The Queen's Gambit

:

Season 1
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Oct 23, 2020
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
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Critic Reviews

  1. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Lucy Mangan
    Oct 23, 2020
    60
    The Queen’s Gambit functions best and for the most part as a wish-fulfilment, rags-to-riches fantasy.
  2. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    Oct 20, 2020
    60
    As with Godless, a lot of this story’s flaws and superficiality only become obvious because of how long it lingers, while the parts that are excellent (Taylor-Joy’s performance, the technical mastery) wouldn’t be diminished in a more abridged version of the tale.
  3. Collider
    Reviewed by: Gregory Lawrence
    Oct 23, 2020
    42
    The front half of the miniseries features a fair share of compelling enough drama, in an appealingly “slow-and-low prestige simmer” that gave me Mad Men vibes. ... And yet, Taylor-Joy tends to play this character at an arms-folded, detached, deadpan/forlorn pitch. ... Perhaps the show’s reliance on the same narrative beat over and over again, its need to run the playbook with no surprise, its comfort in empty moments of non-energy for no sake proves that certain chess strategies remain better dramatized, rather than applied to a filmmaking mode itself.
  5. The Telegraph
    Reviewed by: Anita Singh
    Oct 23, 2020
    40
    It is one of those expensive-looking period pieces that Netflix and Amazon money can do so well – swoon at the costumes and cars, purr with pleasure at the soundtrack. But the heroine at its centre is other-worldly to the point of annoyance.

Awards & Rankings

38
#38 Best TV Season of 2020
13
#13 Most Discussed TV Season of 2020
60
#60 Most Shared TV Season of 2020

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 173 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 152 out of 173
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 173
  3. Negative: 13 out of 173
  1. TomWish
    Nov 14, 2020
    6
    At first I was glad that they didn't depict the orphanage as a hellhole, but then it was a little bit too much in the other direction, withAt first I was glad that they didn't depict the orphanage as a hellhole, but then it was a little bit too much in the other direction, with all nice and diverse people.

    Also Beth's chess skills are a way over the top which makes this rather a fairy tale than a real life story. Towards the end it got a little too cheesy for my taste.

    This is a pity because the young Beth is absolutely lovely and also the grown up actor really good (would like to see more of her). After all it was all nice to watch, but (despite the sex & drugs content) rather a childish entertainment.    … Full Review »
  2. Neanderguy
    Oct 26, 2020
    10
    Absolutely the best written and acting EVER on Netflix. Should get every nomination possible for Gordon Globes and Enrmys. The sets,Absolutely the best written and acting EVER on Netflix. Should get every nomination possible for Gordon Globes and Enrmys. The sets, production, editing and direction excellent. Best ending possible. I didn’t want it to stop.

    What is The Queen's Gambit about?

    Based on the novel by Walter Tevis, this coming-of-age story explores the true cost of genius.

    Abandoned and entrusted to a Kentucky orphanage in the late 1950s, a young Beth Harmon discovers an astonishing talent for chess while developing an addiction to tranquilizers provided by the state as a sedative for the children.

    Haunted by her personal demons and fuelled by a cocktail of narcotics and obsession, Beth transforms into an impressively skilled and glamorous outcast while determined to conquer the traditional boundaries established in the male-dominated world of competitive chess.    … Full Review »
  3. shoulderoforion
    Oct 24, 2020
    10
    Wonderful. This show was so good from start to finish, a welcome distraction in this terrible autumn. I take no points off for the every soWonderful. This show was so good from start to finish, a welcome distraction in this terrible autumn. I take no points off for the every so eye roll inducing dips into the unbelievable, including that unnecessary magic negro trope. This was excellent episodic television. Recommended.… Full Review »
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