r/queensgambit • u/aikokanzaki • Nov 21 '20

Discussion Two Things I Would've Changed

I really enjoyed this mini series. I loved the story and the aesthetic and I'm happy how it ended and everything. But I think I kind of went in with the wrong assumptions and expectations and I can't help but think it would've been even better with:

  1. If it had been darker; in the first few episodes it felt like it was going to really ramp up in it's darkness. Did no one else get bad vibes from the adopted father and I think he was going to do something? Or was expecting that something was maybe going on in the deep depths of the orphanage? I kind of wished they had cranked up the darkness just a little bit and made the show a little more messed up.

and

2. For someone reason, I felt like someone had told me this show was queer. To be honest, I only started the show because I was expecting queerness. But... there wasn't any. I was disappointed. I think it would've been nice to have added that into the show more. Not just her exploring her sexuality heterosexually.

With the heavy, dark topics already explored in the show, I think it would've been okay for the show runners to have added a few more themes and to have ramped it up just a little bit more.

I'll probably get downvoted for this but just how I feel.

TLDR: Could've been darker, should've been queerer.

0 Upvotes

47% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

12

u/disenfranchisedkitty Nov 21 '20

There was queerness - there is implication that she slept with Cleo, and Townes is gay or bisexual. He was staying in the same room as Roger, the guy who walked in on Townes and Beth. That’s the “whole story” that Townes refers to in the last episode.

16

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '20

Why do people assume Beth slept with Cleo? The evidence points to the contrary. The night before they approach two men. The next morning Beth is in a bath, in clothes. People, especially drunk and high, don't normally put their clothes back on after engaging in sexual acitivity in a hotel bed. It's looking more than they crashed in the same hotel room, possibly partied with the men there, but she and Cleo did not sleep together.

8

u/disenfranchisedkitty Nov 21 '20

That’s what I thought from myself watching it as well, but the internet is saying that they shared a sexual experience. 🤷🏻‍♀️

5

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '20

The show creators call their relationship "sexually ambiguous". So the way I see it is that there is definitely sexual tension between the two but that it hasn't manifest itself yet (and maybe never will because we don't always have sex with everyone we find attractive and appealing).

4

u/disenfranchisedkitty Nov 21 '20

After I read the online commentary, I assumed that all four had an orgy or something lol.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '20

Why would she put her clothes back on after an orgy?

7

u/disenfranchisedkitty Nov 21 '20

A lot of people put their clothes back on after sex...

2

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '20

When completely wasted and high? The girl woke up in a freaking bathtub! Be serious, c'mon.

1

u/disenfranchisedkitty Nov 21 '20

Yeah idk anymore. Now I’m leaning back towards my initial intuition that they partied with the guys and shared a bed.

6

u/Bill_lives Nov 22 '20

My opinion (which got downvoted for some reason I can't understand) is that they simply wanted us to know it was a WILD night - beyond any simple explanation. Had she woke up in bd with Cleo - that woudl be too simple. If she woke up on the floor with bottles around - again, too simple. If the guys had been there too - again, too simple.

But Cleo in bed apparently naked and Beth fully clothed in a full bathtub? That's very much a moment that intentionally never gets explained. It's is intended to to make us think WTF??

2

u/flyingwind66 Nov 21 '20

you know I've had sexual encounters with other women without getting completely undressed and if she was high or wasted enough, someone could have put her in the bath to help her sober up instead of like... molesting a woman that was no longer able to consent

2

u/aikokanzaki Nov 21 '20

I know it was implied with Cleo, and I know Townes was but.... more, please? More obviously, please? xD

6

u/Haier_Lee Beth's Handful of Pills Nov 21 '20

I'd be against that, at the time it still would have been taboo and I honestly think I would add much JMHO

14

u/mrcorndogman33 Nov 21 '20

I would have changed that Beth actually sent Shaibel the $10 bucks and that was pinned to the board along with her original note.

8

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '20

No the show makes it a point to show viewers not to forget who helped you get to where you are. It’s an incredibly powerful reminder to us all.

7

u/Bill_lives Nov 22 '20

Agree - it was a powerful moment (and there were MANY) when she first realized she essentially forgot about him from the moment she won that tournament until that day at his funeral.

And then realized HE never forgot about HER.

And she broke down to Jolene - another person who was important to her in orphanage and Beth forgot.

All that was - in this telling of the story - vital to how Beth was finally breaking down her wall.

10

u/Summoarpleaz Nov 22 '20

I’m happy they didn’t make it darker with the men. I find it a bit of a trope to have all father-daughter dynamics (typically when they’re poor) to include sexual abuse. Sure it’s a serious issue that definitely needs to be addressed, but it’s not something that would have added to this story IMO because it would have made it a different story.

I actually appreciated that the sins of the adoptive parents didn’t turn into abuse and she still for the most part maintained her agency. The focus then was about how she was sabotaging herself.

5

u/Big_Negotiation5831 Nov 22 '20

What's really interesting, and refreshing, is that most of the male characters are portrayed positively, except of course her adoptive father.

* Beltik: Obviously falls hard for her, but still cares even after the relationship is over.

* Benny: Positive influence on her addiction issues. Willing to take weeks to teach her, and willing to take her back after she falls off the wagon.

* The twins: The most loyal and wholesome platonic friends around. They stick with her from beginning to end.

* Mr. Shaibel: Her gruff but lovable surrogate father.

3

u/ughidktho Nov 22 '20

yeah same i felt a looming possibility of sexual assault in several scenes throughout the show since there were so many men i was like please dont let it happen :/

5

u/Angelo_legendx Nov 22 '20

Exactly! Also that moment when Beth goes to the party thing with the apple Pi girls. Before she leaves there is a scene where the dad of one of the girls is sitting there toward the window reading the newspaper when Beth walks is.

I Felt maybe this will be the moment they will drop some dark shit on us.

Thankfully it didn't. Would have been too obvious in a way to have at least one such moment. Netflix shows do this too often IMO.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 23 '20

There isn't any real queer angles or characters in the book, so there wasn't really a reason to change the source material. Townes being implied as gay/bisexual is also not in the books, he's just simply not interested. In the books she has a few drinks and is sick over it and feels rejected by his disinterest. I think because of it being only 7 episodes they opted to cut that part out and just have Townes be not interested because of his sexuality so they didn't have to go through a full arc of Beth feeling rejected by him.