Bates Motel - Season 1 Episode 5 - Recap

In an increasingly lonely world, Norman finds strength from Dylan and begins to fully embrace the idea of brotherhood.  "Ocean View" takes us even deeper into the character of Dylan, as his values are tested when a surprising gesture from his colleague leads to a shocking tragedy.

Check below for this week's episode of Bates Motel here.

Norman (Freddie Highmore) returns home from his night with Bradley (Nicola Peltz), feeling accomplished and love-struck only to confront the fact that his mother has just been arrested. Together with Dylan (Max Thieriot) , they visit Norma (Vera Farmiga) in jail and Norman asks what he can do to help At a loss as to why his son wasn’t there at the time she needed him the most, Norma is convinced Dylan’s gotten into Norman’s head and convinced him to turn against her and asks both of them to leave. Dylan and Norman both give separate attempts to persuade Norma to regain their trust and accept their offers of help, but Norma turns her back against them both.

The news of Norma’s arrest spreads around town and Emma (Olivia Cooke) visits Norman to console him, offering him a chance to stay with her. In order to find ways to save Norman from Norma's control, Dylan tries to ask his colleague, Ethan, if there are advancement opportunities at work so that he could receive more money to have his own apartment.  

Emma joins Norman to bail Norma out of jail. Norman finally shares his discoveries and asks Emma not to overreact. Norman reveals that he saw the Asian hostage in the basement of the Deputy’s house, but refuses to share how he saw it, because if he did, he’d have to let Emma know about his involvement with Keith’s death. Emma becomes more frantic, and bombards a slew of questions but Norman insists that his mother is his first priority. Emma asks whether Norma is guilty and states that she wont blame her because Keith “was a dick” but Norman relaxingly states that Norma did not commit the crime. Norman manages to successfully bail Norma out of jail and even greets her with flowers but she is still not impressed and maintaining as little eye contact with Norman as possible. When asked, “When are you going to look at me?”, Norma reluctantly gives Norman a blank and condescending stare to please him.

Despite all the concrete evidence that prove Norma’s killed Keith such as the matching carpet fibers, Norma still insists she did not do anything and dismisses any help or advice from her attorney, Rebecca and claims that there is a town-wide conspiracy against her. She storms out of the consultation, and when Norman tries to reason with her, Norma uproariously continues to dismiss everything he has to say as she believes that getting laid was more important to him than protecting her mother. Norma is insistent that Dylan is at fault and expresses how betrayed she feels that Norman revealed her secrets to him. Norman whimpers that he genuinely feels scared of Norma and believes that she needs help.  Taken aback by Norman’s revelation of his true feelings, Norma demands him to leave the car. As he stays put, Norma physically pulls him out and continues to drive away.

Dylan (Max Thieriot) offers Norman (Freddie Highmore) a ride after he gets kicked out of the car by Norma. Credit: A&E

Whilst he walks the rest of the way, Dylan comes to the rescue. ‘Officially’ welcoming him to “the doghouse”, he offers him a ride home and Norman reaches a blissful moment of connection with the half brother he never knew. Norman still feels that he’s obligated to help Norma, but Dylan advises that she is an addict who is attached to drama and that the best way to deal with an addict is to walk away and ‘leave the nest’. Dylan shares his plans of getting an apartment of his own and recommends Norman to stay with him and to live life detached from his mother’s puppeteering strings. Despite Dylan’s proposals, Norman stays firm on his values, agrees to disagree with Dylan, stating that one “does not just walk away from their parents”.

Dylan (Max Thieriot) meets Ethan (Terry Chen) after discussing advancement opportunities. Credit: A&E

The next day, Ethan offers Dylan the money he wished for in a car, and explains that it is out of his own pocket. Ethan believes Dylan’s worth investing in and believes that Dylan is responsible with money and will be able to return the money in the future. A man surprises Ethan as he walks up to the car. Ethan recognizes him but he is not familiar enough to address him with a proper name but knows he is trouble as he sneers at the mere sight of him. The man shoots Ethan and runs away. Dylan drives him to the hospital immediately and Ethan gets sent off into the emergency ward.

Norma secretly meets the Deputy and he apologizes that he sent her to the station. The Deputy tries to make a deal with Norma to not see each other for a period of time, but Norma instantly assumes that the Deputy is also turning against her and leaves in a tantrum. The Deputy contends that his love for her is genuine and promises to figure out something to save her. At his office, the Deputy begins to unplug all security cameras, find the fiber sample evidence and hide it, just in time before anybody notices.

Going home, Dylan passes the man who shot Ethan, and as he tries to flee, Dylan runs him over.

Norma receives a call from her attorney that the case is over due to the fact that the police have lost the fiber sample. Norma knows exactly what happened and breathes a heavy sigh of relief. Ecstatic, she puts down all her anger and disdain for Norman and rushes back to speak with him to share her joy but Norman is apathetic that it was the Deputy who is saving the day again.

Emma, more motivated than ever conducts her own research into Keith Summers. Asking herself “If I had an Asian sex slave, where would I hide her?” she tries to find other properties owned by the Deputy that could be potential places to hide a shady business. She suspects that the Deputy was in a joint partnership with Keith and as Keith died, his properties might also be an ideal hiding spot. Meanwhile, as Emma shares her speculations, Norman is constantly distracted by his phone messages and decides to tell Emma his relationship with Bradley. The news doesn’t sink in for Emma and hiding her tears; she tells herself that it’s nothing more than a ‘hookup’.

Despite Norman’s qualms of getting arrested for trespassing, they hunt out the ship late at night and crash inside to find the Asian girl, Jiao. They find her trapped in a closet and they take her back to the motel. Norma finds Emma’s car parked by the motel and crashes into the room to finally meet the Asian woman she presumed was in Norman’s imagination. Jiao bluntly states that she was locked in the Deputy’s basement, but Norma cannot comprehend that a man who has done so much to save her life could do so much to ruin another’s. She finds a picture of the Deputy in order for Jiao to confirm his identity, and to her dismay, she tells Norma that he is the one.

Next week, can Norma come to the realisation that the man of her dreams is not what he appears to be? Has the Deputy officially swooned her with his courageous acts to save her and won her loyalty for life?