Review: Ratched

"Excuse me, you're eating my peach"

Ratched coming to you from the creator of "American Horror Story", "Hollywood" and "The Politician". The crime, mystery series stars Sarah Paulson, Finn Wittrock and Sharon Stone amongst other well-known names.

The story follows the mysterious Nurse Mildred Ratched (Sarah Paulson) who is just moving into a Motel in Monterey and seeking a job at the Lucia State Hospital, where the infamous Edmund Tolleson (Finn Wittrock) was just admitted to. Ryan Murphy so far, has always impressed me with his work, especially in combination with Sarah Paulson, so I had high expectations for this series, and they didn't disappoint:

The acting is top-notch, as expected. Finn Wittrock is the perfect combination of creepy and suspicious and especially in one scene in episode two, without giving too much away, his mannerisms, voice and way of speaking are insanely good (no pun intended). In addition, I really liked the performance by Judy Davis playing the bossy, at times insecure head nurse Betsy Bucket and Sharon Stone playing Lenore Osgood, a determined, loving mother. Jon Jon Briones, playing Dr Hannover (and reminding me of Walt Disney for some strange reason) definitely deserves a shoutout too. His panic and anxiety but at the same time aggressiveness give various layers to the character and his performance really evolves by the episode. Sarah Paulson starts off a bit weaker than expected, but gets better by the episode. Her character is very well written and at times it seems like she is relying on that. Mildred Ratched is very restrained and not showing lots of emotions at first. Paulson's perfect nuances in her acting and behavior make this performance layered and preserve Ratched from being a boring character with empty stares. As a viewer you're never certain, what she is thinking and even in times where you think the character breaks, you are still unsure, whether you really see through to her as she always displays a subtle suspiciousness.

As mentioned the characters are really well written, but also the story keeps up a suspicion and mystery that just makes you want to finish it to find out what happens. I was hooked from the very first episode and binge watched it from there. The story stays exciting until the end and one by one you find out more about each character and their relations. The storylines are very well connected, assuring a few jaw-dropping moments, still catching you by surprise even in episode seven. Everything that happens comes back at some point and makes the story complete and well-rounded. As you stay rather suspicious with everyone in the beginning, when things speed up from around episode three (the episodes just fly by from here), you really start caring for the characters (especially for Huck in my case) but the evident mysteriousness of every single character keeps you on the edge of your seat (or couch I guess). 

Aside from the great acting and writing, making this a great series already, every single shot is a masterpiece. The cinematography is out of this world. Using the whole space and transferring the feel of every single location through to the audience, is in my opinion, one of the best aspects about the whole series. Similar to season three of "American Horror Story" (Coven) the cinematography explores unusual camera angles and different focus points, making the picture very diversified and keeping it interesting. There is a lot play of colors, giving even more depth to the feel and look of it all. All of this is already seen in the amazing intro, which I think is one of the most well-crafted intros ever.

The costumes adopt the strong colors and in general are amazing, making the series look incredible (especially on a nice 4k screen). An unusual choice are the split screens, displaying two perspectives in one scene at the same time, as if you were playing a video game. Even though at first it is a surprise and rather odd, the split-edit intensifies the scene, making sure you see both sides of a conversation or scene at the same time, which works really well in my opinion. Especially episode four makes use of this style and looks awesome.

Last, but definitely not least, the sounds are great. You should absolutely not eat while watching Ratched. Aside from a few - for the untrained eye - disgusting scenes, the Foley gives me goose bumps. On top of all the artistry already mentioned the series has a great score. The strings build up suspense very carefully, whereas in scenes with a comedic aspect the music often switches to a waltz with a walking bassline and the strings in pizzicato, underlining the story perfectly.

All together, I can highly recommend watching "Ratched" if you are a fan of Ryan Murphy's work. The amazing visuals, elaborated writing and finely nuanced acting make it a highly entertaining watch and I am sure we will hear more of it either in a second season or at least at the award shows this season.

Observations & (Fun) Facts

Disclaimer: this contains spoilers

A patient is diagnosed with "Multiple Personality Disorder" which at some point in the series is referred to as "Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)". As I have previously learned: "Multiple Personality Disorder" is the old term for DID and the term "Dissociative Identity Disorder" has only recently become more used, justifying the use of it in the series. It is important to know that the correct term to use now is "Dissociative Identity Disorder" and people suffering from this condition can live a normal and healthy life and are not (as shown in Split, Glass or this series) dangerous. If you'd like to know more about this issue, go checkout this YT channel.

I think it's funny that Sarah Paulson is playing a person who does not accept homosexuality (at first)

In my opinion Finn Wittrock is creepy in any role I have seen him in (even in La La Land), but I believe this creepiness deserves some award buzz

I feel like there is going to be second season, since there are quite a lot of open ends, that could be continued in a second season