Prequels are always a footling iffy . For everyThe Godfather 2 , there are at least a couple ofDumb and Dumberers . Couple the difficult feat of pulling off a comely prequel with the almost - impossible task of pleasing a bunch of avid Hitchcock fans , and you set off to see the challenges Carlton Cuse and Co. face withBates Motel . as luck would have it , they seem to be up for it . Hopefully you are too : I ’m fail to start out recapping the show as it air while fall in you a little history of the originalPsychoas we go . Here goes !
“Norman. Honey, I’m So Sorry.”
fitly , that ’s the first bit of talks we hear onBates Motel . Then the camera pans away from the Cary Grant movie and zooms in on an eyeball . Meet Norman Bates , who will one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. stab Marion Crane to death in a exhibitioner and leave her likewise staring off into space .
But for now , he ’s just a teenager - a stripling who senses a disturbance in the Force . After leave alone his room and finding pic figure askew , an iron chuff steam and a pot boiling over on the stove , young Norman searches the house and discovers his father lying in a pool of blood in the service department .
Norma Bates does n’t seem even remotely surprised to find her married man leaking lively fluids all over the garage floor . “ Honey , I ’m so sorry , ” she say , and then rocks her nearly adult son like a child . I mean … maybe at least pretend to contain for a pulse ? ?
“We Own a Motel, Norman Bates!”
A&E / Joe Lederer
Six months subsequently , the Bates family of two pulls up to the retro - looking “ Seafairer Motel . " Welcome to the Bates ' impudent commencement . Norma grabs her son by the hand and take him on a tour of duty of the iconic house that came with the motel , decamp around and flopping down on a bed , swing her leg girlishly . While nothing unfitting is actually happening , something just feels amiss .
The next morning , Norman , pinna buds firmly in place , is waiting at the busbar stop when a gaggle of girl clothe in leggings and unretentive skirts approach him . Scriiiiiitch . That ’s the audio of a record coming to an disconnected stay . This is a modern mean solar day fib ? This palpate a little disorienting , which I mistrust is by design . Norman and his mother are living in a world that does n’t experience quite right to the rest of us , from the ramshackle household to their retro path of dressing . Even the railcar is straight out of 1960Psycho .
They coax Norman into a supporter ’s car ; a girl nominate Bradley grabs Norman ’s iPhone and program her identification number into it . “ If you have any questions at school , you call me , ” she say , because that ’s totally how your first solar day at a new school whole kit and caboodle . As the BMW drives off , the permit photographic plate reveals that Norma and Norman have moved to Oregon , just a number up the coast from the novel ’s fictitious location of Fairvale , California .
Back at home , Mrs. Bates stops hacking at raw inwardness to reply her electric cell phone . It ’s Dylan , the black sheep Bates . “ So you thought it was OK not to tell your own son that you move ? " he asks . " What if I was hurt ? What if I was in the hospital ? What if I needed you ? " After he request some cash , Norma hangs up on him .
“My Mom’s Just a Little Impulsive.”
At schooltime , Norman ’s teacher - slice - adviser wonderment why he does well on tests but not in class . “ Is something wrong at household ? ” she ask . “ My mom ’s just a piddling … impulsive , ” Norman says , then hotfoot to explain that he adore his mum ’s efflorescence decisions . Miss Watson rede Norman to become part of the community by trying out for a sport . “ What about track ? You look like a runner , ” she says , eyeing him up and down . He decides to attend tryouts after school , which mean he incur the ire of his slightly slur female parent when he get home .
As Norman give Mrs. Bates the paternal permission slip for track , she rack up out her RSVP to the pity party . “ We just grease one’s palms a motel . How do you expect me to get it up and run without your assist ? You ’re putting me in a baffling spot here . ” As Norman starts to backpedal , she position it on thicker : “ It ’s fine . It ’s OK ! I ’ll just do everything myself the way I always do . ” She scribble her name on the parapraxis , declares herself not hungry , then slinks out of the way to drub her lesion .
“Everything in This House is Mine.”
daytime . While Norman is beat a rug ( that ’s not a euphemism ) , Keith Summers , housing market victim , wanders up and starts loudly lamenting how he lost the property . His great - grandfather build the firm and his grandad add the hotel in the ‘ 50s . “ And that ’s my gran ’s carpeting , ” he bring , emotionally . Itisa nice rug .
Though Norma render to sympathize with his ill luck , the convo does n’t go well . She ends up threatening to call the police ( or blast him ) if he return . “ Go ahead , call the police . I go fishing with half of them , ” Summers spits , then tears off in his dented motortruck . “ He ’s just some silly drunk loser slob , honey , " Norma tells her son . " He ’s not go to disoblige us anymore . ” That knock on the door you just heard is foreshadowing . It wants to be the first to book a room at the Bates Motel .
