The Queen's Gambit (2020)

The Queen's Gambit is a very watchable limited series that manages to make chess engaging. That's no small feat. This will be the cause of a whole new generation of chess fans. Funnily enough, it succeeds by not explaining any of the chess whatsoever. That way, novices who don't know the first thing about chess aren't left out. But people that do understand some chess don't have anything to follow either. The drama is not in the tactics of chess. They discuss strategy without explaining the strategy. She moves a piece but it doesn't mean anything to us. She just looks good doing it. I do feel like there was a missed opportunity to contextualize the movie more in the Cold War. The final episode sets up Chekov's gun that never goes off; Borgov makes two unexpected moves in the game, potentially a signal that he wants to defect, as the State Department official had warned Beth to be on the lookout for, but they never play that out.

Anya Taylor-Joy is magnetic. The whole show does have an amazing look. The Sixties set pieces and costumes are luscious. Beth criss-crosses the globe like she's in a spy movie (but again the Cold War spies don't really factor in). I love the visual of the imaginary chess pieces on the ceiling. The camera sometimes sits right behind the upside-down piece so you get something like an over-the-shoulder shot where you see a fraction of the rook or knight in the foreground--it's an interesting choice.

The Americans (2013-8)

The Americans is an extremely suspenseful Cold War-era spy thriller, perhaps the best TV has ever seen. Similar to Breaking Bad, The Americans excelled at character development of antiheroes, and at slow-burn long cons unfolding over the course of a whole season. The series follows two "illegals", Soviet sleeper agents posing as travel agents, living in Virginia (though recognizably filmed in New York) at the height of the Cold War with their two American-born children. Though not a true story, it is based in truth. The Soviet Union took espionage very seriously; it is kind of incredible (read: crazy) how integrated they were in American society. That combination of extreme dedication and pettiness is, I think, uniquely Russian, maybe also kind of Chinese. I think the inverse, the Russian version of the Americans, probably didn't work because it's unbelievable that American spies were so nuts.  They characteristically over react a lot, and devise wild over-the-top schemes to achieve small goals.

Philip says it best in Season 6, that they were always worried about what the Americans would do them, but in the end it was other Soviets that would ultimately be their downfall. Meanwhile, Stan (a stand-in for the bureaucracy generally) fails to see why Gorbachev's leadership matters. If he had asked someone at State, Gorbachev's opening up of the Soviet Union would be far more important than his mission to catch illegals--Stan fails to see the forest for the trees or is so focused on winning the battle he can't fathom winning the war. He is blinded by his narrow focus. Similarly, Elizabeth sees her job as a spy as purely ideological, so stone cold that she doesn't even realize the other tactical qualities it takes to be a spy. It's why she thinks Paige could become a spy herself, even though it is so obvious that she could not. 

Some highlights:

• The assassination attempt on Reagan as seen from Russia as a coup in motion was eye-opening
• The bio-weapon plot line is a clear example of defense spiral, the classic IR theory. The Soviets cannot discern the difference between offensive and defensive weapons, so when they discover that the Americans are developing bioweapons, allegedly serums for potential bioweapons, they must escalate their own stockpile, bound to spiral out of control. 
• Spying isn't all just assassinations, it's mostly intelligence gathhering
• Great use of 80s music
• Fantastic costumes and hair styling for the many disguises
  
• Mischa's son never really comes in to play. It's like they had plans for him but then forgot and left him hanging.  
• The first season is very exciting. I think it's the strongest season along with the last.
  
• The ending is brilliant. I called Henry's ending, but did not see Paige's gut-punch ending coming.