Bates Motel: Forever
May 9, 2016 7:47 PM - Season 4, Episode 9 - Subscribe
Norma and Norman attempt to reconnect as they plan for the future; Dylan and Romero decide to take action for Norman's own good.
Bates Motel has always been one of those Best Shows You're Not Watching for me, but I think it's safe to say it leveled up with this (almost) final episode of the season. The registers closing. Fuck. Fuck. What an amazing thing to build to for three years. That sequence was as good as anything on Breaking Bad, Mad Men, or any of the decade's big celebrated shows, and now the series looks to be headed to its strangest (yet most familiar) place yet. We haven't really been talking about Bates Motel (and why not!), but it seemed to me if we were ever going to...
Bates Motel has always been one of those Best Shows You're Not Watching for me, but I think it's safe to say it leveled up with this (almost) final episode of the season. The registers closing. Fuck. Fuck. What an amazing thing to build to for three years. That sequence was as good as anything on Breaking Bad, Mad Men, or any of the decade's big celebrated shows, and now the series looks to be headed to its strangest (yet most familiar) place yet. We haven't really been talking about Bates Motel (and why not!), but it seemed to me if we were ever going to...
Thanks for posting this. There was an attempt to have an ongoing Fanfare for the show at one point that immediately fizzled out. I love this fucking thing so much -- not that it's flawless, but Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore are so magnificent in every single minute, and their characters are so complex and interesting.
This was really a heartbreaking episode, all the way through. Norman, despite being so lost and creepy, does also really understand a fair amount about his mother and his role in her life, as he described to the doctor. And yeah, it was painful to see Norma and Alex being happy in the past few weeks, knowing that even if she managed to stick to her guns and stay happy and not revert back to Overprotective Mommy mode, Norman wouldn't stand for it. The farewell scene in Norma's bedroom: "we're both charming people." And they really are, in their own horrific, sweet way.
About Norma's life expectancy, the show assumes that the audience has seen Psycho, but I don't know if this thread does, in terms of what is or isn't considered a spoiler, so I'm not going to comment on that.
Norman being released from the institution just because he and Norma ask with big puppy-dog eyes, despite the fact that he's clearly pretty disturbed, does strain credulity a bit, but on the other hand, everyone is insanely concealing the 400 metric tons of detail they know about the "danger to self or others" issue. If the doc knew even a tiny bit of that, he'd file the commitment papers in a nanosecond. I can buy that Norma is too fucked-up and co-dependent to care anything about all these dead women or her own well-being, but Dylan just walking away without telling Alex everything he knows and suspects really sticks in my craw. He's pretty much knowingly consigning Norma and Norman to perdition. I know the whole family is screwed-up and damaged, and the plot depends on Norman's problems being under the radar for many more years, but still.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:39 PM on May 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
This was really a heartbreaking episode, all the way through. Norman, despite being so lost and creepy, does also really understand a fair amount about his mother and his role in her life, as he described to the doctor. And yeah, it was painful to see Norma and Alex being happy in the past few weeks, knowing that even if she managed to stick to her guns and stay happy and not revert back to Overprotective Mommy mode, Norman wouldn't stand for it. The farewell scene in Norma's bedroom: "we're both charming people." And they really are, in their own horrific, sweet way.
About Norma's life expectancy, the show assumes that the audience has seen Psycho, but I don't know if this thread does, in terms of what is or isn't considered a spoiler, so I'm not going to comment on that.
Norman being released from the institution just because he and Norma ask with big puppy-dog eyes, despite the fact that he's clearly pretty disturbed, does strain credulity a bit, but on the other hand, everyone is insanely concealing the 400 metric tons of detail they know about the "danger to self or others" issue. If the doc knew even a tiny bit of that, he'd file the commitment papers in a nanosecond. I can buy that Norma is too fucked-up and co-dependent to care anything about all these dead women or her own well-being, but Dylan just walking away without telling Alex everything he knows and suspects really sticks in my craw. He's pretty much knowingly consigning Norma and Norman to perdition. I know the whole family is screwed-up and damaged, and the plot depends on Norman's problems being under the radar for many more years, but still.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:39 PM on May 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
Romero has to know that Norman gassed himself and Norma, right? It's a totally fair cliffhanger, but I'm still kind of frustrated that I won't get to see how it plays out until next year!
What I love about Norma's dilemma at the end of this season is that we've had three previous seasons that were just chock full of shitty men trying to push her around because they thought they knew better than her. So her "This again? No, I'm DONE." reaction was completely earned, and completely plausible, despite the fact that Dylan and Alex are actually right in this case.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:28 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
What I love about Norma's dilemma at the end of this season is that we've had three previous seasons that were just chock full of shitty men trying to push her around because they thought they knew better than her. So her "This again? No, I'm DONE." reaction was completely earned, and completely plausible, despite the fact that Dylan and Alex are actually right in this case.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:28 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
episode 10 is set to air on May 16th so unless they don't show at all what happened we should see next week! (Rocking back and forth until we find out.)
