Season 1 of Netflix's Ratched leaves viewers with some big unanswered questions. Created by Ryan Murphy and Evan Romansky, Ratched is a prequel to the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. The series is an origin story for the novel's antagonist, Nurse Ratched. The events in the series begin in 1947 as Mildred Ratched (played by Sarah Paulson) takes a job at Lucia State Hospital in northern California. Netflix has already renewed Ratched for a second season.

Kesey didn't provide a backstory for the character: a battleax who abuses her power as the head nurse at a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. Murphy and Romansky's version of a younger, glamorous, technicolor Mildred is complicated, but they begin to carefully assemble an outline of who she's destined to become. A victim of childhood physical and sexual abuse, Mildred Ratched hatches a plan to free her homicidal foster brother Edmund Tolleson from the hospital before he's executed for murdering four priests. This incarnation of the character, unlike the Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, is capable of great empathy as well as cruelty and duplicity.

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Unveiling Mildred's dark past and the crumbling of her carefully constructed schemes to save Edmund are the main plotlines driving season 1. Murphy's creation stays true to his horror roots, but it also pays homage to the film noir of the '40s and '50s mixed with Murphy's trademark campy humor. This means a sprawling ensemble of eccentric characters, lots of twists and turns, and outlandish storytelling. Murphy's vision for Ratched extends beyond two seasons, giving the show plenty of time to transform Paulson into the bleak bureaucrat imagined by Kesey. Many of season 1's storylines are wrapped up, but the series leaves plenty of plots unresolved. Whether season 2 of Ratched will revisit them all remains to be seen.

What Did Edmund, Charlotte, And Louise Do For Three Years?

Charlotte Ratched Season 1

Edmund (played by American Horror Story mainstay Finn Wittrock) manages to evade capture after his second escape attempt. A feat made more unbelievable since he's traveling with Charlotte Wells (Sophie Okonedo). Her multiple personality disorder makes her prone to unpredictable violent outbursts. Edmund has been plotting his payback, waiting for the right time to set his plan in motion, which begins with sending Mildred a message by murdering seven nurses in Chicago. Has he been there all along, or have he and Charlotte been carving a bloody path back and forth across the country? Does the city hold some special significance, or is it a random choice?

More interestingly, how did Charlotte and Edmund cross paths with Louise (Amanda Plummer)? She works as a candy striper at Lucia State Hospital after Edmund's escape, and she has no contact with either Edmund or Charlotte during their stays. Possibly they fled to the motel and used it as a temporary refuge before moving on. Betsy Bucket could be the missing link between the threesome. Nurse Bucket is one of the only people who knows Mildred is in Mexico, and her arrival coincides with Edmund's phone call. Betsy and Louise used to share a dislike for Mildred. Betsy's disdain was justified since Mildred used her as a pawn and stole her job. Betsy seemed willing to forgive and forget once teaming up with Mildred served her self-interests, but she may still be holding a grudge.

What Will Happen Between Edmund And Mildred?

Ratched Nurse Mildred Wheels Edmund

If Edmund only wanted to kill Mildred, he could have shown up in Mexico and done it. He's more interested in playing cat and mouse, torturing his sister by slaughtering innocent people to get her attention. Edmund is crazy, but there's a method to his madness. In the final moments of the Ratchet season 1 finale, it appears as if Edmund, Charlotte, and Louise are heading for the border. Given the desolate landscape, there's no way to be sure. Edmund choosing to call his sister seems counterproductive if he's planning to show up a few hours later. Trying to make sense of any of these characters' motives is futile, especially given Ratched's often nonsensical storylines.

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Despite Mildred's steely resolve to face Edmund, she's visibly shaken after their phone call. She's been plagued by nightmares of a deadly reunion with her brother and a showdown seems inevitable. Will it happen at the start of season 2, freeing Mildred to focus on other things, or will it be the culmination of an eight-episode exploration of their new dynamic as adversaries? Can Mildred bring herself to murder him even in self-defense? Mildred's killed many people, but she's always justified it as a way to end their suffering. The one exception being Charles Wainwright (Corey Stoll), who she unsuccessfully tries to boil alive. Edmund also has an advantage: he has accomplices. They are profoundly demented and unreliable, but they will somehow factor in, especially Louise, who Mildred has no idea is with Edmund.

