Note: Major spoilers for the episode of Bates Motel, you have been warned.
After last week's episode, I didn't think they could really ratchet up the intensity on this show, but once again, they proved me wrong. I went into this episode thinking it was going to be a lot of setup for the rest of the season, but instead we got some nice surprises that played out really well. There are several scenes throughout the episode that were just top-notch excellent, as I will explain below.
We start this week with Norman waking up from one of his episodes, and asking Norma why she had locked him inside the bedroom. She gives a typical Norma response, which is to lie to hide her true motives, but Norman is done listening to her excuses. As Norman is getting ready for the day, he has flashbacks of the night before, and he sees Norma stuffing the woman's body into the freezer in the basement. When the two meet for breakfast, Norman keeps questioning his mother until she says she has had enough.
We then get to see Emma, and they are taking out her breathing tube to see if she can breathe on her own. She struggles at first, which causes Dylan to freak out a bit, but then she takes to it and does start breathing on her own. Everyone looks relieved and it was really nice to see Emma, who has struggled since the show began, finally have everything look like it's working out for her.
Norman goes to the basement to check the freezer and finds the animals that he had been storing in there are all out. He looks in the freezer, but there is no body. Norma comes home and asks why Norman is down there, and he tells her that he saw her stuff the body in the freezer and that she needs to get help. She knows now that Norman killed Emma's mother, but that he doesn't remember it and thinks she did it instead. The doorbell rings and Norma says she will go get it.
Alex is there, and apologizes to Norma for the day before. He asks if Norman is a threat, but Norma says he is fine. Alex goes home and grabs the money he took off of Bob Paris, then he goes to Pine View to get Norman admitted. He works out a "deal" with the lady, and it looks like Norman is going to get the help he needs. The woman asks how Alex knows Norman, and he says that he is marrying his mother, so it looks like Alex has had a change of heart.
Norma thinks that she knows where Norman put the woman's body, so she goes down into the pit and starts looking around. It is filled with water, but she slowly makes her way around, trying to find any sign that the body is in there. She finds a glove, but then she hears a car door, and scurries up the ladder to see what is going on. Norman is standing there and asks her what she is doing. She says nothing, and says she has to check in the family that has just pulled in looking for a hotel room. Norman says he will take care of it since she is covered in mud, and tells her to go the house. He says he will be up as soon as he is done.
Alex calls Norma and tells her that he will marry her so Norman can be on his insurance, and that he got Pine View to agree to take him in. All they need is Norman's signature to enter voluntarily, and he says that they are faxing the paperwork in to the hotel office. She panics, knowing Norman is down there now, and quickly hangs up the phone. Norman is checking the couple in, being rather polite and really reminding me of the Norman from Psycho in his mannerisms and way he is acting, when the fax comes through. He picks it up and looks it over, realizing what his mother is trying to do.
Emma's dad is talking to Dylan at the hospital and says that if he truly cares about Emma, that he needs to get a better job than just selling drugs. He tells Dylan that he is better than that anyway. Dylan goes in to talk to Emma and says that he is going home to check on things. She asks if he is coming back, and he asks if she wants him to come back. She says yes, and so he says he will be back then. I hope this isn't foreshadowing anything, but considering how well everything appears to be going, I'm afraid he may not come back. I hope I'm wrong on this, but it just feels like something bad will have to happen soon, as much as I don't want that to be the case.
Norman is now hearing his father's voice in his head, and the voice tells him that it was Norma, not Norman, that killed him. The voice also says that he needs to control Norma now before she can hurt anyone else. Norman leaves the office, and Norma was lying in waiting. She goes in to find the fax, but sees that it's gone. She goes back up to the house, telling Norman that she was taking out the trash, and says they should go out to dinner. He says he doesn't want to, so she says she will just make dinner instead.
At dinner, things start to go off the rails. Norman says that he thinks Norma killed his father, and Bradley, and Emma's mother, and even his teacher from the first season. He says that the killing needs to stop and he is afraid he is going to have to do something he doesn't want to do. Norma is now scared that Norman is going to hurt her, so she runs upstairs to grab her gun, but it's not there. Norman is behind her now, holding the gun. She tries to keep him calm, and tries to get him to give her the gun, but this just makes him more mad and he throws her off of him. She runs up to the attic and locks herself inside. She calls and leaves a message with Alex, saying that she was wrong and that Norman needs to be admitted tonight.
After a while, she leaves the attic, cause she hears a movie playing downstairs. She goes down there, but he isn't there, but the movie is turned up and is playing on the computer. She grabs a knife and goes to the basement. Norman turns a light on and says he knew this would get her to come out, ignoring her. She tries to tell him that Pine View is a good place, and he will get the help he needs, but he says he can't leave her there to continue her killing. He says that there is only one way to solve this, and that is to kill her and himself. Before he can do that, Alex shows up and stops Norman from doing anything.
As he goes to put him in the police car, Norma runs out, and begs Norman to sign the papers to go to Pine View. If he doesn't sign them, he will end up back at the county hospital, and she can't stand the thought of that. He reluctantly agrees, and then he gets into the car and Alex drives off with him. I feel that Norman really signed the papers because he knows it will be easier to get away from Pine View than the county hospital, so he can go back and stop his mother, but we will have to wait until next week to see if that is true.
So, wow, I don't even really know what to say here. There was so much going on, and then I think we got treated to the best scene in the entire series, and that is the scene at the dinner table where Norman confronts Norma with the accusations that she was killing all these people because she was jealous of them. The performance by both of them, but especially Norman, was just absolutely amazing. You could just see him snap, and you instantly feared for what was going to happen to both of them, and I give all the credit in the world to Freddie Highmore for pulling this off. This show has gotten overlooked when it comes to awards shows, but in my opinion, Freddie Highmore just earned himself the best actor trophy right now. I'm sure this won't end up happening, and that will be a shame, but that is how good his performance was in this episode.
The episode just flew by for me, much like last week's episode, and I don't know how many times this show can continue to one up itself and continue to get better. However, I welcome it to continue to try, and so far it is accomplishing. I can hardly wait for the next episode, so the show is doing pretty much everything right at the moment, and if this moment keeps up, this will be the best season by far in what I already think is a fantastic show. As much as I feel sorry for Norman and what he is going through, I also can't look away as he falls further and further down the hole of insanity.
My rating for the episode is 9.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment