OH MY STARS! Just when you think this show can't get any more intense you have a mini-stroke from tension. How do they do it!? How do they keep me so glued to this show!? HOW DOES IT KEEP GETTING BETTER! Ugh, before you know it the season will be over and we will be back to... well A&E really doesn't have much else. Anyway, in tonight's episode we get the tea and lots of shade. Sorry, I watched RuPaul's Drag Race first so... Here's the breakdown.
The episode starts with Norma in strait up shock over the news about Shelby's sex trafficking. As she sits comatose, Emma seems to think water is the key snapping Norma out... But Norma snaps out of it all on her own, running strait to the car. Norma and Norman struggle over the wheel, but cooler heads prevail as Norman gets that Psycho look in his eye and is able to convince Norma that justice will be served, but not right at this moment. As Emma watches their car spin in circles she looks weirdly turned on by the whole family crisis.
Dylan is dealing with a crisis of his own. His buddy Ethan is dead, and he ran the killer over... so he's dead too. It would seem Dylan is in a pickle. In complete and total fear, Dylan goes to his drug boss, terrified of what is going to happen, and as he tells his story your heart pounds. Please don't let this guy kill Dylan! But quite the opposite happens... He promotes Dylan who now becomes the boss of the older, wiser and crankier Remo. And The Truth, Remo is not happy to have this kid as his new boss.
A kind, gentle Norma, goes to check on the Asian sex slave. She brings the girl food and water and in with warmth and kindness checks the girls wounds before covering her with a blanket. Emma is ready to get to the police ASAP, but until Norman and Norma get the belt from Shelby they are stuck. Norma does some great voodoo and convinces Emma to let the girl rest. This seems to pacify Emma. Norma asks if Emma is okay to drive home or if she need to call her mom. When Emma explains that her mom abandoned her, Norma seems to soften toward the girl immediately even telling Emma that she is brave and the she would be proud to have a daughter like her. Emma grabs Norma in a vicious hug, which at first is totally weird, but Norma softens and gives a proper "mother/daughter" hug. Norman even tells his mom "That was really good. You were really good with her."
Things get weird with Norma and Norman again, as he sits with her at the vanity while she puts on makeup. Norman asks if there is really anything wrong with him, but Norma deflects trying to focus on how to deal with Shelby. Dylan walks in, and suddenly he is in on the plan. You know what they say, "The family that's fucking crazy together.. well no yeah they are just fucking crazy together." Norman tells Dylan about the boat and the brothers head out to search it for the belt.
On the car ride to the boat, Dylan tells Norman that he put a first and last payment on a great house, and that he still wants Norman to move in with him. "No crazy people," he tells Norman, it will just be a peaceful easy life without their mother. But Norman is not ready to let her go, no matter what Dylan says.
We find ourselves back on the God Damn boat. Seriously, if I never see that boat again it will be too soon because every scene on it is fucking terrifyingly, heart pounding to the point where you feel like you might throw up. Well done. As the boys looks for the belt, music rises and tension builds and Dylan tells Norman that he thinks Norma killed his biological father for the insurance money. When Dylan asks Norman for a screw driver I half expected Norman to stab him with it, but thankfully, Norman left the crazy at home. The boys find the belt and dump it. Step one: complete.
Norma anxiously waits for the boys. When a car pulls in, she thinks it's them, but of course fucking not. UGH THIS SHOW IS GOING TO GIVE ME AN ANEURYSM! It's Shelby looking for a quickey. Can I just stop here and say Vera acts the pants of in this scene, looking horrified as Shelby gets all up on her. If she doesn't win any awards for this show I will be sad. Anyway, Shelby brings her down to the Motel to get it on... but the slave girl is staying down there... OH BOY.
Shelby plows away at Mama Bates, but she is not having it. Of course, we all know why she is giving him the dead fish, but Shelby is not getting what he wants. Norma lies and says she's just worried about Norman, resolving to get more into in... until a shower turns on in the motel. Fuck. Shelby goes into cop mode and before Norma can think of a good lie, the girl opens the door. Seeing Shelby she freaks out and runs into the woods. Shelby tries to shoot her, as I say "Oh shit" about a thousand times. Norma knocks him down, but Shelby gives Norma a mini-beat-down before running after his goods.
Just then the boys pull up, but before Norma can tell them what happen, Dylan states that he and Norman will be leaving. Norma starts throwing a mini-temper tantrum but does explain to the boys what just happened. The brothers freak out and try to get Norma out of there, but she is still having a hissy fit about Norman possibly moving out. Well that Norm freak-out just made them lose time they needed as Shelby holds the three of them up at gunpoint.
Shelby brings them back up to the house, pacing the kitchen with the mantra "What are we going to do." The scene is so intense I actually got a knot in my stomach as Shelby holds his cocked gun to Normans head. For a full minute I think he really may shoot, until I rationally realized that Norman is the only one who actually has to survive this show. Norma gets Shelby away from her son, but as Shelby starts to beat her up things get intense. We start to see the world from Normans psycho point of view, as he gets that look in his eyes that tells you he is gone. His vision begins to blur, his ears begin to ring, and before we know it, Norman has knocked Shelby to the ground, hitting his own head in the process. As Norman lays unconscious (from both the blow to the head and his psycho moment) a gunfight breaks out between Shelby and Dylan.
As the firefight between Shelby and Dylan rages, each man getting shot in the process, Norma is able to drag Norman out to the car, but not before calling the cops. Dylan nearly kills Shelby, his own psycho look in his eyes, but he runs out of ammo. Dylan runs up to his room to reload, and Shelby follows him up the infamous Psycho staircase. Meanwhile, Norma has gotten Norman in the car, but Norman is just not there. As Norma freaks out that she left the keys inside, Norman just stares blankly. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. The world freezes. Who has won the gunfight? A shadow passes through the front door, and Norma (and myself) tries to see who the staggering figure is. It could easily be Dylan or Shelby... FUCK ITS SHELBY! But wait.. where's his eye? And just before he is able to shoot Norma dead, Shelby keels over and dies. Thankfully, Dylan is okay and Dylan and Norma have a mother/son moment as he whispers to her that she is now safe.
Norma wonders out loud what they should tell the cops, and Dylan says "the truth." But Norma scolds him, telling him that he doesn't know the truth, that he has no idea what the truth is. And you feel it coming, that moment we've all been waiting for... the truth about Norman's father's death. Oh it's so sweet. We flashback, Norma and Norman's father are fighting. Norman starts to get that look, and when Daddy starts hitting Mommy, Norman smashes his brains in with a blender. Norma puts Norman in his room and stages the whole thing to look like an accident. That bitch is good at cover-ups. She should have been in the FBI. Anyway, the entire opening scene is replayed as we see Norman devastated over his dad's death, having no clue that he caused it. Now, I had written earlier that I thought Norman may have killed his dad, but it doesn't stop the whole thing from being totally tragic.
Dylan is appropriately horrified. He asks Norma what's wrong with him, but she admits she doesn't know. The reason she holds him so close is to protect him, just in case he ever did something like that again. She gives Dylan an ultimatum as the cops come, you either help, or get out of the way.
THIS SHOW IS SO GOOD! Unfortunately, the question I posed in my earlier post (Did Norman actually unknowingly rape Bradley http://thedefinitionofnerd.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-pre-bates-motel-theory.html ) wasn't answered, but with all we learned about Norman this week, it's a strong possibility.
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