And yes I agree that Norma is untrusting of men due to her past but of course her codependency with Norman plays into it a lot as well and she can't see that herself. Oof.
posted by Crystalinne at 9:03 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
And yes I agree that Norma is untrusting of men due to her past but of course her codependency with Norman plays into it a lot as well and she can't see that herself. Oof.
posted by Crystalinne at 9:03 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh! For some reason, I thought this was the last episode of the season. Still a hell of a cliffhanger, though.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:33 AM on May 12, 2016
posted by tobascodagama at 7:33 AM on May 12, 2016
Romero has to know that Norman gassed himself and Norma, right?
I'm pretty sure he'll realize that immediately, but that note Norma left him with the ring could be spun into seeming like a suicide note by Norman, the authorities, or Norma if she survives since she'd take the blame in a hot second. I'm betting she's dead now, though since next season is the final one; that gives Norman time to . . . do some things that precede the movie and also completely lose his shit from the trauma and guilt. And we'll still get to see lots of Vera! along the way, god help us.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:49 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure he'll realize that immediately, but that note Norma left him with the ring could be spun into seeming like a suicide note by Norman, the authorities, or Norma if she survives since she'd take the blame in a hot second. I'm betting she's dead now, though since next season is the final one; that gives Norman time to . . . do some things that precede the movie and also completely lose his shit from the trauma and guilt. And we'll still get to see lots of Vera! along the way, god help us.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:49 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
What I love about Norma's dilemma at the end of this season is that we've had three previous seasons that were just chock full of shitty men trying to push her around because they thought they knew better than her. So her "This again? No, I'm DONE." reaction was completely earned, and completely plausible, despite the fact that Dylan and Alex are actually right in this case.
Good point. That's part of what made her "You know what? Go ahead, do your worst, asshole!" moment with Chick on the bridge (and her various other "Oh, piss off!" moments over the years) so damn cathartic and beautiful. What a great, great character she is.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:07 AM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
Good point. That's part of what made her "You know what? Go ahead, do your worst, asshole!" moment with Chick on the bridge (and her various other "Oh, piss off!" moments over the years) so damn cathartic and beautiful. What a great, great character she is.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:07 AM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yes, Norma Bates is definitely in the top ten characters on television, ever.
I didn't think of Norma's note being used as evidence of suicidal intent, but that's extremely plausible. Only if Romero isn't in charge of the investigation, though. Which I guess he wouldn't be, since at least in theory he could be a potential suspect?
posted by tobascodagama at 12:02 PM on May 12, 2016
I didn't think of Norma's note being used as evidence of suicidal intent, but that's extremely plausible. Only if Romero isn't in charge of the investigation, though. Which I guess he wouldn't be, since at least in theory he could be a potential suspect?
posted by tobascodagama at 12:02 PM on May 12, 2016
It's devastating and it shocked the hell out of me, but I can't imagine Norma isn't dead. That scene was just too damn big and epic to walk back. They've been building to it from minute one, and it played as beautifully as, frankly, anything I have ever seen on television. Vera Farmiga will still be with us, but there's just no way that Norma as we know her isn't gone.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:06 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:06 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I just want to point out the lighting in the scene where Norman wakes up to go turn on the furnace, which makes Norma's face resemble a gaunt skull with no eyes.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:43 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 8:43 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
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This season has really been going well. The acting is amazing. I realized a while ago that's the kid from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and I giggled.
There's such a strange pull of wanting him to be caught and get help but also of wanting to see the story develop and see him spiral down. This episode was heartbreaking because Norma just can't accept that someone may care about her and that she needs to separate herself from her sick child. I was on the edge of my seat at the end because I was like, "what's going to happen! Will she wake up? ahhhhhhh!"
It really feels like we're moving closer and closer to the full character development, especially with the hole-in-the-wall of the motel.
I'm still a little baffled by the doctor allowing him to leave when he knows he's having blackouts and dissociative identity disorder episodes. If he doesn't remember what he's doing when he's Norma, and the doctor knows that, then how could he release him? Anyone shed some light on that part? It seems like he could even accidentally be doing something dangerous and not realize it like walking in the street or cooking....
I felt that he got out of it a little too easily. Like they moved that plot line a little too quick and the doctor was a little too "Okay as long as I see you three days a week!" I understand that otherwise he had to go to court and make it a big deal, but.. I dunno. Seemed a little too easy.
But yea, so much to discuss but I want to hear what other people think but I could write a ton about this season. This episode really supports my theory that Norma doesn't die from old age, but he kills her at some point because his Norma and real Norma are at odds. Thoughts?
posted by Crystalinne at 6:24 PM on May 10, 2016 [2 favorites]