Is "Ratched" good? No. But is it so bad that it's good? Also no.
đ¨This post contains mild spoilers for the Netflix series Ratched. đ¨
Look, I enjoy some campy Ryan Murphy melodrama with amazing sets and cool costumes and Sarah Paulson as much as the next guy, but Ratched just ainât working for me, yâall.
(Donât get me wrong, though, because itâs nowhere near as bad as Hollywood, another one of Murphyâs Netflix offerings. That one was so over-the-top terrible, and its messaged seemed to be, âHey, we could have overcome racism, sexism, and homophobia back in the â50s, if only marginalized people had DEMANDED equality!â Ah, yes, thatâs why we donât have equality â people donât want it enough. Hollywood was a huge miss all-around; thank god it was just a limited series.)
Ratched is supposed to be an origin story of the cruel, evil nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest, and while the show is visually striking (please give me all of Paulsonâs wardrobe from this show), I cannot get a feel for who the show thinks Mildred Ratched is. Is she a cruel, manipulative woman who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get what she wants? Yes. Is she also a sensitive gay woman falling in love and coming to grips with her sexuality for the first time? Yep. But is she also manipulating all of her personal relationships to help her achieve her nefarious goals? Sure. BUT is she horrified at the cruel and torturous treatments given to patients in the hospital and willing to help them all escape? BUTTTT is all of this only an evil plot to save her brother from a death sentence? Eh, why not.
Mildredâs characterization seems to change from scene to scene â at one point, a character says to her, âI donât think you even know how you feel!â and of course Mildred doesnât, because the writers donât seem to have any idea. Later on, another character confronts her with all of her evil deeds, and Mildred breaks down crying â which seems like it has to be another manipulation, right? Except it isnât for some reason? Despite the wonderful Sarah Paulsonâs performance (sheâs trying her best, folks), it canât make up for a murky script.
There are many other instances of sloppy writing, which has to be a result of Ryan Murphy making approximately four thousand shows concurrently. In one episode, a character tells us Mildredâs entire backstory; in the very next scene, Mildred then recounts her entire backstory, which we just saw. Plus, episode 6 includes the line âEach foster home was worse than the next,â which makes absolutely no goddamn sense, unless each foster home progressively got better every time. The whole show feels like a first draft.
SLIGHTLY MORE SPOILER-Y SPOILERS ARE BELOW.
Thereâs a point where one character, out of nowhere, basically cries, âWe canât be together! I just got an X-ray and I have breast cancer!â Then, a few scenes later, says something like, âItâs been two years and IâM FINE.â We laughed a lot at this because it was a completely unnecessary plot point.
Also at one point during the season, Craig went to bed, and he came back out a little while later and asked what was going on. âThat guy just amputated his own arms,â I said. âI went to bed at the right time,â Craig replied, and went right back into our bedroom.
SLIGHTLY MORE SPOILER-Y SPOILERS ARE OVER NOW.
That said, I finished all eight episodes of the first season, because what else do I have going on right now? Not a hell of a lot. Plus, the sets and costumes ARE beautiful to look at. But I am definitely not coming back for Season 2.
Thatâs all for me today, gorgeous! Talk to you soon.
Love,
Kat
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