I began watching Netflix's, "The Queen's Gambit" more due to the overwhelmingly positive reception it's garnered than an inherent interest in its premise. This limited series of a young chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, who rises in the world of chess whilst simultaneously descending further into self-destructive behaviors was certainly enjoyable. But when I compared my experience with it to all the praise it received, I felt as though everyone else was playing film criticism chess while I was playing checkers.

This series is committed to a form of dramatic realism that eschews some of the dramatic conventions that I think modern day viewers are used to. There isn't much in the way of shocking revelations, shady characters with murky intentions, or big emotional outbursts. This is a show that follows a main character and supporting characters who mostly present themselves as coldly analytical as the game that they play at such a high level. For the first few episodes, I found this to be a refreshing change of pace compared to most modern shows which try to deliver at least one gut punch and/or cliffhanger per episode. As the show continued though, I found myself befuddled by the lack of escalation in the story, especially in the face of plot points that should realistically spark more drama. The story as a whole felt far too padded out, with too much time committed to things that either weren't very important to the plot or didn't have a very satisfying emotional payoff.

This doesn't inherently stop the show from being enjoyable however. On the contrary, "The Queen's Gambit" is a fun show to watch, from its glossy recreation of the 1960's and its ensemble cast, to its endlessly inventive cinematography and editing to keep watching the game of chess interesting for 7 hours. Most importantly of all, Anya Taylor-Joy owns the role of a prodigy who never quite doubts her abilities but remains sensitive, and even in her worst moments it's impossible not to root for her.

While Taylor-Joy is certainly a marvel, I didn't find the story around her to be quite up to her level. There's an archetypal kind of sports movie/show: one where the surface level plot of the sport drives the story along, but underneath that it's really about the character's inner journey. Beth's inner journey in this show ends on a satisfying note, but I did not find the journey along the way as profound as it could have been, and my experience was that much of the time spent in this show was very much just about chess itself.

My final score is 7.5 for a fun, breezy, well-acted, aesthetically pleasing, and ultimately emotionally satisfying show that didn't pack quite the punch I was wanting and could have told its story in less time.