March 18, 2016

Warning: Spoilers regarding both BATES MOTEL and the PSYCHO series follow.

Holy smokes! A&E’s BATES MOTEL is only 2 episodes into their 4th season and it’s been off to a (pun intended) killer start! Despite being well versed in the previous incarnations of Norman Bates’ story through either the PSYCHO films or the Robert Bloch novels, what I love about the show is the writers have kept us guessing on exactly how everything will unfold in this version.

They’ve taking a lot of liberties, especially considering its set in modern day, but also, they’ve done plenty of homages to connect the series to the original PSYCHO. For example, on the first episode of Season 4 “A Danger To Himself And Others,” we got a fun little nod to the original movie by seeing how Norman acquired that cute little bunny toy that ends up in his bedroom in PSYCHO. (Detailed in our previous article here.)

So here’s the thing – and again, this is a huge spoiler if you’ve never seen PSYCHO.

Still here? Great.

Norman Bates inevitably kills his mother and her lover. Poisons them both with strychnine, a nasty and slow way to expire. Consumed by the guilt of matricide, Norman steals her body before it’s buried and performs taxidermy on it the same way he had done with small animals as a hobby for years. In the movie continuity, it’s the introduction of the new man in Norma’s life that sets Norman off.

It’s only briefly mentioned in the conclusion of the original movie, but it’s outlined and detailed in PSYCHO IV: THE BEGINNING. In the movie version, Norma’s repressed sexuality completely stifles and confuses Norman, a young impressionable kid that literally has no social interaction with anyone besides his mother. He’s also at the height of puberty and the Norma of the movies (Olivia Hussey) will do things with her son that border on completely inappropriate, and then scold him, put him in a dress and lock him in the closet after getting an erection from rolling around together on the floor. If you haven’t seen PSYCHO IV, you should. It’s a pretty sicko movie!

Despite having a complete aversion to “sex,” Norma randomly comes home one day with Chet Rudolph, a local bartender who immediately moves in with the two and helps to take over the motel. It’s not that Norman’s upset because his mother came home with a man. But it’s this man. This douchey, arrogant, sleazy bartender that has super loud sex with his mother and walks around wearing nothing but his late father’s bathrobe. So yeah, you know from the moment you meet Chet that this isn’t going to end well.

Now, in the movies, it definitely feels as though the way Norma treated Norman was very much a part of him becoming who he became. The show has immediately told us that Norman is mentally ill and it’s inherently in him to become a murderer. The plan for the series is to end it with season 5, so this is it. We’ve got less than 18 episodes for everything to wrap itself up. Norman has already been committed, and Norma is well aware of how dangerous he is.

How is he going to get out of the mental institute? Is he going to be able to convince them that his mother was responsible for all the bad mojo around him? He is charming and unassuming, so it’s possible. But more importantly, when is Norma going to meet the man that drives Norman over the edge. Or has she already?

Norma has had several lovers over the course of the last 4 seasons, but the most unexpected is her current beau. It appears as of this next episode, she’ll be marrying (!) Sheriff Romero! Now, I like Sherriff Romero. And Nester Carbonell has done a terrific job at making him a sympathetic bad-ass. He’s definitely no angel and we’ve seen him do questionable things throughout the series, but it’s always been in the best interest of his town. But now, he’s marrying Norma, primarily so that she can use his insurance to support Norman’s current predicament. Or is there more to it? Romero definitely has some kind of feelings for Norma. Is it mutual?

Sheriff Romero also knows what Norman is capable of. In order for Norman Bates to end up as the proprietor of the Bates Motel as we see him in PSYCHO, Norma, his brother Dylan and Sheriff Romero would have to be out of the picture. So is Sheriff Romero the man Norma hooks up with that Norman is destined to murder? Fan theories vote yes.

Maybe now that Norman is committed, Norma will allow herself to get swept up in the developing romantic relationship with Romero and that will drive Norman insanely jealous. Or maybe we have yet to meet this man. Either way, it’ll be fun to see how it all plays out.