Ratched

This series is arguably bizarre, but it grows on you. At first I didn't think I'd make it through the first episode, but it's oddities keeps your fingers off the remote. A good cast helps keep you guessing. Give it a shot, I thoroughly enjoyed the insanity.

Perfect. That woman is one of the finest actors ever. She is so precise and delivers her dialog to perfection. Running her a close second in Ratched is the person who conceived and designed the sets and clothing. I got the distinct feeling that he/she designed and implemented every scene down to a gnat's eyelash. Cynthia Nixon was wonderful. And the color coordination of the clothing and scenery deserve a special shoutout. An all around great effort by Ryan Murphy and Netflix.

The visuals done in the show are incredible. That's about where the buck ends though. The rest of the show feels flat. We started watching not knowing what to expect and still felt a little bored and let down. Everything done is telegraphed so there's no real surprises. Its like all they cared about was how artsy it was, not caring at all if the story is good or not.

This origin story for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"'s Nurse Ratched looks great, as Ratched puts on a vintage dress and wreaks subtle havoc in an asylum. But the first episode was such a mess that I have zero interest in watching more.

Sarah Paulson is terrific as the chilly Ratched, and scenes like her bizarre foreplay with a random guy are pretty cool. But there are serious issues with the story and premise.

First off, her elaborate plan requires that nothing go wrong. Repeatedly in the first episode she sets something up in a way that could fail dismally but it never does. She needs no plan B, because even the stupidest plan A goes off like clockwork. It's so easy for her that she even takes risky, unnecessary steps to get herself exactly where she wants.

And if you've read the book or scene the movie then you have to question why this weird story is tied to that character. Ratched was a controlling psychopath, but ultimately she represented the cruel, cold nature of authority, which will crush anything creative or rebellious not out of mean-spiritedness as much as just because of an intolerance for chaos.

But this Ratched is actually a chaos agent, and a very different kind of psychopath. She is not a character who would become the character in Cuckoo's Nest. And this makes the tie-in nonsensical. It seems like a shoddy attempt to increase its visibility with a tie to a famous movie, but it has no respect for the character that movie created. And it's unnecessary, because there is zero reason for this tie-in. It could have been made with a nurse of any name.

In summary, Paulson is good but the series is not that interesting or believable and untrue to its presumed inspiration. Not recommended.

The writers need to do a little bit more research about the era. Without spoiling too much, the writers add diversity, but it doesn't work well at times because the writers fail to go in depth about the racism and homophobia of the era. I personally don't mind adding black or other minorities to shows. I'm a black woman myself. But why include black people in unrealistic roles in a show set in the 1940s? It's not representation. It's a complete lie and undermines the plight of black people and other minorities during that era. I saw this in Ryan Murphy's Hollywood as well. Again, sugar coating racism and homophobia. To be LGBTQ and/or a person of color was DANGEROUS back then. The stakes aren't realistically high enough in this show. If you watch the show, some parts are pretty tone deaf to the racist policies that occurred in the 40s.

Despite this, the show is okay. It's not great. I've never seen AHS so I don't have that frame of reference. The acting is very good. If you have time to waste, watch it. It's not unbearable although. Although the historical accuracy is trash.