This year, Ryan Murphy, the creator of American Horror Story, introduced an exciting new concept with his signature creepy style. Ratched, a Netflix original that premiered on September 18th 2020, is an origin story and an intriguing character portrait. Inspired by the character of Nurse Ratched, the iconic villain of the classic film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ratched explores ethics, views on criminality, and mental health in the late 1940s, and abuse in psychiatric hospitals in interesting but disturbing ways.
The choice of Sarah Paulson – a year older than Louise Fletcher was in 1975 when she portrayed the terrifying nurse – for the titular role, was controversial when first announced, especially since this is a prequel. However, since Fletcher’s performance is so famous, it might have been difficult for someone much younger to live up to it, and Paulson does an amazing job. In that, she is accompanied by actors we have seen in American Horror Story like Finn Wittrock and others we haven’t, such as Cynthia Nixon, Judy Davies, Jon Jon Briones, and Sophie Okonedo, all of whom provide entertaining, if a bit campy performances.
Sarah Paulson had already proven her ability to portray engaging, multi-layered characters. These characters, however, had often been victims of horrors beyond their control, as has was the case in the second, fourth, and seventh seasons of American Horror Story, for instance. Here, from the very first scenes, the viewers understand that Mildred Ratched herself is a horror that won’t be contained or controlled. Already from her stylish relocation to Northern California, Mildred comes across as vaguely menacing and very much intimidating.
Her goals become clear when she arrives at Lucia State Hospital, a mental institution where Edmund Tolleson, a recently caught mass murderer is held. The hospital is run by Dr. Hanover whose supposedly state of the art methods are nothing more than harmful, now disproved practices. Mildred, who very much did not have an interview scheduled, lies and blackmails her way into a meeting with Dr. Hanover, persuading him to give her a job as a nurse.
From there on, terrifying things start to happen in the hospital, some of which are directly caused by Mildred. The things she does to achieve her goals are often hard to watch, from abusing her position and the hospital resources to causing mental breakdowns just by speaking calmly – much like Nurse Ratched in the iconic book and film the series was inspired from.
At the same time, being an origin story, Ratched reminds us that the titular character is still human. Her crimes are horrible and should not be justified, but there is no doubt that she too has lived in a monstrous world. Growing up in the foster system, she was repeatedly abused, physically and psychologically, by various parent figures. Through it all, the only person she could trust was her foster brother – no other than Edmund Tolleson, who killed their last, and most horrifyingly abusive foster parents, saving her. Deeply traumatised and feeling guilty for being unable to protect her brother from the law, Mildred decides to make it up to him, using her position to save him from what looks like a painful death sentence. But what will she do when she finds out that Edmund might not want the kind of help she has to offer?
The side characters, while not as complex as Mildred, provide sub-plots that are connected to the main story, making a creepy, campy, if inconsistent tapestry; Dr. Hanover might seem interested in understanding the human brain, but his past failures haunt him. His present commitment to horrifying medical violence including but not limited to lobotomies make him unlikeable and weak. He is very easy for Ratched to manipulate and eventually overthrow. The mother of a former patient, whose limbs Hanover amputated years ago in a horrific incident, will pay any amount of money for Hanover’s head. Betsy Bucket, the head nurse, and Ratched’s rival, is hopelessly in love with Hanover but her loyalties will change over the course of the series as Hanover’s true nature will be exposed. Gwendolyn Briggs, the press secretary of Governor Wilburn, a main antagonist who wants to see Edmund executed only to promote his campaign, eventually moves beyond that role, to become Mildred’s love interest, helping her discover her sexual identity which she had denied so far. Charlotte Wells, a character with dissociative identity disorder, a very misunderstood condition especially at the time, has a small role but gives a great performance, causing many plot twists.
If some of these things sound a bit problematic, they likely are. While it’s an undeniable fact that many mental institutions in the late 1940s were horrifying places with little regard for the patients’ health and autonomy, some of the treatments are portrayed in unrealistic ways. The lavish cinematography does not make an exception for the hospital, which looks surprisingly bright and cheerful for the most parts. Some viewers might justifiably not be pleased with some of the series’ depictions. However, as in American Horror Story, Scream Queens, and other works by Murphy, the plotholes, over-the-top characterisation and extravagance, all work somehow, creating a chaotic, but and memorable viewing experience.
The twisted finale did not bring the closure we might have expected. With her full backstory revealed, Mildred has shown a softer, more humane side. She has finally accepted her sexuality and has entered a loving relationship with Gwendolyn, but after all her lies and crimes, will this last? Nurse Ratched is considered an iconic cinematic villain for a reason, so it’s safe to assume we haven’t seen the worst of her yet. Edmund Tolleson, free once more, still haunts her. Their last interaction suggests that none of the two will easily let go of the other. Their once-loving relationship has turned into something unhealthy and obsessive that won’t let them move on. With such a chaotic plot, full of twists, we can only speculate what the future holds for them.
In many ways, the atmosphere of Ratched echoes that of certain American Horror Story’s seasons, especially Asylum, featuring Murphy’s signature elements: characters who are much more twisted and three-dimensional than you initially suspect, body horror and the darkest aspects of sexuality, but also diversity and great acting – no matter the writing. The aesthetic, however, is very different; extravagant but beautiful with fitting colours, period costumes and breath-taking sceneries come in stark contrast to the cruel ‘treatments’ – many of which were once approved of in reality. And perhaps that’s what makes the series so chilling. Rather than using supernatural elements, jump-scares, or horror for the sake of it, Ratched is first and foremost about people. People who are disillusioned, misunderstood, forced to navigate in a monstrous world that makes them monsters as well. Monsters who are still human and want to survive, whatever it takes.
