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Ooooook check to the freaking mate! I dreamt about this show the whole night after watching this, dying to what's next. Not totally the "cozy" November show I thought it was going to be, but I'm hooked! Hope you enjoy and thank you so much for being here!!! 

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[Full Reaction] The Queen's Gambit E:1-2

Comments

Clay F

In about 1980 while in high school, I got Modern Chess Openings -- a later edition of the same book that Shaibel gave Beth in the orphanage. We called it the chess bible. In the game she beat the handsome Townes, her last move before Townes resigned was to fork his king and rook with her knight. In English descriptive notation of the day, her move was N-N3 (check), forking his king at Q2 and rook at R5.

Matt

Love this show

Mingo Wayama

I'm surprised to discover that I'm dead; much more surprised to find that I've gone to heaven! Thank you so much for reacting to this show. Been looking forward to this for a long time.

Jeff Milcheck

I keep catching these uploads right when I’m about to go to bed. Watched this when it first came out and enjoyed it. Looking forward to the rewatch with you… But for now I must sleep! Goodnight! 🌙😴💤

Goony71

Same, don’t even have to know much about chess to enjoy it either, just a great show imo.

Jeremy T Edwards

Cassie, you got me for the duration of this show! You’re in for a fun ride with this one.

Dave Hill

Have never been able to carve out any time for this show even though I knew it was good and would probably enjoy it greatly. Looking forward to having a reason to watch it now! I really enjoy the experience watching something I've yet to see so I can react along with you and see how in sync we are in our reactions. :D

Tara

I had no idea what I was getting into with this show and also got hooked. I think I binged it over a weekend, SO good! I can’t wait to watch when I get off work this evening.

Mark D

The most chilling phrase “Close your eyes”😱

Dioskur

I knew you would love it! The show oozes soul and Beth has a unique charm! I have watched it three or four times allready and I am happy to watch it once more!

Steve Holton

Really enjoyed this! Looking forward to the rest. The film screened at the orphanage is The Robe (1953). A biblical epic of such box office success it inspired The Ten Commandments (1956) and Ben-Hur (1959). It was the first film my Mom was allowed to watch and after she wanted to marry Richard Burton and be the most virtuous person possible. But of course, she wasn’t craving a tranquilizer at the time. Poor Beth!

Jon Johns

Wow! Forgot that her friend in the orphanage is a former Jedi who becomes an inquisitor!!! Wow!

MetallicOpeth

eh, a little overrated. plus the main chick refuses to denounce communism in the show so she immediately loses all points and credibility

Jon Johns

I'm not positive but I believe the movie playing during movie night is The Robe https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046247/

Jon Johns

Cassie, you'll be happy to know, the prequel to the Mad Max film you enjoyed stars Anya Taylor-joy --> Furiosa https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12037194/

Matt Rose

Oh nice! Great show...also, one of the rare shows to actually stick the landing and deliver a satisfying ending.

Robert da Spruce

Great show! Looking forward to watching along with you!

Alex Gorell

I’ve yet to see this so I’m looking forward to watching it for the first time with you.

R Harper

Gosh! Great reaction! Double Gosh take care of yourself, Cassie. You're coming down with something. Be good to yourself. Holidays coming up. You don't want to be sick in bed!

Krusty “Topher”

Anya Taylor Joy is so good. Great in The Witch and Last Night in Soho too.

Brian Harris

Anya Taylor Joy was such a revelation when this show aired. I’d never seen her in anything before, and her presence is so uniquely her own. I don’t know what other actress you can really compare her to. The thing that moves me about this story is how faithfully it chronicles a life defined by a specific passion. Chess is Beth’s religion. Nothing else comes close to making her feel seen or real the way that chess does. For an orphan, there is surely nothing more intoxicating than to be seen. The dark side of that kind of passion is that nothing else matters, nothing else feels as right. The humdrum daily world, with its lacking of black and white squares to move upon and its unsolvable personal openings and equations, becomes impossible to cope with.

Jon Johns

Cassie, you mentioned that everyone already knows all the moves, so how does anyone win? I'd remind you that everyone in Hollywood already knows how to make billion dollar successful movies, but only a few actually succeed at making them 😉

Scott Macaulay

Pretty good show but it lost something for me when I learned it was fiction.

