In the Bates Motel recap for the season 4 premiere, Norman’s psychotic break is complete as his mother rushes to find him help and Dylan is drawn away to Portland to be with Emma…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer @DamonMartin
Bates Motel was officially renewed for seasons four and five last year, which means Norman Bates transformation from troubled teen to full blown psychopath was coming to a head in a hurry over the next 20 episodes.
As a refresher from the last season finale — Norman killed his first girlfriend Bradley Martin after morphing into ‘his mother’ and smashing her head into a rock until she was dead. Norma frantically searches for Norman after their fight sends him fleeing with Bradley in the first place.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Alex Romero shoots and kills businessman Bob Paris after he threatens Norma and Norman and Dylan has finally entered a relationship with Emma while also paying to get her a lung transplant to rid her body of cystic fibrosis.
All caught up?
Let’s recap the Bates Motel season 4 premiere titled ‘A Danger to Himself and Others’…
The Search for Norman
The season 4 premiere picks up right where season 3 left off — Romero is sinking a boat belonging to Bob Paris with his dead body stuffed in one of the compartments while Norma and Dylan search around town, looking for Norman who disappeared a day earlier and never bothered to come home.
It turns out, Norman has actually wandered into a random farmer’s field where he passed out unconscious. When he wakes up, Norman is not only confused but still in a strange state of mind where he’s seeing his mother and talking to her as if she’s standing right next to him. Rather than seeing what Norman sees, this time around we only witness a one-sided conversation, which shows in rather shocking fashion just how disturbed he’s becoming in recent days.
When the farmer who owns the land discovers Norman arguing with himself, he tries to help the troubled boy but it’s clear this kid is already falling off a ledge. When Norman actually tries to attack him, however, the farmer is forced to knock him out with a punch and call the authorities.
Back in town, Dylan and Norma have been plastering Norman’s picture all over town trying to get a lead on where he’s at. Finally, Dylan gets a call informing him that Norman was picked up and taken to the county hospital and placed under 48-hour psychiatric care after he was discovered in a disturbing state on the farmer’s land.
Norma rushes off to rescue her son, but Dylan has to excuse himself — he’s off to Portland to be with Emma during her lung transplant surgery and that’s when he finally tells his mother about the relationship that sprung up with his little brother’s ex-girlfriend. Norma more or less gives her blessing before leaving to the hospital to retriever Norman while trying to wrap her head around the fact that he’s been admitted for psychiatric care.
What could he have done this time?
Breathe Easy
In Portland, Dylan arrives just after Emma goes into surgery as he sits with her father Will while they await word about her condition.
A few hours into the surgery, a woman shows up unexpectedly and announces herself as Emma’s mother Audrey, who has been estranged for her daughter for several years. Audrey abandoned Emma and her father after she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and she’s been gone from her life ever since.
So when Will returns and sees Audrey there at the hospital, he’s enraged that she had the gall to actually show up. It turns out he emailed her about Emma’s surgery just as a courtesy but now Audrey is here trying to play mother.
Will promptly boots her from the hospital before Emma makes it through the surgery and wakes up in some kind of emotional distress seeing the mother than abandoned her all those years ago.
Several hours pass and the doctors finally emerge from the operating room — Emma’s lung transplant surgery was a rousing success and within 24 hours they’ll know the full extent of her condition. Dylan goes to see Emma when she finally wakes up and as their eyes catch, it’s clear these two are very much in love with one another.
As for Audrey, she heads back into White Pine Bay and ends up staying at Bates Motel before revealing herself to Norma while trying to pass along a message to her daughter. Norma refuses to get involved, obviously overwhelmed with everything happening to Norman not to mention Emma has barely mentioned her mother so clearly this isn’t a relationship she was trying to cultivate.
Norma gives Audrey one night to stay in the motel and then she has to go because she’s not getting wrapped up in the middle of this family drama when she’s got plenty of her own going on at home.
Proper Treatment
When Norma arrives at the county hospital to retrieve Norman she finds out two things — first of all it’s clear the county facility is massively understaffed and overwhelmed with patients and two, she’s not been a very good parent to her severely mentally ill child.
As the lead doctor on Norman’s case tells her, he’s suffering from a severe psychotic break with violent tendencies. When she reveals that he’s been blacking out for years yet she never sought out professional help, the doctor doubles down on the fact that she should have looked for treatment long before now. And to make matters worse, Norman just turned 18 so technically he’s now an adult and no longer subject to minor laws so Norma can’t take him home and they are allowed to hold him there for 48 hours for observation.
Norma leaves the hospital feeling like mother of the year but she’s finally resigned to get Norman the help he needs.
She goes back to the Pineview Institute and seeks to get Norman admitted as a patient, but she finds out there’s a rather long waiting list and he has to be referred there by a doctor. Norma finally gets one bit of good news when she runs into one of the staff psychiatrists on her way out of the building and after pleading her case, he agrees to see Norman right away once he’s been released from the county hospital.
Norma then gets the call that Norman will be released after his observation has ended but the doctors at the county hospital want him checked in for treatment by a professional within 48 hours or his mother will be referred to social services and they will take over the case.
Norma picks Norman up and he seems very much like himself — sweet and innocent and no recollection of what happened in the days leading to being admitted to the hospital. What Norman doesn’t tell his mother is that his fractured psyche is so splintered now that he’s having flashes between reality and fantasy, seeing through her eyes and then his own and it’s clear that he’s no longer just blacking out — he’s transforming into ‘his mother’ and the real Norman is beginning to disappear.
What Kind of a Mother
Norma takes Norman home and tries to return to their old routine as she cuts his hair in the middle of the kitchen while her mind is secretly running a mile a minute trying to figure out how to get him the help he needs or risk him being committed again. The problems only mount when Norman mentions that he had ‘a dream’ where he saw his mother kill Bradley Martin by bashing her brains in with a rock.
Obviously, Norma knows this was no dream and it’s clear that her son is getting sicker by the minute.
The next morning after cuddling with Norman in bed (that’s still happening!) — Norma leaves to meet with Sheriff Romero to ask for his help. She ends up locking Norman in her bedroom while she rushes off to meet with Romero.
At the Sheriff’s house, Norma springs her latest crazy idea — she wants Romero to marry her. You see he has insurance that would cover Norman’s stay at Pineview and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get him the care he needs. Of course, Norma offers to sleep with him as part of the deal but Romero quickly rebuffs her advances and she shuffles away defeated.
Unfortunately, Norma’s not quick enough to return home because before she can get there Audrey has made her way back up to the house to seek out Norman to help reconnect with her daughter.
What Audrey doesn’t know is that Norman has woken up, broken down the door where he was trapped, and then transformed into ‘mother’. So when he opens the door in a robe, Audrey finds it strange but stills sees him as Norman even if he’s actually ‘Norma’ in disguise.
Inside, Audrey pleads with him to pass along a message to Emma but after a few pleasant minutes, Norman snaps and grabs Emma’s mother around the neck by her scarf and chokes the life out of her while screaming about how she abandoned her child. Norman’s shift from mild-mannered to wild eyed psychopath is rather frightening and extremely effective in this dramatic moment.
Norman is no longer just slipping between his own persona and that of ‘his mother’ — he’s transforming into a full blown sociopath every time he shifts into ‘Norma’ and the body count is rising.
Bates Motel returns next Monday night at 9pm ET on A&E
