Netflix released a new series called The Queen’s Gambit on Oct. 23, and I had the honor of binge-watching all seven episodes. At first, I just wanted to find a new series to watch, but after one episode, I was hooked.
The Queen’s Gambit is an original Netflix series that is set in the era of the Cold War, which personally is one of my favorite eras. Elizabeth Harmon, an orphan played by Ana Taylor-Joy, becomes a chess prodigy who struggles with an addiction at the young age of eight and embarks on a journey to become the world champion.
Elizabeth, who prefers Beth, is taught how to play chess by the janitor, Mr. Shaibel, in the basement of the orphanage. Beth was sent to the basement every evening to clean the board erasers after math class, but she caught herself intrigued by the game while watching Mr. Shiabel play by himself. She would spend nights laying in her bed, high off of green pills, known as tranquilizers, and playing chess games in her head over and over.
The tranquilizers were given to all of the girls at the orphanage to keep them calm and sedated long enough for the staff to be able to handle them. Unfortunately for Beth, there was a law that was put in place to where the staff was prohibited to give out anymore tranquilizers to children. This sent Beth into withdrawals, which didn’t necessarily stop her addiction.
Mr. Shiabel and others saw Beth’s true potential and wanted her to continue to play. At the age of 15, Beth was adopted by a mother and father who later split. Beth didn’t have a relationship with the father, Mr. Wheatley, even when he was in the home. However, Beth was left with her mother, Mrs. Wheatley, who drowned her depression with alcohol day and night. Not only did Mrs. Wheatley use alcohol to help numb her pain, but she was taking tranquilizers to help take the edge off a little more.
As you can tell, these little green pills were quite popular during the era.
At first, Mrs. Wheatley couldn’t care less about the passion Beth had for chess, but once she realized how much the prizes were worth, she encouraged Beth to play every match she could. This consisted of Mrs. Wheatley calling the school and informing them that Beth was sick, just so she could hop on a plane to travel the country and play in matches to win money.
I’m not exactly sure how well of an education Beth received, but that didn’t seem to be a priority for Beth or her mother.
Sound interesting? If you’re intrigued just by a snippet of this chilling drama series, you’ll want to watch all seven episodes; I highly recommend it.
Photo Credit / Boston Globe
