Bates Motel

Which Story Elements Will Be Checking Into Bates Motel In Season 2?

Tara Ariano
 

Hot off the press release presses: A&E has renewed Bates Motel for a second season, slated to premiere next year. If you saw Psycho, you may think you know what Bates Motel is about, but the joke's on you: Bates Motel serves as a prequel to the movie, and is set in the present day. Norman Bates texting? NOW I'VE SEEN EVERYTHING!

But seriously, the show's first season -- which is only a few episodes old -- has already established that, in this world, virtually anything is possible. Do Norman (Freddie Highmore) and his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) have an inappropriate relationship and sometimes collaborate on violent crime? Of course they do. But the show has also delved into thoroughly modern topics that Hitchcock's film never could have covered, like illegal marijuana plantations and sex trafficking. So with that in mind, here are some story ideas -- really just building blocks -- that Motel producers should feel free to use as they map out Season 2.

  • Norman tries to combat his fugue states by self-medicating with black-market Adderall.
  • Norma can't find a decent bikini waxer in White Pine Bay.
  • Norman gets a Snapchat of a murder scene, but doesn't screen-cap it in time.
  • Norman's brother Dylan (Max Thieriot) worries that his career as a small-time thug will be cut short when he starts experiencing temporary paralysis from his skinny jeans.
  • Norman's friend Emma (Olivia Cooke) enters an experimental study for a new CF drug, but her improved symptoms don't seem that important when she finds out the pharmaceutical company is linked to atrocities in East Africa.
  • Norma is horrified when one of Norman's teachers suggests that Norman be tested to see if he's on the autism spectrum.
  • Deputy Shelby (Mike Vogel) can't refinance his house due to the overly cautious mortgage market, and worries that he may lose his secret rape dungeon.
  • Dylan can't find a decent tattoo artist in White Pine Bay.
  • Norma, living on the west coast, keeps missing out on all the best sales on Gilt.
  • Emma loses her Diva Cup by accidentally flushing it down the toilet at school.
  • Norman must get better at self-censorship when his anonymous Tumblr becomes a viral sensation.
  • Dylan's weed strain gets a bad review.
  • Deputy Shelby gets captured committing obvious police brutality on a citizen's dashboard camera.
  • Norma tries out burlesque dancing.
Tara Ariano