Bates Motel - Nice town you picked, Norma...

Goood Eeeevening, Addicts. Welcome back to the Bates Motel. Last time we learned it’s really annoying to type/read Norma and Norman. We also learned that there’s a 3^rd son who Mother wants no part of. They bought the motel with the insurance money from the dead dad. There is a weirdly open and accepting group of girls at school, Bradley in particular. Mother was raped by the previous owner of the house/motel and she and Norman killed him and sunk his body in the lake.

We start out with Norman reading the creepy journal he found on the rapist guy.

He seems a little too enthralled with it. Here’s my tricky part. I really like Freddie Highmore as an actor. I think he’s a nice kid. So it’s going to be hard for me to accept him as a creep and bad guy.

Mother hears the doorbell and runs down in a very elegant dressing gown. I love that her clothes are modern, but still reminiscent of the era of the movie. Her visitor is the unwanted son, Dylan, who wants money.

He calls her Mom at the door, but that’s the only time he says that. Otherwise he calls her Norma. Mother and Norman are discussion when Dylan will be leaving since his presence is despised. Norman gives him a dirty look and comment for leaving the bread unwrapped. Dylan says he’s only there because that’s what people do when they have nowhere else to go. They go back home, with their parents. Yeah. I’ve been there, Dylan. But I don’t think I’d go somewhere where I’m openly hated.

The coven are waiting for Norman at the bus stop that is literally at the corner of his property. Bradley asks him he left the party so early. He says he just needed to get home. She suggests that they get together and actually study. There is a car driving erratically and it crashes a few feet away from them. Bradley recognizes it as her dad’s car. They run over and Norman pulls the door open.

It looks like he wandered off the set of The Walking Dead. Sorry, guy. That’s not comfortable. That would for sure leave nightmares in my brain. The cops are back and I’ve sorted them out. Mean cop is Sheriff Romero, and nice cop is Officer Shelby. Romero says that the man in the car owned a warehouse and someone set it on fire. He gets called over to see something else. Dylan says that it’s been an interesting morning. Mother tells him if he’s going to stay he’s going to pitch in. There are some linens she ordered he can go pick up. As she’s walking away, Romero calls her over and shows her a truck. He tells her it belongs to Keith Sommers (the rapist) and asks if she’s seen him anywhere since he hasn’t been home in a few days. She walks away, but he smells blood in the water.

Norman’s class is assigned to pick a classic poem and work with a partner to show how it’s still relevant. Emma storms up and declares they should be partners. When Norman suggests they meet somewhere other than the motel she rushes over him and says she loves the motel, that she’ll be there. I like her, but she’s weird.

Norman goes to visit Bradley and her family at the hospital, you know, since the guy that was burned was her father. He shows up with a flower. I love that it’s a potted flower; it’s not just a bouquet. Bradley’s boyfriend sees Norman and feels his turf being stepped on. He asks why he’s here and takes the flower and says he’ll give it to her. Norman says thank you and then leaves. I want to like you Norman. Don’t disappoint me!

Meanwhile over at the local strip club…

That’s hot man. What!? Why are you crying while sitting stage-side at the strip club? If you’re having a bad day, such a bad day you cry, go home! Dylan is also there and Misty Eyes gets mad. Then he tells him that his boss got into a bad accident and got burned and he probably won’t make it. It’s admirable that you love your boss that much. But really? Beers arrive and the guy pulls out a wad of $100 bills. Dylan asks where he gets that kind of money in a town like this.

Dylan arrives home late with the linen after looking at the ladies boobies. She’s pissed that it’s really late. She yells at Dylan for eating leftovers out of the container. Dylan says he has some anger at her for “skanking around with Norman’s dad”. Ah, so they’re half brothers. Mother tells him that she was 17 and young and that she fell in love with Sam (the Dad). She says “I hate you. You have never had an ounce of kindness for me.” It’s such an odd thing to say to a child. I don’t know why. It makes sense, but it still feels weird. She also says that Norman likes her, he just likes her so they’re close. Also a weird comment. It makes their relationship seem even stranger. Dylan asks her how she got all the money to buy a home, motel and a new car. He said he’s been worried about money since he was conscious. Mother says that Sam sold insurance and that he was well covered. He bids her goodnight, and she yells at him again for calling her Norma.

