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Bates Motel 2.05
Apr. 1st, 2014 10:09 amWhich strikes me as a transitionary episode after the heavy drama of the last two, though a lot of things happen, and there is great ensemble use.
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ETA: two things: the episode had a neat shoutout to a certain showwriter and runner of the OTHER serial killer prequel show. That's right, one bit character is called Bryan Fuller. Who apparantly watches Bates Motel for verily, he reacted instantly:
Also, the AV Club review of the episode contains a great description of Norma that sums up a reason why I'm so ridiculously fond of this show: Norma Bates is a mess. She’s a fantastic, struggling, determined mess, and Vera Farmiga never lets us forget any piece of that; even in tonight’s episode, a relatively low-key hour, there were expressions on her face that summed up the character more effectively than entire years’ worth of performances from lesser actors. And she’s a sympathetic mess, too. When it comes to Bates-mythology, Norma used to get the short end of the stick. All we ever saw was the aftermath of her death and Norman’s difficult childhood, which meant a string of psychiatrists explaining how Mom “suffocated” the poor boy and turned him into a killer. Worse, the only version of Norma that existed anymore was crazy Norman’s version—the whining, protesting, knife-wielding murderer. Norman himself was so friendly, so personable when he wasn’t dressing up in his mother’s old clothes, that it was easy to imagine Norma as the real monster. For all its faults, Bates Motel has managed to give Norma her own tragedy, and make it clear, at least in this version of the story, that she’s no vicious harpy bent on destroying her son’s life. The truth is more complicated, and a hell of a lot sadder.
( Read more... )
ETA: two things: the episode had a neat shoutout to a certain showwriter and runner of the OTHER serial killer prequel show. That's right, one bit character is called Bryan Fuller. Who apparantly watches Bates Motel for verily, he reacted instantly:
Also, the AV Club review of the episode contains a great description of Norma that sums up a reason why I'm so ridiculously fond of this show: Norma Bates is a mess. She’s a fantastic, struggling, determined mess, and Vera Farmiga never lets us forget any piece of that; even in tonight’s episode, a relatively low-key hour, there were expressions on her face that summed up the character more effectively than entire years’ worth of performances from lesser actors. And she’s a sympathetic mess, too. When it comes to Bates-mythology, Norma used to get the short end of the stick. All we ever saw was the aftermath of her death and Norman’s difficult childhood, which meant a string of psychiatrists explaining how Mom “suffocated” the poor boy and turned him into a killer. Worse, the only version of Norma that existed anymore was crazy Norman’s version—the whining, protesting, knife-wielding murderer. Norman himself was so friendly, so personable when he wasn’t dressing up in his mother’s old clothes, that it was easy to imagine Norma as the real monster. For all its faults, Bates Motel has managed to give Norma her own tragedy, and make it clear, at least in this version of the story, that she’s no vicious harpy bent on destroying her son’s life. The truth is more complicated, and a hell of a lot sadder.
