Bates Motel - Episode 3 and 4 Recap and Review

The unyielding and guarded ambiance of the town and its citizens begins to dissolve as main characters begin to uncover their emotions and soft spots, but this week on Bates Motel, Norma and Norman goes through the test of finding out who they can really trust.

Last week, the episode began as Dylan informs Norma about receiving a job but refrains from sharing any details.

Emma expresses her fear about being chased or hunted by the men at the pot farm. Emma reveals that she had no intention of exploring the woods to discover the truth behind the book but instead she only wanted to spend more time with Norman. However, after finding the shed in the pictures, she’s now convinced there is some validity to her suspicions and wishes to fully commit to unraveling the mystery. Norman reacts rather defensively to this confession, dismissing how seriously she takes the book. Deep inside, Norman experiences the same attachment, and his obsession with the book starts to spiral out of the control. Norman begins to have fantasies of his teacher being the subject of the pornographic images and blacks out during class time.

Visiting Norman in the hospital, Norma doesn’t seem as concerned as she should be. No surprise there. When asked whether or not Norman has ever had any blackout episodes before, she first declines but something in her eyes indicates that she’s lying. Bradley makes a visit and confides in Norman about her fears of losing her father. She soon realizes Norman’s gone through grief and loss after losing his father. She feels a sense of comfort and reassurance that she’s not alone in her struggles.

Dylan’s taken to the location of his work in the forest and his job turns out to be a guard for the weed farm that Norman and Emma stumbled into.

The Sherriff and a team of cops unexpectedly crash into the hotel with a warrant, before Norma can fully replace the carpets and hide every trace of evidence. She rushes to see Norman for advice and support. Back at the hospital, she learns that Norman’s vital tests showed no medical issues, and she quickly takes advantage of that news and takes him home, even though the doctor still wanted him to stay overnight. It’s increasingly apparent that Norma needs him at home to help her feel secure. Norma cannot function without a secondary voice of reason, but whilst Norman usually manages to keep his cool - after realizing the police have discovered what he hid under his bed, Norman begins to break.

Feeling as though his secret has been exposed, Norman tries his best to stay collected, although he’s clearly shaken. He confesses to Norma that he kept the belt of Keith and that there was no real motive behind it.

Back in the forest, it is revealed to Dylan that the weed farming is what keeps the town alive and several business owners in town own the land. The question becomes why they have to keep it so heavily guarded when it is such an ‘apparent’ driving force of the community.

Emma tries to reason with Norman and pleads him to help her continue through with the mission they begun. Emma comes up with the suspicion that Keith was the one who brought the women and Bates Motel was where they were abused. Going back to the room where the book was found, there are more and more similarities with the pictures. Emma discovers a Chinese word “?” scribbled underneath the sink that translates to “monster/devil” and it only reaffirms that the girl in the book was real.

In an attempt to be on top of how far the police have come to investigating her, Norma quickly hunts down the Deputy, and pleas for his sympathy for her ordeal with the Sherriff. However, as he is on duty, he’s unfortunately unable to share anything with her. Instead he offers to talk to her later in the day after work, but he insists that there’s nothing to worry about. Norma senses that the Deputy knows about the belt. Later, when they do meet up, the Deputy pushes aside Norma’s smoke and mirror strategy and quickly asks her to just be frank about the belt. The Deputy claims that he’s the one who found the belt and has in fact kept it a secret from the Sherriff. Knowing that Keith can be a bit of a cantankerous and provocative character, the Deputy puts the pieces together and proceeds by asking whether Norman murdered Keith. The Deputy recognizes Norma’s need for taking care of people and protecting them, and encourages her that she must let go of the armor. The Deputy boldly claims that he’ll protect her and they begin to make out.

Dylan slowly sheds his steely exterior to his coworker, admitting his lack of ties and connection to any member of his family. When he returns home, he find Norman, sleepless and restless, waiting for Norma to return, and Dylan convinces him that he cannot continue being so attached and sheltered by her mother. As much as he hates to admit it, Dylan has a spot in his heart for Norman.

Norma returns home to inform Norman about her discoveries. Norma feels temporarily safe, but Norman quickly questions the possibility that the Deputy will use the belt as a product of blackmail to get Norma to do certain things for him. She still can’t quite figure out what would possess Norman to keep an object that is so closely associated with brute violence but as Norman apologizes, Norma tries to put all her worries behind her.

The next day at school, Emma tells Norman that the Chinese character meant “beautiful” (She should also know that it can mean ghost, or spirit too, making that word that much more elusive and haunting) She proposes the idea of informing the police, and at the mere sound of the word ‘police’, Norman snaps violently and tells her that her ideals to save this woman are futile and there is no point to digging into the past. Composing himself, he simply explains that he’s not in the mood to deal with the issue.

