Ratched Review: 5 Ups & 3 Downs

2. The Characterisation Of Its Protagonist

Ratched does struggle with a number of cartoon characters but, for the most part, its primary character isn't one of them. Granted, Nurse Ratched may shut people down with her sharp and sassy tongue or spout more classic one-liners than Arnold Schwarzenegger in an action flick, but the writing goes a long way to highlight the fragility of the woman below all of that.

Mildred is a product of the environments she was raised in, a victim of the ordeals she suffered through, a person once capable of such great feelings who had taught herself to bury even the slightest bit of vulnerability. But it's when the cracks in that steely exterior begin to show that the character comes to life.

Some might find her behaviour contradictory - or at the very least, hard to anticipate - but that is entirely intentional. She's a complex character full of buried emotions and desires that continually threaten to reemerge - one that desperately wants to help people and is equally willing to kill others to make it happen.