As female parent and son listen to the Rolling Stones on a record player , the buzzer pack . It ’s the gaggle of girl , and they want to fuck if Norman is available for a subject area session . Mrs. Bates exclude it down , summon lots of take out and “ things ” to do . Norman ’s none too happy about this and rage up the stairs to immediately sneak out .
While the girls take him to a party that involves black lights , awkward teenage flirting ( ” You ’re kind of weird . unearthly - expert . ” ) and a whole caboodle of pasty icky , Summers returns to his kinsfolk ’s homestead . Norma screams for Norman , who is n’t there , of class . It should be noted that Vera Farmiga , as Norma , has an awful “ Normaaaaaaaan ” shrieking . Summers sees that no supporter is coming and handcuffs Norma to the kitchen table . “ This house is mine , and everything in this mansion is mine , ” he order , and rend her underclothing off . Enter Norman , who clock the raper on the back of the head with an old fashioned iron , knocking him out frigid .
As Norman go to get a medical outfit , Summers comes to and starts lurching back toward his dupe . “ You care it , ” he sound out with a swampy grinning , and that ’s all the motivation Norma require to slice him up like a side of beef . She stabs him over and over and over , the same proficiency her boy will practice a few year down the road .
“Norma and Norman… That’s Unusual.”
Although it was ego defence , Norma refuse to have Norman call the constabulary , fear that their “ sweet start ” will suffer . “ Who is gon na book a way in the rape - slash - execution motel ? ” she wisely points out . They decide to temporarily dump the dead body in one of the motel bathtubs until they work out out how to put away of it , but leave a blatant bloody stain on the carpeting as they ’re doing it . The only thing to do , Norma decides , is to rend up the carpet in several of the rooms and dissemble they ’re renovating . Right now . Even though it ’s midnight . As Norman rips up the carpet , he discovers a little inglorious Holy Scripture hide beneath . He flick through it and sees some vignette of naked lady friend , and , as most 17 - twelvemonth - onetime boys would do , gather it forth for late studying .
The motel light appeal the attention of the township deputy and the sheriff , who is - surprise ! - Nestor Carbonell , AKA the ageless Richard Alpert fromLost . This afford me hope that other Losties will pop up . Waaaaaaaaalt as Norman ’s new BFF ? Anyone ?
Norma is mostly convincing when she excuse that she and her 17 - year - old son Norman are just remodeling . “ Norma and Norman … ” the sheriff notes with a chip of a smirk . “ That ’s strange . ” Norma shrug and says that boys often take their fathers ' public figure , then turns to bequeath . That ’s when Richard Alpert detect the bandage on her paw . funny , he ask to look around , then comes dangerously close to discovering the remains in the bathing tub when he go bad to take a leakage . Having slaked both impulse , the sheriff and his deputy leave .
“I’m the Worst Mother in the World.”
In the schooltime cafeteria the next 24-hour interval , Norman looks down and notice a blotch of blood on his Chuck Taylors . He runs off to sick , and when he pulls his head out of the trash can , a girl hauling an atomic number 8 tank is staring at him . She offers him a mint , explain that the Master of Education she takes for her cystic fibrosis make her a vomiting expert . “ Do you have some sort of chronic unwellness ? ” she asks hopefully . Norman suppose no , and , looking a little disappointed , the female child introduce herself as Emma .
The Bateses steer out on a dory to dispose of Keith Summers , whose corpse has been weigh down with chains . Also weighing the rowboat down : Norma ’s recent breakthrough that the city is build a fresh bypass on the far side of town , rendering her existent estate investment wretched . “ I buy a motel that no one is ever gon na know is even there , ” she pouts . “ I ’m the worst female parent in the world . ”
Norman plays aright into her wallowing . “ Mom , you ’re everything . Everything to me , " he says . " I do n’t ever need to live in a world without you . You ’re my family . My whole house , my whole life , my whole self . You always have been . It ’s like there ’s a corduroy between our hearts . ” She calls him out on quotingJane Eyre , but the lovefest go forward . “ It ’s you and me . It ’s always been you and me . We belong to each other , ” he says , and then the duet celebrates their wholly platonic love for one another by pitching a bloated corpse over the side of the boat .
Alone in his room , Norman direct a close-fitting looking at that sketch pad . The drawings are pretty twisted , including girl chain up in bathrooms and one victim receiving an injection in her limb . He quickly stuffs the script under his pillow when his mother opens the door to announce that she has a surprisal for him : the new Bates Motel sign of the zodiac is up , and so is her outlook . “ As long as we ’re together , then nothing bad can really hap . Right Norman ? ” “ Right , mother , ” he responds , and that slightly creepy-crawly feeling on his fount is nothing compared to the next disturbing scene : A real - life reading of one of the draught from the sketch pad . It would seem that Norma and Norman Bates are n’t the weirdest citizenry in White Pine Bay .
Quotes of the Episode :
“ I think people who are different do n’t know they ’re different because they have nothing to compare it to . ” - Norman
“ What are we supposed to do , clean this up with paper towels and spray cleaner ? ! ” - Norman
