Photo: Joseph Lederer / A&E
Norman Bates Is Back! And He's Still A Creep!
As White Pine Bay recovers from Miss Watson's murder and Bradley reintegrates into society after a stint in the crazy house, how Bates Motel-y is it?
When we rejoin the Bateses, things are kind of dark. Norman has just returned home from running away from his teacher, Miss Watson, apparently in some kind of fugue state; then Norma gets a call from the school's emergency phone tree informing her that Miss Watson has been murdered. Norma clearly has her suspicions, but she's not going to pull at this thread or raise anyone else's suspicions by not going to Miss Watson's funeral...where Norman proceeds to make everyone feel awkward by helplessly crying. When he can't stop visiting Miss Watson's grave four months later (totally catching Ron Butterfield there, and shooting a photo that he takes to Sheriff Romero, which Romero then tells Norma about, along with a warning that Norman should quit hanging around the cemetery), Norma finally asks what happened that night; Norman tells her that Miss Watson came on to him, and that he got scared and ran, and since she was murdered right afterward, he has been feeling guilty that he left her, when he could have stayed and maybe prevented her death. Norma seems to accept this? Or decides that it's sufficiently credible, which is probably good enough. I'll just say that if Norma is really that worried about Norman's state of mind, she needs to upgrade the family TV.
That picture would turn anyone into a serial killer.
Little Girl Lost Bradley is still hung up on her dad's death, to the point where she starts the episode by driving her nice car to a bridge, jumping off, and getting committed to the crazy house. Upon her release, she tries to get information from Gil, Jerry's old partner, who puts her off and warns Dylan not to tell her anything. So of course that's when one of Dylan's weed colleagues tells him that Miss Watson was Gil's girlfriend but was totally cheating on him with Jerry; Dylan then takes this to Bradley, who goes over to Gil's house, dry-humps him for a while, and then shoots him in the head with a gun she found in her father's effects. It's not subtle, and not really thought through, but it takes her to Norman's bedside so she can take him up on his offer always to be there for her. He was probably thinking about sleeping with her again as opposed to helping her dispose of a body, but weirdo beggars can't be weirdo choosers.
It's kind of a subdued opening to the season -- and yes, I know someone got violently murdered, but I'm grading on a curve (like, at least it was fast) -- but how Bates Motel-y is it?
| Bates Motel-y Element | Present? |
|---|---|
| Norman's weirdness makes someone uncomfortable enough to react (verbally or non-verbally). | When Norma gets the phone call about Miss Watson's murder, she seems pretty sure Norman did it; Norman sobs so hard at Miss Watson's funeral that everyone's weirded out about it. |
| Norma has a public meltdown. | At a city council meeting, Norma calls the mayor (or whoever) a dick and barks at some PTA moms trying to ban Crime & Punishment. |
| So that's how it is in their family. | Sliding into the driver's seat, Norma hikes her knees up like she's at the gyno, but Norman's in the process of walking around the car to the passenger side, so it doesn't appear to be for his benefit. |
| The weed business is boring. | We find out that Jerry, Bradley's dead dad, was sleeping with Gil's girlfriend: Miss Watson! But that hardly counts. |
| Dylan evinces resentment about his place in the family. | He very maturely offers to start paying Norma rent because he's still living in the house (though she refuses to take it); when Bradley comes on to him, he tells her he can't pursue it because Norman likes her, but seems okay about it. |
| Emma pines. | Baleful looks across the reception desk at the motel as Norman continues not to realize she's alive. |
| The bypass!!!!!1!!!1 | Norma had thought she still had time because the funding for THE BYPASS had fallen through, but they're breaking ground! Right now! It's going to kill her business! SHE'S UNDERWATER!!!!! So she goes to the city council meeting to protest, but instead of offering an alternate plan, she just freaks out instead. |
| A Bates has sex. | Norman has flashbacks to Miss Watson apparently trying to seduce him, but that's it. |
| A Bates commits murder. | All the Bateses have clean hands, though Bradley shoots Gil and splatters his brains all over his nice picture window. |
| Winky Psycho foreshadowing. | Norman works on (non-carnally) stuffing a beaver, "the most sophisticated animal" he's gotten his hands on...so far! |
| 6 /10 Surely the Bateses are just ramping up to their usual perversion. |