Ratched – Mildred and Edmund

By: Kelly Kearney

As the season draws to a close Edmund’s execution is a week away and the Governor has decided to switch up the kill method in a most electrifying way. With capital punishment burning hot in the minds of voters, an Angel of Mercy could inject some humanity into this race to the death chamber. Time is running out for Mildred to save her brother before he becomes a pawn in Wilburn’s election.

Old Sparky

The finale begins one month after Edmund’s (Finn Wittrock) capture with Governor Wilburn (Vincent D’Onofrio) is foaming at the mouth with expectations of a glorious execution. For this political brute, a humane end doesn’t excite him like he thought it would. That’s why he decides to pull the electric chair out of storage and do a test run on another inmate. The prison is packed with spectators and journalists as the inmate is dragged to the death chamber. As the whole world listens to the drama unfold on the radio, Wilburn volunteers to throw the switch and send this criminal to the grave himself. The electric chair, or as some refer to it “old sparky,” blasts a high voltage stream of power that winds up setting the inmate on fire. Every bit of the fiery death is broadcasts across the radio waves and into Mildred’s (Sarah Paulson) psyche. Her brother will not meet his maker in a peaceful way but will be tortured and burnt alive for the enjoyment of the Governor and his voters. Edmund’s sister cannot let that happen and decides it’s her duty to euthanize him before his date with the chair. With only about a week left before the big day, she ropes Betsy (Judy Davis) into allowing her one last afternoon with her brother in Dr. Hanover’s (Jon Jon Briones) barn, which has finally been erected thanks to Bucket’s hospital leadership.

With her brother fate sealed our favorite twisted nurse seems to be moving on in her life with Gwendolyn (Cynthia Nixon). We find them in bed in a passionate embrace in what looks like the home they share together. Briggs’ chemotherapy nausea interrupts their romantic interlude but not the love they share with each other. In fact, Mildred passionately strokes Gwendolyn’s face as she commits herself to finding a treatment to save her lover from a disease that’s slowly killing her.

With one last shot at appealing to Wilburn’s good nature (spoiler alert: he doesn’t have one) Mildred is all out of ideas on how to save Edmund’s life. It’s going to have to be an easy death and considering her past with relieving soldiers of their pain, she feels like she is the best one for the job. Edmund disagrees and when she brings a meal to his basement cell at the hospital he accuses her of trying to poison him. His feelings of being trapped pushes him to lash out at the one person who has always been on his side. Mildred manages to calm his rage by bringing up the animals in Hanover’s barn, knowing that her brother has a soft spot for the pigs and horses. This changes his focus and he smiles and plans out his last days with his sister and his beloved animal friends, having no idea his sister wants to save him from a brutal death.

Luckily for Edmund his date with the electric chair is cut short when Charlotte (Sophie Okonedo) arrives at the hospital with a new personality, Dr. Hanover! Immediately she waltzes into Betsy Bucket’s office and before the nurse can talk the ranting woman down Huck arrives to try deescalating the situation. This doesn’t go well for the new head nurse when an unprovoked Charlotte pulls out a gun and shoots the soft spoken Huck (Charlie Carver) in the head! RIP sweet Huck! As his body lies in a bloody pool on her office floor, Nurse Bucket becomes Charlotte’s hostage. At gun point she demands the nurse take her to Edmund Tolleson cell. Considering how many murders have gone down in this hospital, the security isn’t really on the ball, which makes them easy pickings for Charlotte. She blasts her way through the guard on duty and breaks Edmund out before his sister can humanely put him down. Edmund grabs the gun from his rescuer and orders Betsy into his cell but not before she admits to Mildred’s plans to take him out first. The fact the only person in the world who had his back was secretly plotting to kill him hits Edmund hard, especially since he is completely unaware of the Governor’s plans to send him to the grave by way of electrocution!

Escape to Mexico

As Mildred drives up to the hospital she spots Edmund and Charlotte fleeing the scene. The look on her face is a confusing mix of terror, disappointment and relief.

Cut to two years into the future and Edmund is still on the run while Mildred is living in a Mexican resort with Gwendolyn! Whatever treatment Lenore Osgood’s (Sharon Stone) money paid for seemed to work and now the two are happy, healthy, Cancer free and in love. Not only are they living out their days poolside, but they’ve made friends with Betsy Bucket who arrives to join them for a short vacation. She talks about the hospital, that is somehow still up and running, and now with a female doctor to cement its legitimacy. “It’s so nice to be rid of them…men,” she says and it makes you wonder if Betsy could be happy with her own red headed girlfriend, south of the boarder. Everything seems to be perfect. Well…everything but the nagging feeling the Edmund could pop up at anytime and rip his sister’s life apart. Nightmares of her brother breaking into her hotel room to kill her haunt her restful sleep and infiltrate her every thought. To the point Gwendolyn mentions to Betsy that Mildred can’t seem to put her brother’s escape behind her. Why would she? She knows her brother better than anyone and after hearing about an incident in which seven nurses in Chicago were massacred she is just waiting for this monster to rear its ugly head.

She doesn’t have to wait long as within minutes of swearing she saw her brother hiding in the shadows of the resort she receives a phone call from her brother bragging about the killings he did in her honor. The call is meant to rattle Mildred, but she is not afraid and tells her brother, “You are the one who should be afraid.” Edmund laughs this threat off and drops a hint that leads her to believe somebody informed him of her current location.  Considering the body count each has left in their wake, it’s a toss up on who will win this battle royal of sibling rivalry but my bet is on Ratched. After she puts her killer brother on notice we see Edmund put the phone down in a rural gas station and all around him there are bodies lying dead on the floor. He hops into the car with Charlotte and in the backseat we see a new member of this Bonnie and Clyde remake. It’s serial killer fangirl and motel manager Louise (Amanda Plummer)! Nobody should be surprised by this addition to their thrill-kill cult, not after listening to Louise talk Mildred’s ear off about the handsome Clergy Killer. As the three ride off to murderous plots unknown, we are left with a clearer understanding of Nurse Ratched’s backstory. This was never a tale of two siblings trying and failing to overcome their abusive pasts, but a story of two twisted sociopaths trying to overcome each other and the darkness that lurks in the recesses of their heart. Whatever happens in Season Two, one thing is for sure – the light we see in loving Mildred’s eyes is about to be snuffed out and replaced with the monstrous woman who rules the Cuckoo’s Nest with an iron fist and a metal spike to the brain!