Monday, April 29, 2013

Bates Motel episode 1.7

Spoilers for Bates Motel episode 1.7

I done with Bated Motel, not watching the show anymore.  It's just that Norma makes some really stupid decisions.  Norma's latest lapse in judgement, allowing a guy, who CLEARLY was involved in Keith's Asian sex-slave ring (god, I hope I don't spam comments for using that word), to stay at her hotel and continue the same reservation arrangement he had with Keith.  BTW, the guest was played by the same actor who played Anson on Burn Notice and Jesse's Narcotics Anonymous group leader in Breaking Bad.  The only sensible one on the show is Dylan...and he's in pot farming business...so that's not saying much.

Something else I don't like about the show.  The show is described as a show about how Norman Bates became the psycho that he became.  But when we see Norman in the show, he's already pretty messed up and far gone, he killed his father (albeit by accident and his father was attacking his mother at the time), he goes in to trances and blind fits of rage, he blacks out, and he even started repeated what his mother said about Bradley in a weird angry voice (...much like how he dressed like his mother and committed the murders).  It's just, the original Psycho (I never watched the 4 sequels) was a great movie.  It had a great plot with just enough backstory to keep you from asking questions that were beyond the movies scope, the viewer is left completely satisfied at the end of the movie.  We know what kind of mother Norma was and we know how that effected Norman's psyche.  We don't leave the movie wonder how Norman Bates became the psycho he became.  So, if the show wants to now address how the seed of evil was planted in Norman, then they need to really address it.  They need to start with Norman as an innocent and really show us how the seed got planted, not Norman as a messed up 17 year old with the seed of evil having taken root and sprouting.  Also, the whole town is fucked up.  It would be far more interesting to see how Norman became a monster despite having been in the perfect all-American town.  Given the way that town is, it's wonder if anyone can be normal.  If the writers wanted Norman to be a messed up teen, then to deliver what they promised to the audiences–a story of how Norman became a monster– they should have started the series with him in pre-school, at the rate the show is progressing.  Or, they could have started with a normal teen who became unhinged due to various circumstances.  I think the latter would make for a far more interesting series than what is currently displayed. 

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