#Ratched Season 1 Episode 5 Review: The Dance

Poor Ratched. 

On Ratched Season 1 Episode 5, the series dialed up the crazy and left us with a stunning cliffhanger. 

Gwendolyn is probably dead.

Then again, Henry managed to survive cutting his own arms off, so if we go by Ratched’s twisted logic, she could be up and walking a few hours after being shot in the chest. 

As I said in my series review, you need to sit back and enjoy the ride because some developments make the show seem like it should fall under the sci-fi genre.

It’s not a bad thing.

Mildred will be upset if Gwendolyn is dead because she’s the first person she’s been genuinely vulnerable with. 

Their relationship has been a slow burn, but Gwendolyn helped Mildred realize that she’s attracted to women, and losing her will probably harden the nurse somewhat. 

Mildred’s endgame has always been to save her brother from the iron fist of justice, and she’s never really taken the time to think about herself. 

She’s constantly scheming, and I can only imagine how that is affecting her. The ultimate betrayal, however, was the way her brother followed Dolly’s order and escaped the hospital. 

Dolly, bless her heart, managed to spit out the gum and pick up a gun. Who would have thought she would have been able to shoot someone? 

It was a left-field development, but it could hint at darkness behind her eyes. She wanted to get close to Edmund the minute he was in the hospital. 

Now we know why. 

Going on the run with a serial killer is not the best of plans, but they might escape the law if they play their cards right. 

Mildred is not even going to be able to mourn the likely loss of Gwendolyn because the hospital is going to be all over the newspapers. 

She’s managed to cover up a wealth of crimes, but the security guard being murdered, the Governor’s secretary getting shot, and the escape of a serial killer is not going to just go away. 

This could be the final straw for Mildred. She’s managed to pull strings at the hospital since her arrival on Ratched Season 1 Episode 1, but there’s no way she will be able to evade being caught. 

The only plausible way she could do this is if she pins it all on Dr. Hanover. He’s been at breaking point for a while now. 

He’s relying on drugs to numb the pain of everything going on in his life, which will end in disaster. 

If Hanover is put in the frame for everything, there’s a good chance he will speak out about Mildred’s conduct before long. 

That could be too much of a problem for Mildred to allow him to live, so she could kill him, earn the $100,000 from Lenore and call it a day. 

But there’s also the Bucket of it all. 

Bucket recognized there was something amiss before the dance ended in a bloody manner, but Mildred shot down her complaints.

Bucket wanted to kill Mildred with kindness initially, but after learning how to dance with Louise, she revealed she wanted to take the nurse down. 

Mildred’s arrival has changed the hospital dynamic, and Bucket has not been able to get her point across about the nurse to Dr. Hanover. 

Bucket being friends with Louise was a bit of a stretch, but at least it will allow Bucket to learn everything there is to know about Mildred, including who she had in her room at the motel. 

My only concern with Bucket and Louise being friends is that I wish we learned it earlier on Ratched Season 1. 

It feels way too convenient to take seriously, but if the two women join forces to take down Ratched, it could make for some fun scenes. 

With the truth about everything at the hospital at risk of coming out, it means we are going to lose a lot more characters in the final episodes. 

The Governor is not going to be impressed about the hospital being the face of his reelection campaign when he realizes the deadly drama behind the walls. 

The Governor should probably start preparing to lose his job because there’s no way he will be elected if everything gets out. 

It’s hard to imagine Dolly and Edmund not killing any more people, which will lead to another big set of complications for everyone. 

“The Dance” was the weakest episode to date. The way the drama heightened didn’t serve the characters well, and it highlighted that some of the plots are not strong enough to carry the series. 

With three episodes remaining, Ratched Season 1 will probably get crazier, so it will all come down to how these final episodes are handled. 

What are your thoughts on those potential deaths? Were you surprised about Dolly?

What will Ratched do now that she’s about to be in the frame for a lot of crimes?

Hit the comments below. 

Ratched Season 1 is streaming globally on Netflix.

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.