Bates Motel 3.05
Apr. 8th, 2015 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakYep, scenes with Norman, Dylan and Norman are intensity gold, always. Any combination between the three also is great, but all three - win. For the audience, not necessarily for the characters.
Mind you, not that I didn't like the other parts of the episode as well. Only later did I find out Nestor Carbonell also directed the episode, but there's no lack of Romero content, which I imagine is extra work to pull off, but it pays. His big scene with Norma was wonderful. "Sometimes you're Alex and sometimes you're a cop", indeed. And Vera Farmiga gives Norma that force of personality that you can believe Romero, despite knowing how messed up and probably doomed Norma is, just getting swept away and unable not to side with her in her "I'm sick of being the victim, I'm going to blackmail the biggest remaining bastards in town" scheme. I don't think Creepy Bob will actually fulfill Norma's demands - he's probably just waiting till a minion finds out who has the flashdrive, and then will try to kill her and/or her sons - , which is a shame, because said demands weren't unreasonable (and actually downright clever - asking of an exit to the road of her motel is much better than asking for cash, because the cash would be gone one day and then she'd have the same old problems, but the exit and the advertising would really solve at least the financial side of Norma's problems for good).
But really, the strongest thread of the episode was from the cruel tease of a beginning, where both Dylan and the audience were baffled by Norma's non-reaction, to the end. Dylan temporarily lucking out by the fact that Norman told Mother, not Norma, isn't a cheap plot device because it has immediate consequences - Norman realizes at last he's hallucinating Norma and not able to tell the mother in his head apart from the genuine article, which scares him so much he's rethinking his reaction to the Dylan-Caleb revelation and his jealousy re: Dylan, and leads to him backing Dylan up in the big reveal. Meanwhile, Dylan upon realising he's been given a reprieve decides to come clean to Norma on his own - but unfortunately combines that with a plea to give Caleb another chance and let him apologize. At which point Norma, a character who usually verbally explodes all over the place, is utterly silent, and Vera Farmiga plays that feeling of complete betrayal (by both sons) fantastically. Norma yelling woud not be as devastating as Norma silently getting up, getting in her room and packing and leaving.
And it's triple tragic because Norma in this episode earlier for the second time is shown actually listening to Dylan's advice (about Romero). She's not just gotten better at expressing positive emotion to him, she trusts him now. Well. Trusted. This has to be even worse than last season when his first instinct was to accuse her of lying. Unlike last season, I do feel for Dylan and his desire for family and to believe in Caleb's redemption this time, but seriously, Norma (or any other woman) should not be made to face and forgive her rapist. (On a Watsonian level. On a Doylist level, of course I want a Norma and Caleb confrontation, not least because Norma has been running from Caleb all her life, in a way, and last season when she did try to face him it instead became her unable to leave her car because she was that afraid. So overcoming this fear would be good for her.)
Sidenote: re: Caleb longinly staring at that photo of him and Norma as children, of course I believe Caleb believes he and Norma were Chris and Cathy in Flowers in the Attic rather than rapist and victim. That's often how abuse within a family works. Not to mention that "but she wanted it, too!" usually comes with sincere conviction - and is utterly wrong.
Also important in the long term: Norman's "I don't want to be that person" said to Dylan re: his previous wish to destroy Dylan. To maintain sympathy for Norman despite the fact he's committed his first murder already and we know what's waiting it's important that you believe a part of him really is horrified and fighting against these compulsions, that he's not pretending to be harmless to hide the monster within but that the part of him fighting against it is as real as the killer. Freddie Highmore really has been outstanding this season.
On a minor note: Therapist Guy, make up your mind whether you want to date Norma or to treat her, because even Norma who's stayed the hell away from doctors and therapy so far knows there is a basic conflict of interests here (or should be). Norma really could use a therapist - and so could both of her sons, even aside from Norman's blackouts - but she doesn't need one who also wants to be her boyfriend.That's what she has Alex Romero for. I mean, one of many key Norma problems is that she has no idea of boundaries. How's she supposed to learn from someone who seems to be casual about such a basic one as doctor/patient?
