Bates Motel 4.01
Mar. 11th, 2016 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAnd I finally had the chance to watch my favourite doomed mother, her offsprings, and their screwed-up friends.
I would call the "Emma's lung transfer" plot a filler ( - will the transplant work out? Of course it will, it's not like they're going to kill Emma off via organ transplant -), except it isn't, and not just it suddenly ties with the Bates psycho (ahem) drama via Emma's mother, but because a) Norma's reaction when Dylan takes off to Portland is another good confirmation things really are better between them (note the utter lack of "why do you desert me in my hour of need!!!" type of freak outs, instead Norma's at her best despite under severe stress, sending him off with good wishes), and b) the contrast between the super luxury type of hospital in Portland Emma is getting her gun money paid organ transplant in and the overcrowded psych ward in the country hospital Norman ends up in is an excellent show comment on how screwed you are without health insurance. Which is one of Norma's and Norman's many, many problems.
(I also appreciate the psych ward doctor isn't demonized, despite being an antagonist to Norma. She's of course entirely right from her pov: Norman direly needs treatment, and should have gotten it ages ago.)
Norma's various attempts to get help for Norman in this episode all misfire: Alex (first time around) can't magic away county hospital regulations (and coming directly from covering up his murder of the unlamented Bob is in no mood for favours anyway), the Doctor she tries to flirt with to make him see Norman is gay (but not unresponsive to her desperation, ending up at least willing to check on Norman later), and Alex, second time around, is really really not in the mood for the most unromantic marriage proposal between a couple which actually is attracted to each other since Darcy's first to Lizzie Bennet. Seriously, I loved that scene. Because it's so Norma, and because it says such a lot about her, both bad and good. Norma seeing sex (and marriage) as something to trade against protection and support fits with every single relationship with a man we've seen or learned about her having, and it's classic abuse survivor behavior to boot. But unlike with all the other guys from John Massett (the high school boyfriend she ran away with when she was pregnant with Dylan) to Shelby the unexpectedly murderous deputy to the Second Worst Therapist Finnegan last season, she doesn't try to disguise it with Alex via flirtation or tears and instead is completely honest with him. Precisely because of the type of relationship they've formed through the show by now. While of course Alex Romero might have had a lot of fantasies about Norma at this point, but her telling him that she'd like to marry him for the insurance and won't even mind having sex with him is definitely not one of them. Probably not his worst day ever, but in the top ten. And like I said, very Norma to be aware that he's attracted to her but not that he's in love with her, or how all of this feels for him. (Not as a compliment that they can be honest to each other, really not. Though in the Norma Bates way, it is.)
Norma aquires another parallel/contrast in this episode, and it's not Norman (raving about Freddie Highmore's performance in a moment). Emma's mother - did we ever learn her first name? - shows up. All that Emma said re: her back in s1 was that she couldn't cope with Emma's illness and took off - part of what made Emma cast Norma the very protective of Norman as her longed for replacement mother, though that's not quite how it worked out - , and Emma's fatherdidn't say much more. In this episode, Mrs. Decody shows up, complete with personality in a relatively brief screen time, and the show not only makes us question the hitherto unimpeachable good guyness of Mr. Decody (is he simply angry because his wife deserted their child, or is her later accusation that there's some violence in him true?) but uses her to show various facets of Norma, too. Norma is perfectly willing to be nice to a stranger (who lodges in her motel), but as soon as Mrs. Decody reveals her identity, Norma shuts her out. Could be because Norma has Norman's increasingly more desperate situation in her mind and really just doesn't want to get involved in the Decody family drama when she can't even manage her own. Or could be that Norma does what she did with Norman's season 2 girl friend Cody - projecting all she dislikes about herself into the woman because she can see the parallels. In Cody's case, it was the abusive father and the suspicion that Cody wanted to escape via sex and a supposed nice boy, as Norma had done. In the case of Mrs. Decody, it's the strain of living with a sick, doomed child coupled with the need to get out, and while Norma has never given into the need for more than 24 hours as far as Norman is concerned, her pattern of bolting when life becomes unbearable otherwise is there, and of course she did run away from Dylan when their relationship was in the doldrums.
