Tag Archives: television

Review: Bates Motel 1.8 “A Boy and His Dog”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bates Motel A Boy and His Dog

Last night’s episode of Bates Motel featured Norma (Vera Farmiga) trying to flirt her way to prosperity and out of trouble, Norman (Freddie Highmore) dealing with a therapist, Emma’s Dad (Ian Hart) waxing poetic about taxidermy, Dylan (Max Thieriot) pulling a gun on a pushy hippie, and Jake (Jere Burns) being brilliantly sleazy.  It was a lot of fun and a definite improvement over last week’s dour episode.

For those of us who are still invested in the idea of this show being a prequel to Psycho, last night’s episode was important because it opened with Norman learning about taxidermy from Emma’s dad, Will. Norman is getting his poor dog stuffed and mounted and, no offense to any taxidermists out there, but it’s all a bit creepy.  No wonder that, when Norma drops her son off at Will’s shop, she tells him that she’s not sure if Norman should be spending all of his time with dead things.  Despite the fact that Will points out that taxidermy makes Norman happy, I can actually see Norma’s point.  No mother looking forward to someday being able to play with her grandchildren is going to be happy about seeing her son taking up taxidermy or ventriloquism.

However, that’s the least of Norma’s problems.  Despite her attempts to first flirt with and then blackmail Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell), Romero refuses to use his influence to help Norma get a seat on the town’s planning commission.  Instead, Romero, in that wonderful way that Nestor Carbonell has of being enigmatically threatening, tells her, “We’re not friends.”

Even worse, Norma can’t get Jake to leave the motel.  In one of the best scenes of the entire first season, Norma follows Jake when Jake drives out to Deputy Shelby’s boat.  (Or was it Keith’s boat?  Sometimes, I have a hard time keeping all the dead perverts of Bates Motel straight.)  When Jake discovers Norma watching him, Norma attempts to convince him that she hasn’t been following him.  Speaking in a chillingly child-like voice, Jake replies, “Where’d you hide it?”  (“It” being that sex slave who was last seen running off into the woods.)  Norma finally finds the strength to order Jake out of her motel and, despite the fact that Jake leaves, it’s pretty obvious that he’s not gone.

Meanwhile, at the high school, poor Emma is hiding in the girls room stall and using her inhaler (which brought back a lot of asthmatic memories for me) when she overhears a group of mean girls talking about how weird Norman is and how there’s no way Bradley (Nicola Peltz) would ever sleep with him.  This leads to Emma stepping out of the stall and telling them that Bradley did just that.  Words get back to Bradley, Bradley gets mad at Norman, and Norman ends up up having a mini-breakdown at school.  This leads to two scenes, a hilarious one where Norman and Norma attend a meeting with a therapist and a truly touching one in which Emma apologizes to Norman and tells him that she likes him.  Awwwwwwwwwwww!  Seriously, Norman and Emma are such a cute couple that it’s really a shame that one of them is destined to grow up to be a cross-dressing voyeuristic serial killer.

Finally, Dylan and Remo go on a road trip to pick up some hippies to work at the marijuana farm.  One of the hippies is a really obnoxious guy with a guitar and I spent the last half of the show worried that he was going to be a new regular character.  However, fortunately, he got on Dylan’s nerves so Dylan pulled a gun and left the guy and his guitar on the side of the road.  Yay, Dylan!

Since it first started two months ago, Bates Motel is a show that has struggled to find an identity.  That, in itself, is not surprising.  Few succesful TV shows look the same during their final season as they did during their first.  I recently rewatched the pilot episode of Lost and I was surprised at how different it felt from the show that Lost eventually became.  The fact that Bates Motel is struggling to find itself is not surprising.  What is surprising is just how different Bates Motel can feel from week to week.  Whereas last week’s episode felt a bit forced and melodramatic, this week’s episode felt a lot more self-aware.  This week’s episode was deliberately over-the-top and campy, in a way that acknowledged how ludicrous the series can occasionally be without ever descending to self-parody.  Bates Motel has already been renewed for a second season and hopefully, season 2 will look a lot like last night’s episode.

Random Observations:

  • Tonight’s episode ended with Norma finding Shelby’s mummified body in her bed.  I’m assuming that was a message left for her by Jake, since I don’t think Norman has quite reached the grave robbery stage just yet.
  • The episode started out with clips from last week’s episode so, once again, I had to watch that poor little dog get hit by that car.  I wanted to cry all over again.
  • Was it just me or did Sheriff Romero’s secretary sound like she had a bit of an atittude while she was talking to Norma on the phone?  Speaking as an administrative professional, I thought that was a bit unprofessional.
  • Vera Farmiga’s scene with Nestor Carbonell was definitely Bates Motel at its best.
  • God, that guitar-strumming hippie was annoying.
  • “Actually…I’d like my room made up now…” Agck!  Jere Burns is soooo creepy!
  • “Are you supposed to be putting your hands on the students?”
  • “Not many people write poetry but we still have to have poets, don’t we?”

