Bates Motel: Dreams Die First

March 21, 2017 5:14 PM - Season 5, Episode 5

Norman attempts to piece together Mother's movements. In Seattle, Dylan and Emma confront an ugly truth, while Sam's girlfriend Marion makes a spur-of-the-moment decision with far-reaching consequences.
posted by kittens for breakfast (4 comments total)

Just binged on a few episodes over the last couple of days, and this season is absolutely living up to its promise. The relationship between Norman and Norma is fascinating, and the revelations around the White Horse Bar were done so deftly and carefully. I am really loving the way the action from Psycho is blending seamlessly into the show (and I love the little nods to the film - Norman stocking up on shower curtains at the hardware store, Marion's firm being called R. A. Bloch, Carlton Cuse making a Hitchcockian cameo as the Statie who tucks Marion's coat back into the trunk, etc). My Rihanna-obsessed wife (who is somehow totally hooked on Bates without ever having seen Psycho) is... concerned about what is going to happen to Marion, and I am trying not to spill any beans.

The big question, to me, is whether or not Norman will recognize Marion as Sam's lover. You would think that if he did, he would be inclined to use her to further drive a wedge between Sam and Madeline. Though as I think about it now, maybe he sees eliminating Marion as a way to bring Sam and Madeline back together, thus "saving" her from a terrible fate at Norma's hands.

I'm also fascinated by the character of Chick, who I really didn't like in seasons past, but now I feel like he is a real element of unpredictability in a story we (likely) already know the end to - he's a very unique character.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:56 AM on March 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Marion (talking to her boss): "With Janet leaving..."
Subtle nod to Janet Leigh there :)
posted by crossoverman at 4:04 AM on March 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

My Rihanna-obsessed wife (who is somehow totally hooked on Bates without ever having seen Psycho) is... concerned about what is going to happen to Marion, and I am trying not to spill any beans.

I totally get how someone might not have seen Psycho (I watched it alone on late-night TV in the early 70s when I was like 12 years old, knowing zero about it in advance, and words cannot express how freaking traumatizing that was, in the days before Halloween or Freddy Krueger).

But it must be a rare feat for any adult alive today to avoid knowing pretty much all the key giant plot elements of the movie since they're embedded so hard in the common culture, at least in North America. I mean, pretty much everybody knows about the thing that happens to the person, for instance, and precisely where it occurs. People refer to it in random conversation all the time. So it's extra-awesome that Mrs. Steady is unspoilerized for the cavalcade of Bates Motel final season fun.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:02 PM on March 29, 2017

It's weirdly fascinating watching how her "background radiation" knowledge of the movie has informed her watching the show. Basically, she knows "a guy who is obsessed with his mother and sometimes dresses like her stabs someone in the shower". She saw Norma's death coming for a while on the show, but didn't know for sure if the mother in the movie was dead or not, so it was a bit more surprising for her than it was for me. She's also kind of put two and two together that Marion Crane is probably the one that gets killed in the shower, but isn't 100% sure.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:00 AM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]