Queen's Gambit
I did not imagine I would be so enthralled by a show about a young woman playing chess in the 1960s. But that woman is Anya Taylor-Joy, who has been fantastic in everything I’ve seen her in since The Witch (I uh, skipped New Mutants), and the story is based on a book by Walter Tevis, a fantastic author.
Queen’s Gambit is indeed great on its own merits. It’s a smart, well-told story and Taylor-Joy is fantastic as Beth Harmon, a chess prodigy who learns to play from the janitor in her orphanage and takes those skills all the way to Moscow to play the world’s best Grandmaster by the time she’s 20. This, sadly, is not a true story, but it’s a great one all the same.
The other best thing about Queen’s Gambit, besides it actually being, you know, good? Two simple words that show up when you go to play one of its seven episodes:
“Limited Series.”
Netflix has always been breaking hearts when it ends up cancelling its series that only run for one or two or three seasons before being allowed to end on their own terms. It’s not an uncommon practice in TV, of course, but Netflix, which greenlights entire first seasons instead of just pilots, seems to be doing it more often lately, and recent casualties include the likes of Glow, Away and Teenage Bounty Hunters, among others, all without firm endings in place.
Queen's Gambit
Queen’s Gambit was designed to be a miniseries and a miniseries only. We are allowed to watch the show without worrying about setting up future installments, and it’s allowed to end on an actual climax instead of a cliffhanger. We do not have to be concerned about if Queen’s Gambit will retain its quality in season 2 or be renewed to see Beth have a rematch with her Russian rival because there is no season 2. It was never designed that way.
The concept of a miniseries is of course, not new at all, but I feel like this is something Netflix should employ more often if it’s in the habit of greenlighting full seasons but then killing them just a year or two in before they can wrap up their storylines. I would start greenlighting more series that are only meant to be a season. Queen’s Gambit feels like a six hour movie strung across seven episodes, and it really works. I can imagine other stories could work similarly well instead of being mapped out for 40 episodes, 30 of which may never see the light of day.
I also don’t think it will fall victim to what HBO has done with its limited series in the past. Big Little Lies was a fine show, but then it got popular and HBO decided to run with a completely superfluous season 2 where its existence didn’t make sense at all. Even if a show is good and well viewed, sometimes you still want to move on. Let the talent in front of or behind the camera have a blank check to do whatever they want next, but don’t mangle the story if you don’t have to.
I see no indication that Queen’s Gambit is so hugely popular Netflix is going to demand another season, as it shouldn’t. But what we do have are a tight, fantastic seven episodes that are absolutely worth watching no matter if you think chess or the ‘60s may not suit you. Trust me, it’s worth it, and comforting to know that we don’t have to wait around a year (or forever) for resolution by the end.
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