Oh jeez, the series was great but they really should have toned it down a bit with the cringy fairytale ending.
By the end eeeverybody has to take their turn and declare their unconditional adoration for the Mary-Sue of the series:
- Townes (despite years of no contact and overall lack of relevancy at this point in the story?)
- the grizzled russian chess veteran (despite playing her only once?)
- Billy (despite him rightfully telling her to fuck off previously)
- Beltik (despite her previously refusing his help and him being some random Kentucky store manager and a washed up ex-regional champion way over his head at this point)
- the twins, for some reason - what are they even doing in Billy's basement offering advice in a game way above their level? (do they even know any of the other people in that room? Who invited them? Why does the US chess champion have to rely on phoned in advice from some random friends while playing for the world title in the first place?)
- Borgov (who is inexplicably happy for her despite the fact that his loss is a huge upset not just for him, but the entire cold-war era soviet bloc)
- throw in some random old men on the street in Moscow beacuse why not
By the end I was surprised her adoptive father didn't chip in and call her in Russia to admit teary eyed that he was wrong and Beth is "the greatest person that ever lived" or something.
Ok, can we have a Jolene spin-off now?
While the character growth is appreciated, it is definitely rushed. All in all, a decent ending for an excellent drama given the episodes allocated.
That was the smoothest recovery from raging alcoholism and drug abuse I have ever seen
it breaks my heart that she never got to meet Mr.Shaibel again.
THIS EPISODE CLEANED MY SOUL!! YES!! A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!!
Wow, what an epic ending! I didn't expect it'd be that happy/awesome but I'm really glad as I love happy endings. I'm so glad that I've kept watching this show and it got better with every episode (but IIRC I found one in the middle slightly worse than the previous one). Mr. Shaibel's death at the beginning was really sad, especially because the magazine didn't include him in the article after the interview and she never visited him. At least he followed her success, she attended his funeral, and he finally gets mentioned at the end. The sentence "Close your eyes" has a whole different meaning now. Just wow, how utterly sad. Anyway, the tournament was so incredibly intense and the emotions where awesome. At the end I didn't care anymore if she'd win or not I just wanted her to be happy and loose her addictions. Townes arrival was so great and I'm happy that they're friends again. I think the best moment was when Benny Watts called together with the rest of her friends - that was so sweet and heartwarming. After how they've set up her trip to Russia (sending her a bodyguard) I was so scared when she got out of the car. Luckily they didn't do what I feared they would and I was so relieved when I saw the place with the chess players.
When she was crying in the car, I completely understood. All of it. She realized she wasted a good portion of her time.
How to make something relatively unknown so exciting. Queens gambit did it well!
This show was definitely one of the best ones I‘ve watched in recent years on Netflix. Brilliantly acted by amazing actors, beautiful to look at and a great story makes this a must-see!
A motivational and moving end. A true Rocky in the world of chess.
The coming together of all the friends was a bit cheese but I enjoyed what it represented. Beth had more people that cared about her than she realised. She thought she was as alone as her mother felt. She thought she was abandoned by 2 sets of parents then seeing that pin board in the orphanage basement and having Jolene in her corner - it was just the beginning of showing that she is loved. And damn if that pin board didn't bring a tear to my eye.
This episode had some moving moments, like Jolene helping Beth and motivating her to quit drinking, it was really nice to see them reconnect after such a long time and be good friends again, and the scenes in the orphanage Beth visits after Jolene takes her to Mr. Shaibel's funeral and Beth discovers that he collected all press articles about her is really touching, Beth gets to understand that she cannot go on drinking and losing her talent, disappointing her childhood mentor. It is also moving how Jolene believes in her and lends her the money Beth needs to go to the tournament in Moscow, even though they've just reconnected after a long time and she knows about Beth's drinking problem. I also liked how she struggled with her addiction and managed not to fall into temptation and drink some alcohol and how she threw the pills away. Even one of the Russian players complementing her game encouraged her to believe in herself. It may feel a bit forced how she accidentally met Townes in Moscow, but that and Watts, Beltik and other chess players phoning her to give her possible solution to her match with Borgov was rather sweet though maybe too streched to be realistic. I don't play chess so I am not sure whether she used their ideas or she had to rely on her own thinking because Borgov did something else than they predicted. It is really great that she has finally beaten him in the last episode, and it seems that she has overcome her addictions as well. The Russians seem to be quite passionate about chess :) It was sweet of her to go play chess with ordinary people, and it is great the show ends with her victory over Borgov, but I would like to see a bit of her life afterwards and that of her friends, whether she continued to play chess and be successful at it and whether she returned to drinking or was cured from the addiction.