What Lisa Watched Last Night #81: California Dreams 3.15 “Junior Achievements” (directed by Patrick Maloney)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, as the world froze outside, I battled insomnia by watching yet another old episode of California Dreams.

Why Was I Watching It?

Last night, Texas was hit by a cold front.  So, there I was, wide awake at 3 in the morning, curled up on the couch in my beloved Pirates t-shirt and panties and shivering as the wind howled and the temperature outside plunged into the low 30s.  I figured that maybe watching something silly on YouTube would help me get a little sleep.  So, I figured why not watch a show from sunny, always warm California?

Unfortunately, as I’ve explained in my previous California Dreams–related posts, there aren’t any old episodes of Saved By The Bell: The New Class on YouTube so I had to watch California Dreams instead.

What Was It About?

It’s flu season in California.  Instead of doing the smart thing and staying home and resting, the very sick Tony (William James Jones) continues to go to school and work.  Fortunately, Tony’s girlfriend Sam (Jennie Kwan) is from China and therefore, using typical California Dreams logic, is capable of brewing a magical tea.

Meanwhile, the economics teacher at Pacific Coast High School is handing out $500 to his students and demanding that they use it to start a successful business.  While Jake (Australia’s Jay Anthony Franke) and Mark (Aaron Jackson) struggle to sell music lessons, Sly (Michael Cade), Tiffany (Kelly Packard), and Lorena (Diana Uribe) go into business selling Sam’s magic tea.  However, their greed angers Sam’s ancestors.

Naturally, lessons are learned.

What Worked?

The commercial shoot was amusing.  Anyone who has ever appeared in a student film will be able to relate to it.  I especially liked the fact that Tiffany’s response to Tony’s direction was to repeat the line in the exact same way as before.

I liked the way that Jake’s student delivered the line, “A public debut might be a bit premature…”

What Did Not Work?

Wow, California Dreams — ethnic stereotype much?

I have to admit that I’m a bit confused about PCHS.  In some episodes, it’s portrayed as being this school where there’s little to no discipline and the student body is absurdly powerful.  And then, in an episode like this one, it’s suddenly full of teachers who just randomly hand out money, demand that their students start and run a successful business, and sentence people to summer school on a whim.

As well, you have to wonder how the teacher could punish Jake and Mark for not charging for their lessons while then giving Sam an A just because she was pretty much forced, by a random set of circumstances, into doing the right thing.  I mean, how exactly is that integrity?

Seriously, California must have a really powerful teachers union.

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

Back when I was in college, I had a role in a student film where I was required to spend a lot of time in bed while wearing a black negligee.  The script didn’t call for me to cough but I did so anyway because I felt that’s what my character would do in that situation.  “Lisa, don’t cough,” the director said.  I glared back at him and said, “Well, excuse the fuck outta me for trying to give a good performance.”  Everyone laughed and assumed I was joking so I just went with it.

Lessons Learned

Back in the 90s, you could do a lot with $500.

Review: Bates Motel 1.7 “The Man In Number 9”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bates-episode7

Really, Bates Motel?

After all that build-up and all the dramatic cliffhangers, that’s how you resolve the Deputy Shelby subplot?

Last week’s episode of Bates Motel ended with the evil Deputy Shelby (Mike Vogel) getting shot by Dylan (Max Thieriot) and ending up lying dead at the feet of Norma (Vera Farmiga) and Norman (Freddie Highmore).  How, we wondered, would the Bates Family get out of this one?  How would they handle the suspicions of Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell)?  How could they possibly get anyone to believe what had happened, especially since Shelby’s sex slave had disappeared into the woods?

Well, that was all resolved in the episode’s first five minutes.  Romero showed up, believed everything that Norma told him, and agreed to help cover up the truth.  Problem solved.

Oh, and the missing sex slave?

Well, who knows?

To be honest, nobody seems to be too concerned about her.

Despite the fact that the rest of the episode was actually pretty well-done, it was all overshadowed by the anti-climatic resolution of the whole Shelby subplot.  (Or, as it was referred to in this episode, “The Deputy Shelby scandal.”)  So far, Dylan, Norman, and Norma have — individually and together — murdered four people and they’ve managed to rather easily get away with it despite the fact that they live in a town where criminals are burned alive in the town square.

