S01.E01: Openings

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

Sent to an orphanage at age 9, Beth develops an uncanny knack for chess—and a growing dependence on the green tranquilizers given to the children.

Drops 10/23.

[kieyra]

Anyone know if they were really drugging orphanage kids like that back in the fifties?

[dubbel zout]

I wouldn't be surprised—there was a LOT of abuse going on in state-run children's homes. In this case, the tranquilizers seemed fairly mild. The girls weren't completely doped up and unable to focus.

I really like Jolene. The actor playing her is terrific.

[Fireball]

I found the episode very slow and depressing. Also Beth knows nothing about chest and the old dude doesn't start teaching her until she shows some promise. Even if Beth is a genius I found it hard to believe she was able to teach herself the game with knowing basically nothing about said game... 

Edited October 24, 2020 by Fireball

[Michichick]

40 minutes ago, Fireball said:

I found the episode very slow and depressing. Also Beth knows nothing about chest and the old dude doesn't start teaching her until she shows some promise. Even if Beth is a genius I found it hard to believe she was able to teach herself the game with knowing basically nothing about said game... 

I think they implied that she was watching him play whenever she had the chance, and picked up the moves from watching him. She must have been cleaning a lot of erasers!

[dubbel zout]

26 minutes ago, Michichick said:

hink they implied that she was watching him play whenever she had the chance, and picked up the moves from watching him. She must have been cleaning a lot of erasers!

This, and she has an innate feel for the game.

[kieyra]

3 hours ago, Fireball said:

I found the episode very slow and depressing. Also Beth knows nothing about chest and the old dude doesn't start teaching her until she shows some promise. Even if Beth is a genius I found it hard to believe she was able to teach herself the game with knowing basically nothing about said game... 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_prodigy

[Aliferously]

I was so anticipating the eventual overdose. 

This was like pick your favourite British actor bingo. Caught four of them within the first twenty minutes. I did anticipate it being a British show rather then an American one.

[JudyObscure]

I gasped when she threw the doll away.  She must know twenty little girls who would have loved it.  I'd like to see her show just a tiny bit of kindness toward someone, she never even apologized for swearing at her chess teacher.

[pigs-in-space]

10 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I gasped when she threw the doll away.  She must know twenty little girls who would have loved it.  I'd like to see her show just a tiny bit of kindness toward someone, she never even apologized for swearing at her chess teacher.

I am by no means an expert on the subject, but that plus a lot of other things made me wonder if she's supposed to be on the spectrum. 

I LOVED the scene of her playing all the HS kids simultaneously and the crowd gathering to watch.

[Straycat80]

I wasn’t sure about this show because chess sounds so boring but so far I’m loving it and look forward to the next episodes. 

[tennisgurl]

Interesting start to the show, its certainly an interesting premise. Beth is so stoic and unemotional (whether because thats just who she is or its due to trauma) but she really comes alive when she plays or talks about chess. 

Poor kid, already breaking into places for a high at the age of ten. 

[Dminches]

On 10/25/2020 at 6:09 PM, JudyObscure said:

I gasped when she threw the doll away.  She must know twenty little girls who would have loved it.  I'd like to see her show just a tiny bit of kindness toward someone, she never even apologized for swearing at her chess teacher.

She didn’t really even know what she was saying.  In the next scene in the bathroom she asked Jolene what that meant.

 

[JudyObscure]

8 hours ago, Dminches said:

She didn’t really even know what she was saying.  In the next scene in the bathroom she asked Jolene what that meant.

Right, and then she knew what it meant, and  she never apologized.  

 

[Mama No Life]

Um, her mother clearly had mental illness (seems to have been an unstable genius as well), she was with her mother when she killed herself and she's been doped up in an orphanage.  Hurting someone's feelings seems like no biggie....

[JudyObscure]

13 hours ago, Mama No Life said:

Um, her mother clearly had mental illness (seems to have been an unstable genius as well), she was with her mother when she killed herself and she's been doped up in an orphanage.  Hurting someone's feelings seems like no biggie....

No,  not a biggie, but  every child in there is drugged and has lost her parents, and I expect some of the little ones could sure use the comfort of a doll. 

 I  do love how helpful and kind Jolene is and I like Beth, too, I'm just hoping for a little more personality development from the writer is  all.

Edited November 2, 2020 by JudyObscure

[shrewd.buddha]

I am always suspicious of shows that start with a pivotal ending scene and then jump back to the true beginning. 
Do they not trust their story to be engaging enough? 
Maybe they wanted their lead actor to have some face time because the first episode only used the younger actress for the character. 

