many people would have a friend risk it all when there were other options?

Perhaps consider why the author of the book (and creator of the series) chose to have her make that decision rather than treat her as a real person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Beth's refusal of the Christian org's money to fund her Russia trip was selfish. She let her friend Jolene pony up her life savings on the off chance she would beat the guy she lost to in Paris. My controversial opinion is that she should have just taken the groups money and read the lines they wanted her to read. How many people would have a friend risk it all when there were other options?

Perhaps consider why the author of the book (and creator of the series) chose to have her make that decision rather than treat her as a real person.

I haven't read the book. But to me it was more evidence of Beth's unlikeability and anti-social behavior of which there was already plenty evidence of. Being anti-Christian didn't make her a hero to me. Not if the alternative of taking advantage of a friend she recently reunited with. It was hard to root for Beth sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoilers


The parts of the final episode when her crush reporter who wrote for a KY newspaper showed up in Russia for her tournament and when all of her past loves/friends together called her with tips/encouragement, were too ridiculous and trite. Tie a bow on it!

I think he was actually gay - and he was sent by the KGB to try to distract her. (I've seen it posited that Cleo was KGB and successfully distracted her.)