Mannygogou

Ooh sweet, this was one I always suggested 😊

Mike LL

This is an amazing series, but it is even better watching with you. The Best Ever week is getting better.

Terry Yelmene

Heaven itself!... or at least a match made in heaven... Cassie and Beth Harmon. Cassie not knowing about tranquilizers, nor Chesterfields, but sensing right away that Beth's mom was purposeful toward her end. After Cassie's Firefly react, I held no hope that a series reaction could be more perfect... but through these first episodes...it's been... HEAVEN!

Terry Yelmene

@MetallicOpeth -At first, I thought I wouldn't distinguish your comment with a response... but then I thought; "No... Pure ignorance NEEDS to be called out!" and well... "How needy must you be, to twist that much idiocy?!?"

Art of Free Speech

So much fun and so enjoyable to get to rewatch this series with you. I love how, at the very end of the 2nd episode, for a microsecond, you were frustrated at the show being over. It lets us all know just how much you're enjoying it.

Bill Hayden

This reminds me of two movies you would like. The Kings Speech, and Searching for Bobby Fischer. Both are true stories, and you would find SBF a delight.

Damon Corrigan

Great reaction, and I know I am going to enjoy re-watching this show with you. I play a little chess, but not to the point of having openings and defenses memorized. Chess is fundamentally a game of pattern recognition. There are relatively easy patterns to learn, like how to attack in a fork (attacking two different pieces with the same piece) or a skewer (attacking a high value piece through a low value piece), and there are way more complex patterns. When players of a certain level who have a huge knowledge of openings and defenses and variations, they can kind of see how a game is going to go just because they have played that kind of game so many times. But that doesn't mean that players don't (and often do) improvise and do something different - they may even lull you into thinking it's just a normal game, but they have something different up their sleeves. One of the benefits that Beth enjoys early on is that everyone is currently underestimating her skill, which could be absolutely HUGE in allowing a player like Beth to lead her opponents down a path to their destruction. Another thing I like about this show is strangely the whole drug thing. Yeah, drug abuse is huge in her life from an early age, and that is sad. But she evidently inherited a brain from her mother, and she has had a ton of Alternative Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that could cause her lots of problems. The drugs could help her calm her mind to where she can think clearly and quite literally see a chessboard and all the variations that can come from a single move. It is unfortunate that she couldn't have gotten the help that she needed. There are so many sides to her character, and that is what makes this show fun to watch. Anyway, this will be fun. You don't need to know any chess for it, any more than you needed to know baseball to watch Field of Dreams or Basketball to watch Hoosiers. But I could see where watching the show might ignite a desire to learn about it, and that is all to the good - we need more chess players in this world. :)

Mingo Wayama

As I recall, just after Alexander Alekhine upset Jose Capablanca for the world title, reporters asked Capablanca how many moves ahead he could see. Capablanca said, "typically, about 20 moves, but in certain situations, as many as 30 to 40 moves.". They then asked Alekhine, the new World Champion, the same question. His answer, "occasionally, one move". When I played chess, many years ago, my peak rating was 1860, not even Expert level. But I think Alekhine's is the more truthful answer. The point is that when your opponent is at your level, whether at the Grandmaster level, like Beth, or at the Class A level, like me, your opponent's resourcefulness is going to continually surprise you.

Daniel Fowler

Cassie there is billions of billions of chess moves in the world. You literally cant know them all lol, so even if they start a way the variance is so different lol

Björn Von Knorring

Good to see that someone who doesn’t understand chess can appreciate the show. They actually put lots of effort in the chess games and took inspiration from world class chess games (even ”improving” some of the games. So the pieces are definitely not throwned out at random.

Larry Darrell

Inflation Calculator: $5 in 1960 - 1965 = $50 - $47 today $100 in 1960 - 1965 = $1,017 - $955 today $500 in 1960 - 1965 = $5,085 - $4775 today

Carol_White

"Get me three packs of Chesterfields." "Three couches?"

Celeste McAllister

It was worth the wait,Beth discovered she's a mathematical genius an up and coming chess tournament rock star! Can't wait to see her 60's wardrobe I've been hearing so much about.

