“Unbreak-Able” was a fairly dark episode of Bates Motel. Not that that’s anything unusual for the series, but it’s perhaps the gloomiest episode so far this season. As well, there wasn’t much to get excited about as it was a fairly empty episode, but a few things did happen.
The flashdrive MacGuffin set in motion a series of events: Norma trying to crack the password lock, Bob asking Romero if anything was found on Annika, Romero searching Annika’s motel room, Bob sending goons to search the hotel, and Dylan’s confrontation with said goons. As well, the flashdrive was used as the device to show Norma’s waning trust in Norman and, on the flip side, her growing trust of Dylan.
We didn’t, however, learn what the contents of that flashdrive are.
Norman displayed some disturbing behavior that contradicted itself in regard to his mother by episode’s end. While the majority of the time he resented his mother for her suspicions of his murderous tendencies and for the dynamic shift caused by the change in her relationship with Dylan, at the conclusion he returned to being the faithful son, saying to Dylan, “You betrayed mother.” As if Dylan isn’t equally worthy of
their mother’s affection.
Norman also continued his odd dominance within the home, demanding with complete arrogance and petulance to know what Norma and Dylan’s conversation was about and when he said, “This is my home,” when confronted about making out with Emma. It’s strange that Norma tolerates this behavior, as she would have put Norman in his place in previous seasons. However, she’s probably operating in fear of triggering an episode in Norman.
The most uncomfortable behavior from Norman for viewers was probably his attempts to provoke jealousy from his mother. Such as when he made sure Norma was watching when he kissed Emma and later when he was preparing the picnic for himself and Emma.
The picnic scene gave Norma the opportunity to plant a seed in Norman’s head about Emma. It’s not that she doesn’t like Emma, so there might be some genuine, if not misinformed concern, but she used the opportunity to give Norman a stern warning to not hurt her, physically or emotionally. When her seeds sprouted while Emma and Norman were getting frisky by the fire in the empty cabin, Emma stormed out in anger at Norman being such a mama’s boy.
Romero’s case also saw some development. He’s always suspected Norman with regard to the the dead hooker in the water, and now he also suspects Norman in Annika’s case, especially after watching Norman’s reaction at the scene. Romero has also been put on the flashdrive’s trail by Bob’s “incriminating” question about finding an item on Annika’s person. This, of course, leads Romero back to Annika’s motel room to search for the unknown-to-him item, which leads him to question Norma and then to his suspicion that she has the item.
Romero also learned that the car Annika drove back to the motel was registered to the hooker who was found dead in the water, which leads him to suspect that both hookers were at the same party. So Romero talks to another hooker, Portia, to find out more about what goes on at Bob’s sex parties at The Arcanum Club.
It will be interesting to find out if Norma will or won’t be able to crack the password on the flashdrive, and if she will tell Romero about it either before or after. Then it will be interesting to know what the two of them do with the information on it. Undoubtedly there’s information on there that should put Bob behind bars.
Norman is right about Dylan, in that Dylan has betrayed Norma’s trust. And whether Dylan wants it to happen or not, he is beginning to bond with his dad-uncle, Caleb. Nothing bonds men better than stitching up wounds, which is when Caleb told Dylan about his history with Norma, which is pretty disgusting.
How far their relationship will go remains to be seen, and it might depend upon Norma’s reaction to the news that the two of them have spending time together, if Norman does reveal that information to her.
Overall, I think we’re seeing that Norman has much quicker access to his anger and dark side, and he’s much more able to recover from it. Are his two sides becoming one, or is he just able to move between them?
Point of randomness: You have to love all the taxidermy in the Bates house.
Until next week,
Rock Hard \m/
