It’s all change at the Lucia State Hospital as Ratched leads a change of management and delivers on a promise.

And so this shocker of a series comes to an end with just the amount of sturm und drang we’ve come to expect. Nurse Betsy Bucket (a joyous performance from Judy Davis) finally gets one over on Dr Hanover when discovering his awful secret. Warned that the police are on their way, the snivelling doctor escapes with the unstable Charlotte (a remarkable Sophie Okonedo) with the hope she’ll drive him over the border.

There’s a real sense of closure at the end of episode seven, with the Hanover plot resolved and Lenore Osgood getting what she wanted. But revenge is seldom sweet, and the desired outcome of the hit backfires spectacularly, multiple times. With Betsy and Mildred in charge, episode eight focuses on clergy killer Edmund (Finn Wittrock) who has been pronounced fit for for trial – capital punishment awaits in a fortnight.

Motel owner Louise (a scatty Amanda Plummer) now has a job at the hospital, terrorising patients with her dolls, Gwendolyn is dying from cancer and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Governor Wilburn had swapped out death by lethal injection with the electric chair to win points with the voters. Ratched needs a plan to help Edmund die with dignity, but the matter is taken out of her hands.

What a crazy ride this has been. I’ve enjoyed it on a purely superficial level, and as a guilty pleasure it entertains in its glitzy way. There’s a clear way back for a second season, and I’ll be there to see what chaos ensues.

Verdict: It’s really not the Ratched you expected, nor the one you needed, but in dark times it has a showmanship and airport novel qualities that justify its existence. 8/10

Nick Joy

Click here to read Nick’s reviews of the earlier episodes