Hopefully a burnt out one.
Norman! What did you put in my tea?

A leopard doesn't lose its spots. She's a bitch forever.

Mac got
lobotomized and then The Chief gave him a mercy killing and escaped
. She lost much in the process and deservedly so.
She had to live with the assault on her throat and that she
lost Billy, Mac and The Chief.
Norman! What did you put in my tea?

No. She simply lost her invulnerable reputation.

When she was speaking to Jimmy at the end she seemed quite pleasant, and less stern than usual. The film is about conformity, so with her experience of being almost strangled to death by Mac, is it implying that she's since conformed to being less strict and more civil with the patients, or am I reading too much into it?
Off course she was pleasant (albeit probably still a bit shaken from being strangled): She had won, McMurphy was dead and she got her wing and control back, medication-procedure in order and back in CONTROL.
That's why she was so goddamn pleased with herself.

Maybe your right but the look on her face when she was walking in the first time she had the look of an authoritarian and the way she said "good mourning" seemed rather condescending, I may be looking too far into this. Either way another reason why this "McMurphy was the problem" theory falls flat is because in the very first group therapy session she is calling out Harding about the sexual problems he is having with his wife and allowed the patients to argue with each other. This is even before McMurphy started rebelling against her.
"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine

If Ratched really wasn't a bitch and actually thought that McMurphy was causing trouble she would have agreed with the doctor and sent him back to the work farm.
Oh no, I do believe she was indeed a bitch, just not with her co-workers and staff. She seemed very polite to anyone who wasnt a patient. She was even polite when she came into work and found the place a total wreck.She was polite when telling them to do a count of patients and when giving out other orders.

Either way the way she spoke to Seafelt at the end was completely different to the way she talked to the staff before McMurphy even arrived. It's a good alternate theory but I personally am not buying that McMurphy was the reason why there was unrest in the institution. If Ratched really wasn't a bitch and actually thought that McMurphy was causing trouble she would have agreed with the doctor and sent him back to the work farm.
"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine

I don't think it was bitchy or condescending but not friendly or sweet just robotic and maybe stern.

I personally feel that her spirit had been broken and she has lost her power over the patients. There is an alternate theory that that is the way she always acted towards the patients before McMurphy arrived but I don't buy that because as she is walking in in the first scene she says "good mourning" to Mr. Washington in a rather bitchy, condescending tone.
"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine

No she is just trying to regain the power she lost from Mac

Seconded.

She hasn't become nicer, just much weaker in terms of her tyranny. McMurphy proved that she can be brought down, and made her lose her powerful, authoritative voice. This led to the patients not fearing her, and she realizes this.
This exactly. She was knocked down a peg and her patients weren't scared of her anymore, so she lost her power.

She hasn't become nicer, just much weaker in terms of her tyranny. McMurphy proved that she can be brought down, and made her lose her powerful, authoritative voice. This led to the patients not fearing her, and she realizes this.

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Also, in the book, during the fight with her, McMurphy manages to rip her dress open down the front and everyone sees her bare breasts, pretty much ruining her superhuman image that she's worked so hard to maintain. The spell is broken.

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