Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit deconstructs the “manic pixie dream girl” trope with its protagonist Elizabeth “Beth” Harmon and the complicated relationship and unrequited love between Townes and Elizabeth.

The World but was first coined by film critic Nathan Rabin after watching the Kirstin Dunst film Elizabethtown. But the implication that Townes might be gay got the viewers talking when a man named Roger seems rather friendly towards him. While Beth embodies the stereotype at first glance, her character is far more complex and definitively travels through a nuanced, layered arc — two things that "manic pixie dream girl" characters lack.

Despite some initial hesitation, she chooses to defeat him — but her newfound feelings won't vanish quite so easily. When we see the lovely Tim Kalkhof, who played Roger, appear in his budgie smugglers, I think it’s unambiguous that they’re an item. Benny and Harry cannot respect Beth because they do not actually understand who she is, and both of them are trying to change her into their idea of who she should be.

She buys into her savant persona and refuses to accept failure, growing increasingly reliant on tranquilizers to maintain the fantasy. I deserve to enjoy this.

How Anya-Taylor Joy Interprets Beth

The Queen's Gambit Star Has Her Own Thoughts

The Queen's Gambit ending sees a sober Beth defeat Borgov while friends like the Townes watch her charge to victory.

Part of the reason might be the strict loyalty to the source novel by Walter Tevis.

There were no queer characters in the book, and any appearing in the series were wholly creations by the showrunners. In her later relationship with Benny, Beth finds herself with someone who views her as a mystical “other,” and is trying to take advantage of her pervasive loneliness, something Benny feels that they have in common.

Neither of Beth’s romantic relationships is healthy.

However, in the books, this is not the case, and there are no hints at all that any of the main characters are queer. She gets out of the car and goes up to a group of older men playing chess, at which point, she sits down to join them.

Anya-Taylor Joy spoke up about Beth and The Queen's Gambit ending (viaDecider), and she was thrilled with her character's carefully crafted ending. "I think it’s just, it’s the first time that she’s able to go: ‘You know what?

Aside from that, she has reservations, for as long as she still thinks of Townes as a potential partner, she will never be willing to break down her walls and establish a personal connection with them. There are only hints that Townes is gay, such as when Roger pops in wearing a tiny swimsuit and reminds Townes of their dinner plans.

Actor Fortune-Lloyd said in an interview that “Townes is a gay man”

This is also where the problem lies in Queen's Gambit.

The actor said Townes was interested in Elizabeth, but only as a friend.

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Townes & Elizabeth's Relationship Challenges Stereotypes

The Ambiguity Of Elizabeth And Townes Makes Them So Watchable

Beth's carefully cultivated persona comes across as a "manic pixie dream girl," and her complex relationship with Townes in TheQueen's Gambit is one of the primary ways the show explores and challenges that convention.

Additionally, Beth, for her part, still refuses to confront her abandonment issues, and her relationships represent her search for the father figure she never had.

She is only able to establish truly meaningful, less bad relationships with Benny and Harry when they already let go of the fantasy of a romantic relationship.

In these shows, the actor has portrayed characters ranging from a gentleman in the Tudor circle to a priest in Renaissance Italy.

The talented actress has seen a whirlwind of success since The Queen's Gambit, and it's clear that she'll grace the screen for quite a long time.