(Are we ever going to hear about that again?)

Anyway, once Romero let the Bates Family off the hook, Bates Motel got back to normal.  In preparation for the grand opening of the Bates Motel, Norma attempted to pass out some brochures at a few local businesses but was told that nobody wanted anything to do with the Bates Motel because of the “Deputy Shelby scandal.”  I have to say that I laughed out loud when I heard that phrase.  I just imagined people driving by the Bates Motel and saying, “Did you hear about the Deputy Shelby scandal?”

However, there is a glimmer of sordid hope on the horizon when a guy named Jake (played by Jere Burns) shows up at the motel.  As Jake explains, he had a standing reservation with the motel’s former owner for a block a rooms every few weeks.  It’s pretty obvious from the first minute Jake shows up that he’s evil and creepy but Norma needs the money…

Meanwhile, Norman has perhaps the worst week of his life.  He discovers a stray dog and starts feeding it.  He even names it Juno.  (At first, I assumed that he had named it after the Ellen Page movie but I doubt Norma would have allowed him to see that film.)   Then, Bradley (Nicola Paltz) rejects him, explaining that their sexual encounter was a one time thing.  An upset Norman walks back to the motel and arrives just in time to see Juno get run over by a passing car!

Picking up his dead dog, Norman announces that he’s going to see Emma’s father the taxidermist and that’s where this episode ends.

There was a lot to like in last night’s episode.  Jere Burns gave an appropriately creepy performance as Jake and Vera Farmiga continues to find the perfect balance between melodrama and camp.  However, the rather convenient resolution of the “Deputy Shelby scandal” overshadowed the entire episode.  Normally, I enjoy the melodramatic shifts on tone that have come to define Bates Motel but, during last night’s episode, it was all just a bit too much.

Random Observations:

  • Jere Burns certainly is a creepy looking guy, isn’t he?  He looks and occasionally sounds like he could be Christopher Walken’s younger brother.
  • I say this nearly every week but Olivia Cooke really does deserve her own show where she plays a high school student who solves crimes in her spare time.  Her scenes with Vera Farmiga were a lot of fun.
  • Norma’s sex talk with Norman was performed to squirm-inducing perfection by Farmiga and Freddie Highmore.
  • It looks like Bradley might like Dylan and who can blame her when Dylan’s played by Max Thieriot?
  • When Norman was imagining being in bed with Bradley early in this episode, I briefly thought the show was acknowledging what I initially suspected — that Norman and Bradley’s earlier encounter took place solely in Norman’s mind.  However, it turns out I was wrong on both counts.
  • I wanted to cry when Norman’s dog got run over.

Review: Bates Motel 1.6 “The Truth”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bates Motel The Truth

(Warning: Spoilers Ahead)

Ever since Bates Motel began, one of the central questions has been just who was responsible for the death of Norman’s father.  The implication from the start was that Norma (Vera Farmiga) was responsible.  After all, the series began with Norman (Freddie Highmore) finding his father’s body and Norma responding rather calmly to the whole situation.  It was Norma who insisted on leaving town, buying a motel, and starting a new life.  For the past five episodes, it’s Norma who has been the dramatic and manipulative one while Norman has apparently been the one struggling to live a normal life while dealing with his overbearing mother.

In short, it was easy to assume that Norma was responsible.

That said, there has always been a number of viewers who have suspected that Norman would turn out to be the actual murderer.  When the show started, I was one of them.  However, I have to admit that, as Bates Motel progressed, I found myself so caught up in all the other subplots — like the return of Dylan (Max Thieriot) and the creepy Deputy Shelby (Mike Vogel) with his sex slave — that I forgot that there actually was any mystery about the death of Mr. Bates.  I figured it would be one of those plot points that would forever be left open to interpretation.

It turns out I was wrong because last night, the mystery was solved.  As Norma explained to Dylan, Mr. Bates was murdered by Norman.

And, with that explanation, Bates Motel suddenly made a lot more sense.

In the past, Bates Motel has often struggled to define itself.  Last night, however, Bates Motel finally had an identity.  Bates Motel is now a show about a mother trying to protect the world from her son and her son from himself.  With that one revelation, Norma went from villain to sympathetic character and Norman became a lot more creepier.

It’ll be interesting to see how this development will play out over the rest of the series.  Should we be worried about Emma (Olivia Cooke) or the oddly-named Bradley (Nicola Peltz)?

