Most critics warm to it. Nine of the eleven reviews are positive, and the praise clusters on Anya Taylor-Joy, whose Beth Harmon is called magnetic, intense and near-perfect, with several reviewers saying the whole series rests on her. The production draws almost as much credit: the period design and costumes are described as lavish, and the chess sequences are singled out for making a slow, silent game tense and even exciting. The handling of addiction and genius is generally judged thoughtful.
The reservations are about depth. Radio Times notes heavy-handed moments and expository dialogue, The Guardian finds it works best as wish-fulfilment and adds up to slightly less than its parts, and NME calls its view of addiction rose-tinted and its plotting paint-by-numbers. Collider is the clear outlier, finding the seven episodes repetitive and bloated and, alone among the eleven, calling Taylor-Joy detached while praising Marielle Heller instead. The spread is wide, from the fifties to ninety, but the doubters are few.