In the latest Bates Motel recap, Norma gets hitched to Sheriff Romero and Norman has a secret he’s just itching to tell his therapist at the mental health facility….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It’s been clear from the very first minute Bates Motel went on the air that Norma Bates is a mother willing to do anything to save her son — including covering up his murder streak that’s left a body count that seems to grow every time he blacks out.
But following Norman’s latest rage induced psychosis, Norma has him committed to a psychiatric care facility while she prepares to marry Sheriff Alex Romero for the sake of his state funded insurance to pay for her son’s care.
Norma is nothing if not consistent in her desperate attempts to fix whatever is wrong inside her son.
Of course the tragedy of it all is that no matter what Norma does, who she marries or what she covers up, Norman’s journey from timid kid to full blown psychopath isn’t a mystery — it’s a flat out certainty.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of Bates Motel titled ‘Til Death Do You Part’…
Mr. and Mrs. Romero
Following Norman’s commitment to Pineview a week ago, Alex and Norma go through with their wedding vows for the sake of securing insurance to pay for his stay. At first, Norma is just going through the motions but she can’t deny the feelings she has after the infamous ‘you may kiss the bride’ moment at the end of the ceremony.
Norma seems surprised when Alex says that he’s moving in with her — they have to maintain appearances after all.
At home, Norma tries to adjust to ‘married’ life while Alex attempts to put her at ease with a free dinner offered up by one of his friends in town. He insists they celebrate or at least mask this fake marriage with a pile of gifted wine at the restaurant.
Over dinner and quite a few drinks, Alex and Norma share their stories of past failed marriages and how this really might the be the match made in heaven for each of them. A marriage of convenience rather than one born out of love or lust — maybe this will actually work!
One drink turns into many drinks and back at home, Norma seems ready to consummate her marriage but instead Alex just lays her down on the bed and allows her to fall asleep without taking advantage of the situation.
The next day, Alex heads back to his home to pack up a few more things to move into Norma’s when he runs into his friend with benefits named Rebecca, who is a little sour to hear about his new marriage but seems far more concerned about the investigation into Bob Paris, who is missing with all of his accounts frozen. It seems Rebecca works at the bank where Bob laundered all his money and she’s concerned about being reconnected to him during this look into his finances. Alex assures her that so long as she’s covered her tracks, the cops will never get close to her — which almost guarantees they’ll find something eventually and it will link back to Bob and that will undoubtedly lead back to Alex.
Just wait and see.
I Want a New Drug
Emma is improving everyday after her lung transplant and with her recovery comes new hope that she’s going to live a full life for many, many years. That diagnosis also convinces Dylan that if he’s going to be the best boyfriend in the world to Emma, he needs to get out of the drug trade.
So he heads back to the barn with the intention of selling off the entire business and pursuing a new endeavor instead. When he arrives, Gunner is actually already packed up and ready to go while leaving a heartfelt note about a relocation to California.
Dylan is a little peeved but really relieved because the result was exactly the same either way. Unfortunately that’s where the good news ends because he’s soon interrupted by Chick — the drug dealer next door played by Sons of Anarchy and Outsiders star Ryan Hurst — and he’s looking rather decrepit after coming out on the wrong end of a beat down courtesy of Dylan’s father Caleb last season.
Chick hobbles around, still menacing, but tells Dylan that he’s only looking for Caleb. He also wanted Dylan to see what his father was capable of doing.
Considering just how much Dylan wants to start a new life with Emma, there just doesn’t appear to be a way he escapes the drug business with his life in tact. It’s a sad reality but this story just doesn’t seem destined for a happy ending.
Dirty Little Secret
Back at Pineview, Norman is struggling to settle into life inside the psychiatric institution while lashing out at therapy and scoffing at the mere suggestion that he should participate in a group yoga session to let off some steam. Norman would rather sulk and just stare out the window by himself.
When a fellow patient named Julian sits down at his table during dinner and mentions the turkey pot pie he’s eating — the same concoction his mother was whipping up on the night he got committed — Norman is a simmering teapot about to boil over.
The next day, Norma comes to visit despite a 72-hour waiting period between commitment and visitors and eventually talks her way into seeing her son. Norma’s just not dealing with her son being away very well and to make matters worse, some workers filling in that big gaping hole in her front yard found an earring in the middle of the muck — the same earring that once belonged to Emma’s estranged mother who went missing days ago.
Once Norma forces her way inside, she attempts to connect with Norman, but he’s too enraged to even deal with his mother and instead lashes out while blaming her for being stuck there. In fact, Norman is so upset that he might just have to let out her dirty little secret.
Norma leaves in tears and Norman makes a beeline towards his therapist’s office because he’s finally ready to open up.
Norma runs home right into the waiting arms of her new husband — who just quietly hid a ton of cash stolen from Bob Paris down in the basement — before the two of them kiss for real this time. The situation goes from warm to steaming in a matter of seconds and Alex makes sure this is what Norma wants — when she responds with a yes, he picks her up off the ground and carries her upstairs. Let the honeymoon begin.
Back at the asylum mental health facility, Norman says he doesn’t belong there anymore because there’s really nothing wrong with him — it’s actually his mother who has crossed over from functioning parent to full blown sociopath.
In fact, according to Norman, he can no longer keep hiding the fact that she’s the one who deserves to be locked up in this facility, not him.
“I have reason to believe that my mother is insane and might be killing people.”
~ Norman
Dr. Edwards responds and tells Norman that by just mentioning this fact, he’s going to have to alert authorities to launch a full investigation. Norman just smiles and nods because he really believes that his mother killed all those people.
Sadly, Norman’s ‘mother’ is the same person that stares back at him in the mirror everyday — he just doesn’t know the difference.
Bates Motel returns next Monday night at 9pm ET on A&E
