Bates Motel: Primer and Homebase

[eevilalice]

Welcome to the homebase for the A&E series, Bates Motel. Each week you'll find a thread for the newest episode, so we can discuss its twists and horrors together.

First, a primer.


Bates Motel is a modern day prequel to Hitchcock's Psycho, centering on Norman and his mother, Norma, as they move to the titular motel in a coastal Oregon town. Norma is hoping for a new start for herself and Norman after her husband's death, and buying and running the run-down motel is her plan. Of course, there are plenty of unforeseen complications, especially since the town has a touch of Twin Peaks strangeness and corruption to it.

I know what you're thinking. A Psycho prequel? Really? Two things should convince you to give the show a shot: its pedigree and its cast. Among others, the series is (executive) produced by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights). It both builds intrigue and mysteries while creating complex characters. And then it scares the crap out of you.

Cast/Characters (As of Season 2)

Vera Farmiga plays Norma Bates.



She's high-strung, cloying, yet honestly put-upon and sincerely caring. She's smart but vulnerable at times. You may not be able to stand her at all, and you may deeply sympathize with her, all within one episode.

Freddie Highmore plays Norman Bates.



Like Norma, you might feel sorry for Norman or be terrified or horribly creeped out by him in the space of a breath. Often he's simply a normal teenage boy by all appearances, crushing on girls, wanting his own space, sneaking out late at night. Buuut then there's the blackouts and weird stuff he keeps under his bed...

Max Thieriot plays Dylan Massett.



Dylan is Norma's other, older son, and Norman's half-brother. He's more of an outsider, and drifts into town and into their lives against Norma's wishes. He clashes with the family, especially when he urges Norman to live his own life, but he proves indispensable, too.

Olivia Cooke plays Emma Decody.



Emma is a smart, inquisitive girl in Norman's class who quickly develops an interest in him. She has cystic fibrosis and sees Norman's own strange health issues and outsider-y status as something akin to hers.

Nestor Carbonell plays Sheriff Alex Romero.



As sheriff, Romero and Norma butt heads as she struggles to accomplish what she wants with the motel and deals with, er, other complications. Given the town's penchant for ongoing shady activities, Romero is someone who is tough to read.


You can stream Season 1 episodes on Netflix, Amazon, and at the A&E site.

The second season begins Monday, March 3rd! Episodes air at 9/8c 10/9c.

Comments

Re: 2.07 Presumed Innocent

[selenak]

Yes, in retrospect, we should have remembered the second semen sample. Norman's fingerprints in Miss Bates' house wouldn't have been that incriminating; she was his teacher and helping him with a story he'd written, after all. But the semen is impossible to explain away.

re: Bradley, the only reason why I still list her as a suspect is because I rewatched s1 entirely now, and there really is nothing in the finale to explain why she's suddenly suicidal in the s2 opener. She was okay at the prom, in a good mood, actually. Earlier, she was upset about her father and the "all my love, B" letters, and of course ongoing grieving her her father through the season, but definitely not in a suicidal or otherwise self harming way. Now I realise that there is a Doylist reason, since the actress wasn't available anymore due to film commitments and thus the character had to be written out, but still, I expect the show to come up with some Watsonian reason for such an extreme turn as well. (In a Bradley did it scenario, I suppose Bradley, hearing that her boyfriend has punched Norman at the Prom, goes after Norman - whom she did honesltly like after all, even if she wasn't in love with him - to see whether he's okay, arrives just to see him getting into Miss Bates' car, follows them, still with the intention to talk to Norman, and arrives in time to see Miss Bates and Norman having sex. And by virtue of some convenient prop lying around - maybe letters from her father, assuming he wrote back - realises that Miss Watson is, in fact, B. That still would make killing Miss Watson and trying to commit sucide afterwards an extreme reaction, but it would make a bit more sense than Bradley going from having fun at the Prom to a suicide attempt without any trigger at all. Also, it would allow the show to bring Bradley back for the finale with a confession in order to save Norman.)

Mind you, I'm very ware that I'm probably overthinking the whole suicide attempt thing and the writers really just had to come up with SOMETHING short of killing Bradley that would allow the actress to leave the show.

If Gil - who is a more plausible suspect, and could have acted in a jealous rage upon finding Norman and Miss Watson - did it, though, how is anyone going to prove that since he's dead? (And the show still needs an alternate suspect to exonorate Norman in order to make it plausible Norman doesn't end up in prison before becoming a serial killer.)

re: Cody leaving - well, since she's not going to stay 17 forever, she might be back next season, you know, when she decides where she lives. Telling Norman not to expect texts or mails or calls had a raw honesty to it, though, that struck me as kinder than if she'd left him pining in hope for weeks or months. Not that I don't see your point re: his long term development! (He should talk with Buffy Summers about bad morning after experiences, though, she says flippantly; even with several in a row, one does not have to become a serial killer afterwards. Then again, Buffy kills vampires by profession, so...)

George: might actually be harmless and honestly just interested in Norma because he's attracted to her, but a) he's a rich lawyer living in White Pine Bay, b) he and his sister have some kind of connection to Nick Ford, and c) Norma is just not lucky in love. So I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop there, definitely. (And whether or not he has evil intentions, I really don't expect him to outlive the season.)

