Show, if Dylan is saddled with his own subplot apart from the rest of the gang, solely interacting with drug folk, for the third year in a row, that's a waste. Haven't we established that his best scenes are inevitably with his mother and/or brother? So I shall choose to believe that the current time apart is so he can build up a bond with Caleb in order to justify an upcoming loyality clash better than Dylan instinctively taking Caleb's side last season was. But I want my Masset & Bates interaction, show, and I want it soon.
(Also I note that Caleb still hasn't seen it fit to mention the Norman-as-Norma-with-a-knife incident from last season to Caleb.)
Poor Emma. It couldn't be more glaringly obvious Norman is not sexually attracted to her at all, though he likes her a lot, of course. (And no, I don't think it's just Norman's Oedipus complex coupled with the developing sex followed by violence psychosis that makes him avoid anything sexual with Emma. He had sex with both Bradley and Cody without killing or hurting either of them.) Asking Emma to date him really was in response to Emma's medical condition worsening, and that will probably hurt her even worse than the romantic disinterest would have done in the end. (Leaving aside the question whether Emma will live long enough to find out the truth about Norman.) I loved the Peter Pan conversation, btw, because it works with the dark aspects of Barrie's work, not Disney. Including Peter making Wendy into a mother figure while bypassing the pesky romantic stage altogether, Wendy in the end growing up but not Peter. It hadn't occured to me to read Norman Bates as one version of Peter's refusal to grow up, but it works.
Which does beg the question wheter Norman is going to cast Alex Romero as Captain Hook. (Who is on stage always played by the same actor as Mr. Darling, the father, which was Barrie's idea.) Confirming my assumption from last week, Sheriff Romero is moving out of the motel and into his restored house which doesn't make Norma (or him?) any happier than it does me. That goodbye scene with neither of them knowing whether to shake hands or hug, until it resolves in an awkward hug, and then Norma running after his car to make that simple "you make me feel safe" statement was adorable. Well, for this show. Of course, I was mentally yelling at Norma to tell him about Annika's disappearance, assuming this would be the last Romero scene for the episode or at least their last interaction in said episode, but no, more goodness was to come, more about this in a moment. First, about that "You make me feel safe". Norma's never felt safe. She's neurotic, damaged and damaging, and often unhinged, yes, but look at her life, starting out in a household with a brutally abusive father, a crazy mother and a brother who turned from an ally into a rapist. Her married life included more abuse, and now she's living in a town where she got raped on her first day and things went downhill from there, including such highlights as rotting corpses in her bed and being almost certain her son is a budding killer. Paranoia is her default modus, and it's for a reason. So telling Alex Romero something like this is more meaningful than practically anything else.
Don't get me wrong: Norma is doomed by prequel and will end up as a corpse courtesy of her son if she does develop stronger feelings for a man she's not related to again. But that will happen either way, so I'm rooting for more Norma and Alex in between. And the show is kind to me this way! Because next Norma, faced with the alternative that either Norman has killed another girl or he's telling the truth and the girl still disappeared, only courtesy to a shady rich men's club straight out of Twin Peaks, decides to go undercover to investigate. Which Audrey Horne could have told her never goes well. Otoh she does meet Sheriff Romero again this way and this time she does tell him the truth, amazingly, the whole truth, including that Norman was the last person seen with the disappeared Annika. Romero's expression was priceless. (Nestor Carbonell, I like you much more in this role than in the later stages of Lost once Richard ended up getting a Telenovela backstory) I can't wait to find out where that one will lead.
Mind you, it made me cautiously optimistic it will turn out that against likelihood, Norman actually is innocent of this latest death (for it is a death, as the episode concludes with the body being found), because I don't see how Romero would let that one slide. He's okay with drug dealers as long as they stick to the town rules, but not with serial killers, after all.
Lastly: Norma versus the bypass sign was hilarious. And utterly understandable. Norma, I know how you feel.
