Brian Earl Spilner said:

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To me it's easy to write people as super smart if you hide from the viewer the smart stuff they do.

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You are right. Chess pieces on the ceiling were so hard to understand. How could my feeble brain ever grasp such a intelligent concept?

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So you wanted them to show the smart stuff she does, but then complain about the way they did it.

That's exactly what the pieces on the ceiling were. It was a very clear and concise visualization of her process, how she sees all the outcomes of the game, in a way that all viewers could easily understand.

What else is it you wanted? The whole idea is that she was processing stuff much faster than the viewer or even a good player could.

Legitimately asking what else they could have done that would have satisfied you, short of literally pausing the story to explain to the viewers all the possible chess moves she had.

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That's not showing anything. I'm talking about having the writers be smart. Not have dumb writers write about smart people and showing them being "smart" by having pieces move on the ceiling.

Of course for a chess movie, pieces on the ceiling is about as good as one can expect. It's not like they are going to get into deep chess theory. I think Searching for Bobby Fischer is about as good as it can get for a chess movie and is better than this. It's just that a chess movie does not have a high bar it can reach for the reasons I've mentioned already.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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It sounds to me like you're more into documentary-style biopics (or just documentaries period), which is fair. But to call these writers dumb and/or lazy is pretty ridiculous.

You have to take into account the type of show being made. This is a fictional account of a genius chess player who has to face her demons of addiction. And it just isn't your cup of tea, which you've made clear, and again, is fair.

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I didn't mean to imply that these writers were dumb. I bet the writers could blow me away in chess. I meant that a dumb writer could write a genius character the way that most of these shows do it (including this one). That to me a great show is one where clearly the writers themselves are smart as hell.

And I do like documentary style biopics. Chernobyl was awesome, for example. I used to love Titanic when I thought everything other than the main characters was truthful. Now I hate it now that I find out that a bunch of it is total BS. I think that The Wire is loosely based on real events is part of what makes me like it more (and why the final season hurt the entire series). The Americans is even more loosely based on real events (the real illegals were not as successful and were not in the 80s) but a lot of what happens to them happened to real but separate people.

However, my favorite show is BB and nobody in there is real at all.

The Milkman said:

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The fact that those kinds of things ruin your enjoyment of a show/movie is bizarre. You seem to have a real block against "Based on a true story" or 'inspired by true events" instead of nonfictional recreations or entirely 100% fictional storytelling.

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My hatred started when the Pacific miniseries presented a real life person as committing atrocities that he did not commit. The excuse was "there were some soldiers who did that". If so, then either make the character be the real person who did it or, if you don't have names of people, then make up a fictional character and have them commit the atrocities.

The first episode hits a ton of the stereotypical thing gifted young chess players do. It was a lot better at telling that story than atm realizes.

M.C. Swag said:

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This show ruled. The guy who played Townes should take over for Superman (he gave off mad Clark Kent vibes).

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I kept thinking he was the taller brother of Peter Dinklage.

The Milkman said:

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Right, so you want your shows and movies to either be 100% accurate or 100% fiction.

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No, what I want is for a show that presents itself as being based on a true story to refrain from tarnishing a real person's reputation with lies. If the person was bad, show the bad he/she did. Don't make up bad stuff (especially when the person is good).

Four Seasons Landscaping said:

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How did it present itself as being based on a true story?

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That part of the comment wasn't for Queen's Gambit but another side discussion. This show did not present itself as a true story.

Anyone notice that the old Russian man she plays chess with at the end is the janitor?

So Townes was gay?

Lol yes

I just finished the series.

I may be one of the only people in here that actually found out about the show from the chess analyzer's youtube channel that is posted on page 2. I've actually watched that guys channel for a few years.

Then he started doing games from this netflix show.. then I happen to see it on the netflix header that night, so started watching it.

I thought it was pretty captivating. Wife and I both honestly thought it would end with her death/OD.. but alas.. a happy ending

I wish it delved into chess a little bit more though I understand why it didn't. Chess is equal parts fun, maddening and highly addictive. It can really lead you down some dark holes where it is all you think about and obsess over. There's a reason so many chess grandmasters go batty later in life. There are parallels to how obsessive one can get over the game and some of the things Beth dealt with that just aren't obvious to most people and I thought the series compartmentalized those way too much and made it about how the stuff outside of the chess world got in the way of her being her best.

I did like how the series ended when she realized all these people wanted her to succeed finally and utilized them to get out of her own head to beat the Russians.

Awesome series, enjoyed it greatly. Haven't played much chess since I was a teenager, this makes me want to take it back up again. The previously mentioned Classical Gas montage was so awesome, whatever happened to great instrumentals?

The only reason I hate this show is because my YouTube feed is nothing but damn chess videos now.

All of the characters in the show were fictional, right? I mean, they VERBALLY referenced Boris Spassky and some of the other actual chess greats, but the characters were fictional, correct?

Reason I'm asking is because the Benny character - unless he was based on a real person - was completely absurd to the point of making it hard to watch scenes that he was in.
They might as well used a pirate. Or Davy Crockett. Or an alien. It was like watching a skinny little kid playing cowboy dress-up. Completely bizarre, IMO.

Ghost91 said:

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All of the characters in the show were fictional, right? I mean, they VERBALLY referenced Boris Spassky and some of the other actual chess greats, but the characters were fictional, correct?

Reason I'm asking is because the Benny character - unless he was based on a real person - was completely absurd to the point of making it hard to watch scenes that he was in.
They might as well used a pirate. Or Davy Crockett. Or an alien. It was like watching a skinny little kid playing cowboy dress-up. Completely bizarre, IMO.

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I just think if they wanted David spade, they should have just got David spade. Surely he's cheap these days, and he still looks 30.

62strat said:

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Ghost91 said:

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All of the characters in the show were fictional, right? I mean, they VERBALLY referenced Boris Spassky and some of the other actual chess greats, but the characters were fictional, correct?

Reason I'm asking is because the Benny character - unless he was based on a real person - was completely absurd to the point of making it hard to watch scenes that he was in.
They might as well used a pirate. Or Davy Crockett. Or an alien. It was like watching a skinny little kid playing cowboy dress-up. Completely bizarre, IMO.

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I just think if they wanted David spade, they should have just got David spade. Surely he's cheap these days, and he still looks 30.

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Yes! I said Benny reminded me of Dana Carvey trying to act like Leonardo DiCaprio, but he's really David Spade trying to act like Leonardo DiCaprio.

He's there. Try again and look closer.

how do you know he wasnt?

rynning said:

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He's there. Try again and look closer.

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really? I'll have to replay it....very cool. I award you a blue star