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After zipping through this gripping miniseries, I think I have a new favorite Netflix original. Its star, Anya Taylor-Joy, is quickly becoming a favorite as well, delivering a great performance as Beth Harmon, a genius young chess player struggling with substance abuse and mental and emotional hurdles holding her back from her relationships and from true mastery of the game. She's charming, but…

I was loving this (pretty much) right up until the last episode when a woke deus ex machina suddenly appears in a Corvair to save the day. The cinematography is nice and the story of triumph rolls right along sans all the normal impediments one might expect. The adoptive mother goes right along with our heroes desire to be a chess champ. I never expected that to be so easy for her, and it was a li…