Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoilers)

[wissaboo]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

I
I thought it odd that the Sheriff just concocted that story without at least giving Norma a hard time. I mean, he knew Keith Summers was dirty, and he certainly had to know his deputy was dirty, so why hassle Norma over Summers in the first place. He could've just chalked up Summers death to the business he was in. .

I figured the sheriff was dirty too and happy to hang the whole thing on those two.

 

[stj]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

Unless the sheriff somehow has the magical ability to falsify every piece of evidence somehow, there is no way his story will hold up. Just for the simplest thing, the bullet in Shelby didn't come from his gun.

Unfortunately, if the sheriff has those magical powers, being dirty is not a problem. He can avenge himself for old buddy Keith's death and Shelby's too. He wouldn't even have to frame Norma and Dylan, and his magic powers would keep him from suffering from blowback.Also, if the sheriff was dirty, then Shelby had no reason to keep any of his activities, including stealing the evidence against Norma.

The simplest explanation is that the rest of the world doesn't really exist in this fictional universe, so no one will ever ask the sheriff to produce any evidence. This is not really a good way to intensify the drama.

The questions about whether any scene is real is tending to undermine the impact. It's distracting.

Monday night was amazing in a completely negative way. The Bones finale was fatuous, Defiance went in for magic and Bates Motel had this mess.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

Who do sheriffs report to?

The Mayor is either a Pot Barron, or in the pocket of Big pot.

Jurisdictionally, state troopers can be told to bugger off.

Like Vampires, they have to be invited in.

The Sheriff can not only falsify his report on this incident but he doesn't even have to commit anything to paper (or database.).

Absolute power = Absolute corruption.

Although if he's an ass about his absolute power, the citizens vote in some other bastard who's going to abuse god and country with some penitence come the next election cycle.

 

[wissaboo]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

Love the new relationship between Norma and the Sheriff. And I knew the sex slave thing wasn't over.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

12 rooms, means that there's another 11 (and an alternate?) sex slaves hidden in the town?

It's the regularity that I don't understand.

1 week out of every month?

May be there's 3 other motels in the area for the rest of the month and the sex never stops?

And even then, it takes a special type of clientèle to only be interested in slaves?

 

[DarKush]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

Last night's episode didn't do much for me. It felt kind of paint by the numbers and the ending felt like a cheap scare.

At least we did get to see Norman learning taxidermy. Though I thought this episode was weak, Vera Farmiga continues to deliver.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

Last night was a set up episode. The last part made me want to heave. Shelby looked gross.

Emma and Dylan are both so wistful. Emma in her poor unrequited love for Norman that is sooooo misplaced and Dylan in his obvious unsuitability for a life of crime. He's obviously not revelling in it. Poor Dylan. He finally had his mother extend him some kindness and invite him to lunch (was that a wistful hint of a smile?) and then she goes and finds a dead body in the house.

 

[degra]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

ok I'm the first to criticize fast pacing but it is though this show went to the other extreme. Can the writers not come up with enough material to make the scenes more satisfying rather than just fill airtime with dead air. It is pretty obvious this show is not going to be able to expertly balance characters and plotlines,,,so far it has been poorly plotted. I can't believe A and E renewed this for a second season but considering the other questionable programs.

too bad really this actually could have been a pretty interesting series in the right capable hands. Keep those dang lost writers away from everything they are clearly hacks capable of only coming up with a cool concept and not knowing what in the world to do with it.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

I'd hardly call it dead air. Norman is slowly unspooling and it's creepy as hell to watch. His smile at Bradley in the hallway and then that dead, evil face of his was unsettling. I still think he snaps and kills the teacher Ms. Watson first.

Of course, when mommy feels free to crawl into bed with you post puberty, it's no wonder the lines are blurred. Norma idles at bipolar. I love the way she just goes past the reception area and starts hitting the real estate man. He was pretty scuzzy for selling her the hotel knowing that a bypass was likely.