While last night’s episode was dominated by the truth about the death of Mr. Bates, it was also memorable for the fate of Deputy Shelby (Mike Vogel).  After discovering that his sex slave was at the motel, Shelby went on a rampage before finally being shot and killed by Dylan.  Last night’s episode ended with the Bates family staring down at Shelby’s dead body.

How much you want to bet that next week’s episode will feature Shelby being dumped in a nearby swamp?

Random Observations:

  • The Truth is the best episode of Bates Motel so far.  It was certainly the first episode to have a true and definite idea of what the show is trying to be.
  • I loved Norma’s awkward conversation with Emma (Olivia Cooke) at the beginning of the episode.  Emma desperately wants a mom and Norma is frightened of letting anyone get too close to her or Norman.  It created an interesting dynamic.
  • Judging from the previews, next week sees the return of Nestor Carbonell!  YAY!

 

 

What Lisa Watched Last Night #79: California Dreams 3.14 “Boyz R Us” (dir by Patrick Maloney)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched yet another episode of the mid-90s sitcom, California Dreams.  That episode was entitled Boyz R Us.

And yes, it was a very special episode.

Why Was I Watching It?

As I’ve explained in my previous California Dreams-related posts, I’ve been watching episodes of this 90s sitcom because all of the episodes of Saved By The Bell: The New Class have been yanked off of YouTube.

This was actually the third time I had watched the Boyz R Us episode.  I previously watched it last week with my BFF Evelyn after we saw Tyler Perry’s Temptation.  However, the next day was a busy one and I didn’t get a chance to write about it.  Therefore, in order to maintain the integrity of this feature, I rewatched Boyz R Us yesterday so that I could honestly say that it was what Lisa Marie watched last night.

What Was It About?

In this episode, we discover that Tony (William James Jones) is from “the hood.”  This isn’t surprising since, in the world according to mediocre sitcoms, every single black man on the planet was born in the hood just so he could eventually leave, befriend a bunch of white people, and then be accused of “selling out” in a very special episode.

Tony’s cousin, Darren, drops by for a visit and explains to Tony that “Some changes are going down in the hood.”  When an old friend of Tony’s is crippled by gang members, Tony is forced to choose between being a snitch and going to the police or seeking violent revenge on his own.

Meanwhile, the other members of the California Dreams are all broke and get jobs delivering singing telegrams.  To be honest, compared to what’s happening in the hood, the problems of a bunch of affluent white teenagers seem rather trivial indeed.

Incidentally, I was born in Oak Cliff, Texas which is the Dallas version of the hood.  Just saying…

(Of course, my mom also got us all out of there when I was 14 months old and I wouldn’t know a real gangsta if he came up and stared straight at me but that said, I’m still technically from the hood.)

What Worked?

In some of the other episodes that I’ve seen, William James Jones had a tendency to overact.  However, I thought he did a pretty good job in this episode.  If he went over-the-top, that was largely because the episode itself — with its heavy combination of melodrama and messaging — didn’t leave him much choice.  In this episode, Jones embraced the melodrama and good for him.

Don’t get me wrong.  I appreciate and respect the fact that the show was made with the best of intentions.  (Though you do have to wonder just how many real-life gang members would have been spending their Saturday morning watching California Dreams…)  However, the appeal of this episode really is that it’s so over-the-top and melodramatic.

Seriously.

For 22 minutes, everything with Tony is a drama.  Every phone call he gets is bad news and you get the feeling that the other Dreams are starting to dread the prospect of being anywhere near him.  And then, at the end of the episode, Tony manages to not only convince Darren not to throw his life away but also rallies the entire community to finally stand up to the gang culture.  You can argue that the episode’s resolution isn’t all that realistic (for one thing, nobody seems to have considered that at least one of the two gang members would probably have had a weapon of his own) but that’s part of the appeal.

Also, was it just me or did it seem that the California Dreams were personally arresting the two gangstas at the end of the episode?

What Did Not Work?

Two words: Singing telegram.

The singing telegram subplot would have been weak under normal circumstances but when coupled with all of the melodrama and heavy messaging of the main plot, it looked even weaker.  Seriously, do the California Dreams not have parents to borrow money from?

I’m also found myself wondering if their final client specifically told Sly, “I want a group of teenagers dressed like keystone cops to sing to my girlfriend.”

Finally, the show’s writers missed a golden opportunity to have Jake announce, “Jake Summers doesn’t do silent film buffoonery.”

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

“I just want to know what its like to poor!”  That sounds like something I’d say while attempting to be cute.

Lessons Learned

“Two years is a long time to be gone from the hood…”

 

Review: Bates Motel 1.5 “Ocean View”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Ocean View

Norma Bates has got some issues, doesn’t she?

