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: 2.09 The Box

[selenak]

. It wasn't the polygraph aspect that bugged me; it was the weird way in which they framed Romero's desire for the truth, like he was some Mulder (from The X-Files) figure who's on the crusade for it.

Hm, that actually wasn't my impression. I think it wasn't a Mulderish desire for the truth per se but a mixture of practical and emotional reasons. First of all, he's all about control and making the trains arrive on time in his town, so to speak, in general. He seems to be okay with the drug business as long as it's not escalating into gang warfare. (Sex trade also seems to be on the wrong side of the line for him, given Shelby had to do it behind his back and that he killed Abarnathy.) He was ready to put Miss Watson's other lover away despite the possibility the guy may not have had committed this particular murder because Romero knew him to be guilty of other murders; which would indicate a dislike of having loose canon killers in town. Now if Norman, whom so far he's seen as good kid, killed Miss Watson after having had sex with her, there is something seriously wrong with Norman, and he would definitely be a loose canon. Plus Norman is Norma's son; whether or not Romero has developed feelings for Norma, he has a certain history with her now (that includes the whole Shelby business and Romero taking part in a cover up, and she saw him shoot a man point blank) which presumably he would not want to go public. So yes, I understand why Romero wants to be certain whether or not Norman did it. But not via a polygraph!

Could he go to Ford's knowing (from Norma) that he has Norman, discover him dead (talking or otherwise getting his way past Ford's people), and find the pearls and article?

Unless the show asks us to believe Dylan can make a quick getaway on his lonesome from Nick Ford's property without any of his henchmen discovering he just killed their boss, I'm thinking Romero pretty much HAS to go to Ford next. Since he's the sheriff, he's the one person the henchmen would plausibly let in without being authorized to by Nick Ford. And it would make sense, given what he's just been told by Norma.

re: Norman killing Miss Watson - I know what you mean with "too soon", though the motivation sort of works given that Norman was in a state of humiliation and sexual frustration (Bradley's boyfriend had punched him, Bradley had made it clear she had no further interest in him), and he felt guilty about being attracted to Miss Watson (otherwise "Mother" wouldn't have shown up in his mind to remark on it in the first place), and about sharing a secret with her (the story he'd written) which he saw as somehow betraying his mother to her. (Norman told Miss Watson his mother wouldn't want him to publish the story even though he actually never spoke with Norma about it, and she to this day has no idea he's written it.) When he became Mother in the Caleb case, he enacted what he thought Norma wanted to do but couldn't (confront Caleb with what Caleb had done, then try to kill him). So I could see his psychosis telling him that Norma would want him to kill Miss Watson (for being a sexual rival mother figure). And yes, that Norman can't actually tell his hallucinations apart from the reality is bound to come into this, imo. I'm also remembering that Norman still doesn't know about his father but does know Dylan's original theory about Norma having killed him. Yes, Norma denied having done it, but now he doesn't trust her anymore the way he used to. And he doesn't know - or does he? - what Norma did in the night of Miss Watson's murder. I mean, the audience knows she was busy at the docks with Abernathy and Romero, but Norman came out of his blackout only when Norma found him running on the road, i.e. he doesn't know for sure she can't have been with him earlier.

I don't believe Norma will be in denial about Norman killing Miss Watson. If you think about "Presumed Innocent," the problem was that when it comes to him and his blackouts, it's the one area where she accepts and readily believes that Norman is capable of murder because of what happened with Mr. Bates. When she initially learns Norman was at Miss Watson's that night she has that fear.

Agreed. And like I said, her reaction once she's closed the door and is alone definitely looks like full awareness of what Romero's words mean about Norman.