Dylan, you stupid stupid boy. You have a savior complex, but the object of your affection is still coveted by your psycho brother. Dylan knows it, too. Norman carrying around that stuffed dog was brutally funny in a sick way. Dylan was like, "Whaaaat?" He sure picked up on that dream meaning something. TPTB have transitioned away from him trying to save his brother to slowly realizing that Norman is cuckoo for cocoa puffs. Kind of sad, but it intrigues; it's an interesting dichotomy, though. Two brothers raised by the same clingy slightly incestuous mother. One fancies himself a white knight, the other one carries around dead dogs and dreams about drowning girls. Yikes.

Not that I can't see the appeal of a teary eyed pretty little blonde looking at the young man and pleading "help me" with her big blue eyes and making him feel like a big shot for being able to get her into her late father's office to pick up momentos.....but damn, Dylan, Norman is going to get medieval on your ass.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

Last night was a set up episode. The last part made me want to heave. Shelby looked gross.

Typical.

A bloke stops going to the gym for a couple weeks and suddenly he can't meet your impossibly high standards.

 

[wissaboo]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

Well, it was a bit of a sleeper but I like the way it set things up for next season. The sheriff/Norma, Dylan/Bradley, and Norman/knives lol

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

I guess the sheriff is a good guy after all. Tossing the money as well as the corpse of dear departed Mr. Abernathy pretty much confirms that; I actually laughed out loud when Mr. Cool knew that Norma was there all along and had followed him. I'm surprised Norma didn't shoot him when he was acting the part of sex trafficker.

I was shocked that they had Norman kill someone so soon. The teacher was inappropriate, but of course that's a far cry from deserving to get your throat slit. My mouth fell open when she didn't close the door. Poor Ms. Watson. That's learning the hard way not to pick up hitchhikers.

Fascinating reveal about Norma's past. I tend to believe what she told Norman; it certainly explains why she doesn't understand proper boundaries with a post pubescent son, and the whole "my dad always smiled and my mother smelled like cookies" idealization to the psychiatrist. Still--is she going to cover up for him? If my son were blacking out, I'd be a little panicked knowing that he already caved in his father's skull whilst in a previous blackout. That, and her incredulous "Why would he be leaving?" to the psychiatrist as if it never occurred to her that her 16 going on 17 year old son might want to move out someday are red flags from hell.

Ahhhh, Dylan and Bradley. There's the wild card situation. Dylan knows just enough to be suspicious of Norman and he does like Bradley though he told Norman he wouldn't go out with her, presumably because he knows Norman liked her. Dylan's a protective person underneath his ever shrinking facade of bravado. He wouldn't have relented on giving the gun to Norma otherwise. I'm liking the set up of this dynamic. The good brother/the bad brother. The protective brother/the violent brother. The stable brother/the unstable brother. Cain and Abel anyone? That was one scary look Norman had on his face when Dylan and Bradley were talking at the house. Just where is this going?

All in all, a very good season. Not quite great but getting there. A few episodes dragged a little, but the character work's been great as have the performances. I'll be checking back in to the Bates Motel next season.

 

[wissaboo]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

. I'm liking the set up of this dynamic. The good brother/the bad brother. The protective brother/the violent brother. The stable brother/the unstable brother. Cain and Abel anyone?

and the bad boy is really the good boy, and the good boy is really a scary boy.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

Precisely. I like it. I was over at this little forum about the show and they brought up 2 things I can't believe I didn't notice upon viewing.

One, that Ms. Watson was wearing a "B" necklace when she was lying on the floor dead. "B" wrote the love letter to Bradley's father. Did Ms. Watson leave the dance early because she was confronted by Bradley? Some folks are pointing out, since this killing wasn't actually shown, that Norman ran out before the killer entered. He blacked out in class when he was fantasizing about the teacher being tied up. Maybe he did it again and he isn't the killer--this time. Maybe Bradley or this boyfriend on the phone in the classroom did it. Maybe. It's food for thought. I cannot believe I didn't notice the necklace.

