Ratched – Season 1 Episode 7 Recap & Review

The Bucket List

Episode 7 of Ratched begins in 1943 with Dr Hanover attending a divorce petition with his wife. She takes full custody of his daughter, thanks in part to how much time he’s spent with work.

One month later he heads over to visit Osgood and feeds back his analysis of Henry. He promises to cure the boy, much to Osgood’s relief.

Back in the present, Huck catches up with Mildred and invites her out for a drink sometime. Unfortunately she turns him down on account of her actually being a lesbian. It turns out her feelings are real after all. On a side note, it’s actually been quite hard to decipher Mildred’s true feelings here.

Anyway, she tells Huck he’ll find love and lets him down gently.

Meanwhile, Bucket and Louise scheme together. It turns out Louise has uncovered a recording from the priest moments before the lobotomy incriminating Mildred.

When Mildred returns to her room she finds Bucket sitting with the recorder. There, she plays the audio log confirming Edmund is Mildred’s brother. She figures out why Mildred has arrived at the hospital and confronts her.

Mildred breaks down sobbing and tells Bucket that she’ll do whatever she can to free her brother on the back of their abuse in the past. Bucket tells her that Edmund shouldn’t be put to death. Instead, he should be studied psychologically.

As we cut back in time, we see Mildred’s past as a nurse in the war. Given she was poor and had no education, she put a lot of these soldiers out of their misery. The Angel of Mercy indeed.

Mildred was eventually discharged from the army. She then decided to lie again and forged her way into getting in Lucia State.

Bucket empathizes with her story and agrees to help her out. The duo team up and concoct a plan. That plan sees them heading up to visit Hanover’s biggest private donor – Mrs. Mayfair.

They spill the secret Hanover has been keeping from everyone and encourages her to raise the funds for the hospital. On top of that, Hanover (actually going under a fake alias all this time) is let go from his position. Bucket is installed as the Head of the Hospital instead.

Believing that Hanover is the only one who can help, Charlotte leaves with him for greener pastures. As he does, Osgood rings through and Mildred confirms her betrayal. She tells the woman she’s unable to reach Hanover now and as such, will have to abandon the bounty.

However, Hanover himself runs into trouble when he locks Charlotte in the closet. On the back of this, she has her way with the doctor and beats him down, killing Hanover in cold blood.

When she awakens, Charlotte finds herself covered in blood. With nowhere else to turn, she phones Mildred who hurries over to assess the damage.

Upon seeing the dead body, she tells Charlotte to leave and head for Mexico. Mildred promises to take care of it and watches as Charlotte hurries on the bus and away scot free.

After purchasing a saw, Mildred heads back to see Osgood. She hands over the severed head of Hanover – complete in a quaint box – and accepts the cheque from the gleeful woman. Heading upstairs, she presents this to Henry. Only, Henry has a plan of his own and has one of the family’s servants stab her in the back.

Mildred is visited by her case worker, Anne, who arrives at the motel. It turns out Edmund’s wrath stems from his familial past. His Mother was a nurse named Margaret McGuire and she was raped by Joseph Sullivan – one of the four priests from the start of the series.

Gwen and Trevor finally go their separate ways but when Mildred arrives, Gwen is bitter and berates her. She tells the nurse that she’s so twisted in her lies that she doesn’t know what her truth is anymore.

On top of this, Gwen confirms she had an X-ray and there’s a lump in her chest. As Mildred tells Gwen she loves her, the two eventually make up and start kissing.

Ironically, Henry hears the will for Osgood and learns he’s getting nothing. Instead, he’s heading to the psychiatric hospital for care. Talk about irony!

At the same time, Bucket leads the staff and promotes Huck to Head Nurse. As she’s asked about who will be the doctor, she scoffs and tells them they don’t need one anymore.

The Episode Review

As the penultimate episode draws to a close, Ratched’s turbulent season looks close to ending. How on earth Lucia State is still open is beyond me. The place has been a breeding ground for suicide and death this season.

Now that Osgood and Hanover are dead, what’s next? What’s going on with the barn outside now? And how has Bucket suddenly eased up on her previously cold persona?

This is perhaps the biggest disappointment and seeing Bucket suddenly understanding and working with Mildred feels completely out of character.

Then again, given what we saw with Dolly and her behaviour, perhaps it’s best not to think too hard about this.

There’s far too many contrivances going on here though and it all feels a big convenient. Osgood’s death is poetic though but also shows the series has really struggled to portray a compelling antagonist.

The show leaves the door wide open for the next episode though and quite what will happen next remains unknown.