I thought Mrs. Decody would be with us for the rest of the season, but no. As soon as Norman-as-Norma received her into the house, though, I knew she was done for. And wow. Talk about projecting. Freddie Highmore, ladies and gentlemen. We see the whole gambit of Norman here, from vulnerable in the psych ward to freaking out and angry when he wakes up to find Norma has locked him into her room and isn't present to utterly creepy and eerie as Norma/Norman. As with his earlier Norma impersonations, the body language is dead-on, and it's disturbing as hell even before he gets round to strangling Mrs. Decody for being A Bad Mother Who Deserted Her Child (just like Mom, from Norman's pov). And this time, they don't let Vera Farmiga stand in when Norman commits murder: it's Highmore-as-Norma, and all the more powerful for it.
Sidenote: I appreciate the way the show makes it clear that Norman's Norma personality channels his fears, anger and desires, because with Norman there's the temptation to read him as separate and Head!Norma as her own entity somehow possessing him, which isn't how this works.
Kudos, too, to the actress playing Emma's mother, and to the casting people, because she looks like she could be related to Olivia Cooke, and you get a sense of what she's like within this one episode she has, so that her death - and all it means, that whatever the truth, she will never have the chance to talk to her daughter again, to live a life - really feels like a blow. (Unlike the death of last season's opening episode newbie, who died by Bob, not Norman, but still felt like a plot device.) Not to mention that this means Emma WILL find out about Norman's murderous side one day; I know a set up if I see one. And however Emma feels about her mother these days, that's going to be terrible (and possibly lethal).
Lastly: isn't that bunny the one Lilah Crane later finds in Norman's attic in Psycho? If so, kudos to the set people, too!
I would call the "Emma's lung transfer" plot a filler ( - will the transplant work out? Of course it will, it's not like they're going to kill Emma off via organ transplant -), except it isn't, and not just it suddenly ties with the Bates psycho (ahem) drama via Emma's mother, but because a) Norma's reaction when Dylan takes off to Portland is another good confirmation things really are better between them (note the utter lack of "why do you desert me in my hour of need!!!" type of freak outs, instead Norma's at her best despite under severe stress, sending him off with good wishes), and b) the contrast between the super luxury type of hospital in Portland Emma is getting her gun money paid organ transplant in and the overcrowded psych ward in the country hospital Norman ends up in is an excellent show comment on how screwed you are without health insurance. Which is one of Norma's and Norman's many, many problems.
(I also appreciate the psych ward doctor isn't demonized, despite being an antagonist to Norma. She's of course entirely right from her pov: Norman direly needs treatment, and should have gotten it ages ago.)
Norma's various attempts to get help for Norman in this episode all misfire: Alex (first time around) can't magic away county hospital regulations (and coming directly from covering up his murder of the unlamented Bob is in no mood for favours anyway), the Doctor she tries to flirt with to make him see Norman is gay (but not unresponsive to her desperation, ending up at least willing to check on Norman later), and Alex, second time around, is really really not in the mood for the most unromantic marriage proposal between a couple which actually is attracted to each other since Darcy's first to Lizzie Bennet. Seriously, I loved that scene. Because it's so Norma, and because it says such a lot about her, both bad and good. Norma seeing sex (and marriage) as something to trade against protection and support fits with every single relationship with a man we've seen or learned about her having, and it's classic abuse survivor behavior to boot. But unlike with all the other guys from John Massett (the high school boyfriend she ran away with when she was pregnant with Dylan) to Shelby the unexpectedly murderous deputy to the Second Worst Therapist Finnegan last season, she doesn't try to disguise it with Alex via flirtation or tears and instead is completely honest with him. Precisely because of the type of relationship they've formed through the show by now. While of course Alex Romero might have had a lot of fantasies about Norma at this point, but her telling him that she'd like to marry him for the insurance and won't even mind having sex with him is definitely not one of them. Probably not his worst day ever, but in the top ten. And like I said, very Norma to be aware that he's attracted to her but not that he's in love with her, or how all of this feels for him. (Not as a compliment that they can be honest to each other, really not. Though in the Norma Bates way, it is.)
