In this episode, we saw how much anger and obsession is in Beth. Her chess moves are still spontaneous and she gets angry when her opponent does something she doesn’t see coming. Harry Beltik moves in, offering help. We quickly sees that Harry has romantic feelings for Beth, but it is unclear if Beth feels the same way for him. They have sex, but Beth reads a chess book afterwards. Other times, Harry will try to initiate a conversation not about chess, but Beth only wants to talk about chess. Towards the middle of the episode, they play a game but Beth gets angry when Harry doesn’t understand why he has to make a certain move and this point is significant because Harry understands that Beth only cares about chess, so he decides to move out. Before he leaves, he tells her about a chess player who was brilliant, but was also an alcoholic and eventually retired at 22. This is eerie because we see Beth become that chess player as she continues taking the tranquilizers and drinks a lot. Beth’s emotions are still hard to read because it’s clear that she’s hurt when she sees Harry leave, but ultimately she still does self sabotage. I think it’ll be interesting to see if we will see more of Harry in the future and if Benny with be a positive or negative influence on Beth in New York.

Episode 4 of the Queen’s Gambit took a sharp turn as the story turned grim. Beth has graduated high school and has started drinking and partying. However, Beth and Alma’s relationship remains unclear. At times Alma is more maternal to Beth than managerial like when is visibly concerned when Beth is out partying with kids from her Russian class. But when Beth tells Alma she’s with a boy, Alma is pretty much fine with it and is glad Beth is seeing things other than chess. Moreover, when Alma gifts Beth a watch as a graduation present, their interaction is a normal one for mother-daughter, but the second Beth brings up Paris, the glint in Alma’s eyes changes and her mind immediately turns to money. Even though Alma might be with Beth with selfish intentions, Beth genuinely considers Alma her mother. When Alma dies, not so unexpectedly, Beth is crying on the plane trip back to Kentucky; she didn’t cry at all when her birth mother died and she was sent to an orphanage. Alma was definitely anchoring Beth from complete self sabotage as she was always there for Beth, but now with no one to hold her back from herself, Beth is completely vulnerable to her inner demons. We see that as she is back on the pills and is recklessly drinking. The episode began with Mr. Schaibel telling a young Beth that she has a lot of anger in her and I thought it was pretty cool how the episode ended with Beth even angrier and proving Mr. Schaibel’s words that she might destroy herself true. It will be interesting to see how far Beth will go with her self destructive tendencies.

Although this episode was relatively shorter than previous episodes, this one was probably the most intense and informative. We get to see a defeated Beth, someone who was initially very overconfident. When Benny tells Beth that she got lucky with Beltik, Beth is in extreme denial and gets furious when he doesn’t elaborate because he’s late. Her frustration is interesting because it shows how entitled she’s become; she wants everything as she says. We also learn more about the relationship between Alma and Beth. In the previous episode, we were all confused if Alma would actually try to be a mother to Beth or if she was only pretending for Beth’s money. But I think it’s not an either or situation. Alma is greedy and I do think Beth’s money played a role in her deciding to be a mother to Beth, but I also think in some ways Alma is trying to be a mother to Beth. When Beth loses, Alma tries to calm her down and have her come to terms with reality not like an agent, but like a mother. And we do see a small mother-daughter interaction too. As Beth and Alma head back towards home (in the car after their ‘fight’) Beth doesn’t apologize for being rude, but she holds Alma’a hand and I think this was symbolic because Beth does more with her actions than her words.

I think a significant part of this episode was how Beth’s relationship with her adoptive mother, Alma, changes. When Alma and Allston first meet Beth, their interaction is minimal; we don’t really know how much the trio got to know each other, but Beth does get adopted by them. In the car ride to Beth’s new home, Alma attempts to make conversation with Beth, causing viewers to assume that Alma will be a caring mother. It is also very clear that Allston holds no interest in Beth as he remains silent and occasionally clears his throat. His silence is very loud and he basically ignores Beth and his wife. As Allston remains away for work, we see a different side of Alma, someone who desperately needs help. She doesn’t really care about what’s going on in Beth’s life and continues to more or less ignore Beth until Allston declares he won’t be returning. This is also paired with the fact that she sees that Beth is earning a good amount of money from her chess tournaments. It’s unclear whether Alma genuinely cares for Beth or is playing the part of a devoted mother for Beth’s money. Another significant part of the episode was when Beth is reunited with the addictive pills. There is a time leap after the first episode when Beth faints after consuming too many pills, but we assume she hasn’t taken them in a while. That is until she finds Alma’s pills. I think this is significant because it shows how from the outside it appears as though Alma will be a good mother figure to Beth, but in reality, Beth’s road to addiction has only just begun, reinforced with Alma’s obsession with winning and money.

The first episode of The Queen’s Gambit definitely sets the stage for the remainder of the season. I’ve watched the show before, but watching the first episode again allowed me to notice things I didn’t before. I definitely noticed a lot more foreshadowing this time around and this is significant because it really portrayed how Beth’s time at the orphanage influences her teenage and adult life. We see her beginning her addiction at the young age of nine, but while addiction is a huge problem with severe consequences, in the first episode, her fight against addiction is portrayed in a comical manner; the episode ends with Beth stealing a large jar of tranquilizers. It’s clear that her initial success with chess was dependent on her taking the tranquilizers, but it’s unclear if she was actually gifted or if the tranquilizers gave her the state of mind to block distractions and understand chess. Although Beth doesn’t really interact with many people, I loved her relationships with Jolene and Mr. Shaibel. Both of these relationships were cliche tropes (two orphans bonding with each other and a man only teaching her because she was gifted), but as the show develops we see how the lack of Jolene and Mr. Shaibel’s presences later affects Beth. There were also a lot of cinematography details that I thought were very effective. Beth is someone who doesn’t want to stand out, but her bright red hair actually makes her stand out and I think this is symbolic and especially critical when she formally begins her journey in chess championships. The music that plays while Beth imagines the chess board on the ceiling was also a good choice as it adds suspense and perfectly describes the mood/tone.

I didn’t think I would enjoy The Queen’s Gambit, but its complex themes and the fabulous portrayal of Beth pulled me in and I would recommend it to everyone!