Caitlin

lol I had the same reaction the first time when she said chesterfield. I was like couches? just like you did. Anyways thats way off topic but anyhoo glad you are enjoying it!

TinCan Cosmanaut

This mini Series is Phenomenal. It was easily might favorite show the year it came out.

Kent Theaker

This is apparently a Canuck term, am I right? Which would explain why I got the reference. Are you too a Northerner?

Mike LL

Whenever I watch Queen’s Gambit I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the actor who plays Beltik is that kid from the Harry Potter movies!

Rick Williams

I was surprised. The first two episodes were pretty good. I didn't think this show would be that interesting. I would never have checked it out. If you hadn't. Thanks, Cassie.

Brent Petty

$5 in 1963 is the equivalent of $48.69 today when adjusted for inflation.

Brent Petty

"Who knew chess could be so fun?" Millions of people, if not billions. For centuries.

Anthony Perez

I binged this show when it first came out but it's even better watching it with PIB. I knew Cassie would love it. Has anyone appreciated the very subtle facial expressions of the custodian when he is dealing with teaching chess? Amazing. And I love that he does not coddle her...treats her as an adult.

OneManReactionFaction

Ok Cassie. I'm going to blow your mind with this tidbit. Beltik is played by Harry Melling. You may know him better as...Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films!

My_Cousin_Mose

I never had any interest in watching this show before (partially because I thought it was about Queen Elizabeth) but I wanted to watch somethin with someone so gave this a shot. I think I'm about to binge it haha. No way I'm gonna be able to wait like 3 or 4 weeks for you to finish. The custodian was really cool, I hope he makes another appearance. The mom seems a bit flaky but I'm withholding judgement. That counts as cheating what Beth did in her last match right? She was losing until she popped her pills, and then she turned it right around. Not cool Beth.

Andrew Rose

I don't know about Cassie but that definitely blew my mind.. lol

Steven Ashford

This series is amazing. So glad you gave it a shot. My son is into chess and got me into this series. He says many of the high profile games were actual chess games played by grandmasters and championships.

Björn Von Knorring

Not only that. They had Kasparov evaluate some positions and improve the games played. Basically ”this move was played but that move is actually better so we use that one instead”

Martin Skouboe

I love this series! Anya Taylor-Joy is amazing as Beth and it's so well put together. In a world where big movies butcher the concept of a strong female character, this series is a masterclass in story writing and shows that it's possible to write female characters that aren't one dimensional. That can have flaws, overcome challenges and adversity and grow along the way. I've been really looking forward to you watching this and I'm very excited to see this again for the 4th time along with you.

Björn Karlsson

(Here we go again 🤪🤔🙃) I think you are scandinavian. 😇 Do you use Popcorn request? Because if you do, maybe you could help crazy swede like me? 😀😵‍💫🤨😛 https://popcornrequests.com/

Martin Skouboe

Sorry, I don't really use it. I find it too complicated. Almost makes me want to make a new one as a hobby project :)

Björn Karlsson

Hehe ok 🙂 well it was tricky in the begining, before I figured out how it worked. Now it's pretty easy 😁 I'm on a "mission impossible" 🤪🤪 I want Cassie to do a reaction of the swedish movie "Fucking Åmål" aka "Show me love" from 1998. I know it was a success even in Denmark and Norway back in the days. So I have to harras every Scandinavians here and ask for requests 😬😬😏😏😉😉 The chances increases if more requests it. I hope so anyway 🤪🤔🤨😁

Michael Weiner

I didn't realize it was the same actress until I rewatched these episodes with Cassie.

Jonathan Hall

So, I haven't watched this show yet but considering you've liked all the movies and shows I've liked so far I'm going to give it a shot. First ever watch along I've tried for something I haven't seen yet. Seems like fun.

Jonathan Hall

I'm really liking it so far. I intended to only watch the first 2 episodes last night but ended up watching the entire first 5. Can't wait till you release the final ones.

Joe M

Definitely check out Anya Taylor Joy in The Menu. I just saw it. Along with Ralph Fiennes and Nicolas Hoult. You’ll definitely be hungry afterwards 😋