Ratched - General Discussion

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

Ratched effectively serves as a prequel to the Oscar-winning 1975 drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in which Louise Fletcher played the infamous nurse tormenting poor Jack Nicholson. The Netflix series will begin in 1947 and track Nurse Ratched’s terrifying progression through the mental health care system. The streaming service has given the series a two-season, 18-episode commitment.

This two season series on Netflix is said to air its first season sometime in 2019. 

Some additional casting news that has come out includes Sharon Stone, Cynthia Nixon, and Hunter Parrish, amongst others.

[BetterButter]

Ratched First Look: Ryan Murphy and Sarah Paulson’s Ode to an Iconic Villain

[BetterButter]

 

[methodwriter85]

Huh. Looks like Ryan Murphy discovered Not Matt Bomer. Good for Not Matt Bomer.

[BetterButter]

 

[Chaos Theory]

Darn.  I was hoping to do an episode by episode review of this.   Five minutes in and I can already tell this is gonna be in my wheelhouse.  Then again Ryan Murphy usually is.  

He just gets me.

So anyway I just can’t help start with a bad joke:  

Gas station attendant (with Dirty nails):  “You’re not a reporter are you?”

Mildred Ratched;  “Do I look like Lana Winters?”

ok I got the Lana Winters thing out of my system.   So we can talk about why an insane asylum is located in a place I would want to live.  I mean dude I might kill a bunch of people if I could land....well bad shit is bound to happen so we’ll call that plan B.

Lucia:  population 985

 

Yeah....Nurse Buckett and Nurse Ratched are gonna have a problem.

is Edmund Tolleson the brother Nurse Ratched talked about?

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[Chaos Theory]

Episode 2 Titled "Ice Pick":

Melancholy,  forgetfulness and daydreaming.  Lobotomies, it will fix what ails ya.  

 

Ok its confirmed that Edmund and Mildred are siblings.     

Boy the scenes between Cynthia Nixon and Sarah Paulson was all kinds of awkwardly awesome.    Also awesome was the Hanover and Edmund scene.   Hanover is no fool and clocked that Edmund was faking his mental illness straight off.  But his response was interesting.

And Mildred lobotomizing the surviving priest was all kinds of messed up

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[Chaos Theory]

Episode 3  Mercy 

 

Enter Sharon Stone and her son who was probably a patient of Hanover (if that’s his real name) and now wants revenge,  “I want to give his head to my son as a gift on his 21st birthday.”

Nurse Bucket is really starting to lose favor with Hanover and she knows it.  No amount of ass kissing is getting her back in his good graces.   

Is anyone else getting AHS Asylum flashbacks?  the hydrotherapy scene alone.....

Now I am curious how much of Hanover’s LSD excuse is actually true.
 

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[Chaos Theory]

Episode 4:  Mercy part 2.

Are we saying that Mildred and (her brother)  Edmund had a sexual relationship?  Well that actually explains a lot.

I know it’s a fake relationship but I kinda felt bad for him when Gwendolyn left her husband:  

Awww Mildred pimping  out one of the other nurses for her brother. But then goes and heps Mrs Wainwright escape the hospital so she could be with another woman.   Ratched is a very confusing person.  

 Mildred telling Lenora that the hit man she hired was dead was all kinds of badass.

I am still not sure what to make of Gwen and Mildred.  I love the pairing but I feel something horrible coming down the pike.

I am starting to  really worry about Huck.  

Edited September 20, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[CraftyHazel]

I binged the entire season overnight.  I’m ready to discuss!

[Chaos Theory]

Episoded 5:  The Dance

I was impressed by the actres who played Charlotte during her big scene in Hanover’s office so I  looked her up.  And I just watched Criminal UK too. 
 

Of course you  don’t take your monkey to business meeting.  Everyone knows that.  You also don’t have a show with Sarah Paulson and Sharon Stone and don’t have them have at least one scene together.  
 

Also loved having Amanda Plumber drawn more into the plot.   Loved her and Judy Davis together.

You do feel kinda sad for Nurse Bucket at her level of delusion about Hanover. 
 

And the webs of lies Mildred weaves Is impressive.  Unfortunately Edmund has to ruin everything.

