Netflix's Ratched Rotten Tomatoes Critics and Audience Scores Are Out

Dating back to Nip/Tuck and continuing with American Horror Story, Pose, and Glee, writer Ryan [...]

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Dating back to Nip/Tuck and continuing with American Horror Story, Pose, and Glee, writer Ryan Murphy's projects are known for igniting passionate reactions from viewers, which are often both negative and positive, a trend which continues with his new series Ratched. The new Netflix series, which explores the origins of Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is now available on the streaming service, with both critics and audiences feeling relatively mixed on the endeavor, with its critical score on Rotten Tomatoes calculating 61% positive reviews and audience ratings being 73% positive. The site notes, "Ratched is undeniably stylish, but salacious plot holes and cartoonish characterizations undermine its gorgeous production and committed performances."

Admittedly, the series has only been available to audiences for less than a day, so it's possible that audiences will grow more fondly of it as more viewers get the opportunity to consume the first season. Critics, however, are a little underwhelmed by the adventure, despite bringing together acclaimed actress Sarah Paulson for another partnership with Murphy.

ComicBook.com's own Nicole Drum noted, "While the idea of trying to understand how Nurse Mildred Ratched became Nurse Mildred Ratched is an intriguing one, this series completely wastes it. On its own, without the iconic character attached, the series itself might be passable as just another oversexed and exploitative Murphy fairy tale quickly forgotten, but by trying to package it as a fresh exploration of a well-known character, Ratched doesn't just insult its spiritual source material, it wastes the viewer's time."

Ratched is a drama series that reveals the origin story of asylum nurse Mildred Ratched. In 1947, Mildred arrived in Northern California to seek employment at a leading psychiatric hospital where new and unsettling experiments have begun on the human mind. On a clandestine mission, Mildred presents herself as the perfect image of what a dedicated nurse should be, but the wheels are always turning. As she begins to infiltrate the mental health care system and those within it, Mildred's stylish exterior belies growing darkness that has long been smoldering within, revealing that real monsters are made, not born.

Joining Sarah Paulson as Mildred Ratched are Cynthia Nixon as Gwendolyn Briggs, Judy Davis as Nurse Betsy Bucket, Sharon Stone as Lenore Osgood, Jon Jon Briones as Dr. Richard Hanover, Finn Wittrock as Edmund Tolleson, Charlie Carver as Huck, Alice Englert as Dolly, Amanda Plummer as Louise, Corey Stoll as Charles Wainwright, Sophie Okonedo as Charlotte, and Vincent D'Onofrio as Gov. George Wilburn.

The first season of Ratched is now streaming on Netflix.

What do you think of the new series? Let us know in the comments below!

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