If you loved the terrible nurse Mildred from the prequel to Someone Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, here’s some streaming content you might like.
Ratched is the record-breaking series of Fall 2020: somewhere between a drama, a thriller, and a psychological horror, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s new little masterpiece, released in mid-September 2020, has already won over Netflix subscribers and is one of the most watched pieces of streaming content in the past month.
The show recounts the origins of one of the most famous cruel nurses in world cinema, we’re talking about Mildred Ratched, a character that many will remember from the film Someone Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In turn, the film was based on the 1962 novel of the same name written by Ken Kesey. Ratched is therefore a true prequel, and tells the story of Mildred Ratched’s life as a young woman, when in 1947 she enters to work in an important psychiatric hospital where disturbing experiments on the human mind take place. She immediately reveals herself to be unscrupulous and with an innate pleasure in causing pain, at the expense of her apparent elegance. So, episode after episode, we discover what happens within the walls of what should be a place of healing but in fact turns out to be an endless tunnel. The first season of Ratched is available on Netflix, but those who have already finished it and feel a sense of emptiness can rely on the many alternatives available online.
The American Horror Story on Amazon Prime Video
Ratched is made by the same creators of The American Horror Story, so the connection between the two contents is almost mandatory. It is a very long and articulated anthology saga, set in different times and places, despite that each season has a dark and macabre setting.
It consists of nine seasons, the second is set in a psychiatric hospital, so it is the one most similar to Ratched. In any case, the similarities are many, starting with the style and writing… watching is believing. Currently American Horror Story is available on Amazon Prime Video.
Castle Rock on Hulu
Castle Rock is the second series recommended for all fans of Nurse Mildred. It is created by Sam Shaw and based on the works of Stephen King, so the genre is always horror. It consists of two seasons available on the streaming platform Hulu. The most relevant to Ratched is definitely the second season centered on the story of Annie, aka Misery.
So here too we find a female character with controversial and macabre traits, apparently devoid of morals but with a huge amount of demons and a terrifying past. Another similarity with the Netflix series is that this is also a prequel, it tells us the origins of the protagonist: it tells the story of Annie Wilkies, a young mother who moves to a small town in America where she wants to rebuild her life with her daughter after escaping a trauma that left her with huge psychological repercussions. She is also a nurse and will vent this thirst for revenge in the most terrible way.
The Other Grace on Netflix
The third series that might appeal to Ratched fans is The Other Grace, inspired by Margaret Artwood’s novel of the same name. The protagonist is always a woman, Grace Marks who as a teenager was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Thomas Skinner and his wife, at whom she was a housekeeper.
The story is set 15 years after the murder when a doctor is assigned to the case and begins therapy with Grace, who has no memory of that terrible day. Episode after episode we discover a few more elements of the woman’s past of death and violence. The TV series also allows us to delve into the theme of psychological research in the nineteenth century and the methods used by therapists of that time.
The way in which the issues are treated is raw and direct, less “elegant” than Ratched. The series is inspired by true events and is available on Netflix.