[foxfreakinmulder]

I watched the first episode last night and I'm on the fence, still not sure if I like it or not. I mean if Sarah is supposed to be the same Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest then I'm sorry but IMO Sarah can't hold a candle next to Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratched. Sarah's breathy voice and crying all the time I got tired of it on AHS so I hope she's not a one trick pony. 

I thought some details was a little off, I mean we see Ratched book her room and walk past all the little cabins to get to hers but later she's in a hallway, like a hotel with all the doors to the rooms on the inside. At first I thought it was a flashback until the manager knocked and told her she had a phone call.  Then the whole thing with giving the priest those pills, how did she know his condition and how did she slip him the pills? And, she got that guy to kill himself so she could help the doctor cover it up and he would hire her? What if the doctor didn't walk down the hallway when he did and I'm supposed to believe where they were standing in the hallway they could here the guy fall in the doctors bathroom?  One more, we see her at her hotel watching the police and truck drive by and the next thing we see is her with keys visiting him. How did she get those keys and I would assume that this high profile killer would have around the clock security.  

I would've liked a little more details on how and why she's doing what she's doing. I know she wanted to get hired but the Asylum was going to get the funding from the Gov. and she chased the one girl away so I think if she did a good job they would've hired her. The doctor was impressed with her during the interview no need for all the plotting.

I'm going to give it a few more episodes.

[iMonrey]

This feels very much like  American Horror Story: Ratched. Everything Ryan Murphy does feels the same. He is even using the Psycho music again. He's used that in at least one season of AHS. Plus his usual stable of actor faves - so far we've got Sarah Paulson, who must have an exclusive contract with Ryan Murphy Productions, and Finn Whitrock. Looking forward to seeing who pops up next. 

Not that I'm complaining, necessarily. Nobody does stylized camp like Ryan Murphy.

Looks like this was filmed quite some time ago, early 2019?

[Chaos Theory]

Episode 6: Got No Strings

Puppet show from hell.   Fun.  Otherwise kind of a slow episode.  I think this might have been the first episode that didn’t work for me.   Not sure why.

 

Episode 7:  The Bucket Lost is much more fun.   Nurse Ratched and Nurse Bucket join forces against Doctor Hanover.  
 

And again Charlotte was awesome.  Poor Hanover.  He was in waaay over his head when it came to Mildred Ratched.  
 

it’s good to know Lenora got what she wanted....ie Hanover’s head in a box.  That’s our Lenora for ya know having a creepy psychopath for a son who murders you even though he doesn’t have arms or feet.  But Lenora does get the last laugh.  Henry you get nothing.,,,.The monkey get half of everything.  Gotta love that monkey.

I really liked that Trevor turns out to be an upstanding guy and ends it with Gwen on good terms.    And I do love the Mildred/Gwen pairing. 
 

Do we have any doctors?

Honestly,  who needs them?

(This would have been a good place to end the season but we have one more episode)

Edited September 20, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[Chaos Theory]

Episode 8:  mildred and Edmond

and we are one month later.

Louise the former motel care taker is now a candy striper  and torturing at least one patient.  So we are getting closer to Book Territory.  

And yay Mildred and Gwen are in full relationship territory.  I am kinda sad thT Mildred is in danger of losing both her brother and her lover.  

Ha.  I think I might be in love with Charlotte.  
 

And of course just as things start to go really well for Mildred Ratched.....well ya know.....

 

[7isBlue]

I binged season 1 last night. Impressive cast, great performances, but it left me cold. When I wasn’t wincing at the gore I was mostly bored with the slow pace of the meandering plot.
However, I t is an absolute visual treat! The costumes are stunning and over the top, and the sets are spectacular. I especially love the Tony Duquette style of Lenore’s house and the California Art Deco interiors of Lucia State Hospital. The production design is top notch, but like the plot, some of it never comes to fruition. I would’ve liked to have seen more of the hallways drenched in green light. What did it symbolize? Why did they just drop it?  
 

I will say that the last episode left me wanting more. This season’s plot was all over the place (typical RM), but I have hope that they’ll get it together season 2. 

[Lamima]

Just binge watched this weekend. Thought it was pretty decent. Not THE best ever. But solidly good. Loved Nurse Bucket the most. 

