In the ‘Bates Motel’ recap, Norman is at odds with his mother after the sheriff starts asking questions about a missing convict and Romero searches for help after being shot…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
“You must think I’m mad”
Norman Bates doesn’t know he’s completely insane, but he sure has a way of stating the obvious as he did in the latest episode of ‘Bates Motel’ during a conversation with his faux girlfriend Madeleine Loomis.
Norman’s break with reality has been the foundation of the entire series — for obvious reasons — but his mental state has become the main focal point during the final season as he continues to visualize his mother still alive and domineering over his every move
During the latest episode, Norman finally starts to revolt against her decisions, however, and it nearly has deadly consequences. Then again, Norman fighting back against ‘Mother’ also may have saved a woman he’s falling in love with from having her throat slashed.
Perhaps Norman really did want a regular life all along and this is his way of rebelling against his ‘Mother’. Then again, we already know she never really loosens her grip around him — even after she’s dead.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘Bates Motel’ titled ‘Hidden’…
Family, Duty, Honor
The latest episode picks up just second after Chick plowed down Caleb as he fled for his life only to find himself in front of an oncoming car that had no intentions of slowing down to save him. Caleb is dead and Norman wants to report this to the police because he’s really done nothing wrong. It was all an accident. Right?
Chick and ‘Mother’ disagree and believe they should just get rid of the body. Chick insists that perhaps Norman wouldn’t want the police digging around his basement where they might find that Caleb was held prisoner or maybe the dead body that’s been mummified in a separate room.
Norman eventually concedes, which leads to Chick burning Caleb’s body in the middle of the lake after pushing him out in a burning boat like his last name was Tully.
Chick agreeing with ‘Mother’ doesn’t do him any favors, however, because Norman now feels like he’s fighting against two people instead of just one so he asks his new housemate to move elsewhere. Norman says he still wants to be friends with Chick but it’s not such a good idea that they are roommates any longer.
After dealing with Chick, Norman is now trying to deal with his ‘Mother’ and that includes getting rid of some of her old dresses and belongings around the house in a sly sign of rebellion against her. As Norman gets ready to leave the house to hand over the clothes to charity he runs into Sheriff Greene — the new law keeper who took over for Romero (who is played by the same woman who was once ordered to put the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again).
Sheriff Greene stops by because she was alerted by the District Attorney that an ex-convict named Jim Blackwell skipped out on his parole and when they went looking for him they found a scrap of paper with the address to the Bates Motel scribbled on it. Of course, Norman pretends as if he’s never heard of this name before, but he’s then told the other piece of news that connects Blackwell to him.
Sheriff Greene informs him that Blackwell was in the same prison where Alex Romero previously resided. He’s no longer there, however, because Romero has escaped custody and he’s on the run. Norman doesn’t seem all that shaken by the news despite the fact that he knows his wayward stepfather wants him dead.
Still, Norman stays calm, cool and composed while answering the sheriff’s questions before running back into the house to tell his ‘Mother’ what just happened. Interesting enough, Norman tells ‘Mother’ all about Jim Blackwell and his disappearance but fails to mention to her that Romero escaped.
Remember, Romero held a very real and very special place in Norma’s heart before she died and even Norman’s psychotic vision of his ‘Mother’ can’t quite get rid of the emotions felt for him. Just like how ‘Mother’ couldn’t kill Caleb — we know Norman is ultimately the one in control but his fractured psyche assumes his mother’s personality and in that state she couldn’t kill her own brother and she still has feelings for Romero, just like the real Norma did.
The next day Sheriff Greene pays another visit to the Bates Motel, this time asking to see the records book in case Blackwell may have stayed there under an assumed name. She finds nothing but in the midst of her conversation with Norman he accidentally mentions the town where Blackwell was from. She knows she never told him that information and Norman only knows it because he rifled through Blackwell’s wallet before dumping his body in the lake.
Sheriff Greene is suspicious but not enough to really imagine that Norman had something to do with Blackwell’s disappearance — at least not yet.
Norman is in a panic though after the sheriff leaves because she also mentioned that Blackwell was driving an old Lincoln that has also gone missing. It turns out, ‘Mother’ hid the car in the middle of the woods in an attempt to hide the evidence, but that’s just not good enough for Norman. He wants to get rid of the car completely but when ‘Mother’ leads him to her hiding spot, he’s frustrated beyond belief that she threw away the keys and they now have no way to move a gigantic piece of evidence.
Norman then accuses his mother of wanting them to get caught, which results in her screaming to anyone who can hear that she’s still alive and they killed a man. Norman ends up tackling his mother and nearly choking her to death — the look on her face is the same as the real mummified version currently living in the basement. It appeared in that instant as if Norman was trying to exorcise the demon of his mother by “killing” her.
‘Mother’ eventually wakes up but Norman is clearly getting a little tired of the dynamic he’s got at home. Norman wants to take care of things his own way but ‘Mother’ is a little controlling and she’s not the type to just let him do whatever he wants. Maybe that’s why Norman was finally ready to let her go — at least for a moment.