3.02. The Arcanum Club
Show, if Dylan is saddled with his own subplot apart from the rest of the gang, solely interacting with drug folk, for the third year in a row, that's a waste. Haven't we established that his best scenes are inevitably with his mother and/or brother? So I shall choose to believe that the current time apart is so he can build up a bond with Caleb in order to justify an upcoming loyality clash better than Dylan instinctively taking Caleb's side last season was. But I want my Masset & Bates interaction, show, and I want it soon.
(Also I note that Caleb still hasn't seen it fit to mention the Norman-as-Norma-with-a-knife incident from last season to Caleb.)
Poor Emma. It couldn't be more glaringly obvious Norman is not sexually attracted to her at all, though he likes her a lot, of course. (And no, I don't think it's just Norman's Oedipus complex coupled with the developing sex followed by violence psychosis that makes him avoid anything sexual with Emma. He had sex with both Bradley and Cody without killing or hurting either of them.) Asking Emma to date him really was in response to Emma's medical condition worsening, and that will probably hurt her even worse than the romantic disinterest would have done in the end. (Leaving aside the question whether Emma will live long enough to find out the truth about Norman.) I loved the Peter Pan conversation, btw, because it works with the dark aspects of Barrie's work, not Disney. Including Peter making Wendy into a mother figure while bypassing the pesky romantic stage altogether, Wendy in the end growing up but not Peter. It hadn't occured to me to read Norman Bates as one version of Peter's refusal to grow up, but it works.
Which does beg the question wheter Norman is going to cast Alex Romero as Captain Hook. (Who is on stage always played by the same actor as Mr. Darling, the father, which was Barrie's idea.) Confirming my assumption from last week, Sheriff Romero is moving out of the motel and into his restored house which doesn't make Norma (or him?) any happier than it does me. That goodbye scene with neither of them knowing whether to shake hands or hug, until it resolves in an awkward hug, and then Norma running after his car to make that simple "you make me feel safe" statement was adorable. Well, for this show. Of course, I was mentally yelling at Norma to tell him about Annika's disappearance, assuming this would be the last Romero scene for the episode or at least their last interaction in said episode, but no, more goodness was to come, more about this in a moment. First, about that "You make me feel safe". Norma's never felt safe. She's neurotic, damaged and damaging, and often unhinged, yes, but look at her life, starting out in a household with a brutally abusive father, a crazy mother and a brother who turned from an ally into a rapist. Her married life included more abuse, and now she's living in a town where she got raped on her first day and things went downhill from there, including such highlights as rotting corpses in her bed and being almost certain her son is a budding killer. Paranoia is her default modus, and it's for a reason. So telling Alex Romero something like this is more meaningful than practically anything else.
Don't get me wrong: Norma is doomed by prequel and will end up as a corpse courtesy of her son if she does develop stronger feelings for a man she's not related to again. But that will happen either way, so I'm rooting for more Norma and Alex in between. And the show is kind to me this way! Because next Norma, faced with the alternative that either Norman has killed another girl or he's telling the truth and the girl still disappeared, only courtesy to a shady rich men's club straight out of Twin Peaks, decides to go undercover to investigate. Which Audrey Horne could have told her never goes well. Otoh she does meet Sheriff Romero again this way and this time she does tell him the truth, amazingly, the whole truth, including that Norman was the last person seen with the disappeared Annika. Romero's expression was priceless. (Nestor Carbonell, I like you much more in this role than in the later stages of Lost once Richard ended up getting a Telenovela backstory) I can't wait to find out where that one will lead.
Mind you, it made me cautiously optimistic it will turn out that against likelihood, Norman actually is innocent of this latest death (for it is a death, as the episode concludes with the body being found), because I don't see how Romero would let that one slide. He's okay with drug dealers as long as they stick to the town rules, but not with serial killers, after all.
Lastly: Norma versus the bypass sign was hilarious. And utterly understandable. Norma, I know how you feel.