A rigorous cleaning is underway. Mother wants to make sure that there is no fingerprint, hair, or anything to show that Keith was ever there. The doorbell rings and it’s Emma. Mother is on high alert. She’s not happy. Norman introduces her to Mother, skipping Dylan, prompting him to introduce himself. Mother sits her down and asks her incredibly uncomfortable first-time-meeting questions. “Where do you live? What’s your last name? Is that Italian? Are you ok? I don’t know exactly what CF is, explain it to me. What’s your life expectancy?” Awkward. She’s intense. It’s like she’s weighing the options of whether or not she could let Norman be with her for the 27 years she thinks she has.

 

They talk about The Tiger. A classic, apparently. It’s by William Blake. Thanks, Google! Emma says it talks about how it’s questioning how a God who could make so much beauty could also make harmful and dark things as well. Mother? Are you listening? Emma sees the notebook tucked under the bed and pulls it up despite Norman’s objections. “I don’t care!” She says and laughs. Wtf!? I would never do that to another person. I might see it and wonder what it is, but I wouldn’t say anything out loud! Rude!  She flips through the pictures and calls them amazing. Norman says he found the book in one of the motel rooms. She assures him she’s read a lot of manga, a lot steamier than whatever is in that book. (Sounds like someone else I know, I think she knows who she is)  She asks to borrow it and he says sure.

Another elegant dressing gown. And maybe it’s just me, but that looks like an awfully uncomfortable way to sit. Mother is getting ready for bed. She reveals her bruised leg from her encounter. She hears the doorbell and is thoroughly put out by it. It’s Romero and Shelby. Romero wants to ask her questions, and he seems annoyed that he didn’t ask them inside. He says that there is an eye witness that Keith Sommers was on her property, talking to her. She tries to pull off the excuse that she thought he meant had she ever seen him. And she didn’t realize that “recently” could mean within the last week. She denied that he made any threats towards her in response to buying his property. Good Cop Shelby seems annoyed that the conversation is even happening. When Romero asks if she minds if he takes a look around inside and she says yes she does. He tells her he’s the last guy she should be on the bad side of.Anyone who ever says they mind it the cops come in and look around, is immediately suspect. Why would someone without anything to hide say no? It's not like it's going to bust out forensics right there.

The next day Mother is driving around town and she sees Shelby talking to some guys. She calls him over and turns on the charm. She offers up her wrists for him to arrest her. He jokes with her and tells her not take it personally, because Romero and Sommers have been friends since they were kids. He offers to buy her a cup of coffee and she readily accepts. Some old man asks if he will see Shelby at the Woodchuck tonight. 

He tells Mother that it’s a local festival since the town was founded by loggers and that she should come. He tells her he couldn’t take her as a date, but that they could meet there as a coincidence.

Mother runs into Normans room and asks if her outfit looks like she’s trying too hard. She tells him that the cops have asked questions and that there was a witness saying that they had been seen talking to Keith. (Don’t ask me why, but every time I type Keith, I type Keither. It’s really annoying me) She says she’s going on a “good will mission” since Shelby seems to like them.

Then she decides the other shirt option she brought with her is better. So she decides to take off her shirt and change. In front of her son. Norman looks away because, that’s his mom, and it’s weird. It would be weird enough if she was wearing a normal bra, but she’s wearing come-have-sex-with-me lingerie. She scolds him for looking away because she’s his mother, it’s not like it’s weird or anything. Eww. Norman tells her he doesn’t think she should go. Norman suggests that since it’s a community event he should go too. He doesn’t want her to knock boots.

Switch to a huge boat building warehouse. We meet Gill. The Misty Eyes guy at the strip club introduces Dylan. Gill asks Dylan if he knows how to use a gun, and he says yes.