Last week’s episode ended with Norma (Vera Farmiga) being arrested for murdering Keith.  Tonight’s episode begins with her sitting in jail and telling both Dylan (Max Thierot) and Norman (Freddie Highmore) that they’re not acting properly upset over her situation.  “Just leave me here,” she tells them, “I don’t need your help.”

Of course, Norma has a bit of a point.  Dylan, after all, waits to eat breakfast before going to see her and, in a nicely subtle moment, Norman briefly smiles at the sight of his mother imprisoned.

Anyway, Norman, with the help of Emma (Oliva Cooke), manages to find the money to pay the bail bondsman and get Norma out of jail.  Once freed, Norma proceeds to insult her attorney and yell at Norman for “getting laid” while she was getting arrested.  Norma should be careful because it seems like that’s the sort of thing that could lead to Norman becoming a cross-dressing voyeur.

Fortunately, evil Deputy Shelby (Mike Vogel) purposefully misplaces some evidence which leads to the charges against Norma being dropped.  While Norma’s understandably grateful, Norman still feels that Shelby is dangerous.

Meanwhile, Dylan is still planning on moving out of the hotel.  His co-worker Ethan loans Max the money to get a place of his own but a few minutes later, some random guy shows up and shoots Ethan in the neck.  Dylan takes Ethan to the hospital and quickly leaves before anyone can ask him any questions.  Then, as he’s driving back home, Dylan happens to spot the shooter wandering down a conveniently deserted alley.  Dylan reacts by running the man down with his pickup truck.

Finally, Emma and Norman team up to search for and, eventually, discover Shelby’s sex slave.  They take her back to the hotel where Norma discovers them and demands to know what Norman’s doing with not one but two girls.  Norman explains who the girl is.  Norma, at first, refuses to believe him but then the girl herself identifies Shelby as being the man who was holding her captive.

Yes, it’s just another episode of Bates Motel…

I’ve been struggling for the past few weeks to explain just what exactly it is that intrigues me about Bates Motel.

Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy the show.  Vera Farmiga kicks ass.  Max Thierot is hot.  Freddie Highmore is creepy yet sympathetic and Olivia Cooke deserves her own Veronica Mars-like show where she solves crimes.

However, there’s also no denying that Bates Motel is a frequently uneven show.  Scenes that work are often followed by scenes that fall flat.  Intriguing plot points (like the fact that the citizens in the town apparently burned a man alive at the end of the second episode) have been brought up just to never be discussed again.

And yet, I still find myself looking forward to seeing where each episode of Bates Motel is going to go.  As I watched last night’s episode, I finally realize why I’m still watching this show.

Bates Motel is seriously weird.

Some of that’s intentional, of course.  However, a lot of the weirdness of Bates Motel comes from the fact that the show is still struggling to define just what exactly it is.  Is it a psychological thriller?  Is it horror?  Is it a mystery?  Is it an adaptation of young adult fan fiction with Emma serving as a Mary Sue for the unseen author?  Or is it a show about a single mother and her two sons trying to make a new life for themselves in a quirky small town?  Is it Lost or is it Gilmore Girls?

After watching last night’s episode, I’m convinced that the people behind the show have absolutely no idea.

But you know what?

That’s okay because it’s actually a lot of fun watching them trying to figure it out.  Since Bates Motel isn’t sure which genre it belongs to, it’s also free to ignore the rules and conventions that come with having a definite identity.  As a result, Bates Motel is a show where anything truly can happen.

Eventually, the constant tonal shifts are going to get exhausting.  Regardless of how well-acted the show may be, it’s difficult to remain emotionally invested in characters who are free of consistency.

Hopefully, Bates Motel will have found its identity by the time its second season rolls around.

For now, however, I’m just having fun discovering what’s going to happen next.

Random Observations:

  • Ethan turned out to be a pretty good guy.  Too bad he got shot in the neck.
  • This episode’s best Vera Farmiga moment: her defensive meeting with her attorney.  “How old are you?”
  • “Ur mom’s bail has been posted.”  That’s got to be one of the saddest texts ever.
  • Dylan is in danger of becoming one big deus ex machina.  Last week, he happened to show up in time to help Norman escape from Shelby’s basement.  This week, he just happened to show up on his motorcycle when Norman needed a ride home.
  • That said, I absolutely love Max Thierot and, episode-per-episode, his scenes with Freddie Highmore have always been a highlight.
  • Just in case you had forgotten this show is a prequel to Psycho, last night’s episode featured Emma getting Norman’s attention by ringing the bell at the front desk, a la Janet Leigh.
  • “I love you, you idiot!”  Yes, those are words that every girl hopes to hear.
  • The Bates Motel has its own web site?
  • Also, you can download the show’s “manga” notebook from the A&E website?  I guess that’s the difference between A&E and CBS.