Have Viewers Seen The Last Of Henry Osgood?

Ratched: Biggest Unanswered Questions After Season 1 Henry Osgood

Lenore Osgood (played by Basic Instinct's Sharon Stone) spent the entire season trying to secure Dr. Hanover's head. After she finally delivers it to her son Henry (Brandon Flynn) as a peace offering, she dies. How Henry convinces one of his mother employees — people he's abused for years — to stab her in the back is a big question mark. This isn't a person who inspires that level of loyalty and devotion, which likely means he resorted to threats.

The Osgood legacy could have easily ended there, but Lenore's will dictated that her son would live out the rest of his life in a psychiatric hospital. She doesn't stipulate which one, so Henry may be headed to Lucia State Hospital or a different facility where he will encounter Mildred Ratched. This could also be a red herring, leading the audience to believe Henry will show up in season 2, but instead, it's just a way to give Henry the punishment he deserves without any intention of exploring the story further.

Will Mildred Return To Lucia State Hospital?

Sarah Paulson as Nurse Ratched in Ratched

Mildred knows someone betrayed her, and she might be forced to revisit the scene of her many crimes to figure out who, especially if they're helping Edmund on his quest for vengeance. Any enemies of Mildred's will suffer swift retribution. Mildred manages to escape without suffering any real consequences for her misdeeds, but the hospital has a new head female doctor who may be privy to Mildred's antics.

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One of the biggest takeaways from season 1 is that at Lucia State Hospital, the lunatics are running the asylum (much like in American Horror Story: Asylum). Could this female doctor be a figure from Mildred's past who has as many skeletons in her closet as Dr. Hanover? Are she and Bucket plotting against Mildred, or is she simply a well-meaning, utterly boring hospital administrator?

Even though Judy Davis, who plays Betsy Bucket, hasn't signed on for season 2, she could still join the cast. Murphy likes to work with the same people, and Davis' Betsy Bucket resembles Kesey's Nurse Ratched more than Paulson does. Davis is entertaining, whether playing a victim or a villain, and it would be a shame to see her role on the series come to an end. There's so much left to explore with this character whose sometimes blind adherence to authority and ambition mimics Kesey's villain. It feels like viewers haven't seen the last of Bucket since it's difficult to ignore the haze of suspicion around her, given the events in the finale.

Will Gwendolyn And Mildred Stay Together?

Mildred and Gwendolyn in Ratched.

Mildred's sapphic sexual awakening is a big part of season 1. By the time season 1 comes to a close, Mildred and Gwendolyn (Cynthia Nixon) have been together for three years. Mildred has been by Gwendolyn's side as she undergoes experimental treatment for cancer in Mexico. Like Davis, Nixon has only committed to one season of the series (Both Nixon's and Davis's characters were supposed to die). At this point, things look bleak for Gwendolyn. If she manages to remain in remission, she's in love with a woman who surrounds herself with psychotics and has a homicidal brother with a vendetta.

Gwendolyn's death would push Mildred one step closer to becoming the joyless Nurse Ratched with a sadistic streak in Kesey's book and the big-screen adaptation One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. It's not a romance Gwendolyn can walk away from and move on. She knows everything about Mildred and loves her unconditionally, and she's the only person Mildred has left now that Edmund has turned on her. All that adds up to a tragedy.

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Will Mildred Become A Nurse?

Mildred Ratched remains a nurse in name only. She's scraped by on some training, and the fact that nobody's done their due diligence when it comes to her credentials. This might be the biggest disservice Ratched does to the character since her profession is what defines her. Whether or not she's good at her job is debatable, but not her qualifications.

Suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy Ratched on every level, and when it comes to some of Murphy's other TV shows as well. Viewers accept she's managed to slip through the cracks a couple of times, but it can't continue. It's conceivable she sticks to places like Lucia State Hospital where even the head doctor has no business drilling into people's skulls. She does tell Huck that maybe people like them belong in places like that. There's too big a disconnect between Paulson's — who made sure Murphy cast her as the lead — Nurse Ratched and Kesey's. Mildred needs to stop behaving like an imposter to get there. She has to become a stickler for the rules, a tyrant who won't deviate and won't make it easy for anyone who does.

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