The character of Jolene, while interesting, feels like bit of a stretch for the time and place. Maybe Kentucky in the late '50's was more progressive than I imagine. 

I know the show is cutting to the chase, but the orphanage seems so regimented and Elizabeth seems so detached. Elizabeth is so unemotional and so narrowly focused on chess and tranquilizers that it is somewhat difficult to get invested in her as a character. 

Edited November 5, 2020 by shrewd.buddha

[Anela]

On 10/25/2020 at 6:09 PM, JudyObscure said:

I gasped when she threw the doll away.  She must know twenty little girls who would have loved it.  I'd like to see her show just a tiny bit of kindness toward someone, she never even apologized for swearing at her chess teacher.

I wasn't surprised, I was expecting it. I would have been more surprised if she'd loved it. 

I need to watch this again, because I couldn't focus for long - too focused on real-life events.

[JudyObscure]

I didn't expect her to love it, I expected her to give it to a little girl who would.

[Ohiopirate02]

On 11/5/2020 at 6:00 AM, JudyObscure said:

I didn't expect her to love it, I expected her to give it to a little girl who would.

Yeah, that orphanage was a lot like prison.  A commodity like that doll could have been used by Beth to score something for herself.  

[Madding crowd]

Just watched this and it’s a bit fanciful. It bothered me that the girls were given large capsules to take without water. And saving up and taking handfuls of sedatives at a time would likely have put her in a coma or killed her. I will keep with It although Beth seems so unemotional it is hard to relate.

[dubbel zout]

21 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

It bothered me that the girls were given large capsules to take without water.

I see this all the time on TV and in movies, and I never understand it. 

[DangerousMinds]

55 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I see this all the time on TV and in movies, and I never understand it. 

Me too. I tried taking one of my pills once without water and about choked. Not easy!

[ClareWalks]

I want to give this show a lot of credit for having a transgender actress play Miss Lonsdale, too. It's great to see trans representation in what is not necessarily a trans character, but not necessarily NOT a trans character. It was a subtle nod to inclusivity that is great to see, when trans actors can just play roles and it doesn't have to revolve around a particular identity.

[kieyra]

On 11/13/2020 at 1:52 PM, ClareWalks said:

I want to give this show a lot of credit for having a transgender actress play Miss Lonsdale, too. It's great to see trans representation in what is not necessarily a trans character, but not necessarily NOT a trans character. It was a subtle nod to inclusivity that is great to see, when trans actors can just play roles and it doesn't have to revolve around a particular identity.

Had no idea. Just registered to me as "tall woman with an interesting voice". Thanks for this. 

Looks like she (Rebecca Root) also has a gig in new Doctor Who as a companion.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Poor Beth. First her mom kills herself and tries to take Beth with her ("Close your eyes"). Then she gets sent to an orphanage where they take her only dress (and I'm guessing that her mom was the one who embroidered Beth's name on the front which means they also took away the one thing she had left from her mom), cut her hair, and start popping her full of pills. And that was just the first five minutes!

I found the first scene unnecessary but I guess they wanted to give us one of those in medias rea moments.

I was sure that the janitor would end up being a creepy molester. I've never been so happy to be wrong!

[shapeshifter]

I just started watching this because on Twitter both Peter Sagal (Wait Wait Don't Tell Me) and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) raved about it.
Plus, it's on Netflix, which I have access to.
It sucked me right in.
My father taught me to play chess when I was 4.

 

I was heartbroken by Beth being told the dress with the embroidery of her name was going to be burned.
I'm still holding onto a flicker of hope that the dress wasn't burned.

 

On 11/6/2020 at 12:30 PM, Ohiopirate02 said:

On 11/5/2020 at 5:00 AM, JudyObscure said:

I didn't expect her to love it, I expected her to give it to a little girl who would., 

Yeah, that orphanage was a lot like prison.  A commodity like that doll could have been used by Beth to score something for herself.  

Although there were likely girls there who had seen, owned, and loved dolls before and would have wanted that doll, I don't think Beth had any previous doll interactions, or at least not any in which she saw any value to dolls. Beth only seems to slightly bond with those who give her things she wants. Dolls don't have any intrinsic value to her since she doesn't seem to require or desire physical human contact, so dolls can't serve as surrogates for that. 
So maybe it wouldn't occur to Beth that she could trade the doll for tranquilizers.
Or maybe Beth had absorbed from Jolene that it was best not to let others know about how she used the pills to self medicate and so didn't think she should use the doll that way. 

