In the Bates Motel recap, Romero and Dylan try to warn Norma that her son is still sick and very dangerous but it might be too late to listen….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
No matter how much happiness and hopes seeps into the world of Bates Motel, this story was always going to have a tragic end and the penultimate episode of season four finally brought upon a cataclysmic moment that will forever change the path of every character on the show.
Amidst a whirlwind of distrust in her marriage and faith in her son, Norma Bates once again refused to see the forest for the trees as Norman’s sociopathic rage continued to simmer under the surface and his tell-tell signs of madness didn’t leak through to her due to the cloudiness in her own mind after breaking up with Romero earlier in the day.
And at the end of the episode, Norman decided that the only way that he and his mother could be together forever would be sealing their fate at the same time and same place in eternal sleep.
It’s doubtful there will be a better performance on television this week than Nestor Carbonell when he found Norma and Norman passed out in the house filled with deadly, noxious gas and he cried out with tortured pain that his worst nightmare just came true and the woman he loved was dead.
With that said let’s recap the latest episode of Bates Motel titled ‘Forever’….
No Cure for Crazy
The morning after his altercation with Romero, Norman looks on as his mother and her new husband kiss each other goodbye. Romero spent the night on the couch out of concern for his wife after Norman threatened him with an axe before going Jack is a dull boy on the basement door out of anger towards his new stepfather.
Just because Norman got out of the crazy house doesn’t mean he’s better and Romero knows that for a fact, but Norma isn’t willing to listen.
In fact, Norma would much rather thing about happier things like putting up the Christmas tree and decorating things around the house.
Meanwhile as Dylan is getting ready to leave White Pine Bay for Seattle, Emma asks him to return the coat she borrowed from Norma back to her. As Dylan picks up the coat, he finds a very strange object in the pocket — an earring that he knows belongs to Audrey Decody, Emma’s mother. Now all of Dylan’s worst suspicions have been realized — Audrey is dead and chances are Norman is the one who murdered her.
Dylan’s suspicions are coupled with Romero, who calls on him to meet later in the day so they can discuss Norman. Romero’s idea is to commit him even if Norma won’t give her permission. If two family members — say Romero and Dylan — sign off on it, a judge could order Norman put into the mental health facility again.
As much as Dylan believes his brother needs help, he’s not ready to pull that trigger just yet and he tells Romero that he’s going to make one last ditch effort to talk to his mother about his brother’s health before going that route to commit him.
The Sting
Rebecca decides to make a deal with the DEA that will get her immunity from the pending case under one condition — she’ll wear a wire and get Romero to confess to the murder of Bob Paris. If she does that, Rebecca goes free and Alex is the one who will end up in prison.
Later that day, Rebecca appears back in town after she was supposed be gone to Indiana and she shows up for lunch with Romero like they never skipped a beat.
Once they sit down together, Rebecca says all the right things (or at least she thinks so) to coax out the information from Romero to get him to confess to Bob Paris’ murder.
There’s only one problem — Romero is far too smart to fall for this one.
He realizes right away that Rebecca is wearing a wire and he ends up calling her bluff and literally speaking into the hidden microphone where he tells his friends at the DEA that he helped them score some major busts to take down the drug runners in town but they won’t receive his assistance any longer, much less bust him for a murder.
Now Rebecca is clearly screwed with nothing else to sell and it looks like she’ll be the one paying for business with Bob Paris.
What Did You Do?
After seeing Romero and Norma together in the morning, Norman is just bubbling over with anger about the situation he’s living with at home. He vents to his therapist while spouting off about their marriage starting out as a farce to help insurance pay for his stay at the Pineview Institute and now the two of them are supposedly in love.
Norman actually believes his mother is just doing everything she can to avoid being alone.
For the past 18 years, Norma has always had Norman by her side but as soon as he was gone, she looked to replace him with the next closest warm body and that was Romero. Norman’s logic is fractured at best although he may have a clue or two about his own neediness when it comes to the relationship he shares with his mother.
