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Is there a role Sarah Paulson cannot perfect? She’s put O.J. to trial, she’s spoken to ghosts, and she’s even been a two-headed lady! Now Paulson is adding another memorable character under her belt, and it’s none other than the iconic Nurse Ratched.
Ratched tells the story of no-nonsense and practically perfect Mildred Ratched, a nurse who is seeking employment at a leading psychiatric hospital where new and unsettling experiments are taking place.
Serving as both an origin story for Nurse Ratched and as a prequel to Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, from which the character originally debuted. Ratched can be quite silly at times with its sometimes over-the-top plot, but I still found it to be an excellent character study that not only explores the psyche of Nurse Ratched but all of the people she encounters.
As with previous Ryan Murphy projects, Ratched has his signature campy flair, but it looks like high-art, from its production design and costumes to its editing and cinematography, Ratched is an incredibly good-looking show. The sets and costumes will make you believe that they took the actors back to the late 1940s to film — it looks that authentic! The editing and cinematography only add to this, as its film noir approach makes the series look as if Hitchcock had directed a Vanity Fair photoshoot.
The music is inspired by previous psychological-horror and neo-noirs such a Psycho and Cape Fear, with an emphasis on the latter. Although I was indifferent to the musical choices at first, I ended up loving that they had sampled the music themes as it genuinely helps complete the grand-scale Ratched has built itself to be.
The biggest downside to the series is the writing. The dialogue is interesting at times, but more often than not, it feels like the writers were trying way too hard to make each character sound classy and sophisticated, but it just comes across as borderline pretentious.
To add to my complaint about the writing is the gratuitous violence. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has somewhat distressing scenes such as the electroshock therapy scene, but Ratched has torture scenes that are mostly unnecessary and serves no purpose other than to add characters that don’t need to be there.
As mentioned previously, this is Sarah Paulson’s show, and oh, does she shine! She’s as lovely as an angel and charmingly sinister both at the same time. It’s taken some time for Paulson to get her own show after playing supporting parts for so long and she has fit herself into the leading lady shoes with great ease.
Her supporting cast includes Jon Jon Briones (Miss Saigon), Corey Stoll (The Strain), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct), Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Marvel’s Daredevil), and that’s to name a few. The whole supporting cast plays vital roles to Nurse Ratched’s rollercoaster journey, and all do fabulous jobs without taking away from Paulson’s performance, particularly rival nurse, Betsy Bucket (Judy Davis) who is thrilling as Ratched’s workplace enemy.
I think many will be ready to dismiss this show because Ryan Murphy is attached to it, and while I’m not a Murphy fan myself, I was still surprised by how much I did enjoy it. If you do enjoy the series, then you’ll be pleased to hear that Netflix won the rights to Ratched on a two-season order, so you have at least nine more episodes to look forward to some time in the future.
Ratched launches on Friday 18th September, exclusively on Netflix. For more drama, horror, and Netflix-related news and reviews follow The Cinema Spot on Twitter (@TheCinemaSpot) and Instagram (@thecinemaspot_).
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