Bates Motel 2.10
May. 6th, 2014 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIt's season finale time, and also check-that-Psycho-callback time.
The two most notable visual allusions being Norma in the rocking chair, and Norman in the final shot which is a direct restaging of the final shot from Psycho, whereas Mother-in-Norman tells us she couldn't hurt a fly and smiles. I have the suspicion that wanting to restage the Psycho image was one of the two reasons why they introduced the polygraph plot point to begin with. The other reason is that Norman, having now passed a polygraph test - because he didn't kill Miss Watson, Mother did - has a future alibi in the eyes of the law the next time somebody dies. Given the polygraph as a method to finding out the truth hasn't becoming more reliable since last week when I was complaining about this plot point, this is pretty flimsy, but you know what, I don't care, because the character stuff in this episode for Norma and her sons was so good.
Before we get to said heart of the show: the drug war plot gets wrapped up via the deaths of Zane the Idiot and Jody. If you ask me, Romero was deliberately waiting until Jody was killed before intervening because he wanted to get rid of both Morgan siblings. I doubt whether his idea of installing Dylan as new kingpin will work out, because I know this show, but from a Watsonian level I can see his logic. Dylan doesn't start drug wars and he owes Romero (double and triple at this point). Incidentally, my s1 rewatch has reminded me that mid s1 when Romero said "here's what the story will be" the last time, Dylan was mightily insulted at the prospect of Romero getting the "credit" for killing Shelby. This time, he's grateful. Says something about Dylan growing up in the meantime, doesn't it? Anyway, the Morgan siblings were among the least interesting characters on the show and won't be missed.
Speaking of siblings: I suppose this is it for Christine and George, too, unless one of my crazier speculations turns out to be true next season and seemingly harmless George takes over Nick Ford's organization. (Like I said, I think SOMEONE other than Dylan will, because the show likes external threats in addition to the internal ones, and if Dylan actually gets to be head drug honcho in town, there wouldn't be any.) If he doesn't, I don't think we'll see Christine or George again, in which case: Christine's angry words to Norma (which reveal George must have told her Norma's entire outburst) underline that she basically had cast herself and Norma in one particular narrative, where Christine was the gracious upper class fairy godmother and Norma the grateful lower class Cinderella who would after some token protest of course fall into the arms of Prince George, and was outraged when Norma turned out to not follow the story. Mind you, not that what Christine says isn't true as well - i.e. Norma is a trainwreck - but not for the reason Christine says it. (I.e. Sending George on his way was among the least train-wrecky things Norma Bates does.)
Only temporarily resolved: Emma's sense of alienation and being on the outside. Norman telling her (part of) the truth and asking her to stay, with a callback to one of their first scenes together - the Blake poem, Tyger Tyger (which addresses God creating both the murderous tiger and the lamb, obvious symbolism in that scene is obvious) - gives Emma one of the key family secrets. It's both a opposite to the s1 finale when Norman constantly overlooked and never truly communicated with Emma and a counterpoint to Norma telling him the same secret (well, except for the Dylan part) in the s1 finale. Becaus when Norma told him, she believed she was likely to die that night. When Norman tells Emma, he's determined to commit suicide. Also, note he adds that his mother does love her and asks Emma to stay; telling Emma this particular secret - and none of the others, like, say, his recent kidnapping by Nick Ford, or his memories of Miss Watson - is also designed to make Emma stay with Norma in a Norman-less future.
Which brings me to: let's hear it for Freddie Highmore, whose performance as Norman went above and beyond this season. Both with the dark side and with the bright side - Norman determined to kill himself rather than become/continue as a killer was absolutely heartbreaking, as was Norman hugging Dylan upon being rescued and his gentleness with Emma and Norma in what he thought would be his final meetings with them. Whereas Norman-as-Mother - both in the Caleb scene and in the final shot of the finale - was chilling. Feeling both sorry for and horrified by Norman (who now believes Mother to be the killer, meaning he's that much deeper into his developing psychosis) is what made the character in his Hitchcock/Anthony Perkins incarnation, and Freddie Highmore here truly is a worthy successor. (Technical side note: I appreciate that the wardrobe department takes care to dress Vera Farmiga in different outfits when she's playing Mother-in-Norman's-hallucination and also real Norma nearby to make it clear to even a casual audience that Norman isn't talking to the genuine article when he's hallucinating.)