Review: Bates Motel Episode 1.4 “Trust Me”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

bates-motel-trust-me

Last night’s episode of Bates Motel might as well have been called “Norman Bates Gets Laid.”

Oh sure, a few other things happened during the episode.  Norman hallucinated, Norma criticized, Deputy Shelby smiled blandly while thinking evil thoughts, a disembodied hand turned up, Dylan learned the truth about the man that Norman and Norma murdered way back in the first episode, and finally, during the show’s final moments, Norma got arrested for that very murder.

But, for the most part, this episode will mostly be remembered as the episode where Norman Bates got laid.

As I’ve said in previous reviews, Bates Motel’s main struggle has always been to find anything new to tell us about the character of Norman Bates.  The character is so iconic that even those poor souls who haven’t seen Psycho are aware that Norman Bates owned a motel, dressed up like his dead mother, and killed people.  On Bates Motel, Freddie Highmore has done a good job bringing the teenage Norman Bates to life but it can still be difficult to emotionally connect with him because you know that eventually he’s going to grow up to be a peeping tom serial killer cross-dresser.

However, after four episodes, I think that actually might be Bates Motel’s greatest strength.  Since we know what Norman’s eventually going to become, it’s oddly compelling to watch him do things that we usually wouldn’t give a second thought to if they were being done by any other character on television.  For instance, any character on television could have ended up having sex with the oddly-named Bradley (Nicola Peltz).  But, since the character here is Norman Bates, the viewers are now left wonder whether Bradley will survive the experience.

And that’s why, even if it’s occasionally a struggle to remain emotionally invested in the adolescence of Norman Bates, I’ll be back next week to see what happens.

Random Observations:

  • Of course, I’m assuming that Norman and Bradley actually had sex.  The scene itself was filmed in such an over-the-top, romanticized manner — with Norman and Bradley making love under those crisp blue sheets and Bradley smiling beatifically — that I actually found myself wondering whether it was meant to be one of Norman’s hallucinations.  With this show, it’s definitely possible.
  • In case you were wondering, last week’s cliffhanger was resolved by having Dylan distract Shelby long enough for Norman to sneak back out of the basement.  Norman told Norma about Shelby’s sex slave, which led to Norma checking for herself and finding no evidence of anyone being held prisoner in the basement.  Though I know it’s a long shot, what if the woman in the basement turns to be another Norman hallucination?  That would be a neat twist to the plot, no?
  • In fact, what if the entire show is just a hallucination!?  Okay, I need to stop before I blow my own mind…
  • If anyone was born to play a femme fatale in a film noir, it’s Vera Farmiga.  It’ll be a crime if she doesn’t, at the very least, receive an Emmy nomination for her performance here.
  • Emma’s father (played by veteran British actor Ian Hart) seemed to be a bit creepy, didn’t he?  I’m not sure if the character was actually supposed to be that menacing or if we were just supposed to be seeing him through Norman’s eyes.  If nothing else, his overprotectiveness of Emma nicely  parallels Norma’s attitude towards her youngest son.
  • When he was first introduced, I was a little bit uncertain about the character of Dylan.  I wasn’t sure whether or not his character was actually necessary.  However, I think the character has developed quite nicely and I actually enjoy the scenes where Dylan’s mask slips and you see that he actually does care about his half-brother.  Plus, it helps that Max Thierot couldn’t be unlikable if he tried.
  • Speaking of good performances, I’m continuing to love the subtle menace that Mike Vogel brings to the role of Deputy Shelby.  I loved the scene where he took Norman fishing.
  • The most frequent complaint that I’ve heard about Bates Motel is that, despite the fact that a lot is happening, the show’s main story tends to proceed at such a deliberate pace that it’s occasionally difficult to remember what that story was supposed to be in the first place.  Personally, I appreciate the fact that the show is taking its time.  For horror to work on television, it’s important that the show’s atmosphere be just right.  And a good atmosphere requires patience.
  • Bates Motel, incidentally, has been renewed for a second season so, for now, it can take as much time as it wants.

Review: Bates Motel S1E3 “What’s Wrong With Norman?”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

whats-wrong-with-norman-bates-motel-whats-wrong-with-norman-freddie-highmore-vera-farmiga“What’s wrong with Norman?”

It’s a legitimate question because, as the saying goes, that boy ain’t right.  It’s also the question that gives Bates Motel its excuse for existing.

