‘We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes’: How Bates Motel is more than just horror
NB: This piece contains spoilers for all five seasons of Bates Motel. If you haven’t seen every episode, read at your own risk.
NB: This piece contains spoilers for all five seasons of Bates Motel. If you haven’t seen every episode, read at your own risk.
At its heart, Bates Motel is a story of devotion between a mother and her son. After all, as Norman Bates famously said: “A boy’s best friend is his mother.”
But there’s more to the show than that codependent relationship.
With Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock as its architect, Psycho struck a nerve while birthing the slasher horror genre. (Come on. You know you’ve never looked at a shower the same way after watching the 1960 classic.) Based on the Philip Bloch novel, the film introduced the world to the cross-dressing serial killer who ended his mother then subsumed her psychologically. With Mother whispering sweet, insidious nothings in Norman’s ear, poor Marion Crane didn’t stand a chance.
Horror and suspense, however, don’t wholly comprise the DNA of Psycho and Bates Motel. Noir also is there lending its shadowy atmosphere to enhance the cool blondes, dogged detectives, unlikely heroes and sympathetic antiheroes among the myriad characters.
While everyone remembers the infamous shower scene from Psycho, what tends to be forgotten among general audiences is the first part of the film, which plants its noir seeds. When Bernard Herrmann’s iconic main title theme ends, we meet Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) wrapping up some afternoon delight in a hotel room with her married lover Sam Crane (John Gavin). She returns to work, enduring some light sexual harassment from a big client. Marion then makes a decision that sets off the falling dominoes that lead to her demise: She steals from the company that employs her by failing to drop off $40,000 cash at the bank. Her paranoia grows as she gets further from Phoenix — narrowly dodging the suspicions of a local cop as she swaps cars at a dealership — until one fateful, rainy night when she pulls into the Bates Motel and meets Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), sealing her fate even though she’s decided to return to Phoenix to make things right.
In its transition from film to television, Norman’s tale definitely embraces the horror and suspense but also welcomes the noir, allowing it to imbue the series with more layers as it fleshes out the characters and lets their environment play into the mood of the piece.
Bates Motel centers the action on the town of White Pine Bay, Oregon, where Norma Bates (Vera Fermiga in a tour-de-force performance) and son Norman (Freddie Highmore, establishing himself creatively and crafting his most definitive role to date in one fell swoop) move at the top of the series. Norma has bought the motel and its very familiar, very ominous-looking house that sits behind the business yet towers over it — much like how Norma looms large in Norman’s life.
Norma Bates obliterates the cool blonde archetype Hitchcock favored. She is larger than life when she’s got the wind in her sails, but can be the smallest thing in the room when life decides to metaphorically suck the air out of her and toss her about. She’s fiercely protective of Norman because she both understands and is afraid of how fragile he is. Norma also is aware how dangerous her son can be: She knows he killed his father. Norman blacked out afterwards, sending the memory into the recesses of his brain. He believes Norma did it to protect him. She might as well have. Their arrival in White Pine Bay is supposed to be a reboot. Instead, it’s the place that will be their undoing.
White Pine Bay is no Stars Hollow, Connecticut. (Though there is a touch of Gilmore Girls’ Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes pairing in the relationship of Bates’ Norma and Sheriff Alex Romero. More on that latter couple later.) Drugs are a major business in White Pine Bay and the criminal underworld is making money hand over fist. Keeping the peace in his own imitable style is Romero (a fantastic Nestor Carbonell, who plays the part with a mix of Austenian hero and a darker, more vengeful Popeye Doyle). The flinty law officer keeps you off-center at first; he bobs and weaves like a boxer as you (and some of the characters) try to pin him down.
Romero is a fine detective with a very low bullshit threshold. He cottons early on that Norman is not, well, normal. He likes Norman for the murder of high school teacher Blair Watson, who was known to have taken an interest in the younger Bates. Romero schedules a polygraph for Norman — much to Norma’s dismay. She refuses to believe her son killed his teacher, even though Norman admits as much to her when the memories of that fateful night come back to haunt him. Unfortunately for Romero, Mother already has taken root inside Norman. She takes the polygraph allowing Norman to pass. Unfortunately for Norman, Romero is standing his ground. The stage has been set for the contentious relationship between Norman and Romero that will last until the cold, bitter end.
Dylan Massett (Max Thieriot, bringing old-soul nuance to a role that could have been one-dimensional in lesser hands), Norma’s other son, arrives on the scene possibly throwing a wrench into the do-over she wanted for her and Norman. While Dylan isn’t the ignoble black sheep of the family (in this clan, all three can be viewed as proverbial “black sheeps” given how damaged each is in her or his own way), he shows there is more to him when not dismissed out of hand. This comes to light when he finds work within the town’s dirty little secret.
It’s not all illegal substances in the Bay. There’s murder, sex, romance and humor, too. Yes, Bates Motel has a beautifully wicked sense of humor that comes from it’s fully-formed characters. Its comic tendencies run the gamut from silly to sarcastic to gallows. Farmiga gets the most mileage from the show’s funny side. Her Norma can make you laugh out loud in the least likely scenarios while keeping the widow Bates grounded in the reality of the scene.
