Ratched on Netflix Is Perfect for Sarah Paulson Fans—But It’s Confusing
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
Ratched on Netflix is beautiful to look at. That is its greatest strength. The most recent project from Ryan Murphy is pure cotton candy for the eyes: stunning monochromatic costumes, lavish sets, wide shots of the California coast where you can practically taste the salty air. I finished all eight episodes of the first season visually stuffed and satisfied. But also confused.
Any amount of aesthetic artistry Ratched gives its viewers is overshadowed by a head-scratching plot. Billed as an origin story for nurse Mildred Ratched—the terrifying antagonist first seen in Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and again in its 1975 Oscar-winning adaptation—the series leaves you with more questions about its central character (the divine Sarah Paulson) than answers. People who've seen Cuckoo's Nest know Ratched as cold, callous, and no-nonsense, and this series, in theory, should explain why. It doesn't.
We spend eight episodes learning about a woman who survived abusive foster homes to become a relatively empathetic war nurse. She then schemes her way into joining the nursing staff of a psychiatric hospital, but only to save her brother (Finn Wittrock), a serial killer. While there, she's exposed to experimental torture-porn treatments from the hospital's lead doctor (Jon Jon Briones), which she's inherently aware are horrible but feigns approval of to gain his favor.
She's also grappling with her sexuality, particularly when a female character, Gwendolyn (Cynthia Nixon), enters the picture. At first, Mildred rebukes Gwendolyn's advances, her own internalized homophobia at play. But in time she finds herself—and love—with Gwendolyn. They end up on a beach together in Mexico. It's nice!
But when, I kept asking myself, do the events happen that turn Mildred into the hardened, hollow person we see in Cuckoo's Nest? What turns her into a true monster?
To be fair, Ratched was green-lighted for another 10 episodes, so maybe this is just the first half of her origin story. Still, the character is written as a woman capable of empathy, love, and understanding. The only time Mildred shows shades of the witch she turns into is at the beginning of the series, when she makes cutting remarks to a gas station attendant and stares down a fellow nurse (Judy Davis) over a peach. She only softens from there—minus one scene in which she brutally stabs a man's eye with an ice pick. So, yes, there are shades of the Ratched we see in the source material present here, but, for me, there was no real “aha!” moment. Nothing that made me see, clearly, how she transforms from human to horror.
Ratched also features violence that hinges on scares made even more stomach-churning by the show's exceptional cinematography. If the good shots were stunning enough to take my breath away, you can imagine how detailed the gory scenes are. They're downright repulsive, which is obviously the point, so if you have a weak stomach, proceed with caution. (The hydrotherapy scenes? I'm still shaking.)
Of course, this is something we've come to expect from a Ryan Murphy series. His most popular shows—namely American Horror Story—are beloved for their opulence, their extremes, their unyielding dedication to shock. That style permeates Ratched, but I found the series to be missing the substance to back it up.
There are other issues I had too. Sophie Okonedo plays a woman with dissociative identity disorder, and her characterization is ridden with stereotypes. (At one point, her mental illness is even used as a jump-scare device, which…yikes.) The most redeemable character on the show is senselessly murdered. And Sharon Stone, a Hollywood legend, is given no real material to work with: just a lukewarm B-plot and a monkey perched on her shoulder, presumably for camp's sake. Those clothes, though!
The best part of Ratched is Paulson, as bewildering as her character is at times. She is (and remains) one of our greatest working actors, and watching anything she helms is a thrill. Even if the show lost me, Paulson's delivery throughout is crisp and intriguing. She singlehandedly carries the ship and is the reason to keep watching. Her die-hard fans will have a great time with it, I'm sure.
As for everyone else, well, you'll finish the series with some serious Halloween costume inspo.
Ratched is now streaming on Netflix.
Christopher Rosa is the staff entertainment writer at Glamour. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrosa92.
Originally Appeared on Glamour
