Ok, ok, I know this isn’t some kind of obscure recommendation. By now, almost everyone and their mother have watched The Queen’s Gambit, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to give a shout out to one of the shows I enjoyed the most this year.

This limited-series follows Elizabeth Harmon’s journey through life, from her early years as an orphan, to her rise to fame thanks to her extraordinary skills in chess.

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about the show. Let’s start with Anya Taylor-Joy‘s performance. Absolutely outstanding. Nothing else can be said about it.

Secondly, I really liked how they developed and maintained a constant tension with her mild addiction issues and borderline social impairment, without making it a major plot point. I never felt like it was over the top or that it completely defined Beth’s character. Instead of being “an addict” or an “outcast”, she is a really complex character with a lot going on that also happens to be really socially awkward and have some substance abuse struggles.

Finally, the last thing I want to highlight is how the writers chose to develop her character. Despite being a woman, her development didn’t follow the classic paths movies and shows usually take. Her strength doesn’t come by overcoming a story of sexual abuse. Her love life doesn’t define her. It isn’t a story of a woman breaking the mold in a men’s world. Instead, the writers chose to build her character in a very gender-agnostic way, which is very refreshing and I think made the story all that much better.

If you haven’t watched it yet, I hope I convinced you. If I did, you can go to Netflix and watch it there!