Another intense episode and new changes in Beth's life. She starts to build a stronger relationship with her adoptive mother, who gets more supportive of Beth and it seems that she really cares about her and is not in it for the money. Beth has a long winning streak and becomes a sort of a celebrity with interviews to the local and national press, though she stays rather distanced and independent. She is even invited to the girls' club which rejected her earlier, though she does not feel at home among girls her age and quickly escapes the party with a stolen alcohol bottle. Alcohol starts to play important role in her life, as she is introduced to it by her adoptive mother who seems to be an addict. The most important thing about this episode is that Beth loses for the first time, to Benny Watts who criticized her play the day before the game, and the failure leaves Beth shattered, as her whole identity lies in her being a good chess player, and now she feels worthless having lost that. She does not even want to speak to Townes to whom she reconnected during the tournament. The event makes her a bit closer to her adoptive mother, though, as Beth opens up to her about the fateful game and speaks about her feelings. This final game with Benny was very emotional as I was hoping to the last moment that maybe she would be able to come up with some idea of how to beat him, so it was a bit surprising that she lost after all ( I don't play chess and I haven't read the novel the show is based on, so I had no idea where it was going).
Review by ladysherlockianBlockedParentSpoilers2021-11-26T22:21:48Z
Another intense episode and new changes in Beth's life. She starts to build a stronger relationship with her adoptive mother, who gets more supportive of Beth and it seems that she really cares about her and is not in it for the money. Beth has a long winning streak and becomes a sort of a celebrity with interviews to the local and national press, though she stays rather distanced and independent. She is even invited to the girls' club which rejected her earlier, though she does not feel at home among girls her age and quickly escapes the party with a stolen alcohol bottle. Alcohol starts to play important role in her life, as she is introduced to it by her adoptive mother who seems to be an addict. The most important thing about this episode is that Beth loses for the first time, to Benny Watts who criticized her play the day before the game, and the failure leaves Beth shattered, as her whole identity lies in her being a good chess player, and now she feels worthless having lost that. She does not even want to speak to Townes to whom she reconnected during the tournament. The event makes her a bit closer to her adoptive mother, though, as Beth opens up to her about the fateful game and speaks about her feelings. This final game with Benny was very emotional as I was hoping to the last moment that maybe she would be able to come up with some idea of how to beat him, so it was a bit surprising that she lost after all ( I don't play chess and I haven't read the novel the show is based on, so I had no idea where it was going).