If I have to define this series in two words I will say "freaking brillinat". There are many many many things that have been said and written about this mini-series on Netflix, you can google them or find on youtube. Before I delve much deeper let me say this - a person asked me what is there in this series to like except chess? As a person who doesn't know anything about chess all I can say is that it is not just chess which makes this series brilliant. Again even though I am not a movie critic or expert, as a lay person who watches a lot of movies I can say for sure that this is an extremely well made show - well written, well shot, well edited, well acted, well choreographed, with an excellent background score. Oh and the makeup - just how cleverly the colour of Beth's lipsticks indicated her maturity and the deepest shade was a nod to her adoptive mother! Does anyone need any more proof for the thought process and detailed effort that has gone into this show? So if you are someone who is thinking that there is nothing interesting in this show except chess or if you are a person who doesn't know anything about the game watch it anyway because if you don't you will be missing out on a cinematic marvel. There are moments in this series when I wished to watch it on big screen just because that scene was giving me goosebumps. After all that you can check out those articles/videos which explain how camera angles were used to create drama - how the framing matters etc.
I am not going to explain all these. But what I felt as a viewer watching this series. Spoiler alert - don't read further if you haven't watched the series yet.
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To be honest for over sometime I have been seeing the thumbnail and wondering about whether to click it or not. I don't remember if I watched the trailer or not, in any case I didn't think it was interesting enough. Then at some point I think I saw some review which said it is based on a book so I cheked and found that the show is based on a book by a male author. So I was skeptical again - how can a story about a woman written by a man be good? Would it be authentic? (I still have no answer for this.) I haven't read the book either so I don't know if the book is really good too. But because I had finished watching all the thousand something episodes of Pokemon and clicked the thumbnail anyway thinking that if I don't like it I can always close it and watch something else. What I felt in the next 10-15 minutes is inexplicable. I was spell bound - had been itching since the first episode to tell how well written this is - but controlled it till the last episode.
How Beth discovers the basemenet and what is there, how she asks to know what that game is and how she deliberately bangs the eraser to make it known to Mr.Shaibel that she is down there and will not be satisfied unless he teaches her the game. Some of these scenes (like many more to come in the series) have no dialouges in it - but the intend is conveyed beautifully, executed beautifully. So beautifully that it makes you aware of how well written it is. There is a beauty to watching movies or series that are well written - the beauty being that it rivets you to the screen, makes it too difficult to take your eyes off the screen for even a moment.
And then there is the addiction. It really was shocking for me to see that orphanages in that era used to give tranquilisers to children until it was banned by law. There is a lot happening in between how Jolene helps Beth cope with the life in the orphanage, how Beth's addiction starts and so on - just watch it. The child Beth's addiction is particularly shocking there is a scene which aptly portrays how an ingenious child would solve the problem of getting to the thing she wants - here the banned tranquiliser and how an addict would behave. Here is a small girl who does something shockingly unnatural eating tranquilsers like candy or cake. Usually smalle girls do shockingly unnatural things only in horror movies. Here in a slice of life situation it creates more impact and leaves you wondering if small children can get addicted, then I rembeered Robert Downey Jr. Isla Johnston as young Beth Harmon is superb - at some point I even wondered how this series would look if she had played the character all throughout. :) (But ofcourse then this series would have had to be made over the years to match the character's age.)
There are so many other things each essay worthy, but the viewer has to experience that for themselves. Now let us come to the part where she starts playing chess and her first tournament. Like I said even though I don't play the game, I could completely relate to what Beth was going through. In fact the main reason why I love this series so much is because Beth playing chess reminded me of my quizzing days. Infact if you happened to have participated in any competition this series is sure to remind you of all those experiences. While Beth Harmon had very tough life circumstances to deal with her career in chess is something which many of us can relate to.
What I struck me are the following:
1) Beth doesn't win games just by her natural talent or her addiction. She practises her games, be in her mind visualizing it on the celing or on the board. She actively puruses reading as much about it as possible. There is a whole lot of earnest effort and practice going on which may or may not be shown on the screen. If not shown we are supposed to understand it. Now if we take chess out of it and put anything else there, it is the same. Anybody who has ever pursued something seriously will understand it - how actively and deeply we go for it, practise for it and work hard for it before we win it all.
2) Beth's gender - Beth's gender has a lot to do with how she is perceived as a player. In the show once it becomes clear to everyone that she is an excellent player, majority of people stop brooding over her gender and looks at her game. (I am not the only person who seems to have noticied this about the series.) And that is a good thing because when you are judged solely on the basis of your talent, one can let go of the burden of dealing with the extra hurdles and judgements (which usually a woman has to deal with after a certain age) and push their boundaries to seek excellence in what they do.