Second--my mind went there for smidgeon of a micro second and then I dismissed it and forgot it--but some folks think the script is implying that Norma's brother is Dylan's biological father. On second thought, it isn't so farfetched and now I'm surprised I dismissed it.

Think about it. They pointed out that Dylan is 22. Norman is a senior so he's 17 going on 18? Norma had to meet Norman's father, have a relationship and be pregnant for nine months. Dylan is at most 5 years older than Norman, maybe only four and a half years older depending on when birthdays fall. He didn't seem to remember his father and makes no reference to ever having seen him. He would have been under 5 years old when Norma left him. It's plausible that he wouldn't know. Norma admits to Norman that her father would have exploded and killed her brother had he known he'd abused her. She's pregnant, scared, and there's this boy in her class named John Massett. It would be an understandable lie from a scared 16 year old girl (Norma had Dylan at 17 according to an earlier eppy) who didn't want her father to kill her brother or the public humiliation of bearing her brother's child. Perhaps she didn't know whose baby it was and this John Massett found out and left.

It makes sense considering the disparity between how she treated her older and younger sons. That's a big theory going around now. Think the show would go there? There's sexual dysfunction pretty clearly established already as a theme. Norma's twisted, but also tragic. It goes pretty far in explaining how messed up she is.

 

[wissaboo]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

good catch with the b

and norma's brother being dylan's father would explain a lot. I don't know why they wouldn't go there when they've gone so many other directions.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

It's like all the people in the world are only allowed to use a limited amount of words per every day and the Norma done used up the Sheriffs.

So Norman didn't kill Miss Watson?

Hitchcock Blonde.

If the corpse is not a b... Was his daddy a blonde woman?

Norman makes it out the other end, no matter what, I still think Norma killed her husband.

 

[1001001]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

So, staying home and not feeling too well yesterday, I watched episodes 2-10 all in a row.

Overall I like this show. Vera Farmiga is mesmerizing. Total borderline personality disorder. So incredibly sexycrazy.

I think Charlie Bucket is growing into the role, getting better by the episode. His range of emotions, especially the quiet desperation and simmering fury, is nicely done.

I was hoping for a little more with the teacher. Hopefully they'll go back to it beginning next season.

Emma is a delightful, sad character.

Dylan...the product of incest between Norma and her brother? That could be true...it would explain her dislike of him from the beginning (at least from his point of view).

The Chinese sex slave plot seemed weird and unfocused to me. I think it was a little thin.

Overall, I'd give it a solid B, and will watch next season.

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

That was one scary look Norman had on his face when Dylan and Bradley were talking at the house.

Absolutely. He was really channeling Anthony Perkins there. There was a crazy glint in his eyes that seemed like it was straight from the Hitchcock movie!

 

[Spot's Meow]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

I watched all of the episodes and tried very hard to enjoy the show, but there is just something about it that I don't like. Although I'm interested in seeing where the story goes, I don't feel like actually watching the show. I guess this is one of those that I will just read the synopsis of on Wikipedia later. I won't be back for the second season. Acting was superb, writing was good, I just don't enjoy watching it and it felt like a chore each week. Oh well.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Re: Bates Motel seemed like it's going 2 suck, & then it didn't.(Spoil

I wonder if Norman's jealousy over Bradley liking Dylan will turn out to be the red herring of all red herrings. Perhaps Dylan will turn out to be the other man in Norma's life that inspires Norman's final rage as did Norma's live in boyfriend did in the original story.

If Norma gets past the possible incest conception of her eldest son and becomes able to show him sustained affection--or if Norman perceives he's being replaced by his older, more stable and capable brother whom his first object of desire, Bradley, desired instead of him--that may be the final straw on the dromedary's back. It's bad enough that my would-be girlfriend wanted you instead of me, Dylan, but I'll be damned if you take mother away from me.

And then Norman fixes his mother and his brother a nice cup of tea.