[txhorns79]

On 9/19/2020 at 12:08 PM, iMonrey said:

Nobody does stylized camp like Ryan Murphy.

True.  This has to be the most glamorous psychiatric facility in history.  No wonder they don't have a budget to hire new nurses, it all went for chandeliers and other stylized light fixtures. 

[ferjy]

The story was daft, but it was beautifully filmed, with a fantastic cast. Sophie Okonedo is always superb in her roles, it was nice to see Sharon Stone again, also always good and a fun time for her here, and Judy Davis was a scream. I thought Hunter Parrish was a standout, I haven’t seen him before. You could feel his anguish. Sarah Paulson and Cynthia Nixon were good too, but I yawned through their love story. The serious storyline didn’t meld with the rest of the campy feel of the show. Could have left out the gore too. My favourites this season were Charlotte and Lenore, Nurse Bucket a close third. I’d peek into a second season but it depends on the cast and the characters. Though I’d watch just to see the governor finally get his just desserts. Edmund needs another notch on his belt!

 

[ferjy]

13 hours ago, Lamima said:

Loved Nurse Bucket the most

They should call Season 2 Bucket. 😄

 

[Keekski]

I watched the first two episodes and then spoiled myself. Not sure I'll continue. Also, Vincent D'Onofrio. Took me awhile to figure out the governor was him! 

[Lamima]

Dr Hanover actor and Peter (boy who gets lobotomy) actor are father and son IRL. 

[tennisgurl]

Watched the first episode, and it was very Ryan Murphy, to the point that it almost felt more like a sequel to American Horror Story: Asylum than a prequel to One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. Its very lavish and high melodrama and mixes camp with horror, with themes surrounding LGBTQ issues, violence, corruption in society, bright colors contrasted with creepy stuff going on. In a way, a lot of his horror based work reminds me of a modern version of old Hammer Horror films, with all of the bright colors, campy atmosphere, queer subtext (although in Ryan Murphy stuff its just text), tons of sex and violence, often intertwined together, Gothic atmosphere, combining societal issues and trends with supernatural creatures and bloodthirsty killers, a reoccurring stable of actors who show up over and over in different roles, weird religious imagery, and actors all trying to see who can chew the most scenery.

[MaggieG]

I finished the show last night and overall I enjoyed it. You can definitely tell it's a Ryan Murphy production, almost all of his shows are painted with the same brush. I was getting a lot of AHS vibes. The costumes were amazing and the colors were superb. I don't know if it's my tv or if that's how it was done but they made the ocean beautifully blue. And all the other colors, the grass, the color of Mildred's car, the red lipstick, they were all so striking. 

I was thinking that the show would end would Mildred killing Bucket and was pleasantly surprised they ended up friends. Bucket became my favorite character. I screamed when poor Huck got shot. Is it wrong that I was kind of into Edmund and Dolly?

It seemed odd to me that Gwen exchanges a look with Mildred, asks her to go for a drive to Monterey, they have lunch and then she takes her to a lesbian bar because she "thought you were one of us" when Mildred had given her no indication that she was gay or interested in women. It seemed a little risky given the time period, I would think Gwen would want to be sure about Mildred before bringing her there. Mildred gets super offended, makes it clear that's not what she wants (which is moot since it is actually what she wants) but yet Gwen keeps pursuing her. Even when she tells Trevor she wants a divorce because she met someone, I kept thinking that was stupid because at that point Mildred made it clear she had no interest in Gwen, though I do understand her thinking it was time to leave the sham marriage so they could both be free and happy. Then she gets a little stalkery, listening at Mildred's door while she has sex with Corey Stoll, then confronts her after he leaves, again Mildred making it clear she has no interest in her. Ultimately, I was glad to see them end up together seemingly happy in Mexico, but I almost kept waiting for some other shoe to drop with Mildred. She was always scheming and I thought maybe she was using Gwen as well.

That puppet show was creepy as heck.

Is there going to be a season 2? Will we see how Ratched ends up in Oregon? 

