Bates Motel Season 3: Episode 1 ‘A Death in the Family’ Recap

While fans speculated that the third season of Bates Motel would cruise along at only a fair pace they need not have worried. Episode one of the adapted Psycho horror show, titled ‘ A Death in the Family,’ started with a bang.

Norma (Vera Farmiga) has been busy trying to get things back to normal for herself and her son but she soon received sudden and tragic news that her mother died. While we have yet to discover more information about her family background Norma’s feelings were clearly conflicted about how she felt about her mother, possibly due to her allegations that she revealed in season one that her brother had disturbingly raped her.

Norman’s (Freddie Highmore)  psychosis is getting worse than ever! Experiencing hallucinations of dead victims such as Miss Watson, the future sole owner of the Bates Motel is rapidly going off the rails. Not one to keep many secrets from his mother, he tells her of his psychological issues but she continued to cover them up and deny that anything serious is going on with her offspring.

Dylan (Max Thieriot) told Sheriff Romero that he wants to start fresh and no longer wants to be a part of the drug business after all that happened in the first two seasons. Romero responded that he could no longer protect Dylan if he follows through with that decision. Will this have any serious consequences for Norman’s estranged brother? The surprise and unpleasant return of Caleb entered Dylan’s life once again. We are yet to learn of his true intentions but it’s probably safe to say that there will be a fair amount of conflict within the Bates family, especially Norma in particular.

The much debated incest innuendo between Norman and Norma continued to haunt viewers. In a scene that begged curiosity, Dylan entered Norma’s bedroom to wake her, spotting Norman snuggled up next to her. While startled, a short while later in the morning Dylan told Norma that their behaviour wasn’t appropriate, especially that Norman is eighteen years of age. She eventually agreed with him and later that night an irritated Norman  is told that he should be sleeping in his own bed. But that decision did not sustain for long as she could not resist temptation due to the news of her mother’s death. Once again she asked Norman to comfort her all night in her bed “just for tonight”, further maintaining the tone of their relationship as extremely uncomfortable!

[su_youtube url=”http://youtu.be/ItM7-yclhnU?list=PLcviVtB85dLzWhFEe31mL0PUl5HnBhCI3″][su_youtube url=”http://youtu.be/vw5vcUPyL90″][/su_youtube]

Meanwhile, Emma told Norman that her medical condition has got worse although stating that her death is not in any way forthcoming. In a rather touching sequence, Norman asked her out much to Emma’s delight. But new motel customer Annika, who is involved in the prostitution business, could potentially and quickly throw a wrench in the works as Annika eventually disappears in the week long cliffhanger. Did Norman kill her?

Finally, another seemingly generic happening which fans of the movies will love is that Norman was promoted as manager of the motel by his overbearing mother. She told him of her decision to pull him out of school and focus on the running of their motel business. Being motel manager, there is a lot of foreshadowing here for what is eventually to come. Norma is still trying to protect her son as much as she can by keeping him away from everybody, hence her decision to keep him home as much as possible, but she is perhaps unaware at this point of just how fast everything is closing in on the two of them.

Although we have just seen the first episode of another nine to come, the pace was heavily reminiscent of season one. Things moved swiftly forward, and largely thanks to the nearly eradicated drug storyline the focus on Norman and Norma’s relationship was the strongest than it ever had been. News came recently that the show will be running for about five seasons, and if the going on’s in yesterday’s episode is anything to go by then things are heading for a memorable climax.
Be sure to tune in next Monday at 9/8c!

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