Louise Fletcher passed away on September 23, 2022, at the age of 88. When I first heard of her death, the news article listed her as the actress who was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I’d seen the show several years ago and hadn’t liked it much. I found it unpleasant to watch the pain inflicted on the patients.
For her portrayal of Nurse Ratched, Fletcher won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe, making her the third woman in history to win all three awards for a single performance. That was pretty impressive.
A day or two later I saw a news headline that talked about someone who’d been on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That caught my attention because I have always liked that show. The actor mentioned was Louise Fletcher too! I hadn’t realized.
Fletcher appeared on Deep Space Nine as the religious leader, Winn Adami, from 1993 to 1999. She was shown as an ambitious woman who was willing to do whatever it took to gain and maintain power. She won the position as “The Kai” by using a dirty trick to force her opponent into withdrawing from the election. Kai Winn soon became a fan favorite for her villainous ways.
Fortunately, the writers didn’t leave her as a one-dimensional character. It was revealed that during their war for independence, Winn had been imprisoned five years for teaching religion. She received numerous beatings for her beliefs. After convincing the head of her order to allow her to remove gemstones from their tabernacle, she used them to use as bribes to help save the lives of many captives.
In one episode, Winn expressed resentment at the belief, held by many, that members of the resistance had been solely responsible for the eventual victory of her people. She felt that she had faced danger and suffering as they had, but she had done it without their resources and support network.
Her excessive ambition and vanity cost her a high price. She was too easily seduced by evil. Fletcher’s character was even able to ignore her murder of an innocent man. The pursuit of power led her deeper and deeper into sinfulness and immorality.
In the series finale, she came to the realization that she had been duped by an evildoer. Her final gesture was to assist the hero. That earned her a horrible death, but perhaps also her ultimate salvation.
I was struck by the stern, calm presence that Fletcher embodied while playing both the nurse and the Kai. She presented an almost military posture. Her characters seemed to have themselves under tight control most of the time.
In the Cuckoo’s Nest, she caused the death of at least two men under her care and created much misery in the institution where she worked. In the Deep Space Nine series, she killed two men and callously used others to further her ambitious plans.
I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to refresh my memory of what happened in the show. My more recent viewing still found the movie difficult to get through. With a more mature outlook, I did appreciate the acting and that the “Chief” was able to find his freedom at last. However, I prefer shows with a happy ending and that one didn’t fit into that category.
Deep Space Nine, on the other hand, is more to my taste. I can watch over and over. There are seven seasons worth of memorable characters and intriguing subplots. While the series conclusion was not a traditional happy ending, it left hope for a better future.
I have always subscribed to the notion that everyone has some good and some bad within them. Maybe in the end, we will be judged by whether we have resisted the urges to do wrong more often than not. It might be that true sorrow for the things we have done wrong can decide our fate in the afterlife. We have no way of proving the eventual outcome.
It seems that Nurse Ratched would have not found a place in heaven if she had died when the Jack Nicholson character was trying to strangle her. It could be that she became a better person later in life, but once again, we don’t know.
Kai Winn Adami had worked for the good of her people for several years during the war. After the war, she wanted to be rewarded. That was selfish and her methods were less than exemplary (to say the least). In the end though, she turned away from the devilish Pai Wraiths. To do that she had to come to the aid of a rival that she resented greatly. She probably didn’t know that the wraiths would retaliate by killing her, but still she did the right thing. Perhaps that action coupled with the good she had done as a younger woman was enough to secure absolution for her crimes.
Louise Fletcher often played a wicked person. She was good at it. I found it very satisfying that the villain she portrayed in Deep Space Nine found redemption in the end. I hope that the lady who played the role so well will rest in peace and will always be remembered for the good work she did.