Zane the Idiot shall be capslocked, I agree. If Remo dies in that raid and Zane the Idiot lives, it'll be another proof of life being unfair, but I'm very much afraid this will be the case.

Nick Ford: am betting on him as the (inadvertent) family unififier, too. As soon as the news about the semen sample gets out, he now has both brothers on his radar, and whatever he wanted Norma as minion on the city council for (I doubt it's just the bypass) hasn't gone away, either.

Norman and Emma: he was definitely joking in that he understands why Emma did it, is grateful for her friendship and wants to show her all is fine between them, but at the same time, no, I don't think he was entirely joking.The thing is, Norman didn't trust Emma with the blackout information in the first place; that was Cody. The last thing he did tell her in confidence was that he'd had sex with Bradley - or, as naive Norman put it, "Bradley and I are together now"- and after she told this to the school girls to defend him and to Norma, they had an argument and reconciliation - but he never told her anything in confidence again, if you think about it. Notably nothing about the entire Caleb situation, not even the censored version which he gave Cody. I think Norman likes Emma, really appreciates her believing in him re: the accident and would defend her to anyone, but no, I don't think he'll trust her with secrets any time soon.
Of course, the very next episode might prove me wrong, since Norman is on a quest to find out what Norma is hiding about his blackouts, and he doesn't have exactly many people he could ask to help him there. The most obvious thing to do would be to ask Dylan, who already dropped a heavy hint in 2.04, and who'd actually know, but for that Dylan (assuming he's in a shape to do so in his current state) would have to answer his voice mail.

Re: Norma putting on the compartmentalizing-and-moving-on tone: yes, definitely the worst method. But very ic. I'm recalling the first of her two scenes with Dr. Kastura (the therapist Norman was supposed to go to in s1) where he says that people who feel the need to control often do so because they feel their own life is completely out of control, and Norma (who in that episode is simultanously menaced by Jack Abernathy and finding out she can't resell the motel, i.e. is stuck in White Pine Bay for good) insists that she's completely in control of her own life and that's not why she's controlling of Norman at all. Meaning, of course, the exact opposite. (The second scene with Dr. Kastura, which comes in the finale, is even more extreme in what it illustrates about Norma's inability to deal with something she's compartmentalized and shoved into the not-to-be-spoken-about back of her mind.
Kastura: Is this what you thought parenting would be like when you were a little girl?
Norma: WhenI was a little girl.... I don't remember.
Kastura: What were your parents like.
Norma: My father, he was smiling all the time, he was that kind of person that makes you happy just to be with him. And my mother worked in a bakery. She always smelled of cookies and home. *she starts to rub the scar on her thigh*
Kastura: Do you have any siblings?
Norma: No. *gets up* Excuse me, I can't continue this, I'm going to be sick. *hastily leaves*)

Mind you: I wonder whether she'd be able to tell Norman the truth now if the death of his father had been the only occasion. Because no matter how relieved she was that someone else was arrested for Blair Watson's murder, there are still the pearls she found under Norman's bed. And the fact that last season, he kept Keith Summers' belt, which (understandably) disturbed her a lot. Also, Norman inadvertendly let it slip he hallucinates when he said to her "but you told me" to get the belt (which the audience knows she didn't, it was Norman's internalized "Mother" ) from Shelby later. So one part of Norma is aware there is something wrong with Norman beyond him having killed his father in what was after all a reaction to an abusive situation, but she's incapable of dealing with it in other ways than keeping him close and refusing to talk about it.

Re: 2.07 Presumed Innocent

[eevilalice]

Oops. This got lost in my inbox.

Isn't there still that mysterious person with whom Miss Watson was arguing on the phone that we have yet to meet? Named Eric, right? I'm assuming that won't be forgotten unless I'm forgetting or mixing up details.

I forgot that Norman hallucinated that Norma told him to get the belt.

I'm trying to think of another show where my interpretations come from a place of knowing (in a general sense) where some characters end up. I read a comment from Carlton Cuse where he said he (or others) figured working on a story with a definite end was like an antidote to working on Lost.

Re: 2.07 Presumed Innocent

[selenak]

I don't think we ever got a first name for Gil, or did we and I forgot? But seeing as he's dead, and thus of no use as an alternate suspect, you're probably right and "Eric" (that was indeed who she was arguing with on the phone, something it occurs to me now that Norman might be the only person to know, since he overheard her) is someone else.

I read a comment from Carlton Cuse where he said he (or others) figured working on a story with a definite end was like an antidote to working on Lost.

He. I can imagine. Well, Byran Fuller is sort of in the same position with Hannibal. And I never watched the "How I met your mother", just saw you being upset (along with the majority of the viewership) about the ending after we friended, but fannish osmosis tells me part of the ending problem was that it WAS actually pre-planned years ahead and not fitting anymore the story that developed in between? But in that case, as opposed to Bates Motel and Hannibal, the AUDIENCE wasn't in in a position to know ahead of time, whereas with the serial killer prequels, you as an audience member know, for example, that Norman can't in the next episode get killed by Blair Watson's father; Norman is the only only character who is guaranteed to survive the entire show. :) And similarly, we know Norma will die before it ends, though presumably not much before - my guess is the last or last but one episode, once they know for sure they're cancelled. Dylan's fate, though, is open, as is Emma's (beyond her medical condition).