Everytime her gender is made a fuss about she is unhappy because instead of directly accepting the fact that she is very good at what she does people seems to be surprised and saying "for a girl you are good". Trust me that is very annoying. When Borgov offeres her a draw and when the commentator makes a statement saying that she should accept it, it implies the doubt over her ability only because she is a woman, and a prejudice that she cannot do better because she is a woman and should be content with what she could achieve. But ofcourse Beth pushed the envelope further. Why go for a tie when you can win?
What I felt that it was easier for Beth to win as a child or a not-so-stylish teenager than to win as a super-stylish woman she evolves into. The show puts the question straight in one episode when a journalist asks her "What do you have to say about being called too stylish to be taken as a serious player?" Any woman who has ever been stylish and was judged about her abilities will surely understand this. Beth being so feminine and stylish in a male dominated sport is hard to miss. Women in Physics (and other STEM), does the situation sound similar to you? :) But Beth being Beth, ultimately makes people shut their mouth knowingly or unknowingly becasue she is undeniably good.
While in real life chess and many other things like STEM have a lot of prejudices and don't always treat women equally and puts unnecessary self doubts into the minds of young women by means of derogatory comments it was an assuring reminder to see a female character who was extremely good at what she does. Not just that she went for what she wanted in life no matter what - contrasted probably by her adoptive mother - how she didn't puruse her piano career though nothing was preventing her from doing so after a ceretain period of time.
3) Which brings me to this point - Beth's defeats. I was so relieved when Beth didn't win everything she played. Because that would have looked so unnatural and artificial. In any competitive field a strong opponent/rival (as they say in animes) is bound to show up. Which is good. How on Earth is somebody supposed to improve without tough opponents? (This realisation was also the effect of all those Pokemon episodes where Ash always has someone stronger and better to face and does not always win.) Beth goes into a downward spiral after her second defeat to Borgov. What I felt was that she completely know that it was her fault. The defeats we suffer because of our own carelessness are the hardest to get out of. It really pains when we know that it was nobody else's fault but our own - we didn't put that extra effort, took things for granted and were careless. That can lead to all kinds of disastrous consequences. All we need to do is to pick ourselves up and move forward and mend the mistakes for us. That's what she does ultimately. What makes the ending of this series so brilliant is that she becomes aware of that and mends that mistake. Then plays for herself, wins it for herself.
There are many many other beautiful things about this series. Like the following:
1) Jolene's character - Jolene's reappearance is when I felt relieved. Jolene is a gem of a character. Like some internet user said I would like to know what her life story is. That is definitely worth making another series. :) Moses Ingram's acting is so beautiful and assuring. The dialogues she has with Beth are gems too. (Including the one where she says "You should not thave bought the house or all those dresses." ;) ) To really appreciate this character watch the series.
2) Mr. Shaibel - Like another internet user wrote, Mr. Shaibel in the basement could have been a creep. But he wasn't. And that made the whole difference in the story. I will not say anything more, the basement scenes are some of the best in the series.
3) Beth's Gibson toast to Alma Wheatly.
4) You have seen Harry Beltik somewhere before. Haven't you? :)
5) Beth's crush on Townes in the Kentucky tournament.
6) Beth stealing chess magazines from the drug store. Do look for these scenes in the series.
7) Beth's game against Girev and how she keeps on asking what after that and how he keeps saying "I don't understand".
8) How Beth gets backs all her money from Benny at speed chess.
9) How all her friends call her from Benny's apartment.
10) The last scene of the series - I am crying just thinking of that scene.
Two other things I realised aftere watching the series is how sharp and crisp the editing and how good the background score are. The length of the series is perfect. An episode more or less might not have done justice to this. Do read about the cinematic techniques used for this seires. They are mind blowing. Makes you want to do something good like that. In otherwords I will say this is the "Titanic" of Netflix series. Ofcourse the entire cast has acted so well that I am not mentioning it separately. Anya Taylor-Joy's acting is a joy to watch.
In any case just watch it. While the real world may be still unkind to women in many fields, God it felt so good to see a female character who goes out and gets what she wants and excels in it. So, chess is not the only thing to like about this series. (Afterall we all love "Chak De India!" eventhough we are not all hockey players or enthusiasts. Same goes for all sports movies - we don't love sports movies just because we may be able to play the sport or understand the rules of the sport. There is a strong human emotion which relates to pursuing something, discovering the joy of doing it, failing at it, picking up the pieces, correcting the mistakes and winning at it.)
If you look carefully enough, you will realise why this is a great series. Not just technically but also as something which appeals to humans as such.
PS: Some math easter eggs:
1) There is a scene where Beth answers what a binomial is. Chess has two players.
2) Alice Harmon, Beth's birth mother was a mathematician whose PhD thesis was named "Monomial Representations and Symmetric Presentations". I am just wondering if this has anything to do with permutations and chess. Anybody who might know this please clarify.