[tennisgurl]

This is super Ryan Murphy, just so very Ryan Murphy, so it had the good and bad aspects of most of his work. The production was lavish and beautiful, taking full advantage of the late 40s/early 50s setting, lots of reds that really pop especially and sets that seem almost surreal in how they are both colorful and exotic. The plot frequently goes from frantically paced to slow, with tons of characters and subplots that appear and disappear at random, the camp is mostly fun but can sometimes go so over the top that it hurts the shows emotional investment and requires too much suspension of disbelief, and is filled with morally ambiguous characters mixed in with derraged monsters. For the most part I thought this worked quite well and while it fell into some of the aforementioned Ryan Murphy problems, especially in how many subplots and characters kind of just disappeared or were just randomly tossed in, but I still had a lot of fun watching it. 

I am certainly curious about how Ratched goes from the person we see here, who is certainly scheming, manipulative, and alright with a certain amount of collateral damage to get what she wants but isn't at all the terrifying sadist from the book/movie. I am guessing that Gwen dies at some point in the near future and that makes her snap, or its something to do with her brother coming back for her.  

The puppet show where they explained the horrible backstory of Ratched and Edmund really used the stylized Ryan Murphy story telling really well, and was probably my favorite episode. Super super creepy.

I wish that in the back half of the show they had focused more on the mental health field of the time, it really was really interesting as well as horrifying, as we saw in the first half of the show, especially in the lobotomy episode. 

I didn't expect to like Nurse Bucket as much as I did, and I liked seeing her and Ratched become friends. I was shocked when Huck got shot, the poor guy. He was such a decent person and he ended up being collateral damage in the middle of a number of schemes of other characters and increasingly tragic circumstances. 

[monakane]

I hated the lethal injection subplot.  LI was introduced until the 1970s.  That was too much of a leap for me.

[Madding crowd]

Just finished episode one and I like it but it feels very American Horror Story. Ryan Murphy has certainly made other mini-series that didn’t seem like a AHS so I was hoping for something different. Beautiful settings and costumes and I like the actors so I will continue to watch.

[pasdetrois]

Quote

So we can talk about why an insane asylum is located in a place I would want to live.

I immediately wondered whether any of the gorgeous old properties had been restored by Brett of Restored. Also, I'd happily camp out in that seaside motel, with its two-room layout.

First episode was a visual delight - color, scenery, wardrobe. Judy Davis!

The acting ranged from hammy to stilted. Louise Fletcher was incredible as the first Ratched, so this new portrayal is a bit jarring.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Two episodes in and I love this over-the-top beautiful mess. I'll probably finish it by tomorrow and then I'll miss it. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

On 9/18/2020 at 3:52 PM, Chaos Theory said:

Is anyone else getting AHS Asylum flashbacks?  the hydrotherapy scene alone.....

Totally, with a bit of Freakshow in the amputee. Sharon Stone playing Jessica Lange's part. 

[Chaos Theory]

3 hours ago, Superclam said:

Totally, with a bit of Freakshow in the amputee. Sharon Stone playing Jessica Lange's part. 

I would love Sharon Stone to be a permanent actor on Ryan Murphy’s stable.

[DanaMB]

Really struggled with this, but kept at it because a friend and I were watching it together. However, if there is a season 2 and it focuses more on a cat and mouse between Mildred and her brother, I’m in. 

[Madding crowd]

I finished it and I like the strained relationship between Mildred and her brother. I do think there was too much gore and it wasn’t needed for the plot ( though there isn’t much of that either). I enjoy nurse Bucket and Charlotte and the actors are doing a great job.

Still not sure this nurse Ratched would ever be the same nurse Ratched as the Louise Fletcher character. And the horrific scene with Mildred and Edmund made me think they are supposed to be a couple years apart but Finn looks ten years younger than Sarah, which he is in real life. 

[Chaos Theory]

Maybe because I was never a big fan of the original movie I am ok if there are differences between this version of Nurse Ratched and the movie version.  Prequel are nearly impossible to match especially one written a decade earlier.   There are things you can do now that you could only hint at before.   Like maybe Ratched had the potential to be happy and kind at one point And had love but it ends tragically either by the cancer she can’t fight or a brother bent on revenge.    That kind of thing could really mess with a normal mind but add a life time of abuse and a Dubious conscience dubious conscience and yeah I can see the series and movie melding.   