As with any good noir, there’s always a beacon of light and hope within the darkness. Someone who you root to survive not just because they are fundamentally good, but because you genuinely care for them. Emma Decody (a winning Olivia Cooke, who always leaves you wanting more) might just be the best person in White Pine Bay. She’s smart, funny, stubborn, loyal and has the biggest heart of any character on the show. Even better, she’s rarely the victim.
Speaking of, the biggest victim here is probably romance. Second runner-up could be happily ever afters, but a few of those are achieved during the course of the series. There are no shortage of busted unions the main characters endure, but the two that truly work are magic. Seriously, there is no other word for it. Romero admits this truth to Norma during an intimate moment in episode 408: “I’m actually magical. I’m a unicorn.” (Told you this show was funny. Her reaction to this admission, by the way, is priceless.)
There’s only one relationship that goes the distance. The other lives up to the “till death us do part” of the vow exchange. Both couples are perfectly matched and lovely to watch. Both couples have an aura of doom about them from the off, but only one manages to dispel it. (Full disclosure: Only one makes me squeal like the diehard fangirl I am. Pretty sure you’ll figure out which one.)
Emma and Dylan are adorable and sweet. They’ve been through a lot prior to their union (which is par for the course with every Bates Motel couple) what with Dylan’s family, his work with the drug trade, Emma’s previous connection with Norman, her cystic fibrosis. But when they come together, things start looking up. Dylan funds her lung transplant, they move to Seattle to continue her recovery and a season five time jump has them married with a baby girl. The only thing that could ruin it all is Dylan knowing Norman killed Emma’s mother. When the truth comes out, rocky would be preferred to the near implosion that occurs. Time heals, but a strong foundation makes their reconciliation feel earned.
Norma and Romero (forever known on social media as #Normero) are everything. (Figure out which duo yet?) As with most great couples, they didn’t think much of each other at first. Slowly, they started driving each other nuts while finding themselves drawn to each other time and again. Soon you could see the look of a man in love in Romero’s eyes and of a woman who can’t believe she’s falling for a man who could not only love her for person she is but whom she doesn’t think she deserves in Norma’s. (Norma’s backstory is tragic; seeing her fully come to life with this relationship is beautiful.) Under different circumstances, it’s not too hard seeing their affair play out like Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray’s in 1944's Double Indemnity. Norma could have easily seduced Romero into killing Sam Bates for the insurance money.
Theirs is a smoldering passion that flares in oh-so-many ways over the course of their relationship. Their best exchange (and for my money their most honest) may be in episode 309:
“I hate you,” Romero sighs, exasperated.
“I hate you, too,” Norma shoots back, annoyed. “So what?”
They fight. They argue. They will do anything for each other (and have). So in episode 409 when Romero finds Norma and Norman unconscious in their gas-filled home, the pain he feels when he’s unable to save his beloved turns to blind rage against Norman. Norma Bates is a spitfire and she finds her true partner in Alex Romero. Hell hath no fury …
… like Norman Bates? A gawky, likable teen when he arrives in town, Norman devolves into a troubled, paranoid man who feels betrayed by most of the people in his life. Especially Norma. He tries his best to keep his mask in place, succeeding for a bit. Then the bodies start piling up: Norman’s dad; Blair Watson; Cody Brennan’s dad; Bradley Martin; Emma’s mom; Norma. Mother starts insinuating herself inside Norman’s addled mind by the end of season one. She looks and sounds like Norma, but she definitely is not Norma.
When Norma finds love and happiness with Romero, Norman does everything to drive a wedge between them. John Garfield attempts something similar as he tries to divide love interest Shelley Winters from her family in 1951's He Ran All the Way. Norman succeeds in the worst possible way for him — surviving the murder-suicide gassing he set up for him and Norma. His jealousy turns to smugness knowing at least he separated Norma and Romero. But the smugness fades into denial, leaving the door open for Mother to fully share Norman’s mind. Finally reaching his breaking point, Mother takes over until all the cards are on the table. In the end, Norman forces Dylan to do what Norman cannot; allowing Norman to be reunited with Norma.
Norman’s not the only character here with a violent streak or a body count. Norma. Romero. Dylan. Caleb Calhoun (Kenny Johnson), who is Dylan’s dad and Norma’s brother — that’s a whole other post. Actually, most of the people who live in White Pine Bay have anger issues. Must be the coastal air.
All of the main characters of Bates Motel are pushed to his/her breaking point, but its how they handle it that shows how much strength is in each. They are all scrappy, desperate for a break and mostly willing to do anything to achieve it. When the rare ray of sunshine breaks through their somewhat stormy existence, they snatch it with both hands for fear of it fading before they can fully enjoy its warmth.
Bates Motel will never be your typical family drama like This Is Us or Parenthood. For starters, there’s blood, violence, mental illness, even a sexual kink or two. That doesn’t mean it isn’t filled with love — both familial and romantic — heartache, betrayal and joy. The lives of those who reside in White Pine Bay do not live in a black-and-white world. In spite of its color, there are many shades of gray. Morals vary from person to person. The residents of the Bay live in our world. For all its good, bad and ugliness, it’s comforting to know they are us.
Joanne Thornborough is pop culture junkie with a particular love for film, TV and the printed word. Find her at @cinelitchick on Twitter and Instagram.