- Norma contemplates a life outside of White Pine Bay; Emma and Dylan bond while helping Norman.
- After Dylan and Norman calmly suggest to her that she meet with her brother Caleb, Norma has a panic attack and runs off. She has nowhere to go but checks into a motel to sort herself out. She buys a new car and goes to a bar where a pick-up doesn't work out as planned. She finally ends up at James Finnegans' house where he tries to get to the root of her problem. Back home, a traumatized Norman has a blackout but Dylan sees him in full Norma-mode, dressed as their mother and making breakfast for him in the kitchen. Elsewhere, Sheriff Romero is recovering in the hospital from the attempt to kill him and gets a visit from Marcus Young.—garykmcd
- Dylan is at his wits end, grateful for help from devoted Emma, as Norman breaks down mentally, convinced their mother Norma won't return, having taken off in fury over the return of Dylan's father, her 'rapist brother' Caleb, who agrees to leave at his son's request. Norma drives to Portland, switching car and clothes, gets picked up by studly bar regular but decides against sex last second in his car, only realizing her maternal instinct primes after seducing her therapist into bed. Meanwhile the sheriff is hospitalized, having been shot for refusing to turn over the memory stick, by his presumed successor Marcus Young, but manages to surprise and kill him. Dylan's drug buddy breaks the encryption while Norman impersonates his mother until her return.—KGF Vissers
- "Bates Motel" - "Norma Louise" - April 13, 2015
Things just keep getting crazier in White Pine Bay.
We pick up where we left off with Norma tearing out of the place.
Norman loses his mind and goes crazy in the kitchen, throwing plates and wine glasses. He screams at Dylan, who is trying to calm him down, that Norma hates him now and it's all Dylan's fault. He eventually ends up knocked out on the kitchen floor.
Then our story takes several paths over the course of a very long night.
In one of them Romero is leisurely grocery shopping and as he heads back to his car, another car rolls up and takes a shot at him and peels out. Romero realizes he is shot and collapses to the ground.
He wakes up in the hospital looking very white. The nurse explains he was shot and says he's not going to die but he isn't going anywhere either. He demands his phone. He calls Norma and leaves a message explaining he was shot and she needs to be careful because she could be in danger.
Later, Marcus comes to visit Romero in the hospital. He says he is not there to finish job. In fact, he has a proposition. There's been talk at the club of killing him --- he really should've gotten the flash drive back -- but Marcus knows that Romero knows the ins and outs of the town and he could use him when he is sheriff and he can protect him from Bob. Romero says he'll think about it. Marcus says he'll back tomorrow. As Marcus gets in his car Romero knocks out his window with his cane, grabs his gun and shoots him. He gets in the car, wipes the blood off the window and drives off with Marcus in the car in his hospital gown. Guess the nurse was wrong about him not going anywhere.
On Norma's extremely teary but very wild night out, during which she is being followed by a man, she shoots her phone on the side of the road, drives to Portland, buys some hooker-ish clothes, trades in the Mercedes for what looks like a Mustang, checks into a motel, flashes back to Caleb reassuring her when they were kids hiding under the porch while their parents fought, goes to a bar, gets drunk and dances with a random dude -- and jokingly tells him she killed her husband -- goes to his truck to make out with him and then gets offended when he starts taking his pants off. She spits on him, he tells her she is seriously screwed up. He is not wrong.
She calls up the psychologist and begs him to let her come over since she has nowhere else to go. When she gets there she explains that her life is out of control and she can't handle it and that Norman has blackouts and isn't normal. And then, she unburdens herself: she tells him Norman killed her husband and she claimed it was an accident so they wouldn't take him away from her. She freaks out that she told him this and tells him to immediately forget it and tries to leave. He stops her and hugs her on the porch, she is out of her mind. He carries her to bed and covers her up and tells her it's going to be okay. She tries to kiss him but he begs off saying she needs him more as a therapist right now. But she persists. He points out that he could lose his license. The third time is the charm as he throws his ethics out the window and sleeps with her.
In the morning she is getting dressed to go and he tells her she is in a very fragile state and needs to take care of herself. She says she cant take care of herself and explains the story of The Giving Tree to him, which he probably already knew. When she gets to the part where the tree becomes a stump for the man to sit on she says That's what being a parent is. So now she is going to go talk to the man who raped her because that's what her kids want. (It is an amazing scene of mania from Vera Farmiga.)
Meanwhile, while Norma was out flipping out, Norman was in flipping out.
Dylan finally got him to bed after the kitchen wig out but Norman can't be consoled saying Norma has left them for good. Dylan tries to reassure him but Norman isn't hearing it, saying leaving is what she does, but now she is gone for good. Norman says he feels strange, like he is outside his body. Dylan says it's probably just from being knocked out. Emma comes into the house and asks if everything is okay and what happened. Dylan explains that hes worried about Norman and explains what happened with the talk about Caleb and that Norma wigged out on a new level and left and has never left Norman before. She offers to spend the night to help him but has to go get more oxygen from the office first. She tells him he doesn't need to be alone with all of this. He is grateful.
Norman wake up and says "Mother?" He sees Emma sleeping in a chair in his room. He gets up and goes to her room, asking where she is and suddenly there are bats flying in her room and the walls are cracking so obviously this is a dream. He wakes up in his bed.
At midnight Dylan goes to Caleb and tells him what happened and that he has to leave. Dylan says he is sorry. Caleb says he is too. They both cry.
Norman has another terrible dream in which he is in the basement getting a bird ready for stuffing but the bird is suddenly alive as his dead dog that comes running in and barking.
Norman is in the basement staring straight ahead and only vaguely hears Emma and Dylan as voices in his head. Emma wonders if they should call an ambulance. Dylan says it has happened before and they have to wait it out. He walks up the stairs saying "I want my mother." They put him in Norma's bed to comfort him.
Emma starts to choke. She explains to Dylan that at night her lungs fill up and normally her dad bangs on her chest to break it up and get it out and asks if he will do the gross honors. She lies on the bathroom floor and tells him to cup his hands right above her breasts and pound. She has to encourage him a few times to do it hard enough but it works and the stuff loosens up and she rolls over and coughs it up. It is gross but necessary. She thanks him. He says he feels bad he let her stay. She says she wanted to and has always wanted to be part of this family but she never can be. He says he understands this exactly. She smiles at him. And if she hadn't just coughed up all that gross phlegm they would totally make out.
Dylan is awakened to noise in the kitchen. Norman is making French toast. He is not only wearing Norma's bathrobe but seems to believe he is her and asks Dylan to go "wake up your brother." Dylan is clearly freaked out but he plays along.
At 7:15 a.m., Emma touches Norman's hair, he is back in bed. She tells Dylan she's going to go home and shower and change but will be back. He thanks her and lies in bed next to Norman.
Norma finds her two boys sleeping and regards them for a moment. Then she roughly wakes them up and says it's time to go see Caleb because that's what they said they wanted and dadgummit, she's a good parent and says she won't be the mom that won't talk to your dad because he raped me so she's going to do it and she shoves them into her new car.
Caleb's crazy neighbor Chick confronts him and asks him what happened. Caleb says nothing. Chick reminds him there is still an offer on the table for Caleb to do a "driving gig" in a few days. Caleb asks exactly what it is but Chick just smiles his mysterious smile and says he will tell him when he needs to know.
Dylan, Norma, and Norman arrive at the farm. Norma steels herself and goes up to his van. He emerges. They eye each other. She cries. She tries to leave. He grabs her hand and is crying also. He drops to his knees and cries on her and apologizes over and over. She cries more. They hug. Dylan is touched. Norman has that faraway angry look in his eye and that is not good.
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