Mind you, not that I didn't like the other parts of the episode as well. Only later did I find out Nestor Carbonell also directed the episode, but there's no lack of Romero content, which I imagine is extra work to pull off, but it pays. His big scene with Norma was wonderful. "Sometimes you're Alex and sometimes you're a cop", indeed. And Vera Farmiga gives Norma that force of personality that you can believe Romero, despite knowing how messed up and probably doomed Norma is, just getting swept away and unable not to side with her in her "I'm sick of being the victim, I'm going to blackmail the biggest remaining bastards in town" scheme. I don't think Creepy Bob will actually fulfill Norma's demands - he's probably just waiting till a minion finds out who has the flashdrive, and then will try to kill her and/or her sons - , which is a shame, because said demands weren't unreasonable (and actually downright clever - asking of an exit to the road of her motel is much better than asking for cash, because the cash would be gone one day and then she'd have the same old problems, but the exit and the advertising would really solve at least the financial side of Norma's problems for good).
But really, the strongest thread of the episode was from the cruel tease of a beginning, where both Dylan and the audience were baffled by Norma's non-reaction, to the end. Dylan temporarily lucking out by the fact that Norman told Mother, not Norma, isn't a cheap plot device because it has immediate consequences - Norman realizes at last he's hallucinating Norma and not able to tell the mother in his head apart from the genuine article, which scares him so much he's rethinking his reaction to the Dylan-Caleb revelation and his jealousy re: Dylan, and leads to him backing Dylan up in the big reveal. Meanwhile, Dylan upon realising he's been given a reprieve decides to come clean to Norma on his own - but unfortunately combines that with a plea to give Caleb another chance and let him apologize. At which point Norma, a character who usually verbally explodes all over the place, is utterly silent, and Vera Farmiga plays that feeling of complete betrayal (by both sons) fantastically. Norma yelling woud not be as devastating as Norma silently getting up, getting in her room and packing and leaving.
And it's triple tragic because Norma in this episode earlier for the second time is shown actually listening to Dylan's advice (about Romero). She's not just gotten better at expressing positive emotion to him, she trusts him now. Well. Trusted. This has to be even worse than last season when his first instinct was to accuse her of lying. Unlike last season, I do feel for Dylan and his desire for family and to believe in Caleb's redemption this time, but seriously, Norma (or any other woman) should not be made to face and forgive her rapist. (On a Watsonian level. On a Doylist level, of course I want a Norma and Caleb confrontation, not least because Norma has been running from Caleb all her life, in a way, and last season when she did try to face him it instead became her unable to leave her car because she was that afraid. So overcoming this fear would be good for her.)
Sidenote: re: Caleb longinly staring at that photo of him and Norma as children, of course I believe Caleb believes he and Norma were Chris and Cathy in Flowers in the Attic rather than rapist and victim. That's often how abuse within a family works. Not to mention that "but she wanted it, too!" usually comes with sincere conviction - and is utterly wrong.
Also important in the long term: Norman's "I don't want to be that person" said to Dylan re: his previous wish to destroy Dylan. To maintain sympathy for Norman despite the fact he's committed his first murder already and we know what's waiting it's important that you believe a part of him really is horrified and fighting against these compulsions, that he's not pretending to be harmless to hide the monster within but that the part of him fighting against it is as real as the killer. Freddie Highmore really has been outstanding this season.
On a minor note: Therapist Guy, make up your mind whether you want to date Norma or to treat her, because even Norma who's stayed the hell away from doctors and therapy so far knows there is a basic conflict of interests here (or should be). Norma really could use a therapist - and so could both of her sons, even aside from Norman's blackouts - but she doesn't need one who also wants to be her boyfriend.
