In the final two episodes of The Queen’s Gambit Beth faces both all of her worst demons and meets all of the angels present in her life. In the penultimate episode, she prepares with Benny for the competition in Paris, but while there she has a few too many drinks with Cleo. This results in her being late and unprepared in her match against Borgov the next morning. This defeat sends Beth into a downward spiral, which she had already been on the brink of the past few episodes. Eventually, after a few of her friends trying to reach out, and walking away from a local tournament, Beth gets an unexpected surprise: Jolene shows up at her house. Jolene is exactly what Beth needed. Beth has been consumed by her new life, and Jolene is the perfect reminder of her youth before all of this started.

Jolene’s impact extends much further into the final episode. Although she brings sour news that Mr. Shaibel has died, going back to the orphanage and seeing that he had been keeping news clippings of her winnings showed Beth that she actually had a lot of people who cared about her and her achievements. This push, with the help of Jolene, is exactly what Beth needed to get back on her feet and prepare for the competition in Russia. In the final tournament, after several days of play, she runs into Townes who really helped give her the support and confidence going into her last match against Borgov. She also receives a call that morning from Benny, Henry, and others that are all in New York trying to help her. This show of support from all of her friends is exactly what Beth needed in order to win her match against Borgov. She felt supported, realized that she did need the help, and wasn’t reliant on the pills in order to win, thus completing many of the major themes present throughout the series.