[7isBlue]

On 9/20/2020 at 12:25 AM, 7isBlue said:

I binged season 1 last night. Impressive cast, great performances, but it left me cold. When I wasn’t wincing at the gore I was mostly bored with the slow pace of the meandering plot.
However, I t is an absolute visual treat! The costumes are stunning and over the top, and the sets are spectacular. I especially love the Tony Duquette style of Lenore’s house and the California Art Deco interiors of Lucia State Hospital. The production design is top notch, but like the plot, some of it never comes to fruition. I would’ve liked to have seen more of the hallways drenched in green light. What did it symbolize? Why did they just drop it?  
 

I will say that the last episode left me wanting more. This season’s plot was all over the place (typical RM), but I have hope that they’ll get it together season 2. 

Just read that Lenore’s house, interior and exterior, were shot at Tony Duquette’s ACTUAL house!

https://www.atlasofwonders.com/2020/09/ratched-filming-locations.html
 

[foxfreakinmulder]

Just finished the series, for me it felt like AHS with a touch of Alfred Hitchcock with the music and the cuts and especially when Gwen was being operated on with the shadows behind the screen that was very Hitchcock.

I thought it was okay, I think Nurse Bucket stole the show.

I think Edmund would've either been gassed or sat in old sparky not by needle, that was way out of time. So was other things I thought didn't fit the 40's time period but I'll let that go.

So why did Bucket's friend break bad and decide to go on a rode trip with 2 killers? The whole ending was just too far out in left field for me, starting with the stupid dream. Also, Charlotte thought she was the doctor when she came back but what about when she was the other personality that thinks everyone is Hitler? Why would that person stay with Edmund and did she ever go back to being Charlotte? The newspaper, the phone call it was all too much of an eyeroll for me.

I knew we couldn't get through a series without Sarah smoking. I don't care if someone smokes but I really believe it's in her contract along with crying.

If they do have a season 2 and Nurse Bucket is not in it I'm out.

I thought Sharon Stone looked like Madonna.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by foxfreakinmulder

[Mr. Sparkle]

So I finished it yesterday. I started off enthralled by the sets and wardrobe, which are amazing. The plot, script and performances? Not so much. Sharon Stone was campy, but I don't see the purpose of that entire sub-plot. I liked Judy Davis. I thought Finn Wittrock was pretty bad in this, largely because of the script. The whole on-the-lam thing with his girlfriend was boring and also fairly unnecessary. 

Like every season of AHS, it started off strong and lost it somewhere in the middle. 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Superclam

[Johnny Dollar]

All style and no substance. And the 1930’s style background music was very distracting. 

[pasdetrois]

Wow to Sophie Okonedo. The series woke up in episode 5.

Edited October 3, 2020 by pasdetrois

[Sandman]

I have to ask: what am I missing? Did anyone want this story, or need to understand Nurse Ratched better?

On 9/19/2020 at 11:41 AM, foxfreakinmulder said:

I watched the first episode last night and I'm on the fence, still not sure if I like it or not. I mean if Sarah is supposed to be the same Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest then I'm sorry but IMO Sarah can't hold a candle next to Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratched. Sarah's breathy voice and crying all the time I got tired of it on AHS so I hope she's not a one trick pony.

I have never been a fan of Murphy's; I think, if anything, he's the one-trick pony -- this looks like another AHS installment, under a different name. All his shows are basically the same: working out the same narrow obsessions over and over. His visual style is vivid, but overblown, and his hyper-stylized rococo palette doesn't work for everything. There's a reason why his shows are all placed in the same universe, probably.  More importantly, I don't think he could write a realistic, believable human being if he tried.

When I watched the little pop-up preview, I could tell Paulson was recreating or at least emulating Fletcher's highly particular vocal mannerisms. I think she's a hard-working, better-than-decent actress. But I don't understand her (or anyone's) devotion to Murphy, who's always struck me as the worst kind of self-delighted hack, both unoriginal and fundamentally nasty.

[Mr. Sparkle]

You're not missing a thing. You described it perfectly. 

[hathgreen]

On 9/21/2020 at 6:34 AM, ferjy said:

They should call Season 2 Bucket. 😄

 

At episode 7 I start wondering if it will actually be Nurse Bucket who becomes the Nurse Ratched of OFOTCN — not just by analogy but that she somehow takes the name.   So it ends up the backstory we are seeing is of that character, here still using her original name Bucket.  