Aristotle defined the perfect tragedy as one the hero of said tragedy experiences both due to external circumstances but more importantly due to his own flaws and decisions. The combination is important, as is the hero of a Greek tragedy bearing responsibility for what happens to him. In that sense, Bates Motel isn't so much Norman's tragedy as it is Norma's. Because Norman is mentally ill. His violence during his blackouts isn't a "flaw" over which he has control. Norma, on the other hand, has emotional problems (does she ever) and is messed up, but she's sane. There are some external circumstances - the childhood from hell, the bypass, being trapped in White Pine Bay, all the skeevy drug business and last season the sex trade business therein - contributing to her tragedy, but mostly it is driven by her own flaws and fatal decisions. If her love for her son were less co-dependent, she'd be able to face that getting treatment, even in prison, would be what's truly best for Norman, but Norma can't bear to part from him, and this means not just stopping him from suicide (good) but driving him back into denial about what he did (bad). At the same time where Norma's relationship with her younger son becomes ever more fatally (for both of them) dysfunctional, the one with her older son gets an upswing. Now there's one bit about the big Norma and Dylan reconciliation scene - which I loved - which I preferred to be added, because honestly, I thought Dylan should have apologized as well, not just Norma. (Am still not over Dylan siding with Caleb and believing him over Norma back then.) But he did say "it wasn't your fault, you were just a kid", which I take as an acknowledgment, and I can live with that. Especially since it really was a fabulous scene. It's telling that Dylan takes Norma's earlier "I love you" in the hospital as solely referring to the fact he helped saving Norman, but in this scene he finally believes that she does because she asks him to come with her almost at the start of it. At the root of the Dylan and Norma alienation, long before he found out about Caleb, was his conviction that she did not want him based on her remoteness with him as opposed to her clinginess with Norman, and then his retaliation by honing in on her considerable weaknesses verbally. It figures that what brings them back together (after the immediate need to save Norman is over) is a combination of Norma showing she does want him (and not just in an emergency) and considers him worth all the horror that led to his birth, and Norma being honest in a way she can't be with anyone else about Norman, including Norman himself (Dylan is the only person Norma actually talks with about Norman's blackouts and killings instead of going into strict denial mode).
...and while going into an emotional puddle, a part of me was also aware that Dylan, in a milder form, shares Norma's tragedy-inducing flaw of need for the beloved person above the capability of doing what actually would be best for said person if that means giving him/her up. The actual best thing Norma could do right now for Norman would be to let him admit his guilt, followed by oodles of therapy even if it's in an institution, but she won't because that would mean living without him. The actual best thing Dylan could do for both Norma and Norman would be the same thing, especially given that Dylan is actually the sole other person in possession of all the facts and with some emotional leverage with Norma and Norman. But that would mean/risk losing one or both of them, and so he won't. And thus the tragedy in development continues. With black humor, even in this super intense season finale. Norma's recapitulation of her relationship with George - "I even went out with her brother and tried to sleep with him" - was priceless. As was her looking up air plane tickets for Norman, Dylan and herself as a way to solve the son-under-suspicion-of-murder problem. Oh, Norma. I'm going to miss you so very much once this show reaches its inevitable conclusion, and yet I'm absolutely thrilled we got another season at least.
The two most notable visual allusions being Norma in the rocking chair, and Norman in the final shot which is a direct restaging of the final shot from Psycho, whereas Mother-in-Norman tells us she couldn't hurt a fly and smiles. I have the suspicion that wanting to restage the Psycho image was one of the two reasons why they introduced the polygraph plot point to begin with. The other reason is that Norman, having now passed a polygraph test - because he didn't kill Miss Watson, Mother did - has a future alibi in the eyes of the law the next time somebody dies. Given the polygraph as a method to finding out the truth hasn't becoming more reliable since last week when I was complaining about this plot point, this is pretty flimsy, but you know what, I don't care, because the character stuff in this episode for Norma and her sons was so good.
Before we get to said heart of the show: the drug war plot gets wrapped up via the deaths of Zane the Idiot and Jody. If you ask me, Romero was deliberately waiting until Jody was killed before intervening because he wanted to get rid of both Morgan siblings. I doubt whether his idea of installing Dylan as new kingpin will work out, because I know this show, but from a Watsonian level I can see his logic. Dylan doesn't start drug wars and he owes Romero (double and triple at this point). Incidentally, my s1 rewatch has reminded me that mid s1 when Romero said "here's what the story will be" the last time, Dylan was mightily insulted at the prospect of Romero getting the "credit" for killing Shelby. This time, he's grateful. Says something about Dylan growing up in the meantime, doesn't it? Anyway, the Morgan siblings were among the least interesting characters on the show and won't be missed.
Speaking of siblings: I suppose this is it for Christine and George, too, unless one of my crazier speculations turns out to be true next season and seemingly harmless George takes over Nick Ford's organization. (Like I said, I think SOMEONE other than Dylan will, because the show likes external threats in addition to the internal ones, and if Dylan actually gets to be head drug honcho in town, there wouldn't be any.) If he doesn't, I don't think we'll see Christine or George again, in which case: Christine's angry words to Norma (which reveal George must have told her Norma's entire outburst) underline that she basically had cast herself and Norma in one particular narrative, where Christine was the gracious upper class fairy godmother and Norma the grateful lower class Cinderella who would after some token protest of course fall into the arms of Prince George, and was outraged when Norma turned out to not follow the story. Mind you, not that what Christine says isn't true as well - i.e. Norma is a trainwreck - but not for the reason Christine says it. (I.e. Sending George on his way was among the least train-wrecky things Norma Bates does.)
