Bates Motel (Season 1) – “Ocean View”

Bates Motel (Season 1) – “Ocean View”

This week’s episode was a little odd. The first half finished up the major storyline from last week, while the second half picked up on one that had been marinating for a couple of weeks. Understandably, there are only 10 episodes to work with this season, but Norma could have stuck it out in jail until next week at least. Also, it’s not like she had a significant role in the second half of “Ocean View,” that is, until the end, which could have also waited until next week.

To fill you in a little, at the end of last week’s episode, “Trust Me,” we saw Norma hauled off to jail. This week, Norma screamed at her two boys from behind bars, demanding that they leave her alone. Also, a bail bondsman saw fit to let a 17-year-old boy put his mother’s house against a $100,000 bail and the case against Norma resolved because a law officer tampered with evidence.

The pace of Bates Motel is screaming along, forcing us to suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the ride. And it is an enjoyable ride.

It’s a major plot point to the series, but if Norma had spent the episode in jail, we would have had a breather from the jealousy and tension between Norma and Norman. We get it. It’s important. But seeing it every week is like a teenager beating up a little kid for his lunch money every day. And this week, Norma’s jealousy reached volcanic proportions – twice!

In the previous two episodes, Norma’s and Dylan’s craziness had been set aside to showcase Norman’s own insanity. In this episode, however, Norman is back to normal, and its Norma who seems stark-raving mad and Dylan, while still trying to become the brother he’s never been, shows just what he’s capable of. Don’t worry, if Bradley keeps ignoring Norman, it won’t be long before he is showing us what he can do.

The showrunners played with us a little in the last couple of weeks as well. Having us believe that the sex slave in Shelby’s basement was a figment of Norman’s imagination and then, thanks to Nancy Drew, I mean Emma, cracking the case, showing us just how real this Asian girl is.

Given that Bates Motel essentially crammed two episodes into one with “Ocean View,” there better not be a useless “last day of school” episode this season.

Rock Hard \m/