That night, as Norman lies in bed, he starts to hallucinate as he sees Norma sit across from him, essentially telling him that he needs to fix the problem that he’s created. As long as the Deputy possesses the belt, she tells him that he has the power to control them just like Norman’s Dad. Norman decides to head over to the Deputy’s house and on the way Dylan passes by him on a motorcycle without him realizing. Dylan, somewhat concerned and confused, decides to follow him. Dylan witnesses Norman crashing in to the Deputy’s home and Norman frantically goes on a spree of opening all doors and closets find the belt. The Deputy’s dog attacks Norman, but he does manage to take with him a set of keys that leads him to a locked basement. In the basement, Norman discovers several king size beds, a disco ball, some romantic decorations and if that’s not surprising enough, a bruised and battered Asian woman in the midst of it all. She wakes up to see Norman and pleads for help.

Bates Motel - Episode 5 - Video Preview - Trust Me

Hiding in the bushes, Dylan sees that the Deputy has just come back home. The Deputy immediately senses that something is amiss. As a distraction to help Norman escape, Dylan pretends to have run out of gas on his bike and asks the Deputy for directions to the nearest gas station. The Deputy hears sounds of struggle and knows that he must tend to it, and tries to dismiss Dylan as quickly as possible. Norman escapes, leaving the woman behind but promises to come back. Dylan confronts Norman about his reasons to invade the Deputy’s house and lets Norman know that he saved him from being caught red handed. Dylan tries to win over Norman’s trust, asking Norman to confess what trouble he is in, but Norman isn’t convinced by Dylan’s offer or gesture.

Norman visits Emma the next morning at her house but is told by her dad that she’s down with the flu and won’t be able to attend school for at least a week. Frantic to share what he’s seen, he asks to see her, but his wish is declined as her father insists she needs rest. Her father however does express that he wants to get to know Norman more because he is aware Emma’s got a crush on him. He is pleased at what he sees of Norman, but requests that Norman acts decent towards her if they were to commit to a relationship.

The Deputy meets up with Norma and unapologetically makes more sexual advances in the car, stroking her leg, and calling her beautiful. His lusty language successfully wins Norma over as they proceed to engage in a let’s say ‘steamy session’ in a room in the motel. As Norma and the Deputy leave the room, Dylan, who is casually waiting outside of their room, surprises them and makes himself known to the Deputy since Norma doesn’t include him in her life. Judging from his experience and knowing that Norma is the type of woman to move from one man to another, Dylan quickly realizes what’s going on behind closed doors. Dylan asks Norma privately how long they’ve been seeing each other and advises her to be careful around him.

Bradley’s dad passes away and she comes to pay her respects at the scene of his death (Opposite the Motel). She starts getting closer to Norman, even admitting that he’s one of the few people she feels comfortable around. Later, Norman bumps into the Deputy and tries to avoid him as much as possible. The Deputy strikes up a conversation with an eerie statement “Death is profound isn’t it?” and he’s evidently trying to manipulate and pull Norman to profess his secrets as he continues to ask Norman to join him fishing at “a spot that nobody knows about. There’s a lot of fish there.” A clever discreet sexual innuendo there! With a very unsettlingly calm smile, the Deputy asks Norman not to run away when he greets him next time.

Norman decides to reveal all his discoveries to Norma about the book and his encounter in the Deputy’s basement, but even though Norma’s intent to lovey it up with the Deputy was to extract more information, it seems as though a real affection for Deputy has taken over. Norma wonders why Norman broke into the Deputy’s house, and even though the story sounded plausible at first, Norman states that he was just following orders from Norma when it was only a hallucination. Norma is convinced Norman’s going out of his mind and ignores his story as she tells him that he’s struggled to differentiate what’s real and what’s not before.

Norma spends a night at the Deputy’s house and checks out the basement but doesn’t discover any trace of the girl. The beds are gone and replaced by boxes, and as she realizes there’s nothing, the Deputy creeps behind her to question what she’s doing there. She admits that she’s just snooping around. She’s now also convinced Norman’s picturing things.

Even though everything else is gone, Norman still has a sign the girl exists as he sees her scratch marks on his ankle when she begged him to help. He shows this to Norma, but Norma wants none of it anymore and insists that Norman is being too paranoid and even insinuates that he’s jealous that he’s not getting as much attention from Norma anymore.

Norman is forced to go fishing with the Deputy and amidst the peaceful nature, the Deputy asks about Norman’s perception and relationship with his father. Norman rejects sharing his personal life, but the Deputy encourages him to change his ways as he tries to convince Norman to believe that he’s trustworthy, loyal and protecting Norma out of his purest interest. Norman reluctantly proclaims his trust to keep the Deputy happy.

