The Queen's Gambit Review - 8 Ups & 1 Down
Downs...
1. Not Many Episodes
The Queen’s Gambit is so damn good that if we have to search far and wide for a criticism it would purely be that it doesn’t go on long enough.
The great thing about Netflix is that they can give a lot of artistic freedom to their creators. Many writers and directors, including David Fincher (Mank), Alfonso Cuaron (Roma) and Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story), have discussed how they have got a lot more freedom working for Netflix instead of a normal film studio. And, one of the things Frank must have wanted when developing this series was for it to be all done in 7 episodes.
And, yes, if they had produced more episodes, the ending series might feel stretched out or oddly paced. However, it still would have been nice for the series to have got more episodes.
I mean, other brilliant Netflix series, like Stranger Things and The Haunting of Hill House, have gone on for 8-10 episodes, so why couldn’t we see The Queen’s Gambit get a similar treatment.
With the only “negative” out the way, now it’s time for the many, many positives.