Here you all have the first in my long series of recaps that I need to catch up with now that finals are finally over…When we last saw Norman Bates he was crying in the middle of the night carrying his dead dog and possibly considering murdering the guy that hit her. Which would be way uncool because it was Norman’s fault she was in the road anyway.
When we last saw Norman Bates he was crying in the middle of the night carrying his dead dog and possibly considering murdering the guy that hit her. Which would be way uncool because it was Norman’s fault she was in the road anyway.
At least Norman is doing a bit better in this episode. At the beginning anyway. Emma’s dad is teaching him the fine art of taxidermy. Because apparently that’s just something you do with your daughter’s disturbed friends.
You show them out to pull the guts out of dead things and stuff them so they seem alive. Never at any point did he think to ask Norma’s permission but considering how into this whole thing Norman is I don’t think she’s going to have much luck intervening. Besides, as Emma’s dad says, Norman focuses and seems quite normal and functional when he’s working on this new hobby.
The same cannot be said about his waking hours.
Norman is having problems at school. It’s largely because he’s awkward and doesn’t know how to communicate or make friends. The only relationships he has are with Emma – who he’s completely oblivious to – and Bradley who used him for sex and basically tells him to screw off and forget about it. Of course, it doesn’t help that Emma lets it get around school that Norman and Bradley slept together. I feel like in an episode or two Bradley’s boyfriend is going to come after him. It wasn’t like she was doing it to be mean, though. Some girls were making fun of Norman and saying no one – especially Bradley – would ever be caught dead doing anything with him. Which, of course, wasn’t true.
But then Bradley tells Norman to screw off and he gets upset so he tries to leave school. The Blue Fairy tries to stop him and he gets really aggressive before taking off to hide out at Emma’s dad’s place. The two of them reconcile and she apologizes for telling people about Bradley. The school, unfortunately, is not so easily appeased. They call in Norma and recommend that Norman see a psychologist. Which ultimately leads to the two of them doing that and the doctor basically saying that not only does Norman have issues but Norma does as well. No shit, Sherlock.
At least things got a little better for him. Back at Emma’s place when they worked out their problems they kissed. Then Emma’s dad walked in on them and it was a little awkward. But still.
Meanwhile, Dylan is off having a road trip with the alcoholic twenty-three year deadbeat criminal guy. Apparently they are off to pick up a bunch of hippies or something to come up and do some work for their boss. I don’t know. I honestly don’t understand why they need the hippies. But they do. So they drive down to pick them up and what not. On the drive they bond – if you can call beating the shit out of one another in some seedy bar bonding. They also kick out one of the hippies for being a hippie dick. Which earns Dylan some respect from his criminal buddy because he had said to do that from the beginning. Not sure how his boss will react, though.
Honestly, Norma is having like the worst week ever. The whole highway bypass storyline that got forgotten sometime around the whole Bradley’s dad burning to death in his car thing is apparently still happening. She tries to get Romero to appoint her to the city planning board or help her get appointed because of their little shared secret. But he is very quick to put her in her place and remind her that he owes her nothing.
Which sucks but then the man in number nine is also being a creepy bastard.
Norma ultimately tries to confront him and kick him out but not before basically realizing that he was obviously in on things with Keith Summers. She tries to reneg on their arrangement and tell him that he can’t use the motel for his nefarious things. But he starts coming after her and threatening her, etc. Ultimately she kicks him out but not after he rattles her cage, expresses doubt that she didn’t know what Shelby was up to, and harasses her about that relationship.
Things actually looked up for a very brief moment. Dylan brings the hippies to stay at the motel. The man in number nine was gone. She even asked Dylan if he would like to out to dinner together in town. Which, again, surprises him but he so desperately wants his mom to love him. You can see it in his eyes. He’s just afraid to trust her and rightfully so. But dinner is a good start.
Of course then she goes up to get changed or something and find’s Shelby’s bloated body in her bed.
So.
Norma isn’t having a very good time of it.
Nor do things seem to look like they’ll get any better in the next episode. Someone really needs to take out this creepy dude. He is way creepier than he is playing Wynn Duffy in Justified. Kill him. Kill him with fire, Norman.
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