[ExI] Queen's Gambit

[Stuart LaForge]

While not science fiction, enough people on this list have discussed  
chess in the past (Spike?) that I think that the series "Queen's  
Gambit" on Netflix would appeal to them. I think Spike would really  
enjoy the chess games and exposition while also being mortified by the  
recurrent themes of addiction and drug abuse. All in all, I think that  
Anna Taylor Joy is amazing (like a female Johnny Depp) at playing  
Elizabeth Harmon, a fictional genius who grows up in an orphanage  
before developing a drug addiction and embarking on a quest to defeat  
grandmasters in the male-dominated world of chess. Here is one of my  
favorite lines from the show to demonstrate the quality of the writing:

"Chess isn’t always competitive. Chess can also be beautiful. It was  
the board I noticed first. It’s an entire world of just 64 squares. I  
feel safe in it. I can control it. I can dominate it. And it’s  
predictable, so if I get hurt, I only have myself to blame."

Stuart LaForge