The Problem Wth Netflix's Ratched

Sarah Paulson in Ratched. Image courtesy of Netflix.

Netflix dropped its shiny new One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest prequel a few days ago, and just like my mother when she would come to my trombone recitals in the 5th grade, I ended up being disappointed in a very specific way. First thing first though - calling this show Ratched and tying it into One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is unnecessary and distracting. I would be surprised if anyone involved in the show has even watched the film; it seems like a rather naked attempt to yoke the show to a distinguished pedigree but the two have almost nothing in common, except the setting of a mental hospital.

So I pretended like they had nothing to do with each other, and that worked just fine. With that in mind I was initially very pleased with the show, because the acting is strong and everything looks gorgeous - the production values are very high. The setting is weird and morbid and the script and the characters are kind of offbeat and go in unsettling directions. Obviously, we are watching a deeply troubled person - Mildred Ratched - try to deal with her traumas and her repressed emotions by working in a mental hospital, which on its face seems like it would be fertile ground to explore interesting themes.

But then subplots and new characters are introduced at random, other character and narrative threads just sort of die off abruptly or end in a very unsatisfying way that makes you as the viewer very confused, and not in a good way. The entire show seems to wrap up on the 7th episode, but then does an entirely unnecessary 8th episode for what I imagine must have been contractual reasons, and this is also deeply unsatisfying because it’s just blatantly setting the table for a second season. If you asked me to describe what the point of this show is after watching the first season, I would be at a total loss. I have no idea.

All of this recalls in very specific ways another Netflix show which was also developed by showrunner Ryan Murphy as part of his production deal with the streaming service - Hollywood. Also set in post-War Los Angeles (I guess they shot all of these at the same time using the same period setting to, what, save money?) Hollywood looks equally gorgeous and sets out to tell this lush and provocative story about young upstarts making a name for themselves in the old studio system. It handles, rather clumsily it turns out, issues of race and gender and discrimination but at least the cast is diverse and the show is willing to take a few chances. A well-meaning disappointment, we might call it.

Ratched ends up following that same template to the letter. Looks gorgeous. Lush visuals. Exquisite production design. Excellent acting. But it takes all of these pieces, holds them up to the light and then does nothing with them. Ryan Murphy, like Don Draper, is really good at beginnings - it’s the endings where it all goes to shit. Ultimately, Ratched starts with a lot of promise but then fizzles due to nothing more than plain old lazy writing. There is definitely a pattern emerging in these Ryan Murhpy Netflix shows, and unfortunately it is a not a particularly good one.