You all know my thoughts on each episode, but here we go I guess...

It's been pretty interesting seeing this show explode at the end of last year. Critical acclaim across the board, award nominations, Netflix's most watched miniseries ever...

And I don't like it.

Well to be more exact, it's fine. It's absolutely FINE. And I don't think it's anything else. I've got no problems with the acting, it's directed fairly well, the production design is fantastic, and they find some new and interesting way of filming every single one of the chess matches, it's just...that story. And those characters. If you put a gun to my head and told me to name a script I find more cookie cutter...well I'd make something up, but it would weigh on my conscious for lying.

I feel like people are thinking this is something unique just because it's chess, which yeah, I can't think of anything else I've seen that focuses on it so much, but try to consider this: chess is legally recognised as a competitive sport. That would make this a sports drama. When you think of it like that, it's the most basic and predictable sports drama I can remember watching.

It hits every single beat you'd expect from any other sports drama - the orphaned protagonist, they discover their talent for the sport in question, something tragic happens, they grow up and are inevitably bullied, but continue to hone their talents until they make it big, they lose a few times, something tragic happens, they find love, something tragic happens, they experience a downward spiral, but inevitably, they rise above it all and become hallowed in the hall of fame for that sport. Would anyone seriously tell me that's not just the basic outline given to you by the Sports Drama Scripting Wizard program if it existed?

And to me, it does nothing different or interesting to that outline, so it feels so incredibly boring. I spent roughly seven hours waiting for something...anything vaguely interesting or original to happen, and it never happened.

So...pffffffft, sorry, but it being about chess instead of a sport with a ball really doesn't mean a whole lot to me. If there is anything else that makes people love this so much, then I would love to hear it, but...ugh.

And I've never taken hallucinogenics, but you would not hallucinate the exact same thing every time you take the bloody things. That's just dumb.