Born to Run
Last week after escaping custody, Romero got caught trying to steal a car and an over ambitious kid with a happy trigger finger ended up shooting him in the stomach. Romero is able to talk his way out of it when the kid realizes he actually just shot somebody and they might die.
The kid runs off to get a first aid kit and that give Romero enough time to make his escape.
Romero is wounded but still able to walk far enough to get to an apartment complex where he uses a phone to call in a fake overdose so an ambulance will rush to the scene. While the paramedics go inside to find the supposed victim, Romero ambushes the ambulance for medical supplies so he can clean out the gunshot wound.
Later that night after patching himself up, Romero arrives at a house where a woman name Maggie greets him. He nearly collapses in her arms after losing so much blood from being shot and she helps him into the house.
Is this is mother or someone else? It’s clearly someone Romero trusts enough to ask for help while also hoping they won’t turn him back into the police.
I Know A Place
Following the altercation with ‘Mother’ over Blackwell’s car and her insistence on handling things her way, Norman seeks help from his old pal Chick, who is back living in a half-trailer on the back lot of what appears to be a junkyard.
After kicking him out of the house a day before, Norman comes to Chick looking for help because he needs to get rid of the card belonging to Blackwell. Chick agrees to hotwire the car and get rid of it per Norman’s request because they are such good friends.
Norman is concerned about his mother’s behavior recently and the constant conflict they are having with each other. Of course, Chick is the one person who knows that this is all going on inside Norman’s head, which means he’s really conflicted with himself and the decisions he’s been making lately.
Chick also mentions to Norman how he’s currently in the throws of writing a suspense novel that he hopes will one day turn into a very compelling movie. Perhaps at some point Chick’s real last name will be exposed as “Bloch” rather than Hogan.
Dressed to Kill
Instead of throwing away the dressed that belonged to his mother, Norman decides to keep a few of them and deliver the clothing as a present to his new friend Madeleine, who bares a striking resemblance to Norma Bates. Of course there’s nothing creepy about giving a girl who you’re interested in dressed that once belonged to your dead mother!
Norman even admits it’s kind of creepy yet Madeleine still accepts the gift and decides to invite him over to dinner that night. While he’s at the hardware store, Norman also picks up a delivery of shower curtains for the hotel because he goes through these things like crazy. Clearly a harbinger of what’s to come very soon — especially considering Rihanna will make her debut as Marion Crane next week!
Meanwhile, Norman doesn’t ask his mother for permission to go see Madeleine that night but instead tells her that he’s going to see her and she’s not invited to make an appearance. He tries to make her promise that she won’t harm Madeleine but instead ‘Mother’ can only swear that she’ll always do whatever it takes to protect him.
A rather ominous warning.
When Norman shows up to Madeleine’s house, she’s wearing one of Norma’s dresses, which only sets the mood even more for this insanely curious date. Norman has been attracted to Madeleine since day one because she looked so much like his mother and deep down he was always in love with her so this is the second best thing with a person who isn’t related to him and still alive.
At dinner, Madeleine and Norman exchange pleasantries while he hears all about her cheating husband still toiling away in Seattle rather than being at home paying attention to his wife. After eating, Madeleine asks if he would like to bake a cake with her and then they can sit in front of the television watching a movie and pigging out on sweets all night.
The two of them proceed to make the cake together — another act that was once shared with his mother because Norma was always in the kitchen preparing one meal or another for her son. The culmination of the energized baking session comes to a close when Norman pours milk into her cake batter, which is just a whole lot of disturbing symbolism in the correlation between the sexual tension he’s sharing with Madeleine and the act itself, which harkens back to something that reminds him of his mother.
Finally, Norman and Madeleine give into temptation and start kissing before he puts her on the counter where they furiously begin making out. Before the situation can evolve any further, Norman sees his mother standing behind Madeleine and he jumps back as a wave of panic sets over him.
A moment later, Norman watches in horror as his mother slits Madeleine’s throat and she lies on the ground in a pool of her own blood. The vision is shocking but then Norman snaps out of it, looks at Madeleine on the counter and she’s perfectly fine but he’s clearly not.
Norman runs out of the house and returns home where he searches for his mother in the dark, grey house he once shared with her. Notice whenever ‘Mother’ is in the room, Norman envisions a bright home full of color and light. When ‘Mother’ is gone, the grey, dark tones return and the house is once again a shell of what it once was when she was alive.
This time around, Norman searches far and wide through the house but his mother is nowhere to be found. Did Norman just take control of his own psychotic tendencies by not allowing ‘Mother’ to murder Madeleine? Did he just exorcize that demon and now ‘Mother’ is gone?
Norman experienced something that he’s never felt before since his ‘Mother’ was resurrected — he had control but now that she’s disappeared is he willing to hand it all back over to her again so she will return?
Tune into ‘Bates Motel’ next Monday night at 10pm ET on A&E to find out!
