The Queen's Gambit

The Queen's Gambit is an exhilarating, emotional and well crafted masterpiece of television. Anya Taylor Joy as Beth Harmon is brilliant as I love that she is someone who surpasses their emotions since it is common in someone when he or she is abused as a child. The scene where she releases all her emotions however is when she goes down to the basement where she and her mentor, Mr. Shaibel used to play. There, Beth finds out that Mr. Shaibel kept a scrap book of her matches throughout the years before he passed away. This triggers an emotional reaction in Beth and is the turning point of the series. It was the emotional kick she needed to not only finally release all of the pent up anger, confusion and loss but to get her life back on track as well. This scene is the best scene in the entire series and I wanted to highlight it since I think it best examples how great an actress Anya Taylor Joy truly is. The chess games are interesting and intense. Yes, a mini series about chess is intense and interesting. But it's not really about the chess games however. It is about the stories behind them that give it the emotional weight it needs to keep the audience invested in the characters and story. The way it is shot too also gives the viewer a pint of view of how and what each character is thinking in that particular moment. All in all an amazing job of giving chess games high stakes and real drama by the amazing cinematography. The Queen's Gambit is the best miniseries that Netflix has ever put out. Although it doesn't accomplish anything new in terms of story structure or conclusions, it is a masterclass of cinema and I honestly wished I saw it in theaters all the way through. 9.5/10