Secrets from the past play a pivotal role in this week’s episode of ‘Bates Motel’. Norman begins regression therapy with Dr. Edwards, and Norma has to figure out a way to deal with Chick, lest her past relationship with Caleb be revealed to all of White Pine Bay.
This week’s story begins with Norma trying to call Caleb on her cell phone, only to find that his number has been disconnected. As Alex gets ready to leave for work, Norma comments how great being married feels – noting that it feels like a movie, but it’s real. Meanwhile, at Pineview, Norman has a vision about being trapped under a bed while the whole house around him shakes. Take note, as this scene will be cleared up by episode’s end.
Norma meets Chick at a café. He continues to taunt her about the fact that she had sex with her brother and threatens to tell Alex if she doesn’t find out where Caleb is hiding.
Dylan makes a trip out to Pineview to visit Norman. The two have a conversation over a game of croquet. Dylan tells Norman that he and Emma are now in a relationship. Norman seems happy for his brother… well, at least that’s what he tells him.
Dylan returns to the Bates house to tell Norma that he went to see Norman, and to also tell her about his plans to move to Seattle with Emma and her father. Norma uses Dylan’s visit as an opportunity to ask if he’s heard from Caleb. Dylan hasn’t, but when Norma asks about a hotel he used to work construction on in Costa Rica, Dylan is able to provide her with a partial name of the business.
Norma finally gets Caleb on the phone, but doesn’t mention anything about the situation with Chick. They just make small talk for a while and Norma tells him to give Dylan a call, which he does later in the episode. While this is going on, Alex meets with Rebecca and gives her the safety deposit key that supposedly opens a box with $3 million in it. (Again, that must be a pretty big box.) Rebecca asks Alex how much of the money he wants, and Alex replies that he doesn’t want any of it.
Norma has a nighttime meeting with Chick on a bridge and pulls a gun on him. However, she can’t bring herself to pull the trigger. Back at the house later, Norma angrily prepares dinner as Dylan stops by to pick up some of his things. She accuses him of abandoning her. While putting a photograph of himself and Norman in Norman’s room, Dylan discovers the letter to Emma that her mother Audrey wrote. Going to the motel office’s computer, Dylan discovers that Audrey checked into the motel but never checked out – so Dylan takes note of her home address in California.
In regression therapy with Dr. Edwards, Norman recalls a memory from his childhood where he and Norma tried to run away from his father, but the father tracked them down and took them at gunpoint back to their home. While Norman was hiding under the bed, his father raped Norma. (This calls back to the vision Norman had at the beginning of the episode.)
Alex arrives home and tells Norma that Chick is there and needs help moving the repaired window into the house. Norma blows her temper and confronts Chick in front of Alex. She calls him an asshole and yells at him to go ahead and tell Alex everything about her. Instead of telling Alex about Caleb, Chick just kisses Norma on the cheek and leaves. Alex asks Norma what the hell that was all about, and Norma tells him everything about her past and her relationship with Caleb. Then she tells him to go ahead and pack his bags, to which Romero replies, “Okay… where are we going?”
While I haven’t been a fan of the Chick character and probably dislike Caleb just as much, this storyline was worth it to see the great scene between actors Vera Farmiga and Nestor Carbonell at the conclusion of this week’s entry. They’re great in this final scene together, and I really liked Alex’s reaction to finally hearing the truth about his new wife. (I guess it may be time for Romero to confess a few secrets of his own, huh?)
The stuff with Norman was good too, but honestly we’re not learning a whole lot more about him that we didn’t already know. Having Norman inside the Pineview facility for most of this season has not only separated him from most of the other characters, it’s made him less of a threat as well. Fortunately, the good news is that he may come home very soon.
