Ratched is a new TV series now streaming on Netflix adapted from the famous 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest starring Jack Nicholson which was also adapted from Ken Kesey’s novel of the same title. The series is supposed to serve as a prequel to both novel and film.
The show stars Sarah Paulson as the infamous nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched is famed for running her psychic ward with a hard hand. The show follows Paulson’s character as she manipulates and schemes her way to head nurse.
The psychological thriller is haunting, gritty and gruesome. It wouldn’t be a Ryan Murphy show without explicit mutilation and gore as he is famed for writing the FX hit “American Horror Story”.
This dark story is full of mystery and intrigue that kept me on my toes and binge watching until finished. I only stopped to watch the film it’s based on–which bored me out of my mind.
If one has not seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, there is no need to have to watch it beforehand to understand the unfolding story of nurse Ratched.
“Ratched” is a completely separate entity from the film in which the character is taken from.
The show explores sexuality from the lens of a time period in which homosexualiy was considered not only a sin, but a disease and insanity in a way that flips the narrative to slowly pull the audience in then dunking them in an ice bath of horrors. Set in the late 1940s a younger Mildred Ratched has made herself a psychiatric nurse at Lucia State in the wake of the ghastly murders of several priests in which the state is trying to determine if the culprit can be tried as mentally insane or not.
At the hospital the audience encounters a host of characters such as Doctor Hanover and nurse Bucket as well as the murderer himself, Edmund Tolleson. Doctor Hanover is known for his practices that cure neurological diseases, such as lesbianism.
In comes Gwendolyn Briggs who works for the mayor and her growing connection to Mildred makes the nurse question some of the tactics that are used. However, Ratched is there for a much more sinister purpose and implements herself in a scheme bigger than herself to do what needs to be done.
The story is masterfully done. For those who like the feel of “American Horror Story”, a show that gets under your skin but keeps you watching, it is a perfect October watch. “Ratched” is not meant to scare like AHS, but it can chill watchers to the bone and at the edge of their seats.
Personally, I would rate this show a 7/10. It was new, but the theme felt a little used in that it picked up an AHS vibe and not one separate and its own. However, the acting is phenomenal, and I couldn’t stop watching along. Also, it is not a completely whitewashed show and there is representation, especially for the time in which it is set, 1947, along with several LGBT+ characters not shown in a negative light. I would put it on my October playlist of must watch for Halloween.