Norma aquires another parallel/contrast in this episode, and it's not Norman (raving about Freddie Highmore's performance in a moment). Emma's mother - did we ever learn her first name? - shows up. All that Emma said re: her back in s1 was that she couldn't cope with Emma's illness and took off - part of what made Emma cast Norma the very protective of Norman as her longed for replacement mother, though that's not quite how it worked out - , and Emma's fatherdidn't say much more. In this episode, Mrs. Decody shows up, complete with personality in a relatively brief screen time, and the show not only makes us question the hitherto unimpeachable good guyness of Mr. Decody (is he simply angry because his wife deserted their child, or is her later accusation that there's some violence in him true?) but uses her to show various facets of Norma, too. Norma is perfectly willing to be nice to a stranger (who lodges in her motel), but as soon as Mrs. Decody reveals her identity, Norma shuts her out. Could be because Norma has Norman's increasingly more desperate situation in her mind and really just doesn't want to get involved in the Decody family drama when she can't even manage her own. Or could be that Norma does what she did with Norman's season 2 girl friend Cody - projecting all she dislikes about herself into the woman because she can see the parallels. In Cody's case, it was the abusive father and the suspicion that Cody wanted to escape via sex and a supposed nice boy, as Norma had done. In the case of Mrs. Decody, it's the strain of living with a sick, doomed child coupled with the need to get out, and while Norma has never given into the need for more than 24 hours as far as Norman is concerned, her pattern of bolting when life becomes unbearable otherwise is there, and of course she did run away from Dylan when their relationship was in the doldrums.
I thought Mrs. Decody would be with us for the rest of the season, but no. As soon as Norman-as-Norma received her into the house, though, I knew she was done for. And wow. Talk about projecting. Freddie Highmore, ladies and gentlemen. We see the whole gambit of Norman here, from vulnerable in the psych ward to freaking out and angry when he wakes up to find Norma has locked him into her room and isn't present to utterly creepy and eerie as Norma/Norman. As with his earlier Norma impersonations, the body language is dead-on, and it's disturbing as hell even before he gets round to strangling Mrs. Decody for being A Bad Mother Who Deserted Her Child (just like Mom, from Norman's pov). And this time, they don't let Vera Farmiga stand in when Norman commits murder: it's Highmore-as-Norma, and all the more powerful for it.
Sidenote: I appreciate the way the show makes it clear that Norman's Norma personality channels his fears, anger and desires, because with Norman there's the temptation to read him as separate and Head!Norma as her own entity somehow possessing him, which isn't how this works.
Kudos, too, to the actress playing Emma's mother, and to the casting people, because she looks like she could be related to Olivia Cooke, and you get a sense of what she's like within this one episode she has, so that her death - and all it means, that whatever the truth, she will never have the chance to talk to her daughter again, to live a life - really feels like a blow. (Unlike the death of last season's opening episode newbie, who died by Bob, not Norman, but still felt like a plot device.) Not to mention that this means Emma WILL find out about Norman's murderous side one day; I know a set up if I see one. And however Emma feels about her mother these days, that's going to be terrible (and possibly lethal).
Lastly: isn't that bunny the one Lilah Crane later finds in Norman's attic in Psycho? If so, kudos to the set people, too!
no subject
Date: 2016-03-11 10:09 pm (UTC)Norma's whole "Marry me and I don't care if you sleep with me" proposal broke my heart. With the exception of what's his face from S2 and possibly her early years with Sam Bates, Norma's never had a sexual interaction that wasn't non-consensual or used for manipulation.
I'm also wondering if they might be setting up the steps to Romero's downfall. Yes, Romero's killed before, but he actually brought in the Feds in S3 and I think it will come back to bite him. I've theorized before that Romero, if he is Norma's last lover, will die separately from Norma as a result of his own actions.
I believe that Emma's mother's name is Audrey and it occurred to me that her death might be used to create complications between Dylan and Emma, who are the closest I've seen to a potential healthy relationship on this show.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-12 09:41 am (UTC)Audrey, thanks! Re: Emma and Dylan, I could imagine her enlisting him to find out what happened to her mother and Dylan refusing to help because he already has a suspicion, but is afraid to explain it to Emma.
Speaking of names: what's his face was George, but I had forgotten his name until a few weeks ago when I did some rewatching. :)
no subject
Date: 2016-03-12 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-13 06:00 am (UTC)