Ratched Review: 5 Ups & 3 Downs
1. Too Many Two-Dimensional Characters
We'll get to the talent that appears in Ratched a little bit later on but it was undoubtedly unfortunate to see some of that talent being wasted with characters who were painfully one-dimensional.
Judy Davis was excellently convincing as the firm Nurse Bucket, but the subplot over her affections for Dr. Hanover betrayed her. Not because of her affections, no, but because of the cartoonish manner in which she suddenly began accelerating their relationship (or lack thereof). Speaking of accelerating relationships, Nurse Dotty's character goes out the window halfway through when they were actually onto a half-engaging story with her. And then there's Vincent D'Onofrio; the man who showed us what a great villain was through his career-defining turn as the Kingpin in Daredevil feels completely wasted here, playing a cardboard misogynistic politician with behaviour that was anything but original.
A cast of this quality deserves material worthy of them but not everyone was given that. And this cartoonish character development for some of the supporting characters sticks out like a sore thumb in a show that is so motivated to tell its nuanced protagonist's intricate backstory.
Now, for the positives...