Babies like dolls' faces, and Beth is shown staring at people's faces, so that might be a misstep in the doll plot point, but I don't know enough about human behavior to say for sure.

[SteveR405]

On 10/24/2020 at 4:41 PM, Fireball said:

I found the episode very slow and depressing. Also Beth knows nothing about chest and the old dude doesn't start teaching her until she shows some promise. Even if Beth is a genius I found it hard to believe she was able to teach herself the game with knowing basically nothing about said game... 

I believe Beth suffered/benefited from a condition called apophenia, which refers to the human tendency to see patterns and meaning in information. I've worked with a couple of people like this, and although very rare, I don't find this totally unbelievable.

[chaifan]

On 11/4/2020 at 9:15 AM, shrewd.buddha said:

The character of Jolene, while interesting, feels like bit of a stretch for the time and place. Maybe Kentucky in the late '50's was more progressive than I imagine. 

 

I also thought it was odd that the orphanage was integrated, and fully integrated at that.  I could buy there being both black and white girls at the same orphanage, but in 1950's Kentucky would (at least) expect separate dining and likely sleeping quarters.

But, not enough of an issue to prevent me from enjoying the episode.  I think it's off to a good start.  Excellent cast, great writing.  Loved the Paris apartment! 

 

 

[chocolatine]

On 10/25/2020 at 12:48 PM, Aliferously said:

This was like pick your favourite British actor bingo. Caught four of them within the first twenty minutes. I did anticipate it being a British show rather then an American one.

The novel on which the show is based is set in Kentucky, so there wasn't much flexibility there. I did like seeing the British actors, especially Sophie McShera (a.k.a. Daisy from Downton Abbey) as the teacher who sends Beth to the basement to clean the erasers.

On 11/4/2020 at 6:15 AM, shrewd.buddha said:

The character of Jolene, while interesting, feels like bit of a stretch for the time and place. Maybe Kentucky in the late '50's was more progressive than I imagine. 

Spoiler

The portrayal of Jolene so far has been true to the novel. FWIW, the novel was written in the early '80s, by a white male author.

I thought this was a great first episode, great acting as well as production value. I was enraged when I first read it, and am still enraged that the orphanage drugged the children and then withdrew the drugs cold-turkey while still having that big jar of them on display. What did the adults in charge think would happen?!

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, chocolatine said:

am still enraged that the orphanage drugged the children and then withdrew the drugs cold-turkey while still having that big jar of them on display. What did the adults in charge think would happen?!

I could write an essay about this if I wasn't trying to negotiate moving during a pandemic as an old person in the middle of the winter in the north.

[chocolatine]

On 12/18/2020 at 5:18 PM, shapeshifter said:

I could write an essay about this if I wasn't trying to negotiate moving during a pandemic as an old person in the middle of the winter in the north.

Good luck with your move! If you still feel like writing that essay after you're done, please come back and write it; I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Edited December 20, 2020 by chocolatine

[chaifan]

18 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I thought this was a great first episode, great acting as well as production value. I was enraged when I first read it, and am still enraged that the orphanage drugged the children and then withdrew the drugs cold-turkey while still having that big jar of them on display. What did the adults in charge think would happen?!

Are you asking from the 1950's perspective, or 2020?  In the 1950's, I wouldn't expect the head of the orphanage to have any knowledge about drug withdrawal.  I'm a bit surprised that in the 50's someone at a higher up level in the state would have known and/or cared enough about drugging orphans to even order the halt of the tranquilizers.  I mean, they showed all kids getting the same 2 pills - 5 year olds were getting the same dose as Jolene (who was what, 15?). 

So, from the perspective of the show, it doesn't surprise me.   2020 me was all WTF, though.  😉

[chocolatine]

14 hours ago, chaifan said:

Are you asking from the 1950's perspective, or 2020?  In the 1950's, I wouldn't expect the head of the orphanage to have any knowledge about drug withdrawal.

The 1950s weren't the Middle Ages. Surely an educated adult at that time must have known that giving children tranquilizers twice a day to "even their disposition" was not right (if it had been, all parents would have been doing it).

[shapeshifter]

4 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

The 1950s weren't the Middle Ages. Surely an educated adult at that time must have known that giving children tranquilizers twice a day to "even their disposition" was not right (if it had been, all parents would have been doing it).

Apparently this was common practice: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-queen-gambit-green-pills.html/

In the 1940s, an incorrigible Rosemary Kennedy was given a lobotomy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Kennedy#Lobotomy