Bates Motel (2013-17)
"A contemporary prequel to Psycho, giving a portrayal of how Norman Bates' psyche unravels through his teenage years, and how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma, truly is."
Now, this show took me by surprise. As a fan of the original film, Psycho, I had certain expectations. But this show blew all of them right out of the water.
Cast
Freddie Highmore and my love for the movie were the initial reasons why I added this to my watch list. I grew up watching Highmore in films like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and the Spriderwick Chronicles. His portrayal of Norman is really the greatest role I've seen him in in the 15+ years I've watched him. He was able to present so many different sides of the character, from the sly, charismatic Norman, to the emotional, innocent Norman, to the Mother. As the seasons progressed, so did my awe and admiration to one of my favorite actors of all time. Especially in those final seasons, I was extremely proud and was excited to watch all of his scenes.
Vera Farmiga as Norma Bates was a surprise to me. And it was only a surprise because I didn't know she was the mom. I love Farmiga, and this quickly became one of my favorite roles of hers within the first couple episodes. Because of the movie, we know that Norma is dead in the end. So the way the show presented us a very relatable Norma to connect with made her death on the show emotionally impactful. The whole series, you see her go through one trauma to another, not to mention the baggage of her past she dragged with her to White Pine. You want her to win so badly, but every time she had a moment of good, you have to remind yourself she dies, and it becomes bitter sweet. As much as we root for her, we also see how her horrible choice making impacts those around her, especially Norman. The tale of Norma is certainly a tragedy, and even days after finishing the series, I'm still grieving.
Norma and Norman are the heart of the show. The way Freddie and Vera play off each other in their scenes is film magic. While I'm sure they rehearse, I just get the sense that they play out their dialogue in an organic, lively way, making their emotions seem so natural and raw. I also really love seeing the shift between the two characters as to who has the control in the conversation. In early seasons, It's usually Norma that has the more dominant voice. But as Norman reaches the climax of his psychotic state, it's Norman who has now mastered manipulation and held Norma in the palm of his hand until she dies. This still continues in the final season between Norman and "Mother." You see the dominance shift back in forth to indicated who has control of Norman and it was really interesting to watch.
Nestor Carbonell, Max Thieriot, and Olivia Cook as Romero, Dylan, and Emma were all wonderful as well. They each had different moments of shine and emotion throughout the season as we watch the Bates family fall apart. While Emma was more as a friendly side character who was the closest thing to normal we got, the impact that Dylan and Romero had on the story were much more significant. It really helped to have talented actors behind them to enforce their impact. I'll bring them back up on my section on Death, as it seems very appropriate to have a section about death in this review/essay.
Writing
The writing of this show was extremely good. Until Norman's state of mind became the focus of the last few seasons, it was important to invent stories to help the first few seasons lead up to that. The great thing is that there was very little filler. Even scenes that felt like filler were part of the main plot. Every aspect of every story had a purpose to help develop all the main characters. This would've been harder to do, and probably boring, had this been a show that had 20 episodes a season instead of 10, so it worked out well. Everything always came together in the end and always ended in a cohesive season finale from start to finish.
There have been so many remakes, reboots, etc., that have all been either hit or miss. It's always a risky move to make too many changes because it may be seen as a disrespect to the original source material. This did not happen with the Bates Motel one bit. The show modernized the story of Norman and made several changes to the overall story. However, there were so many parallels and Easter eggs to the film that were celebrated details. The show became it's own entity, so when they changed the entire plot of Psycho in the final season, it not only worked, but was a fantastic plot twist.
Season Breakdown
Seasons 1 and 2 were fairly slow and may throw viewers off before the really good stuff. Starting from the pilot, the only expectation is to see Norman become the Psycho and kill Marion in the shower. But before we got to that, the first two seasons established the setting, the characters, and overall arcs of the series. So while we don't see Norman go on a total killing spree just yet, with only a couple major murders on his part, we see some traumatic experiences that start to drive him closer to that state of mind. The season 2 finale was the end of the beginning as the episode ends with Freddie Highmore doing the infamous look made so famous by Anthony Perkins in the original 1960 film.
Season 3 is the big turning point. Norman really starts to become unhinged as the Mother in him takes more of a role. Norma really starts to go crazy as she begins to loose more and more control of Norman and her life. Romero is done dealing with literally everybody and is throwing hands left and right. Dylan is finally starting to feel part of the family after all the drama from past seasons, yet is now dealing with escalating problems with his mom and brother. Episode 6 is one of my favorite episodes in the series because everyone was having a mental breakdown and it was so much fun to watch.
Season 4 was bittersweet. We are showered in a false sense of security with the majority of it. Norman is at Pine View, actually making efforts to get better. Dylan and Emma's' romance that kind of came of nowhere progresses. But the stars of this season were definitely Norma and Romero. Those two weeks were probably the happiest they'd been in a long time. Norma was as honest as can be and Romero was head over heels. After seasons of awkward encounters and cute moments, we see some of their best scenes here. But it sucks because we know Norma is going to die soon, we just don't know how or when. Episode 2 was the scariest episode of the series, while the ending of episode 9 hits deep, no matter how many times you watch it.
After the depression that was season 4, season 5 is so much fun. The Psycho is finally here. Norman is a proper serial killer now. We see the lead up and the altered events of the psycho film. And I'm telling you, I don't care about the changes, but seeing Norman kill someone in the shower was literally what the entire series was leading up to. I was extremely satisfied. I loved the role of the Mother in this season. It was genius how they played out the scenes when she had complete control over Norman. The way they played with reflections and clean cuts between Norman and Mother were so well done and made that 2nd half the season so fun to watch. I was also really satisfied with the finale. It's so hard to end any show, but Bates Motel did great. And it is now in my top 10 favorite shows of all time.
Death
To end this essay, I got to talk about the three most significant deaths, starting with Normas's. Now we all knew it was coming. We just didn't know how or when. She was about to end it with Romero, and also become estranged once again form her other son, because when it comes to Norman, nothing else matters. Things were so great until they weren't. You can see just how heart broken she is that evening as Norman comforts her with a happy conversation and sings her to sleep. And that's when Norman attempted a murder suicide with a haunting cover of Mr. Sandman playing in the background. I can write a whole analysis to this scene and the psychology of it all, but I feel that I went too far with this review as it is. But Norma's death was such a devastation just because of how she ended things after everything. At least she went peacefully. But I would still put this down as one of the saddest fictional deaths I've ever seen.
Of course it was Romero who was at the scene of the crime. Poor guy was stuck in the weirdest most tragic love triangle of all time. I hated his story in season 5. I feel like there was a whole build up on his revenge just for his actions to be used as a device to get Norman back home with Dylan at the end of the episode. So because of that, I'm not satisfied with his death, but it did make sense that he had to die. In the movie, it's implied Norman killed his mother and "her lover," whoever that was. It happens in a similar way. And Romero does die a few feet away from Norma's frozen body. I'm just glad he didn't waste away in prison though. That would've been a much worse disappointment.
Norman's final hours and the psychotic episode that went with it were poetic in a way. Of course he's in a pleasant state of mind as if him and his mom had the fresh start they were really looking for. Dylan taking the final shot reunited him with Norma in a way, which is what he wanted. Norman tried suicide twice in the past, so he welcomed death in that moment. I also think Dylan was always meant to take his own brother down. Romero's death wasn't in vain because his actions led to Norman's death. And Dylan achieved a bit of redemption for himself, since Norma died the moment Dylan left her behind. And in the end, Norman and Norma were carried out in body bags side by side, buried side by side where they will remain together forever.
And with that, lies the tragic tale of the Bates Motel.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