Still, even as we consider what’s wrong with Norman, we might want to ask what’s wrong with everyone else in White Pine Bay?  Seriously.  Last week’s episode ended with Norman (Freddie Highmore) and Emma (Olivia Cooke) being chased by pot farmers while some guy was being burned alive in the middle of the town square.  Meanwhile, Norman’s brother Dylan (Max Thierot) has found a new job working for the same pot farmers who were chasing his brother and, perhaps most disturbing of all, everyone in town seemed to be oddly excited about a logging festival.  And let’s not even start with the fact that everyone seems to exclusively watch black-and-white televisions or that the most popular student at the high school is a girl named Bradley…

Seriously, White Pine Bay is a weird town with an unwieldy name.

However, after spending the previous two weeks setting up its story, this week’s episode of Bates Motel focused on Norman.  Having managed to escape the pot farmers, Norman is back at school and being rude to Emma.  When Emma attempts to apologize for what happened and says that she really was just looking for an excuse to spend some time with him, Norman rather coldly suggests that maybe she should give the little faux-Manga booklet back to him because, after all, “it’s pornographic.”  I actually really liked this little scene.  Olivia Cooke and Freddie Highmore have a lot of chemistry and Cooke’s desperate attempt to explain herself was poignant while also hinting that Emma might have some secrets of her own.

(Seriously, I was pretty wild back in high school but I still would never would have thought that of searching for a sex slave as the perfect opportunity to flirt.)

Anyway, after that, Norman ends up in class trying to take a test.  However, instead of concentrating on the test, Norman keeps imagining the sight of his teacher (and, briefly, his mother) bound and gagged.  This leads to Norman fainting in the middle of class and being sent to the hospital where, along with watching one the town’s many black-and-white televisions, Norman also gets to cuddle with Bradley when she comes to visit him.

(Okay, technically, the TV may not have been a black-and-white set because Norman was watching an old movie.  However, I like to think of White Pine Bay as being a town where color television has been outlawed.)

Norman is eventually sprung from the hospital by Norma (Vera Farmiga) because Norma, as always, is having problems of her own.  Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell) is convinced that Norma had something to do with the disappearance of Keith, the former owner of the motel.  (Romero’s right, of course.  Keith was murdered by Norma in the premiere episode.)  Deputy Shelby (Mike Vogel) informs Norma that he found Keith’s belt under Norman’s bed.  Shelby explains that he’s hidden the belt from Romero but it’s also pretty obvious that, unless Norma continues to do things like attend the local logging festival with him, Shelby might be tempted to let Romero know what he found.

After Norman finds out what his mother is doing and why, he ends up having another hallucination where Norma orders him to get that belt.  However, once Norman sneaks into Shelby’s house, he discovers that Shelby has a woman chained up in his basement…

The main complaint that I heard about the first two episodes of Bates Motel is that, storywise, they moved at too deliberate of a pace.  That was definitely not an issue with last night’s episode.  The episode moved at a good pace, Highmore’s sympathetic yet remote performance is developing nicely, and Vera Farmiga continues to kick ass with her cleverly over-the-top interpretation of Norma Bates.

Personally, I can’t wait to see what happens next.

A Few Random Observations:

  • Earlier, I wondered how Bates Motel — with its combination of black-and-white TVs, old cars, and iPods — is meant to fit in with the larger Psycho mythology.  After tonight’s episode — which featured Dylan making a rather pointed reference to Deliverance, a film that came out 12 years after Psycho — I am all the more convinced, much like Lost, Bates Motel is meant to be taking place in an alternative universe of its very own.  The show’s writers are obviously having fun playing with the apparent timelessness of Bates Motel and I’m having fun watching them do it.
  • Obviously, Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga are getting the majority of the critical attention but I happen to love Mike Vogel’s performance as Deputy Shelby.  Seriously, Vogel has transformed Shelby into the epitome of bland villainy.  Watching him, I find myself reminded of Jim Thompson’s classic pulp novel, The Killer Inside Me.
  • I also enjoyed the scene where Dylan and Norman finally did a little brotherly bonding.  It was well-played by both Highmore and Thierot.
  • Did I not predict last week that Dylan would end up working for the pot farmers?
  • I do have to wonder if this episode is going to serve as a template for all future episodes of Bates Motel.  Is Norman going to have a weekly psychotic episode that’s going to lead him to discover more people up to no good?  If so, Bates Motel could run the risk of turning into Dexter: The Motel Years.

Review: Bates Motel 1.2 “Nice Town You Picked, Norma.”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

-bates-motel--episod

Norman Bates has a brother?

Wow, who would have guessed?