The police have now discovered remains of Keith’s corpse in the sea, mainly identified through the watch still on his hand. With more and more traces of Keith being discovered, it’s becoming harder and riskier for the Deputy to hide his knowledge. Norman catches on about the news of the discovery through Bradley.

The Deputy tells Norma that the Sherriff wants her to be at his office for an interrogation. They found carpeting fibers on the hand that match the carpeting at the motel. The Sherriff doesn’t waste any time as he explains his gift for knowing the culprit for crimes. He doesn’t wish for Norma to waste any more time hiding what seems to be very indisputable facts. The Sherriff only has one left need to prove his accusation – the carpet that was soaked with his blood dumped that night. He hasn’t found it yet, but he is certain that he will, seeing there are only a few dumpsters large enough to contain a load of carpeting.

Ever since Norma’s refusal to believe Norman’s story about the Asian woman, Norman has detached himself from Norma, now beating more to his own drum than following the lead of his mother. Norma notices his change of attitude and questions if it had to do with Dylan. Right after the interrogation, they check the dumpster they threw the carpeting as they tried to bet on the minuscule chance that it might still be there. It wasn’t, and Norma tries to find out where the waste there goes. She ends up in the County Waste Recycling Depot but finds it locked. She begins to lose it, and Norman tells her that she should have gone to the police that night of the murder and claimed self-defence. However, Norma still firmly believes in her actions, expressing that she’s suppressed so many feelings over her lifetime and been subjected to so much pain.

In need of someone to vent to, Norman reveals the entire story to Dylan, and he gains his vote of confidence. Dylan seems to believe Norman and is his only source of hope at this point, proving that the unlikeliest of people can always become your best resource. Dylan continues to encourage Norman to have a ‘regular adolescent life’ by helping him approach his fears of dating as well.

Late at night, Norman meets up with Bradley and plays what he does best and the next scene almost seems like it came exactly out of his film “The Art Of Getting By”, as he politely, sincerely charms and reassures Bradley through her tough thoughts and makes love to her. Meanwhile, Norma finds out that Norman’s gone and when Dylan tells her that he’s out with a girl, she refuses to believe it. Dylan argues with Norma as he claims that Norma has ruined his life. Norma doesn’t believe a word of it as Norman has always been loyal to her, but Dylan hints that Norman has told him enough for the legal system to take Norman away from Norma.

The doorbell rings. Thinking it is Norman, she only finds out it’s the police and they have come to arrest her for the murder of Keith Summers. Whether this was because they found the carpet, or whether Dylan told the police is unclear.

Can it be? Norma? Arrested? It'll definitely be a very exciting ride to see just what the Deputy wants from her. He's already made love to her, and judging by next week's previews, he still seems to be willing to help her get out. Perhaps this is just a minor part of a bigger ploy. Allegiances are definitely going to be tested to its limits in the next coming weeks. Norma will have to come to the realisation that Norman's disagreement with her doesn't automatically indicate disloyalty or an absence of support. Norman will have to put aside his preconceived notions and troubling episodes with Dylan as he is the only one who is readily there to help him. The Deputy also faces higher stakes as he defies the Sheriff and the law in secretly trying to assist Norma. Bradley will also have to face an odd love triangle as she has to pick and choose between her actual boyfriend and Norman.

So far, Bates Motel has successfully introduced these coinciding conflicts and I could not be more pleased at the pace that they are being introduced. The downward spiral of Norman is extremely well done. Despite his flaws, Freddie Highmore manages to still retain an element of sincerity and poignancy to him that makes him feel bad for him and wish to reach out to him. Just like any other human being, he captures the consistently fluctuating highs and lows of his life with great honesty. Bearing in mind that most of us have some vague idea of what his fate will become in the future, his guilelessness, naiveté and sense of virtue behind his not as virtuous actions  still makes us wish to root for him.  I also have to commend the scriptwriting in the last two episodes, particularly for the Deputy. Just like Zachary Quinto from American Horror Story, he plays a shadowy figure that utilises his job position as a disguise of credibility, and the language, innuendos and shade (The shade is definitely the best) he throws at Norma and Norman are often sharp, effortless, extremely well-timed, and just that bit awkward enough to make you feel a long-lasting sense of  unease.

I enjoy the fact that the two of the most self-willed characters, Norma and Dylan are slowly showing more and more vulnerability, even though they both don't always like to always admit it. They feel the most apart, but in fact, they are the two that perhaps are the most similar who simply fail to see that they share a lot of common ground. I can't wait to see how their relationship pans out in the future and whether there is still an instinctive mother and son bond there despite the troubles they've gone through.

So, who's lying, who's truthful and who's to trust? What are your thoughts on the characters of Bates Motel?