Time for dinner. Dylan’s phone goes off and it comes up as “The Whore”. He makes a point of answering it and saying, “Hi Norma!” Norman tries to attack him for calling her a whore. He defends her by saying, “She’s a good person, she tries to help me, she’s just not perfect!” Dylan pushes him up against the fridge and warns him not to come after him again.

Norman, don’t do it! You’re a sweet boy. Don’t! But of course, he does. He tries to bash his brother in the head with a meat tenderizer. Dylan ducks out of the way, and punches him. He says, “I told you not to do that” looks disturbed and then walks away. “She’s not a whore” Norman says, to no one. Creepy!

At the Woodchuck, Shelby wins a sawing competition with another partner. Shelby tells Mother how he doesn’t actually suspect her of anything. Mother says weird things keep happening to her since she’s come here. Shelby says nowhere is like this town. He explains that these people are artisian cheese sellers, organic pig farmers, and yet most of the people have million dollar homes, nice cars in a town that was founded by loggers but that ended with the “tree huggers”. Basically saying that everyone in this town is corrupt. She’ll fit in nicely. He says the people in the town deal with things in a different way, but that things get dealt with. She seems a little concerned but excited too.

Mother comes home to find Norman in bed with bruises from the fight. She says that Dylan has to leave, he can’t come in and disrupt their life like this. Norman agrees. When Mother leaves he gets a text from Emma asking him to come to her shop, its important!

This is a strange type of store. He wanders around and finds her at a desk. Norman tells her he fell down the stairs, hence the bruises. She assures him that it’s ok, he doesn’t have to tell her the truth if he doesn’t want to. Norman mentions all the stuffed animals and Emma says her dad is a top taxidermist. Enough about animals, she tells him about the book. 4 girls from China come to America as housemaids and in 7 years they become real citizens. That’s not what happens though; they are forced to have sex with different men every day. One of the girls OD’s and the other 3 are forced to bury her body behind a shed in the woods. After they have been “sampled” the girls are sold into sex slavery.

She takes a particular drawing and says that it’s called “Lady Face” and that it’s a real place, just out of town. She wants to go to the shed, unbury the body so they can know whether it’s real or not. She later lunges at him in a kiss, but doesn’t get much of a response. She looks sad. And then a split second later, “So are you in?” with a smile. He returns the smile and they start to plan.

Dylan puts on an old record and pours a drink. He looks at the only pictures of the family that are up and they’re just of Norman and Mother. He’s nowhere to be found. Mother comes down and complains about the loud music in the middle of the night. She tells him he can’t stay because he’s toxic and that he’s leaving in the morning. Dylan asks her how Sam died. He said he did a lot of research to find them after they moved. He said he had talked to the insurance company and they said how sad it was that Sam died because he was such a good husband and father. This is apparently not how it really was and Dylan leads her to think that he would have no problem exposing the truth. “Just keep the music down.” This is a messed up family, if you hadn’t picked up on that.

Emma, Norman and her orange VW Bug drive out to the woods to find the grave. They find a spot to see Lady Face. The hiking is making her breathless. I would think this would be an extraordinarily bad idea. How are they going to find the shed? That’s a lot of woods. Norman asks if it’s ok that she does this and she says yes.

Wow that’s a bad green screen. Emma says her dad taught her this meditation where your spirit rises above your body above the universe and from there you can look back and see how small you are. She says that this moment makes her feel that way now. They walk around and find a huge pot field. And then there are 2 guys with guns, protectors of the field. They run. You could barely catch your breath when you were walking, how are you going to run!? They hide for a minute and then run again. They run right into the shed.   

They cross the river, get in the Bug and drive away. Not before the two guys with guns have seen her car. I feel like those guys could come into town, figure out which car is hers since it’s so unique and do something about it.

Mother is driving in town and there is a swarm of people. There appears to be a pole with flags on it on fire.

Just kidding. That’s no flag. That’s a body. Is this how Shelby deals with things? This is a disturbing town. It’s no wonder Norman would go on to become the killer he did. Well, I’m still enjoying it, if for no other reason than to see the people that live in town. I already know what will become of Norman and Mother for that matter.