Netflix Ratched

Alexis

Alexis

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I am four episodes in and really... It's all very silly. I mean it's really just a shortened AHS. It could be AHS The Cuckoo's Nest. Only it doesn't really seem to have all that much to do with Nurse Ratched either. It's trying very hard to be noir-ish too but then it's fighting such a vibrant colour palette and it's just not working. The mental hospital is bizarrely like some elaborate art deco luxury hotel. Sometimes it reminds me of some fantasy setting like in a Hitchcock film. Like something from Notorious other times it's like a set from a Tim Burton Batman film. Either way it feels FAKE. Sarah Paulsen needs to stop doing these Murphy shows. She's a better actress than that and she's just being wasted. I liked that the guy from The Strain popped up in this and I do enjoy seeing Sharon Stone vamp it up but this feels so achingly stupid and pointless. I don't see how it has all that much to do with Nurse Ratched? It's like she's a side character in a story about a serial killer on season 17 of AHS. What's the point? How does it warrant it's own show?

I have started so I will likely finish but I feel like I am being insulted as I watch and that I am being led to believe that this is somehow sophisticated and quality television when I know it's not.
 
Rove

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Alexis said:
It's trying very hard to be noir-ish too but then it's fighting such a vibrant colour palette and it's just not working
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Those vibrant colours is the turn off for me. I would have preferred a much darker series. An institution (building) in desperate need of a clean. The pretty colours however is fighting against the tone of what this series could have been.
 
Crimson

Crimson

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I watched the first episode and thought it was ... okay. Certainly not as bad as THE POLITICIAN or some of those wretched seasons of AHS; if nothing else, it's more consistent and focused, This should be right up my alley -- a noir-ish 1940s melodrama -- but it all feels so artificial and hollow. It's like a music video, all style and attitude but no depth. Noir can be done in lush color (see: LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN), but the pallet here is too over-the-top for even a musical; there doesn't seem to be a reason for that choice other than superficial style.

But ... it's not bad or dull or annoying, which makes it automatically better than most TV. I'll keep watching, although not in any hurry; this doesn't seem binge-worthy.
 
Rove

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Crimson said:
I'll keep watching, although not in any hurry; this doesn't seem binge-worthy.
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Yeah, it's one of those series where I'll come back at a later day and watch. A shame really because I think the material could have offered something that became compelling viewing.
 
Crimson

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It's taken me two days to watch the second episode and I'm still only halfway through; I keep pausing and walking away. I think it's time to admit I'm just not into it and move along.

There are flashes of interest and humor, but it's all smothered in that ice cold style that I find distracting and distancing. I said above that it reminded me of a music video, but that's wrong; it doesn't have that level of energy. I found myself thinking that it's like watching a perfume commercial -- all immaculate shots and empty glamour. There's an awful lot of meaningful glances, which I suspect don't actually mean anything.
 
Ukdallasfan

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Watched the first episode yesterday. The costumes are amazing which kept me interested. I also like Sarah Paulson so I think I will keep going :)
 
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Brian Kinney

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Crimson said:
This should be right up my alley -- a noir-ish 1940s melodrama -- but it all feels so artificial and hollow.
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1940s melodramas were not less artificial or hollow. Film noir is known for the stark contrasts of the black and white cinematography, they were very stylish. The dialogues in Ratched are more self-aware (typically for our time). However the 1940s movies don't seem to be as much an influence as the 1950s melodramas by Douglas Sirk. 1940s noir thrillers were more about post-war angst (nuclear apocalypse and communism).

The "forbidden" lesbianism is similar to Sirk's 1950s romances with a handicapped woman (Magnificent Obsession) or a woman who is a few years older than the man (All That Heaven Allows). Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven is another recent example for Sirk's influence (updated with a mixed race and gay angle). Ryan Murphy obviously had that in mind with Hollywood and even in AHS: Freak Show when co-producer Tim Minear described the season as "Douglas Sirk meets 'Zodiac'."

I'm also a bit torn about Ratched. I didn't like the first two episodes. For the same reasons others have already described but somehow with every episode I've seen some great moments in it. When Huck the male nurse (sadly with too few scenes) showed empathy because of the cruel "therapy" for the lesbian woman it used a truth about how homosexuals were treated. The black gay husband of Cynthia Nixon reacts to her wish to live free not different to straight men - which underlines the situation of a married woman in the 1950s.

The show is probably the most campiest I've ever seen by a Ryan Murphy production. Lesbians. Asylum. Sharon Stone. Paulson, Davis and Nixon. Pastel colors and a male (Finn Wittrock) who is abused by the society as women and especially lesbians were. But what I really didn't like was the heavy use of Bernard Hermann's two most famous scores (Psycho and Cape Fear) because they're already overused.
 
Willie Oleson

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Brian Kinney said:
1940s melodramas were not less artificial or hollow
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Maybe it's the difference between being artificial and doing artificial. Similar to the problem of "being camp" vs. "doing camp".
Since so many modern tv productions use a grey-ish colour palette to emphasize the serious/gritty atmosphere, I actually appreciate the use of popping colours.
But when it's being displayed like a Christmas whore on steroids ("isn't she gimmicky and bedazzling?") it kind of undermines the narrative and character description.
It's not so much about the style itself, but how it's filmed to show how stylish it is.

I'm currently watching the colourful and extravagant Footballer's Wives, and it just never feels like they want to be admired or applauded.
What Ryan Murphy needs is a watchdog, someone who can teach him some restraint.
Show what you want to show, but don't be too showy about it.

Brian Kinney said:
I didn't like the first two episodes.
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I agree, it gets better after that.
 
Crimson

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Brian Kinney said:
1940s melodramas were not less artificial or hollow. Film noir is known for the stark contrasts of the black and white cinematography, they were very stylish.
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Stylish sure, but I disagree that stylish is the same as artificial and certainly not the same as hollow. Are there melodramas from the 40s and 50s that were artificial and hollow? Sure -- there are bad instances of everything. In which case, I guess I just consider RATCHED to be a bad instance.

If this show was by anyone other than Ryan Murphy, I'd probably give it more time to grow on me; but I've put my hand into that flame too many times to not know I'm going to get burned. I think his shows are always disappointing. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but always.
 
Willie Oleson

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I think Rove needs the special treatment
De bronafbeelding bekijken
 
Ukdallasfan

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I’ve kept going and whilst I acknowledge the valid criticism there is something about this series that keeps me interested. Perhaps the acting? Judy Davis is as ever superlative and Cynthia Davis is also very good. Sarah Paulson is eminently watchable particularly when she’s at her most evil :)
 
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