As many have noticed in this first episode of Queen’s Gambit, the dark lighting and tense cinematography gives rise to an uneasy feeling within the viewer we can’t quite put a finger on. There are abrupt cuts from scene to scene, whereas other times the camera lingers confusingly long on Beth’s unpenetrable facial expression; the quipped exchange between Beth and Jolene is underlaid by dark humor, while drug-use casts a sinister shadow over the orphanage and its pious mission. Beth and Mr Ganz’s interaction can only be described as an angry for no reason, hopelessly stubborn give-and-take with more time spent posturing than an affectionate mentorship. The coloring is dull but weighty, each dialogue piece only leaves more unsaid, and the background music oscillates between classic and horror-esque. These elements of paradox serve to unsettle the audience, and perhaps in its tangled, unexplained ways actually invite us into Beth’s headspace by inducing a visceral experience of intermixed confusion, melancholy suspicion, and dread in us, so we can empathize a little more with young Beth— a brilliant mind in a meager body, a vulnerable soul behind walls and walls of defence.