The Golden Age

[nrgburst]

Last chapter of An Exchange of Kings is up. :)



Fandom: The Queen’s Gambit (TV)
Characters: Beth Harmon/Benny Watts, Jolene
Rating/Warnings: M, no archive warnings
Word Count: 7080
Tags: Period-typical racism, background Mike/Jolene, Christmas fluff
Summary: Forever is the sweetest con

Or you can read from the beginning here

Comments

[rhoda_rants]

OH! I'm caught up on this series now!! Adding to the queue right now!

[nrgburst]

Ooh! There’s a one shot fic before this one called Check and Mate that you should read first! :D
https://archiveofourown.org/works/27596261

[rhoda_rants]

I saw that too--will definitely check it out!

[nrgburst]

<3 What did you think? Did the series live up to the hype for you?

[rhoda_rants]

I liked it *a lot*. And I liked Benny a lot, too. Soon as he showed up I was like, "Okay, this is the one nrgburst was talking about, and I think I ship it too."

What I was noticing--and I mentioned this to my dad too, because he watched it before me and was also waiting for me to catch up--is how HAPPY everyone is to see her win. I'd never seen that in a competition-based series or show before, especially not when the main character is a woman. No one begrudges her her success. Even her nemesis, the Russian, shakes her hand and is like, "Good job, kid," at the end. It was so nice!

Was not prepared for the addiction angle though, kinda wish I'd been more aware of that going in. Still! Loved it.

[nrgburst]

Oh yaaaay! I am still OBSESSED. Like, of course, there are many legitimate complaints about the show (Magical Black Friend trope, how ~sexily Beth had her breakdown etc.) but I LOVED that. It was like what you see in anime, but with a female character! And I also found the complete lack of some sort of sexual exploitation arc utterly refreshing. Like sometimes you just need a great period show without having your fave being sexually abused onscreen. I don't care that it's not ~realistic. It's a freaking relief.

Was not prepared for the addiction angle though, kinda wish I'd been more aware of that going in.

Oh no! I thought I'd made it clear when I posted my summary for Snowflake - I'm so sorry! There was also a pic of Beth playing chess with bottles of pills and whiskey on the board with the pieces. :O

[rhoda_rants]

Yeah, the Magical Black Friend was a bit....yeah. Not a good look. Most of it really impressed me though.

I'm sure you did, but honestly when I'm not sure whether I'm going to watch a thing or not, I skim over plot summaries. I'm mainly complaining about the vagueness of the content warnings on Netflix, and how hard they are to find. I did appreciate the lack of sexual exploitation a lot though. I kept waiting for that shoe to drop, and it never did, which was really nice.

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