Paulson Delivers a Mesmerizing Look with ‘Ratched’
(Photo Credit: Netflix)
By Michael Omoruan
The nurse is in. From the dark and twisted mind of “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy, starring Emmy-award winning actress Sarah Paulson of “American Crime Story” and “American Horror Story,” “Ratched” tells the story of Nurse Mildred Ratched’s beginnings, long before she encountered the rebellious McMurphy in “One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.” Among a plethora of reboots and films, “Ratched” is led by acting juggernauts like Vincent D’Onofrio, Sharon Stone, and obviously Paulson. But despite these stars, overall the show felt a tad superfluous and even teetered into soap opera territory at points.
Right from the jump, we meet a Nurse Ratched with an already sardonic demeanor and a facade that she uses to hide her true wicked nature. We see her serve in the military before being dishonorably discharged, using that experience to find a position in a local psychiatric facility.
Based on Ken Kesey’s revolutionary novel and Milos Forman’s 1975 film, the show takes place in Lucia, California and plants Easter eggs over the course of nine episodes that call back to key moments in “Cuckoo’s Nest.” Most notable are a scene featuring a lobotomy and someone being smothered to death with a pillow. The first makes sense in the context of the show and displays Ratched’s twisted pleasure from the suffering of others, but the second felt too forced, as if Murphy wanted to remind the audience that this was based on the novel and film.
A side by side comparison of Sarah Paulson and Louise Fletcher as Mildred Ratched (Photo credit: Netflix/Shutterstock)
“Ratched” touches on many pressing matters such as how society views mental health, same-sex relationships, and female empowerment. Characters are described as mentally ill who today would just be considered normal- two older lesbian women and one child who was caught daydreaming, for instance. “Ratched” highlights how flawed perceptions were of what constituted a mental disability back then, when the slightest deviation from the norm could be considered a sickness or ailment.
In some instances, the staff seem more disturbed than the patients. When news of a serial killer who has murdered several priests makes front pages, Nurse Dolly (played astutely by Alice Englert), falls in love with him. The head of the mental ward, Dr. Hanover, is shown in several scenes injecting, inhaling, and filling up his body with a host of medication and barbiturates when he is alone.
Nurse Ratched herself is revealed to have grown up in foster care, subjected to abuse and made a spectacle of by her families. These early experiences leave her emotionally reserved and prone to rejecting the advances of both men and women. She forges documents and uses everyday slip-ups and mishaps at the psychiatric facility to advance her career. However, as the story progresses, the plot begins to feel a bit contrived, especially when the governor of the state, played by D’Onofrio, visits the ward where Ratched works.
One of the series’ highlights is definitely the production design. The use of garish colors throughout, like pastel pinks and greens, works well to transport modern viewers in 2020 to how life looked back in the early 1940s and 50s. The show overwhelms viewers with entire scenes full of bright greens and reds when Ratched or her eventual boss Dr. Hanover are present. Cropping up often in moments when they are about to or have just committed a malicious act, the color symbolizes not just the field of medicine, but also wealth and corruption. The show is shot very cinematically with wide sweeping shots showcasing cars and the costume design with finesse that deserves just as much praise.
Season one of “Ratched” ends on a cliffhanger that’s just intriguing enough to have audiences hooked. However, there are so many unearned deaths just when we’ve begun to see backstories and development for several key secondary characters that audiences will have to gauge for themselves whether they’re interested in a second season.
