Ratched Season 1 Ending Explained | Screen Rant
WARNING! Major spoilers for Ratched season 1 ahead.
Ryan Murphy's latest Netflix original series Ratched expands on the original Nurse Ratched from Ken Kesey 1962 novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. It is expanded on the ominous figure and tyrannical caretaker of psychiatric patients to create a complex backstory. While it introduced several new elements to the nurse, Ratched left an abundance of questions unanswered.
Starring Sarah Paulson as Nurse Ratched, the series follows her attempts at saving her brother Edmund Tolleson (Finn Wittrock) from the death penalty. As their story progresses, Mildred Ratched's life takes several turns that lead her to the complex and eerie ending in Mexico 1950. After Edmund discovers his beloved sister has betrayed him by intending to "euthanize" him, he sets his sights on revenge. While she never fully believed she was out of harm's way when she fled with Gwendolyn (Cynthia Nixon), it appeared unlikely he could find them if he hadn't in the two-year time frame between the events. Except, someone revealed their location, and, just like that, the happy couple is no longer safe but Edmund isn't either.
After waking from a nightmare where Edmund and Charlotte (Sophie Okonedo) kill her, Mildred sits with Gwendolyn and Betsy Bucket (Judy Davis) when they discover that seven nurses had been murdered in Chicago the night before. At the same time, the phone rings with her brother on the other line. While Edmund warns Mildred he's out for her, she informs him that he better be afraid of her because she's coming for him. The ending alludes to an all-out blood bath between the siblings for season 2 but it may also address these complex questions left by the end of Netflix's Ratched season 1.
When Gwendolyn and Mildred attend a puppet show, the entire history between the two siblings is revealed through flashbacks and puppeteering. It is revealed that they were placed in the foster care system and were bounced around from one abusive family to the next. After being fostered by a supposedly kind couple, Mildred and Edmund were forced to commit sexual acts on one another as children by them. This made the entire dynamic of the series shift towards a much more complex story between the two characters. It presumably reveals all the audience needs to know about Mildred and Edmund.
However, there are brief instances throughout the Netflix horror series that may lend to an even more complicated relationship than what season 1 leads on. For instance, in episode 2, "Ice Pick," Mildred tells Edmund to stop being vulgar and looking at her in a wanting way. There are even moments where he blatantly states that they could be sexual with one another now that they are adults who could consent. While it may appear to be humor used as a way to cope with the sexual trauma, there may be a much darker history between their sexual coercion. It is entirely plausible that Mildred may be one of Edmund's victims.
Charlotte Wells was a patient at Lucia State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, who was being treated for severe multiple personality disorder. After a strange turn of events, she murders Dr. Hanover and reappears at the hospital in episode 8, "Mildred And Edmund" believing she is the deceased doctor. Charlotte chooses to free Edmund believing that she, as Dr. Hanover, can cure him. There is absolutely no reason as to why she would have this drive to free him, considering the fact that he murdered the only man who ever made her feel as though she did not have multiple personality disorder. In fact, it would make more sense if she chose to kill Edmund rather than go on a cross country killing spree with him. Her return to Lucia can only be rationalized by her own internal process towards an attempt to relieve the trauma of murdering Dr. Hanover.
As Mildred warns her brother that she's coming for him, she also informs him that whoever revealed her location will pay. An instance later, Edmund, Charlotte, and Louise (Pulp Fiction's Amanda Plummer) are seen driving off towards Mexico. Louise may have revealed Mildred's location but the likelihood of this factor is somewhat slim. The only way that she could have any insight into Mildred's life is through Betsy Bucket but the nurse was only using her as a way of blackmailing her. Despite the fact that Bucket hires Louise as a candy striper, she performs her job poorly and gets on the new head of Lucia's bad side. Therefore, it is likely that their friendship ended shortly after Edmund escaped with Charlotte. Louise is an unlikely candidate for who revealed Mildred's location. While it is possible that she did, there could be another source Edmund is using to hunt down his sister.
Mildred and Gwendolyn presumably moved to Mexico in order to hide from Edmund but it is also likely that they fled the United States in search of a location that would allow for them to live openly as a lesbian couple. During the early twentieth century - the most dangerous time to be gay in America, as Ryan Murphy's Hollywood explored - closeted LGBTQIA+ individuals were known for taking vacations outside of the country in order to evade targeted harassment. Considering that Mildred participated in the medical treatment to convert homosexuals, she is fully aware of the severity of being a known lesbian and the possible conversion therapy she could be forced to undergo.
Mildred and Gwendolyn moved to Mexico in order to keep themselves safe from Edmund and the growing anti-homosexuality laws of the United States as well as the onset of Senator Joseph McCarthy's lavender scare, which threatened the lives of LGBTQIA+ people across the nation. Ryan Murphy is known for including historical elements to his horror anthology American Horror Story and he ensured that they would carry on in Ratched. He has showcased that he holds a wealth of knowledge on LGBTQIA+ history in the United States with his projects that include Pose, Circus Of Books, A Secret Love, and Hollywood.
Edmund has created a pattern in order to ensure that his message comes across to the audience of his choice. The caseworker who worked with the siblings revealed to Mildred that one of the clergymen that he murdered was his father, who raped and impregnated his mother. Therefore, he killed all of to announce that he has successfully gotten his revenge for his mother and himself. After Gwendolyn reveals that seven nurses were murdered in Chicago, it clearly means that he is coming for Mildred next. Except, the number of killings speaks to a potential storyline or structure for Ratched season 2.
It is possible that the seven dead nurses may represent seven days, which could be the length of time it takes for the battle between Edmund and Mildred to commence. Season 2 could take place over the course of just a week. It is even likely that it could represent the seven deadly sins, considering that sinning is a constant theme in Ratched and Ryan Murphy has already worked with the idea of utilizing it as a means of structuring a series. While the future of Ratched is unknown, season 2 will surely find Mildred Ratchet and Edmund Tolleson on a manhunt for one another.