Bates Motel - S3E10 - Unconscious
Previously on Bates Motel, ‘Crazy’
Making Moves
While Dylan is disappointed to see Caleb left a guitar for him - the main disappointment coming from the fact his father left - he is surprised, and pleased, to learn Norma plans on visiting a mental hospital for Norman.
Romero listens in as the DEA task force go over their plans to hit the town’s criminal element, including Bob Paris.
Emma gets the good news there’s a set of lungs available for her, but she doesn’t seem happy about it. She questions how she got to the top of the list so quickly, and her father lies and says she was probably just the best match for those organs. Still, not even a hint of a smile from Emma.
Norma arrives at Pine View, the mental health facility. It’s large, peaceful, beautiful, and super expensive: at minimum, $20K-$40K per month. Norma tunes out as the representative continues to sing the facility’s praises as she knows she can’t afford it.
Parental Issues
Dylan calls Caleb and leaves a message, laying into his father for leaving. Norman finds Bradley has sneaked out of the motel room. She breaks into her mother’s home, again, and trashes the place.
Emma watches as her own father talks on the phone - it looks like he might have gotten bad news, but Emma doesn’t stick around to find out. When Emma’s dad calls Dylan looking for her, he reveals the lungs are a match, but now he can’t find his daughter. Dylan finds Emma at the farm.
She’s afraid to get the transplant, worried her body will reject the lungs and then she’ll have wasted whatever time she has left. Dylan reminds her she’s pretty much a badass and they kiss. Emma’s getting that transplant.
When Bradley does return to the motel room, she has a ton of cash and about $30K worth of jewelry to sell. She wants Norman to run away with her that night. Norman ain’t about that leaving his mama life, no matter how hard Bradley begs. Norma’s arrival cuts the conversation short, as Norman races to the house to see where she’s been.
The Hard Talk
Norma sits Norman down for the “you need professional help talk.” It goes about as well as expected: Norman feels his mother has given up on him even though she insists it’s the opposite. She knows he’ll outlive her and she wants him to be happy and safe. Norman storms off to his room when he learns she visited a facility.
That night, Romero stops by to speak with Norma. Not to apologize, mind you, because he did the right thing. Okay. Maybe he will apologize for not being able to protect her. She admits she’s afraid of what will happen to Norman, her special, but broken, son. She knows it will kill her if he’s taken away from her, but maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be. They’re all doomed in the end, she reckons. She thanks him for stopping by and heads to the house. I legit thought this scene might end with some hot office sex, but alas.
Goodbyes
Bob is trying to enjoy a late night sandwich in his kitchen when Romero calls to warn him. He has less than ten minutes to get the hell up outta there before the DEA arrives. Bob in jail is not in his best interest. The DEA is disappointed to find Bob isn’t home, but Romero finds him aboard his boat, preparing to sail away to a new life.
Romero tells Bob he’s tired of everyone else benefiting from all the shit going on in that town. Bob quickly realizes Romero isn’t there to wish him bon voyage. Despite his promises he’ll never bother Romero or Norma again, Romero won’t budge. It’s when Bob starts taunting him for turning into his father that Romero puts three bullets in him.
Norma walks in on Norman preparing to leave. He rants they’re no good together and he’s going to leave with Bradley. Because Norma thinks Bradley is dead, she’s convinced Norman is having a psychotic break. It doesn’t help when he starts talking about their discussion about Bradley the night before - the discussion which never really happened.
She knocks him out to keep him from leaving and ties him up in the basement. When Dylan arrives to help, they find Norman got away. Norma is surprised to learn Bradley didn’t kill herself, but Dylan points out it doesn’t mean Norman ISN’T crazy… he’s just not crazy about that.
In the car with Bradley, Norman sees his mother in the backseat. She agrees to leave if he’ll let her talk to Bradley. He then begins to speak as Norma, scaring the hell out of Bradley. He makes her pull over, pulls her out of the car, and beats her head against a rock. We see this all play out as if Norma did it. Once Bradley is dead, Norman returns and yells into the night, “Mother, what did you do?”
He pushes the car with Bradley’s body inside into the water. Then Norma appears to tell him he did the right thing. She’ll take care of everything as long as he doesn’t tell anyone what happened. And then they can be together forever.
Overall Thoughts:
- This is still one of the best shows on television, and more people need to be watching it, but I was a tad underwhelmed by this finale. Bradley’s return only served the purpose of being the season’s big death in the finale. Yes, the fact Norman is killing again is terrible, but this series is nothing but the build to Norman doing very bad things. This would have a greater impact if he’d killed, say, Emma. I don’t care that Bradley came back, and I definitely don’t care that she’s dead. And the Bob Paris threat was taken care of way too easily.
- The final scene - the real one; not a hallucination - between Norman and Norma proved why these two need to be away from one another. Not just so Norman can receive proper medical care, but so Norma can learn to parent the right way - by doing whatever it takes - even if it hurts - to protect your children. Her weakness lies in giving in each time Norman hurts her feelings. She was on the right track most of the season, but Norman was always able to flip it quickly by pressing the You’re a Bad Mommy button.
- The character chemistry between Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore is insane. When she’s explaining her desire to see him get help, the look in his eyes was both heartbreaking and terrifying.
- I’m here for the Emma and Dylan relationship. I want these two to get a happy ending. Just leave, you two! Go. Don’t look back.
- What up with Chick?
