Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-5679696-20150427225803/@comment-1894786-20150928014827

Utter solitude wrote: You're kidding, right? That happened during the Dark Curse, remember? The woman was doing her job, likely a very boring one, of being in charge of the very small psychiatric unit. Even if we assume Chief Bromden (the man sweeping the floor we've seen twice now) is another psych patient, that means there's two--one confined to a room, and one that is allowed to walk around. How does a psychiatric patient get confined to their room? By being a danger to others.

Thus, all the nurse knows is that the patient in that cell may be dangerous, which is why she's there in the first place. Regina gave her a rose as a nod to Beauty and the Beast, and a parallel to Gaston's fate. And nevermind the fact that we know Regina put Belle there, not the nurse.

People assumed a LOT about this woman back in season one (that she was some kind of villain) mostly out of ignorance of how a hospital works. I thought that would die down in later seasons after we've seen her still doing her job, but I guess not! Well, with official confirmation from both Jane Espenson and Henry, we know she actually IS Nurse Ratched, and Ratched was a villain in her story, being an intimidating dictator and leading to the brain death of a patient who wasn't actually insane.