Bates Motel 3.04
Mar. 25th, 2014 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakFirst of all, I'm not sure whether the episode I watched was complete. This happened before with another show, where I didn't notice I was missing several scenes until talking with people about it. So, in case this happened here, do tell whether there was another scene (or more) after the one with Norman and Cody in her car after she picked him up at the coffee shop?
I'm starting to lose sympathy for Dylan, my friends. Yes, it's a terrible shock to find out you're the product of a) incest and b) rape. But one would think even shocked person is aware that being the victim of a) incest and b) rape is even worse. Instead, Dylan sees himself as the only victim here, continues to treat Norma as the bad guy and to blame her for the entire thing, and gives her brother the benefit of the doubt. Note that even when confronting Caleb, Dylan is avoiding the word "rape" and instead says "you had sex with my mother"; later he tells Norma outright that she didn't get raped and blames her for the incest and for not aborting him, for "using me" to get out of her house and "trapping" a high school boyfriend into marriage instead. This is really revolting victim blaming and rape culture at its worst, and reeling from shock & having had a troubled relationship with your mother before that only excuses so much.
It's also a marked contrast to Norma's own behavior. To be fair, I'm sure there were times in the past where Norma looked at Dylan and saw her brother instead of the child whose fault it was not, but in the present, Norma isn't doing that; instead, she's being as gentle with him as we've ever seen her, and in their last confrontation sums it up when saying that neither of them was to blame for what Caleb did. Dylan having issues with Norma in general is understandable, but that he's so willing to blame her instead of feeling at least for the girl she was if he can't for the woman she is, instead blaming her, that I find hard to forgive.
Norman of course carries it to the other extreme. Not only does he side with Norma but he internalizes her. The show had Norman hallucinate Norma before when going into one of his blackouts, but this is the very first time we've seen her literally becoming her (or his version of her), and it's in a tragic irony that he does so in order to do what the real Norma could not, confront her brother and accuse him point blank. It was an incredibly creepy and effective scene when Norman started to speak in the first person as Norma, even before he pulled the Psycho-iconic knife. Of course, he's still a boy while Caleb is a man, so Caleb easily disarms him. (Adding a kick while Norman is down. Last week when I checked the media reviews I was stunned to discover several were uncertain whether or not Norma was telling the truth, because that Caleb was just such a nice rational guy, I suppose, as opposed to "hysterical", mean Norma. I do hope the way Caleb responded in this scene settled that, but then again: rape culture.)
It was also fascinating that earlier, Norman while still himself couldn't go through with attacking Caleb by rebar as Cody had suggested, and I do wonder whether this is because he's semi aware/afraid by now that he might be more than capable of such violence in his blackout states. After all, Dylan gave him a heavy hint early in the episode. In terms of where Norman is headed, him becoming Mother for the first time in order to punish someone who had hurt her so badly is one of those twists that completely work and which you still didn't see coming.
Meanwhile: Emma's plotline with her weed-consuming admirer becomes downright endearing as he turns out to be a decent guy who doesn't want to have sex with passed out girls and doesn't expect her to reward him for being a nice guy, either. Also, he really seems to appreciate her. I find myself warming up to this pairing.
The escalating drug war just turned up yet another notch as despite Alex Romero's warning Dylan's idiotic new boss decides to move on to torching houses. However, Romero tends to follow up on his warnings, so I am confident the idiot won't be around for much longer.
I'm starting to lose sympathy for Dylan, my friends. Yes, it's a terrible shock to find out you're the product of a) incest and b) rape. But one would think even shocked person is aware that being the victim of a) incest and b) rape is even worse. Instead, Dylan sees himself as the only victim here, continues to treat Norma as the bad guy and to blame her for the entire thing, and gives her brother the benefit of the doubt. Note that even when confronting Caleb, Dylan is avoiding the word "rape" and instead says "you had sex with my mother"; later he tells Norma outright that she didn't get raped and blames her for the incest and for not aborting him, for "using me" to get out of her house and "trapping" a high school boyfriend into marriage instead. This is really revolting victim blaming and rape culture at its worst, and reeling from shock & having had a troubled relationship with your mother before that only excuses so much.
It's also a marked contrast to Norma's own behavior. To be fair, I'm sure there were times in the past where Norma looked at Dylan and saw her brother instead of the child whose fault it was not, but in the present, Norma isn't doing that; instead, she's being as gentle with him as we've ever seen her, and in their last confrontation sums it up when saying that neither of them was to blame for what Caleb did. Dylan having issues with Norma in general is understandable, but that he's so willing to blame her instead of feeling at least for the girl she was if he can't for the woman she is, instead blaming her, that I find hard to forgive.
Norman of course carries it to the other extreme. Not only does he side with Norma but he internalizes her. The show had Norman hallucinate Norma before when going into one of his blackouts, but this is the very first time we've seen her literally becoming her (or his version of her), and it's in a tragic irony that he does so in order to do what the real Norma could not, confront her brother and accuse him point blank. It was an incredibly creepy and effective scene when Norman started to speak in the first person as Norma, even before he pulled the Psycho-iconic knife. Of course, he's still a boy while Caleb is a man, so Caleb easily disarms him. (Adding a kick while Norman is down. Last week when I checked the media reviews I was stunned to discover several were uncertain whether or not Norma was telling the truth, because that Caleb was just such a nice rational guy, I suppose, as opposed to "hysterical", mean Norma. I do hope the way Caleb responded in this scene settled that, but then again: rape culture.)
It was also fascinating that earlier, Norman while still himself couldn't go through with attacking Caleb by rebar as Cody had suggested, and I do wonder whether this is because he's semi aware/afraid by now that he might be more than capable of such violence in his blackout states. After all, Dylan gave him a heavy hint early in the episode. In terms of where Norman is headed, him becoming Mother for the first time in order to punish someone who had hurt her so badly is one of those twists that completely work and which you still didn't see coming.
Meanwhile: Emma's plotline with her weed-consuming admirer becomes downright endearing as he turns out to be a decent guy who doesn't want to have sex with passed out girls and doesn't expect her to reward him for being a nice guy, either. Also, he really seems to appreciate her. I find myself warming up to this pairing.
The escalating drug war just turned up yet another notch as despite Alex Romero's warning Dylan's idiotic new boss decides to move on to torching houses. However, Romero tends to follow up on his warnings, so I am confident the idiot won't be around for much longer.
