Mrs. Deardorff sells Beth to the Wheatleys as a 13-year-old
The adoption interview: Deardorff shaves two years off Beth's age and pitches her as the model Methuen girl while the Wheatleys size her up.
Beth Harmon & Alma Wheatley
An adoptive mother who found a business partner, and a daughter who found a home. 31 scenes together, in story order.
31 moments · 40 min · by Favseen
Moments 1–30 of 31
- 01
- 02
Beth gets a room of her own
Alma tours Beth through the Wheatley house; Beth can barely believe the whole maple-furnished room is hers.
- 03
Alma at the piano: stage fright and a lost child
Alma plays Grandmother June's piano and tells Beth about the orchestra career that stage fright and a pregnancy ended.
- 04
Allston comes home for one night
Allston blows in with news of a bigger territory and leaves Beth feeling unwanted; Alma insists adopting her was his idea.
- 05
No chess set at Ben Snyder's, only a blouse and 40 cents
Alma dresses Beth in cheap clothes with room to grow and brushes off the chess sets with a lesson in saving on a tiny allowance.
- 06
Seven dollars, no allowance, and a letter to Mr. Shaibel
Alma cannot explain where the money went and cuts Beth's allowance; Beth asks for a job to enter a tournament, then writes Mr. Shaibel for five dollars.
- 07
Alma's tranquility medicine
A sniffling Alma sends Beth to fill her prescription; Beth recognizes the green pills from Methuen and watches Alma wash them down.
- 08
Alma admits Allston is gone and promises to be a mother
Beth asks for pads and fetches Alma's pills; Alma reveals Allston is staying away for good, agrees to lie to Methuen, and vows to learn to be a mother.
- 09
Alma reads the headline and learns chess pays
Alma reads the newspaper report of Beth's state championship, discovers the prize money, and agrees to open a bank account with her.
- 10
Alma plans Cincinnati and a case of mono
Alma has costed out a 500-dollar tournament trip, hotel and bus included, and offers to forge a mononucleosis excuse for school.
- 11
Beth looks for weaknesses and finds none
Alma asks why Beth is replaying her own games; Beth's deadpan verdict on her play earns a proud 'good girl'.
- 12
Alma meets Matt and Mike after Beth's win
Thrilled by her first live chess game, Alma is introduced to the twins and immediately starts sizing them up.
- 13
Dinner talk: the US Open, Europe and the Soviets
Beth asks how to get invited to play abroad; the twins explain that the Soviets are paid professionals who eat Americans alive.
- 14
Alma negotiates her agent's commission
Counting the prize money, Alma proposes a cut for herself; Beth does the arithmetic and offers a bigger one.
- 15
Alma's scheme: a fake cold and Christmas in Houston
With clippings piling up, Alma phones in Beth's 'relapse' to the school and plans a holiday tournament trip dressed up as a spa vacation.
- 16
Best Christmas ever: Gibsons and Russian lessons
Over a hotel Christmas dinner Alma explains her cocktail preference and Beth decides she needs to learn Russian.
- 17
Life interview: a whole world in 64 squares
A reporter pushes the orphan-girl angle; Beth answers with why the board, not the pieces, is where she feels safe and in control.
- 18
Apophenia: the reporter asks if genius is madness
The interviewer floats pattern-seeing and psychosis; Beth asks if she is being called crazy and Alma ends the interview.
- 19
The Life article: 'out for blood' and a toast to motherhood
Alma reads the magazine profile aloud; Beth is annoyed it is all about her being a girl, and calls out Alma's drinking.
- 20
The one player who scares Beth
Beth recaps her Open wins and Benny Watts's legend to Alma, then admits the only name that frightens her is the Russian, Borgov.
- 21
Beth loses to Benny: the exchange of queens
Beth narrates the final game move by move: the captured center pawn, the forced queen trade and the mating net she never saw coming.
- 22
Co-champion: Alma knows what losing feels like
Alma tries to frame the shared title as normal; Beth snaps that she knows nothing about chess, then brushes off Townes's goodbye.
- 23
Beth tells Alma she spent the night with a boy
Beth phones home to say she won't be back; Alma's worry turns into a wry warning about famous last words.
- 24
Graduation, a Bulova watch and an invitation to Paris
Alma gives Beth a graduation watch and learns the summer schedule: Mexico City, the US Championship, then Paris.
- 25
Alma confesses her Mexican pen pal Manuel
Over a beer on the plane, Alma admits she has been writing to a man in Mexico for years and he is meeting them at the airport.
- 26
Alma blames the altitude, then the culture
Giddy in the hotel room, Alma philosophizes about Latin Catholics living in the here and now; Beth tells her to stop reading Alan Watts.
- 27
Alma tells Beth chess is not all there is
Beth insists she must study endgames before facing a grandmaster; Alma argues intuition can't be found in books and that she needs to relax.
- 28
Radio report: Harmon crushes the field in Mexico City
A broadcaster narrates Beth's undefeated run while she recounts a mating net in 31 moves to a delighted Alma.
- 29
Alma on the balcony: it was fun while it lasted
Manuel has gone to Oaxaca for good; Alma puts on a brave face and asks Beth to dinner instead.
- 30
Alma plays piano for the hotel lounge
Beth finds her mother at the piano with an audience, stage fright forgotten, and the two decide to eat in the room.