Any chance?    

[SourK]

Binged it over the past few days.

I thought it was fun, but I guess my main issue is that I don't see what about it makes it "Nurse Ratched" instead of an original character. And I think I would have been more forgiving of it if it had been an original character, and I wasn't constantly trying to reconcile it somehow with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I know they've teased the possibility that the show could catch up to the movie, if it goes on long enough, but I honestly think this works better as a completely separate universe that's responding to some of the same themes but has no plot overlap.

Otherwise, the puppet show as horrifying and, IMO, a good way of capturing how viscerally disturbing the situation was without graphically depicting child abuse. I found Ratched less disgusting and off-putting than AHS, but I also wasn't expecting it to be as graphic as it was and, if I didn't understand how this fits into Ryan Murphy's body of work, I'd be really confused about why it needed to be that way.

Nurse Bucket was my favourite.

[Mr. Sparkle]

On 10/5/2020 at 1:52 AM, hathgreen said:

At episode 7 I start wondering if it will actually be Nurse Bucket who becomes the Nurse Ratched of OFOTCN — not just by analogy but that she somehow takes the name.   So it ends up the backstory we are seeing is of that character, here still using her original name Bucket.  

Any chance?    

I wonder if the producers read this... 😁

[Mr. Sparkle]

2 hours ago, SourK said:

I thought it was fun, but I guess my main issue is that I don't see what about it makes it "Nurse Ratched" instead of an original character. And I think I would have been more forgiving of it if it had been an original character, and I wasn't constantly trying to reconcile it somehow with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I know they've teased the possibility that the show could catch up to the movie, if it goes on long enough, but I honestly think this works better as a completely separate universe that's responding to some of the same themes but has no plot overlap.

I think I read somewhere that the writer who came up with this wrote the initial story and then added the Nurse Ratched part to sell it. I've read the book and seen the movie of OFOTCN, and I don't see much relation. 

[bilgistic]

I admit that I've never seen the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in whole (yet!), but I looked it up, and it's set in 1963 (based upon a 1962 novel). This series takes place in 1911—1950. When the adoption agent played by Amanda Plummer fills the form naming Mildred and Edmund as siblings, the date on the form is 1911. Mildred appears to be about 11 or 12 then. We can assume, then, that she's in her 40s in the 1940s, and Sarah Paulson is 45.

So in the movie Ratched is 63 in 1963? Nooo. Louise Fletcher is 86 now, so she was ~29 when the movie was filmed. She appears (no aging makeup) and acts her age or slightly older, perhaps in her 30s.

I have to assume, then, that the character from the film is just inspirational for Ryan Murphy and not a literal interpretation. I have to wonder if she's even going to be "making her way through the mental health system" to Oregon State Hospital, the site in the movie.

Edited October 7, 2020 by bilgistic

[iMonrey]

I think what really cracked me up was the nurses wearing mint green uniforms. Apparently white is not a color on the Ryan Murphy palette. Also, as far as I can recall, they never explained what that hospital was originally built for. It looked more like an upscale hotel than a hospital.

Overall this was typical Ryan Murphy schlock. Easily digestible but ultimately forgettable. The cotton candy equivalent of TV. 

[hatchetgirl]

I can't. While the costumes and the color was wonderful, I'm so over Ryan Murphy. He's boring now. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I can't. While the costumes and the color was wonderful, I'm so over Ryan Murphy. He's boring now. 

He does seem to be a one-trick pony. All his shows have the same look, the same vibe, and mostly the same cast! 

That said, if there's another season of this I'll watch it. On the other hand, if there isn't, I won't care. That about sums up my level of interest.

[MicheleinPhilly]

This started out somewhat slowly for me but really picked up around episode 3 or so. Yes, it was campy. Yes, there were plenty of eyeroll and/or giggle-inducing moments but I honestly didn't care. Despite every other character being killed off, I found it to be a refreshing break from reality. I also found myself trying to square everything in the first 2 episodes with the novel and the movie and then gave up and just went with it. 

I've only seen a couple of prior Ryan Murphy productions (and none of them AHS) so I didn't have that same sense of "I've seen this before." 

Sarah, Sophie, Judy, and the production design were the MVPs for me.