Only temporarily resolved: Emma's sense of alienation and being on the outside. Norman telling her (part of) the truth and asking her to stay, with a callback to one of their first scenes together - the Blake poem, Tyger Tyger (which addresses God creating both the murderous tiger and the lamb, obvious symbolism in that scene is obvious) - gives Emma one of the key family secrets. It's both a opposite to the s1 finale when Norman constantly overlooked and never truly communicated with Emma and a counterpoint to Norma telling him the same secret (well, except for the Dylan part) in the s1 finale. Becaus when Norma told him, she believed she was likely to die that night. When Norman tells Emma, he's determined to commit suicide. Also, note he adds that his mother does love her and asks Emma to stay; telling Emma this particular secret - and none of the others, like, say, his recent kidnapping by Nick Ford, or his memories of Miss Watson - is also designed to make Emma stay with Norma in a Norman-less future.
Which brings me to: let's hear it for Freddie Highmore, whose performance as Norman went above and beyond this season. Both with the dark side and with the bright side - Norman determined to kill himself rather than become/continue as a killer was absolutely heartbreaking, as was Norman hugging Dylan upon being rescued and his gentleness with Emma and Norma in what he thought would be his final meetings with them. Whereas Norman-as-Mother - both in the Caleb scene and in the final shot of the finale - was chilling. Feeling both sorry for and horrified by Norman (who now believes Mother to be the killer, meaning he's that much deeper into his developing psychosis) is what made the character in his Hitchcock/Anthony Perkins incarnation, and Freddie Highmore here truly is a worthy successor. (Technical side note: I appreciate that the wardrobe department takes care to dress Vera Farmiga in different outfits when she's playing Mother-in-Norman's-hallucination and also real Norma nearby to make it clear to even a casual audience that Norman isn't talking to the genuine article when he's hallucinating.)
Aristotle defined the perfect tragedy as one the hero of said tragedy experiences both due to external circumstances but more importantly due to his own flaws and decisions. The combination is important, as is the hero of a Greek tragedy bearing responsibility for what happens to him. In that sense, Bates Motel isn't so much Norman's tragedy as it is Norma's. Because Norman is mentally ill. His violence during his blackouts isn't a "flaw" over which he has control. Norma, on the other hand, has emotional problems (does she ever) and is messed up, but she's sane. There are some external circumstances - the childhood from hell, the bypass, being trapped in White Pine Bay, all the skeevy drug business and last season the sex trade business therein - contributing to her tragedy, but mostly it is driven by her own flaws and fatal decisions. If her love for her son were less co-dependent, she'd be able to face that getting treatment, even in prison, would be what's truly best for Norman, but Norma can't bear to part from him, and this means not just stopping him from suicide (good) but driving him back into denial about what he did (bad). At the same time where Norma's relationship with her younger son becomes ever more fatally (for both of them) dysfunctional, the one with her older son gets an upswing. Now there's one bit about the big Norma and Dylan reconciliation scene - which I loved - which I preferred to be added, because honestly, I thought Dylan should have apologized as well, not just Norma. (Am still not over Dylan siding with Caleb and believing him over Norma back then.) But he did say "it wasn't your fault, you were just a kid", which I take as an acknowledgment, and I can live with that. Especially since it really was a fabulous scene. It's telling that Dylan takes Norma's earlier "I love you" in the hospital as solely referring to the fact he helped saving Norman, but in this scene he finally believes that she does because she asks him to come with her almost at the start of it. At the root of the Dylan and Norma alienation, long before he found out about Caleb, was his conviction that she did not want him based on her remoteness with him as opposed to her clinginess with Norman, and then his retaliation by honing in on her considerable weaknesses verbally. It figures that what brings them back together (after the immediate need to save Norman is over) is a combination of Norma showing she does want him (and not just in an emergency) and considers him worth all the horror that led to his birth, and Norma being honest in a way she can't be with anyone else about Norman, including Norman himself (Dylan is the only person Norma actually talks with about Norman's blackouts and killings instead of going into strict denial mode).
...and while going into an emotional puddle, a part of me was also aware that Dylan, in a milder form, shares Norma's tragedy-inducing flaw of need for the beloved person above the capability of doing what actually would be best for said person if that means giving him/her up. The actual best thing Norma could do right now for Norman would be to let him admit his guilt, followed by oodles of therapy even if it's in an institution, but she won't because that would mean living without him. The actual best thing Dylan could do for both Norma and Norman would be the same thing, especially given that Dylan is actually the sole other person in possession of all the facts and with some emotional leverage with Norma and Norman. But that would mean/risk losing one or both of them, and so he won't. And thus the tragedy in development continues. With black humor, even in this super intense season finale. Norma's recapitulation of her relationship with George - "I even went out with her brother and tried to sleep with him" - was priceless. As was her looking up air plane tickets for Norman, Dylan and herself as a way to solve the son-under-suspicion-of-murder problem. Oh, Norma. I'm going to miss you so very much once this show reaches its inevitable conclusion, and yet I'm absolutely thrilled we got another season at least.
