Bates Motel Recap ‘Unbreak-Able’: No. 1 Son

In the latest Bates Motel recap, Norman can’t handle sharing his mother with anyone especially his brother while the murder investigation leads Sheriff Romero back to a familiar doorstep…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer ‘Bates Motel’ creator Carlton Cuse said when he started the series, he had a five year plan mapped out for the evolution of Norman Bates from a strange high school oddity to a knife-wielding, shower curtain tugging ‘Psycho’ and if season three is any indication so far — he’s fast tracking the plan with frightening results. Norman has quickly been dissolving through the first few episodes this season and the transformation only took a turn for the worse during the latest offering titled ‘Unbreak-Able’ when he lashed out with anger towards his mother’s insinuations and then turned it inward when it was clear that he was being cut out of her inner circle in favor of a brother he never really wanted around in the first place. Speaking of Dylan, he finally bonded with his father/uncle this week and did manage to get closer to his mother but his little brother is now threatening to blow it all apart. Can’t we all just get along? With that, let’s recap this week’s episode of ‘Bates Motel’ titled ‘Unbreak-Able’

Murder Incorporated

The cops are on the scene when ‘Bates Motel’ picks up this week as they begin to investigate the mysterious death of Annika Johnson. Norma’s shaken up but when Romero arrives she can’t get to him quick enough to explain how Norman had nothing to do with this. Side note — telling the cops you’re absolutely not guilty and had nothing to do with a crime is almost a guaranteed way to have them look into you (or so I hear). Norman shows up, which only makes things look more suspicious, and he’s curious how Annika died because he’s still not sure he didn’t do it. Norma quickly rushes him back to the house and into bed where she has Dylan sit with him while she deals with the cops. Norma’s insistence that Norman had no part in Annika’s murder of course makes Romero suspicious, but as much as he’d like to investigate White Pine Bay’s resident disturbed teenager, he’s got bigger problems when he finds out that the prostitute with a heart of gold got shot 20-minutes before she arrived at the hotel. While he’s not exactly accusing Norma and Norman of anything, he is curious why she would go there to draw her final breaths. Things only get worse for Romero after he questions local Arcanum Club president and all around asshole Bob Paris, who informs him that he had nothing to do with the murder but is curious if anything was found on her person when she was found dead? Romero answers honestly that she did not and he grills Norma, but she denies it all while quietly hiding the mini had drive in her bra that Annika handed her just before she died. Romero then finds out that the car Annika drove back to the motel was registered to the first dead girl they found in the lake a couple of days earlier. It turns out after he speaks to one of her friends that the first dead girl was in a ‘relationship’ of sorts with Bob and they eventually got kinky and invited Annika in for a threesome. Now both girls are dead, Bob looks suspicious as fuck and Annika had ‘something’ on her that he wants desperately. Oh and Norma’s method of cracking the password on Annika’s stolen hard drive? She uses her first and last name and even tries SEXCRAZED (which was hilarious) before eventually using a random coffee house hacker and then reading about the subject in the library. Norma seems like a well meaning woman sometimes, but then again she’s often written with mind numbing stupidity.

She’s All Mine

Norma decides to bring in Dylan on this entire Annika murder secret while also revealing Norman’s latest mishap where he nearly drown in a bathtub. While all of this is happening, Norman is seething with animosity towards both his mother and brother. He’s mad at her for cutting him out and he’s even angrier at Dylan for taking his place by Norma’s side. The all too creepy relationship between Norman and Norma ratcheted up once again (if that’s possible) this week when his mother came home to make dinner and he was busy studying with Emma at the dinner table. Out of nowhere, Norman grabs his new girlfriend and starts furiously making out with her while staring at his mother in the kitchen. When Norma finally intervenes, Emma apologizes while Norman fires back that he’s allowed to kiss whoever he wants, whenever he wants because this is his house after all. He continues to poke and prod at Norma when he invites Emma to go on a picnic while telling his mother that she’s certainly not coming along for this trip. Norma has been defensive of Norman since the very beginning of this show, but as she’s started to loosen the apron strings just a bit, all he wants is to climb back up into her womb. Norma’s protective mode does manage to come out before Norman leaves, but much to his dismay it’s more about Emma than her son. She instructs Norman no matter what, he’s not to have sex with Emma but not because it’s something immoral or wrong. No it’s because in Emma’s weakened state, Norma is convinced that sex could seriously hurt her and she tells Norman if he goes through with it and she’s harmed, mother will kick his ass from here to the moon and back. Out on the picnic (on a day where it’s so cold they can see their breath in the daytime), Norman and Emma end up breaking into an abandoned cabin and building a fire for warmth. They are cozied up by the fireplace when they decided to do a little making out but Norman stops short of going too far because he’s afraid he’ll hurt her. Mother says that her lungs couldn’t handle it and Norman doesn’t want to see her in pain. Emma freaks out and says it’s terrible degrading that Norman just assumes to know what she goes through because of her disease. She then drop kicks Norman to the side before storming out and declaring that she thought this was a date with him and his mother wasn’t coming along. Ouch.

Father and Son

Caleb has to head to town to help Gunnar get some supplies and he nearly runs into Norma before fleeing back into the car. When Dylan hears about this he flips out and has it out with his father/uncle before Caleb accidentally slips off the top of the barn roof and tumbles to the ground while receiving a large gash on his hand along the way. Apparently in addition to occasionally sleeping with his sister, Caleb also has a warrant out for his arrest so he can’t go to the hospital. Dylan offers to suture him up and while they are commiserating over some needle, thread and a bottle of whiskey, Caleb finally explains how his relationship with Norma wasn’t one built on being brother and sister, but instead an upbringing where they only had each other to rely on. He fell in love with her and now his only wish is to apologize for everything they went through even if she never forgives him, Caleb just wants to say the words.

Who Goes There?

Dylan heads back to the motel where he discovers two men tearing apart the office looking for something. Dylan holds them off with his own gun but not before they pass along a rather ominous message that while he saved the day, he’s not always going to be there. Dylan makes a beeline to Norma’s room where he demands she give him the hard drive so he can hide it at the farm that way if these men show back up again, there really is nothing to find. Once again, Norman is jealous of the time being spent between Dylan and Norma and he’s just about to boil over with hostility towards the both of them. Dylan is quietly getting closer to his mother, a relationship he probably never imagined he’d have. This comes hours after the same type of conversation with his father. Considering Dylan grew up without either of them around, this is a serious breakthrough for him. But before he can celebrate for too long, Dylan arrives back at the farm and hides the hard drive when Caleb shows up and moments later guess who else — Norman. He followed his brother and now he’s got all the ammunition he needs because Dylan is hanging out with Norma’s rapist and he can’t wait to tell her all the sordid details. Dylan threatens his brother at first but then comes clean and begs him to not tell her what’s been going on. Norman of course refuses and peels out in the car with the ammunition that will finally tear Dylan and Norma apart and put him back in place as No. 1 son. Make sure to tune in next week for another brand new episode of ‘Bates Motel’ at 9pm ET on A&E.