I really enjoyed the show, the cinematography is great and the soundtrack fits every scence perfectly, both the instrumental music and the songs illustrate and emphasise what is happening in the show. Definitely worth watching. Now I am thinking of reading the novel it was based on to compare things and maybe learn something more about the characters.
Great end of the series for a great series, great setting and performances, especially from the protagonist. Makes you want to play chess
I don't even care that it was cheesy, it was what I needed. Fuck logic I guess, sometimes you just need a happy ending because life sucks enough in real life already. I cried tears from happiness watching this last episode. I also adore Townes so I'm glad to see him in this episode again. Anya was fantastic in this series. So was the rest of the cast. Loved the outfits as well and I love that they made chess look exciting!
Great show.
I just felt that the very end kind of fell off a little bit. After America's victory over Russia, oh, what a surprising theme, by actually working together, nice touch there. Like they didn't really know how to end it properly and gave it some sort of fairytale ending. I mean, it's cute... I just didn't want to buy it like I bought the rest of the story.
Everything was great, until she walked out of that building, then the show was kind of ... meh.
But that's, what, 5 minutes out of a few hours, I'll take it :joy:
This is how you do television! Brilliant!
What was up with that last shot being done with a hand held camera? All the shaking was so jarring and awful.
Townes showing up again was a nice touch. And all the guys getting together back home to brainstorm and help her out was SO sweet! .
Lovely series. I don't even know how to play chess, but I really enjoyed it.
By the end of the last episode this series becomes a bit tiresome though thoroughly enjoyable still.
The lead actress is great, the way the chess matches are shot is wonderful.
Russians are not the strerotypical villainous types. Thank god for small mercies.
This show has some rough edges but on the whole it’s good fun.
AAAAAH! Such a beautiful and emotional show!
I thought Alma’s passing was heartbreaking but then Mr Shaibel’s happened. It was so precious seeing how he kept up with her all these years and he was so proud of her!! However it was super sad and even infuriating that Beth never tried to reach out to him again and she still owed him $10, I know it’s silly but obviously he cared about her, but at least at the end he got his recognition but I’ll never get over of Beth no paying him back but at the same that he obviously didn’t mind so that’s what makes everything more emotional and YES IM CRYING WHILE TYPING THIS.
And JOLENE!!!! I’m so thankful for her presence and helping Beth, and like she said, it’s not about I owe you and You owe me, it’s about family!!
And then when that reporter was like excuse me... and that reporter turned out to be TOWNES!!!!! (However I still don’t understand if he is gay? Or bisexual and currently with a man? I didn’t quite got that because sometimes I need shows to explain things in an obvious gay, I just got that they didn’t end together as a couple but that they’ll remain friends and that’s what matters)
And then ALL THE BOYS!!!!!! To all the boys I’ve loved thank you very much!!! That was so heartwarming!! Obviously they admire and respect her but also care so much about her. And HARRY! So cute, so good, so precious!
The ending was good and nice, and we truly needed that, we deserve to have good things once in a while, I’m so used at watching such dramatic shows that I was mentally prepared for Beth to lose, be abused, overdose, lose her money, end up alone and every possible awful outcome, That’s how traumatized I am. But I love that even tho they showed real and emotional issues they didn’t let them cloud the good aspects of life.
Maybe I would’ve liked if the ending scene was set a few years later or like the last shot showing her older and living her best communist life. But we know she is in recovery, she made peace with her past, and she’s letting people be in her life, has a home and money and friends so she probably is gonna be okay!
And now imagine, part two in a few years, Beth is a secret agent who uses chess tournaments as a cover up for her missions!
The only thing I didn’t like was the wigs, know they aren’t that relevant, but sometimes i was just focusing on them.
Fantastic show all around. And damn did they make chess look exciting.
That ending was mad corny :/
I can see why people would love it, though.
I don’t know who those men live interests are I don’t care them and they all look the same
Lovely ending i feel so glad it didn’t all go wrong
It's a very nice and neat wrap-up, but Beth's drug and alcohol addiction seems unresolved. She clearly suffered from withdrawal when she was a kid so seeing Beth dealing with her substance use problem by simply deciding to stop is unconvincing. Years of drug and alcohol abuse, just easily solved without any consequences.
It's not about a victory, but how she won.
Not perfect but it was fun to watch, good series.
So the episodes I enjoyed more were the last two...
This show is perfect done. Every detail. The ending was very well done, and despite a loooot of “suggestions” here, from people that, I suppose, don’t understood the meaning of being with someone special and gifted, it’s easy to give five stars to this brilliant story!
if you liked this and you see anime check Hikaru no Go , 70 +- episodes of Go game :hugging:
Shout by Sam Abdel HamidBlockedParent2020-10-29T05:09:10Z
Wiping the tears off of my cheeks.. I've enjoyed the passion to the game, the emotional moments and the very touching relationship between the characters. Excellent show.