Ratched: Eerie and gory in all its glory
by Mayren Guico / October 20, 2020
Mildred Ratched; an infamous antagonist created by author Ken Kesey from the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. Characterized as cold, brutal, and a heartless tyrant, Ratched is truly the woman you wouldn’t wish to cross paths with.
However, all villains have an origin. From women like Harley Quinn to a fey like Maleficent, all these characters weren’t born evil and that is exactly what Netflix shows — a sad and unfortunate backstory for one of the most notorious literary villains.
Offering you the finest actors who will surely render you speechless, Ratched introduces us to a set of complex characters — each having a troubling backstory of their own. From one episode to another, it will make you feel as though you are on a quest to unlock the mystery behind every single character, as the actors themselves pull you in with their spot on portrayal and make you feel their raw emotions.
Landing on the beautiful year of 1947, Ratched’s marvelous wardrobe, the colorful vintage cars, and amazing cinematography will catch you off guard and will most likely make you forget that you’re watching an ominous series. Ratched will leave you in awe of how well made the show’s design really is, capturing every facial expression, every tick, every menacing moment in a manner that can be safely called art.
One of the things that’s also really astounding is the show’s use of cinematic lighting. If you watch the series, you will notice the presence of green and red hues. According to costume designer Rebecca Guzzi, the color green carries connotations of violence, oppression, lust, envy, greed, and evil. Meantime, the color red symbolizes characters losing control. Adding a dose of red also foreshadows incoming dangers. The use of lighting all the more makes Ratched visually arresting.
Apart from the beauty and mystery of the series, the show also tackles a lot of societal issues, some of which are still present up to this day — discrimination, racism, and stereotyping. Mental illnesses are also portrayed in a raw, skin-crawling manner that draws a thin line between accurate and over the top. The series also implied that not all people who commit unspeakable acts are insane.
“I believe the human mind can crack. I believe a person can snap when experiencing certain stimuli, specific traumas. A person can quite literally lose control and commit unspeakable acts of violence and depravity. They can rape and mutilate one priest, stab another, shatter the skull of a third, and nearly decapitate a fourth, and still they are not necessarily insane, nor are they beyond rehabilitation.” stated by Dr. Hanover, the head doctor in the series.
The series threaded unapologetically into different situations that cause trauma and twist to the human mind. The gross, extravagant horror of antiquated medical practices, maladies, and injuries are out in full, grotesque force. Ratched is not subtle about what caused the rot at the core of its protagonist. Suffice to say, this show is not for the faint of heart.
While almost every scene will leave you at the edge of your seat, the story’s cohesiveness is quite questionable. From Ratched’s very persona to the stories of other characters, and even the given ending of the show, you will be left wondering what exactly just happened.
The villainous character’s symbolic place in popular culture as a representative of corruption and dehumanization within industrialized medicine, especially for anyone reliant on in-patient care, didn’t appear as much to the new series as it was implied. Ratched’s confusing character, the very story’s supposed motivation, the trivial backstories, and even the unnecessary killings only add to the already puzzling storyline.
Ratched is a beautiful show if you were to focus on its visually striking lavish costume design, the scenery of the Lucia hospital, its impressive cinematography, and most especially the flawless acting of every character. But in all its glory, Ratched is a gory spectacle, jumbled with different stories with little regard to the main character. Each of the many interlocking plot threads has some catastrophic climax, raising the stakes with slashes of gory violence rather than solid story beats.
Nevertheless, if you have the taste for lush, peculiar, and macabre, and just want a quick dose of creepy body horror this halloween without thinking too hard about what’s brewing underneath, this lavish reimagining of Ratched is for you.
Ratched stars many of Hollywood’s biggest names including Sarah Paulson, Sharon Stone, Cynthia Nixon, Judy Davis, and Finn Witrock. The series premiered on Netflix last September 18.
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