Bates Motel - S3E6 - Norma Louise

Previously on Bates Motel, ‘The Deal’

Man Tantrum

Norman freaks.the.fuck.out after Norma leaves. He throws a tantrum, but a grown-ass man tantrum where he throws dishes. He demands Dylan get his mother back. Dylan demands Norman calm the hell down. Then he demands with his fist and knocks Norman out.

Calm and in bed, Norman tells Dylan their mother isn’t coming back because that’s what she does. He feels strange, like he’s outside of his body. Uh oh.

Road Trip

Norma heads out of town, crying and ignoring all of Dylan’s texts and calls. She pulls over, puts a few bullets into her phone, and drives to Portland. She heads right for the nearest Express or Forever 21 or wherever it is young girls shop these days, and purchases a hoochie mama outfit. It’s like Pretty Woman in reverse. For the record: She still looks amazing. She’s also being followed by Paris’ goon.

Next stop is to trade in her car for a bright red Mustang, and then she checks into a roadside motel. This feels so much like the opening to Psycho, y’all. 

Alone in her room, Norma remembers hiding under the house with her brother while their parents fought. They’re both dirty and look pretty neglected. Caleb comforts his little sister.

Meanwhile, back in White Pine Bay, Dylan drives up to the farm and tells Caleb what happened with Norma and that he has to leave. Caleb looks sad, but agrees to go.

Run, Emma, Run

Emma arrives and Dylan tells her everything. She immediately asks what she can do to help, and decides to sleep over on the couch. Dylan is grateful, but worried it may be too much for her.

“I can breathe here just like I can breathe anywhere else,” she says.

Norman awakens in the middle of the night to find Emma asleep in a chair by his bed. He calls for his mother, making his way into her room which is filled with moths as she left the window open. The walls begin to crack and Norman awakens for real, in his bed.

Romero Is Not Here For Your Shit

Romero is shot as he tries to put groceries into his car. That damn, Bob Paris! He wakes up in the hospital and rudely demands that a nurse bring him his cell phone. He calls Norma to warn her, but we know her phone is sitting on the side of the road with caps in its ass.

Later, Marcus Young visits Romero in his room, reassuring him that he’s not there to finish the job. He has an offer for Romero: Bob wants him dead, but Marcus says he can convince Bob to leave him alone once he’s the sheriff and Romero works for him. Romero asks for time to think about it and Marcus gives him till the next day. As Marcus prepares to start his car in the parking garage, Romero appears and smashes out the driver side window. He hits Marcus, takes his gun, and shoots Marcus in the head. Then he drives off with Marcus’ body.

Guess he got his answer. 

Forget Yourself

Norma can’t sleep so she heads to a bar where she meets a cutie named Taylor. They dance and she says she ran out on her wedding that day, which is a better ending than the mentally ill husband she had to kill. He laughs, because clearly she’s joking. They go out to his truck for a smoke, which turns into kissing, which turns into Taylor thinking he’s getting a blow job. Norma Louise Calhoun don’t play that. She spits in his face and hops out of the car. He yells at her what the audience has known since season one:

“You’re a freaking mess, lady!”

Back at home, Norman kills a pigeon in the basement while the dog freaks out because he just watched his owner kill a fucking bird. I was hoping this was a dream, but nope. 

At 2:12am, that’s where Emma and Dylan find Norman: in the basement, clutching a dead bird, and completely catatonic. He doesn’t respond to them - he just stares straight ahead. They finally walk him back to his room as he chants, “I want my mother. I want my mother. I want my mother.” They decide to place him in Norma’s bed where he might feel safer.

Emma has a coughing fit and needs Dylan’s assistance in loosening the crap that has accumulated on the walls of her lungs. He straddles her on the bathroom floor and pounds on her chest until she coughs it up. He apologizes for dragging her into their family mess, but she says their family is important to her and she wants to be apart of it. Dylan can definitely relate to that.

Confession

Norma calls Finnigan and invites herself over to his house. Over tea, she admits Norman has blackouts and keeping the secret is killing her. She feels betrayed Norman would ask her to talk to her brother, considering all she’s done to keep him safe. When Finnigan pushes for details, she admits Norman killed his father to protect her. She tries to take it back and run off, but he stops her and carries her back in the house. Paris’ goon watches all. He puts Norma to bed and then they have sex, despite his pleas that they’ll be better as therapist/patient.

The Next Morning

Dylan finds Norman in Norma’s robe, cooking breakfast. He thinks he’s his mother. It has begun.

Norman eventually goes back to bed and Emma leaves to shower and change. Dylan watches over his brother, clearly worried.

Norma prepares to leave Finnigan’s. She has to talk to her horrible brother because it’s important to her sons. Finnigan asks what about what’s best for her.

“Parents do not have needs. You ever read the book The Giving Tree? It’s about a tree and this kid keeps coming to it and taking stuff from it his whole life. Until there’s nothing left, but a stump. And then the kid sits on the stump. That’s being a parent.”

Chick approaches Caleb about the job offer, which Caleb now accepts. But Chick won’t give any details until it’s time.

Norma finds both of her sons asleep in her bed. She wakes them and says they’re going to the farm, despite their protests. Norman is like, “Where the hell this Mustang come from?” And Dylan is all, “Man. Just get in the car and don’t ask questions.” They arrive at the farm and Norma confronts her brother outside his van. They just stare at each other for a few moments and she walks away. He calls after her, apologizing, and falls to his knees, wrapping his arms around her legs.

He apologizes over and over again. She cries and hugs him. He cries. Dylan cries. I cry. Not Norman, though. He just mean mugs the whole situation cause Norman is insane.