I honestly can’t remember ever saying that something I watched was perfect, but the Netflix mini series The Queen’s Gambit came damn close. In fact, I can’t think of any criticism I had for it.

I’ll start off by saying chess is not my kind of game. I have never been a real fan of any abstract game, let alone one that doesn’t even have pretty colors. I prefer something with a theme. And vikings. So a story about chess wasn’t even on my radar.

It was a quote from someone on the creative team that got me to watch it. They said that they didn’t want this story to be a sports movie, and I could see how it very easily could have been. But instead it was a story about imperfect characters in an imperfect world. It was a story about obsession, indulgence, loss and family. It touched on mental illness, drug abuse and people living with, dying by, overcoming and succeeding despite their biggest flaws.

And that doesn’t even touch on the cinematography, score and soundtrack, and costume design. Oh those clothes. I want Harmon’s entire wardrobe.

I love the characters. They were weird and believable, and I was interested in every single one. You could tell they had a life outside of the story and the mini series didn’t feel the need to explain everything, which I always appreciate.

This was the first show in a long time that I couldn’t wait to see the next episode and because it was a mini series, it didn’t over stay it’s welcome. Beautiful and damn near perfect.