So much good to say about this I don't know where to start. Actually, I'll start by saying that it deftly sidestepped most of the pitfalls that have made TV a vast wasteland again. Think of the premise: a young orphan girl in the sixties turns out to be a brainiac chess prodigy. Aren't you anticipating a movie where the poor girl is crushed day after day by horrible men telling her she can't do what she wants yet she manages to succeed in spite of them, thereby teaching us all a lesson about the horrors of modern day sexism? Well this ain't that.
Beth Harmon (the lead character) is orphaned when her mentally ill mother is killed in a car crash, or possibly suicide attempt, her illigtimate father having either disappeared or been chased away. Here we have our first clue that this series is about humans and not ideology. We are never really sure whether the mother was driven to madness or born that way or came to it through substance abuse. We know the father made attempts to connect with the mother in the interest of Beth but we aren't sure if he gave up out of weak will or because it was made clear that he was entirely unwelcome. (In a wasteland drama, he would have been the cause of the mother's mental illness and abandon them despite their pleas for help and who knows, probably laughed about it like Snidely Whiplash.)
In the orphanage, Beth is not -- repeat not -- abused. It's not a warm and fuzzy place, but she is cared for thoroughly, and looked after probably as best as possible by the standards of the time. Unfortunately the standards of the time also involved distributing tranquilizers each day, so she ends up with an addiction. Still, in time, and with a little bit of creative dishonesty, she gets adopted. More importantly, she forms a bond with the (male) janitor who not only teaches her how to play chess, but identifies her as a prodigy and makes sure she gets whatever exposure he can provide -- in this case the chess club at the local high school where she stomps everyone without breaking a sweat.
Beth's adopted parents are not ideal. The woman has a fragile and precarious disposition along with her own addiction problem, and the man feels stifled by his wife's needs, likely has had his fill of her, and connives to escape. They have no children. The man has no interest in Beth, he only went along with the adoption in the hope that it would get his wife off his back. If there is a villain in this it is the man. Although he doesn't abandon them without contact, he leaves on an extended business trip eventually making it clear that he will not be coming back. Simultaneously, we discover that Beth's ability to win chess tourneys can bring some money and fame. Once again, though flawed and marginal, her adopted mother, Alma, supports her next step. In fact, I would argue Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Alma, gives an Emmy worthy performance. One of the best drawn and most well-shaded characters in TV history and she gets a tremendously touching story arc.
I'll stop with the play-by-play there to avoid spoilers, but in the end we discover that Beth has been blessed by wonderful caring people -- including the men in her life -- and that she would not be where she is without them.
The lesson for TV producers -- which they will not get -- is that when you look beyond making virtuous, topical, socio-political statements you get to Humanity. And Humanity is where art resides. Queen's Gambit is really a meditation on addiction and recovery. And kindness. How the small unseen acts of imperfect people can combine for miraculous results. It's optimism worthy of David Milch. That makes it rare and valuable.
Just a quick tangent: A vblogger has posted a video appreciation of the most recently cancelled non-wasteland TV show Lodge 49, apparently in the hopes of saving it. I don't see that happening, but you would do a lot worse than to binge the two seasons we did get.
