For this week’s discussion on episode 5 of “The Queen’s Gambit”, we discussed what the significance of the word “fork,” which was the title of the episode. One thing that was revealed to me was that the word can mean many things depending on the context. first, the word “fork” in terms of chess, means to attack two pieces at the same time, meaning one can be saved but the other cannot. In terms of life, a fork can mean two different life choices, as in a “fork in the road” which can be both literal and figurative. In the episode, both forms of the word “fork” were used. When Beth was playing speed chess, a fork was played in one of the matches, and she was also presented with two different forks in her life. First, she had to choose between two men. It was shown that she was attracted to two different men in the episode, so she had to choose wo to be with. The other fork was that she had to choose between a normal life and a life of chess. The episode focuses around Beth’s obsession with chess, and reveals that she is so obsessed with it that she pushes everyone around her away in an effort to keep learning, so she can’t make any meaningful connections. She must choose for herself whether she wants to pursue this career in chess and have her entire life dedicated to chess, or to have some fun while doing it.