Bates Motel - Season 1 Premiere - Recap and Review
Bates Motel has finally opened.
Norman Bates, played by Freddie Highmore, embodies everything you expect him to be. Just judging by his slim, delicate appearance, Highmore plays the role of the ‘different’ kid – the awkward one who doesn’t quite fit into the pack at school, the one who isn’t quite familiar with adolescent social etiquette, and the one who possesses quirks, habits and fantasies that people won’t understand. However, there is a major difference that makes him highly captivating. Conventional portrayals of the ‘loner’ are often seen wallowing in self-deprecation and self-pity, but Norman doesn’t fit that mold. Instead, he is comfortable challenging that common perception of him, asking “What is so different about me?” and effortlessly projects a uniquely attractive wise aura, calm and collectedness about him and as it transpires, clearly makes him quite attractive to the people around him – his peers, his teacher, and most importantly, his mother.
Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates Credit: A&E
The episode begins with Norman discovering the corpse of his dead father in the basement through what appeared to be a sudden surge of intensified internal instinct. In complete shock, he calls for his mother Nora, played by Vera Farmiga, for help but Nora shows little to no concern at the news. Instead, she shuffles in her bathing robe to the scene of the crime and only tries to make sure Norman is comforted, shedding no tear for her husband.
As a way of letting go of the past – six moths later, Nora and Norman depart their old home and enter the new – an entire motel that was originally closed due to foreclosure. Nora giddily shares her plan to actually run a business, and despite her frantic excitement, Norman remains a little hesitant and unconvinced, but nonetheless still accepts his mother’s plans and proposals. Six months is not nearly enough time to grieve the death of a major figure in the family, particularly for a 17 year old, but both maintain an oddly open and optimistic air. An interesting relationship begins to surface as we receive glimpses of how Nora and Norman overcome their grief (if there was any to begin with). Nora puts on a rather juvenile personality by brushing any trouble or qualm with laughter, smiles and melodramatic joy whilst Norman, as highlighted above, projects a sense of indifference. We quickly discover that the process of moving around and ‘starting afresh’ is not foreign to Norman and that it’s almost a tradition of his mother to keep changing lifestyles whenever she pleases and without telling others.
Nora receives a phone call from Norman’s brother who questions why she didn’t tell him they moved. Not much is told about Norman’s relationship with his brother, but it seems as though there isn’t a relationship with Nora. His brother asks Nora for money, but Nora decides to hang up.
Norman Bates, Freddie Highmore at his most "cool". Credit: A&E
It becomes gradually apparent that there is something quite unusual about the town, as Norman begins to confront a series of rather peculiar events – meeting a group of female students, led by one named Bradley, who seem to be oddly fixated in him and facing the rather psychotic ex-owner of the motel, Kevin who unapologetically threatens to reclaim the property. Hearing that “There are secrets in every nook and cranny in the house”, Norman also begins to find interesting items lying in conspicuous places such as a book filled with sadomasochism themed illustrations of young nude girls.
Nora and Norman’s relationship becomes strained and truer colors seem to peek through after Norman comes home one day with a teacher’s advisory request for him to try out for the school track team. Nora instantly displays displeasure and as much as she tries to hide it and substantiate it objectively by telling Norman that she needs his help to run and furnish the motel, her persistence to withhold her son of something that most mothers would love for a teenage son seems to indicate that there is something deeper to their relationship. To make things worse, when the girls come and visit the motel, inviting Norman out, Nora is quick to shut that opportunity down again, quickly setting off a surprising outburst of Norman’s temper and anger. Norman decides to sneak out by jumping out of his window, foreshadowing the fact that the quiet, untouched, collected veneer, or as Bradley puts it, “the beautiful still deep lake in an concrete world” may just be suppressing an unstable, boiling rage and a renegade disposition.
As Norman is out, Kevin ambushes Nora violently, crashing into the house and tying her up. Nora desperately calls out Norman’s name, but I question whether or not it’s a call for him to flee and protect himself or a call for him to save her. Kevin reveals that it’s not the property he wants, but instead Nora, as he continues to tie her down and rape her. Norman does fortunately come to the rescue and helps her to chain him up, but as he steps out momentarily, Nora violently stabs Kevin multiple times. Norman returns to witness the bloody scene and on top of that, his mother sitting on top of him holding the knife. Unfortunately for them, it seems as though their ideal picture of a new life has just tarnished in a matter of seconds, as the dream to start afresh only intensifies the burdens and nightmares of the past.
Norman impressively stays levelheaded, even coming to the defense of his mother by comforting her that it was an act of self-defense even though Nora very well knows it was not. He stays extremely loyal by her side to help cleaning up the mess, hiding the corpse, playing along with the prompts of her Nora when the police happened to stop by, and eventually rowing a boat to dispose the body in the sea. Nora recognizes leaps and bounds how much Norman is doing for her, and she confesses her great sense of guilt to drag him into her chaos. “No one’s ever helped us. Everybody I’ve ever known has sucked. Except you.” The question arises. Who is really the adult and who is the child? You begin to wonder if Nora in reality is dependent on Norman and her highly oppressive behavior is really a result of her fear of losing her one and only source of sanity.
Nora discovers the news that a new bypass is being built in the area, which means that many visitors or tourists won’t even see or know of the motel. Although this initially troubles her, she remains headstrong to find ways to go about it and make things work with Norman by her side smirking and confidently reassuring her that “she always does.”
The first episode was definitely a very well paced glimpse into the different facets of the two main characters, gleaming across the highs and lows of each character as a taste of what’s to come. I think Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore definitely quickly established a mesmerizingly poignant relationship, and even though many of us who have watched Psycho expect exploration of incestuous themes in the later episodes, that aspect was highlighted gracefully and invitingly through simple nuances of certain words, language and a simple smirk. It's not easy playing the awkward kid because it's an archetype we've seen so much of on the big screen and on the television screen, but Freddie does bring something refreshing to this character. I'm not sure if I can pinpoint what that is yet, apart from the reasons I expressed earlier, but he's definitely different, (whether or not Norman wants to admit it or not.). Being an ardent fan of the classic horror, I notice that Bates Motel is really bringing back the original meaning of this genre - aspects that are human. I have been aching for the premiere for the season and I am curious to see whether or not this prequel to Psycho lives up to the latter’s iconic status. Just from this episode alone, I think it's on it's way. What did you guys think of this premiere?