Queen's Gambit on Netflix2

"Queen's Gambit" is a 7 part series on Netflix about Beth Harmon, who is a hot mess but really really good at chess.  It is set in the mid-Sixties, and most chess people seem to think that the chess is pretty good.  I have declared bankruptcy when it comes to chess.  I might remember which pieces move how, but I can't even remember how to castle.  So, yeah, I cannot critique the chess.  The actress who plays Beth is really, really good, and that is probably the biggest strength of the show.  One of the things I actually liked a lot is that Beth's emotional landscape is sufficiently alien that it seems incomprehensible, to me.  It is consistent and coherent, but not emotionally accessible.  And I really liked that.  I'm pretty neurotypical, and most non-neurotypical representation spends a lot of time trying to explain and explicate.  Beth just Is who she is.  There is a ton of stuff to like in this show, and I liked it quite a bit.  In the end, though, I have some very serious problems with it.  In my opinion, it had some extremely important failures.

( Spoiler Cut )

In the end, although I really enjoyed it, it felt like a huge set of missed opportunities, and more like cotton candy than a substantive piece -- except for the chess which was evidently quite substantive.  Unfortunately I don't know enough chess to appreciate that bit.

I have no problems with spoilers in the comments.  This post should serve as a cut-tag for spoilers.