Back at home after therapy, Norman decides to go to the attic to get down the Christmas lights and among the boxes of decorations, he also finds some of his old taxidermy work. A stuffed owl, a ferret and underneath it all, Norman finds a dirty suitcase that clearly doesn’t belong here.
Inside the suitcase with a nametag that says ‘Audrey Decody’, Norman finds a scarf and a robe, dirtied up and covered with dried blood. Norman pulls the robe from the suitcase and proceeds to put it on and stare at himself in the mirror.
In that moment, Norman realizes the gravity of what he’s done — he killed Emma’s mother or he’s at least starting to consider that possibility and his silence after the discovery is deafening and really unnerving. Norman ends up burying the suitcase in the backyard, but he’s starting to realize that this is a crime that won’t go away forever.
Goodbye, Norman
Dylan heads over to the house to have one last try at confronting his mother about Norman to explain that he’s still sick and should be in the hospital for professional treatment. He shows her the earring that he knows belongs to Audrey but Norma is still lying to cover up for whatever Norman did to her. Dylan does his best to coax out a confession, but Norma can’t face the reality of what her son did to this innocent woman.
Rather than listening, Norma lashes out at Dylan and more or less intimates that he’s never really acted like her son. Dylan fires back and says that Norma has never even really tried to be his mother either and now she won’t have to worry about that any longer. Dylan also ends up telling Norma about his meeting with Romero, which only further enrages her.
Dylan is leaving for Seattle and he’s cutting ties with this whacked out family. On his way to the car, Dylan runs into Norman, who he proceeds to hug and tell that he should seek professional help again if not for himself than for his own mother’s sake.
Norma comes rushing after him but not out of concern that Dylan is leaving — she wants the earring that could serve as evidence of what her psychopathic son has done.
Dylan jumps in the truck in front of the Bates Motel for the last time as he looks to leave this fucked up little down and strike out on a new life alongside Emma and her father.
Mr. Sandman
After an intense showdown with Dylan over Norman’s mental health, Norma confronts Romero about his intentions to have her son committed behind her back. Norma tells Romero that after his attempt to send Norman away that she can no longer trust him and that was what their relationship was founded upon.
Norma tells Romero that they are finished before writing him a letter that starts out with — ‘I will always love you no matter what’ — before placing it in an envelope along with her ring.
Norma’s misery loves company when Norman comes in to console her and he has an idea to make all oft his go away. He suggests just picking up everything they can carry and moving to Oahu. All they need in this world is the two of them and Norma can’t help but smile and fall back into the false sense of security she feels whenever she’s alone with her son.
Norma finally drifts off, but Norman is still very much awake.
He walks down to the basement where he finds the cracked furnace that has caution tape all around it, warning anybody with half a brain that this is a very dangerous appliance. Of course, Norman already knows that because chances are he was the one who damaged the furnace in the first place trying to enact this same exact plan several months back.
Norman turns on the gas, lights the fuse and then proceeds to wander all over the house closing vent after vent except for one — the vent in his mother’s bedroom.
Norman climbs back up the stairs, crawls into bed and waits for the gas to claim them both. This way Norman and Norma can truly be together forever — in eternal sleep.
Thankfully, Romero shows up at the house to check on his wife and possibly work through this latest disaster, but when he gets inside, everything is eerily silent. He shouts for Norma but she doesn’t answer. Romero starts looking around and notices his breath is shortened and his eyes are watering.
Romero rushes upstairs where he finds Norma and Norman laying in bed together, the two of them completely passed out to the world.
Romero opens as many windows as he can find before carrying Norma and Norman out to safety away from the room filled with gas. A few seconds later, Norman begins coughing and wakes up just enough to see that his mother is still unconscious, laying in the arms of her crying husband who can’t bring her back to life.
Romero pounds her chest and tries to breathe life into her but Norma is gone. As he sobs overtop of his fallen wife, Norman sees that his mother is dead and this time she’s never coming back — but despite his grandest plans to fall asleep next to her and never wake up again, he’s still here.
The Bates Motel season finale airs next Monday night at 9pm ET on A&E
