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Post by twigz on Nov 22, 2020 4:07:19 GMT -5
Hi all, This series is one of the most popular on Netflix rn, and I binge watched it in it's entirety yesterday. What do you all think of it? I looooove the vintage fashion, and I think it serves as a great vehicle to explore how Harmon's confidence and wealth grows across time.
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Post by Marlowe on Nov 25, 2020 15:36:37 GMT -5
I've been meaning to watch it, but I just quite haven't found the time.
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Post by twigz on Nov 26, 2020 7:04:52 GMT -5
I've been meaning to watch it, but I just quite haven't found the time. It's a limited series so there are less than ten episodes!
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Post by Marlowe on Jan 15, 2021 23:30:37 GMT -5
Just finished this, and am still gathering my thoughts on it. While I largely enjoyed it, I have qualms regarding the final two episodes: As the show wraps up, it begins retracing its footsteps and returns to the Kentucky setting of the first three episodes. This cyclical structure leads Scott Frank to contrive sudden re-appearances of supporting characters as Beth runs into them again as she prepares for her match with Borgov. While this at first works to show how far Beth has come from her humble beginnings, as well as an illustration of how insular the chess world is, the re-introduction of Jolene reveals this device to be more of a dramatic contrivance to get Beth back on her feet following her drunken bender. Jolene is not a character we've heard from since Beth left the orphanage, and the show's sudden dropping of her onto Beth's doorstep stretches things somewhat past the point of plausibility. Even though Jolene later says that she's not "a guardian angel", the show treats her like one, a deus ex machina that conveniently re-emerges out of nowhere to give Beth help when she most needs it.
Then there is the return of Benny, Harry, and the twins on the night before the match with Borgov. This is where I felt Frank, in rushing to end his series on as high a note as possible, made an abrupt tonal pivot that pushed the show dangerously close to saccharine sentimentality. I get why Frank did this in theory - after a near-7-hour exploration of trauma and addiction, the audience needed to see some light at the end of the tunnel - and it played well to my most credulous sentimental instincts, but even as my heart was lifted I could notice the strings being pulled to please the audience. I understand Benny had to return, as the angry phone call with Beth seemed like an awkward sendoff, but when he began passing the phone around the room so the boys back home could cheer "We love you, Beth! We're all rooting for you!", etc into the receiver I started to grow a little resistant to all the jubilance.
Frank could've just stopped at Benny and Harry (or maybe just Benny, as I understand happened in the novel, unread by me) helping Beth over the phone. The return of those twins, who Beth never had a particularly significant friendship with in the fist place, came across too much like a blatant audience-pleasing tactic. "Look, EVERYONE's back to help Beth!" I wish Frank had been more willing to complicate the excitement around Beth's upcoming triumph over Borgov with another touch of darkness, or ambiguity. His desire to please the audience and give them a heartwarming, applause-baiting finish by tying up all the loose ends complicated my own enthusiasm for this otherwise well-acted, well-crafted series.
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