Bates Motel (Season 1 ) – “The Man In Number 9″

It was another amazing episode of Bates Motel. A little less action, but high on suspense.

While “The Man In Number 9” was a great episode, it revisted a device that’s already been used; Norma and Dylan appear to be normal, kind, and loving only to exacerbate Norman’s madness. What really is problematic, however, is how out of character and picture perfect Norma seemed. It’s like she stepped out of a Norman Rockwell picture. Thank god there was a glimmer of the crazy woman we know her to be (when she imagined Norman having sex with Bradley).

It might seem odd that Sheriff Romero swept everything (Keith Summers’s murder and Deputy Shelby’s untimely death) under the rug and basically giving the Bates a clean slate, but it might not be. Oh, I still believe that he’s wound tight and pretty righteous, but I also believe that he answers to someone else – and I’m not talking about any deities. It’s my assumption that Romero knew that Bates Motel newcomer Jake Abernathy (Jere Burns) was on his way into town and didn’t want a legal mess for the media to frenzy over.

See, as mentioned in the review for “The Truth,” Jake is the missing piece of the puzzle in the sex slave ring. Or, to put it another way, Shelby’s other boss. As executive producer Carlton Cuse has said, Jake will be the driving force behind the show for the rest of the season, and with a broken sex slave ring, I can only imagine that all hell is gonna break loose. What I really want to know is what the connection between Jake and Romero is, if there is one.

How many of you thought Norman was going to drive that hammer into that annoying dog’s head? I certainly did, and the way Freddie Highmore delivered the line, “Come here,” was creepy as hell. Norman’s madness, which I mentioned above, was highlighted in the scene with Bradley. The music, the darkness, the set up, it all led me to believe that we were about to see the last of Bradley.

Ah, and let’s not forget the madness when Norman’s newly adopted dog gets hit by a car and he screams to his mother, “Emma’s dad can bring dead things back.” Finally! Finally we get a glimmer of future Norman and how he keeps his mother. Let’s hope that the series keeps throwing us some bones in this vein.

Rock Hard \m/