That was the main addition that last night’s episode of Bates Motel provided to the Psycho mythology.  Played by Max Thierot (who was so good in last year’s underrated The House At The End of the Street), Dylan is Norman’s half-brother.  He was born when Norma was 17 years old and, as this episode quickly establishes, he’s a little bitter that Norma abandoned him and his father so that she could marry Sam Bates.

Actually, he’s more than a little bitter.  Bitterness appears to be Dylan’s only emotion.  From the minute that Dylan shows up at the Bates Motel, he’s angry.  Though he greets Norma with “Hello, mother,” (presumably so the slower members of the audience won’t be confused as to who he is), he spends the rest of the episode loudly refusing to call her anything other than “Norma” or “the whore.”

Dylan’s relationship with his half-brother isn’t much better.  About halfway through the episode, Norman reacts to Dylan’s taunting by attacking him with a meat cleaver and gets beaten up for his trouble.  “I told you not to do that!” Dylan shouts after he tosses Norman down to the kitchen floor.

To be honest, Dylan would pretty much be insufferable if not for the fact that he’s played by Max Thierot.  Much as he did in The House At The End Of The Street, Thierot is able to generate sympathy for a fairly unsympathetic character.  It helps, of course, that when compared to Norman and Norma, Dylan almost seems to be sensible.

Norma, meanwhile, has bigger problems than just her oldest son deciding to move back in with her.  She’s still trying to cover up the fact that she killed the previous owner of the motel.  It doesn’t help that Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell) has discovered the dead man’s pickup truck parked near the motel.

Norma handles the situation by flirting with Deputy Shelby (Mike Vogel).  While Norman and Dylan are busy fighting in the kitchen, Norma and Shelby are at the town’s logging festival.  Judging from some of the feedback on twitter, I may be in a minority on this but I actually enjoyed the scenes between Shelby and Norma.  Vogel and Vera Farmiga had a very likable chemistry and I thought the scenes did a good job of establishing the town itself as a character.  Much as Lost had to leave the island, Bates Motel has to be able to tell stories outside of the motel and I think that tonight’s episode showed that it can.

Speaking of things happening outside of the motel, that’s probably where Norman (Freddie Highmore) should try to spend as much time as possible.  When he’s inside the motel, he spends all of his time looking at his little BDSM sketchbook and watching his mother while she undresses in front of him.  However, outside of the motel, he’s got a rather sweet relationship with a girl named Emma (Olivia Cooke).  Together, he and Emma research the origins of the sketchbook (“Don’t worry,” Emma says, “I’ve read lots of manga.”) and they even stumble across a local marijuana farm.

Norman ends up spending a lot of time with Emma because his other female friend, the oddly named Bradley (Nicola Peltz), spends most of the episode at the hospital.  Apparently, somebody set her father on fire.  However, as Deputy Shelby explains to Norma, the town has a way of taking care of trouble makers. That’s made pretty obvious at the end of tonight’s episode when Norma drives by another man who, in an apparent act of retribution, has been set on fire in the middle of the town square.

I enjoyed the second episode of Bates Motel.  It was full of atmosphere and Vera Farmiga’s performance continues to maintain the perfect balance between reality and camp.  Narratively, the story is still unfolding at a very deliberate pace but this episode provided enough intriguing clues to make me excited about seeing what happens next Monday.

That said, I still can’t help but feel that this show’s main weakness is the fact that , as opposed to being a stand alone series, it has to exist as part of the mythology of Psycho.  In many ways, Bates Motel reminds me of The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to Sex In The City that airs on CW.  It’s a well-acted show that’s full of a nicely observed moments but it’s still impossible for me to watch without thinking, “It doesn’t matter what happens because we already know Carrie’s going to eventually end up meeting and marrying Mr. Big.”

By the same token, I still find it next to impossible to watch Bates Motel without thinking to myself, “Eventually, regardless of what happens wit Dylan, Emma, or the pot farmers, Norman’s going to end up wearing Norma’s clothes, peeping on women in the shower, and killing them.”

Divorced from the Psycho mythology, Bates Motel is an entertaining and intriguing little show.  However, without the Psycho mythology, would a show called Bates Motel have ever made it to the air in the first place?

Random Observations:

  • The best scene, by far, was Norma’s alternatively friendly and creepy conversation with Emma.  “And what’s your life expectancy?”
  • How much do you want to bet that Dylan’s going to end up working with the pot farmers?
  • Speaking of the pot farm, am I the only one who was reminded of that episode of Lost where John Locke’s flashback dealt with the period of time he spent living on a commune?
  • I know I said this last week but seriously, how can you not love Nestor Carbonell?