Bates Motel – Inseparable

By: Kelly Kearney

“If you want to play with the big boys, then you need to act like the big boys…”

Fans of “Bates Motel” have been waiting five seasons for the show to intersect with its famous Hitchcock counterpart Psycho,” and last week’s shower scene twist, did not disappoint. Inseparable starts off with Sam (Austin Nichols), lifeless and laying in a pool of his own blood with a shaking Norman (Freddie Highmore) leering above him. This is the first time the motel manager is aware of his murderous rage and acted without the assistance of the Mother (Vera Farmiga) alter. He is traumatized by what he’s done and Mother is right there to clean up his mess. After ordering him to strip out of his bloody clothes, Mother tells her triggered other half that they don’t have time to dwell on this, “We’ve got shit to do.” And boy do they ever. Getting rid of dead bodies should seem like old hat for these two, but when they drive out to the lake they see something they weren’t ready for. Sheriff Greene (Brooke Smith) and a diving crew are pulling a body out of the lake – a lake that at this point has more bodies than water! From the looks of things, the local police are hot on the Bates trail and for Norman and Mother it’s going to be one long night.

With the body recovery going on down at the lake, they need to find another place to dump Sam, but Norman is really struggling with what happened and assumes this body in the lake is Jim Blackwell’s (John Hainsworth). Knowing there are more bodies than Jim’s down there, Mother evades the subject and wonders if telling Norman, the truth was the smartest idea. She doesn’t deny it when Norman asks if Jim is the only body they should be freaking out about. The crazed man goes into full panic mode knowing the sheriff will tie this to him and Mother punches him to snap him out of it. Norman punches back and these two are becoming like two feuding siblings that are in desperate need of a time out. Mother reminds him that they don’t have time for all his emotional turmoil as there are crimes they need to cover up or else Norman will go to jail and Mother will disappear forever. Crimes? How many crimes are there he asks and Mother avoids the question and reminds him of what they have to lose if they get caught. Taking the lead, she decides to dump the body in the woods where no one can find it. Chipper, as if she was taking a Sunday stroll in the park, Mother and Norman dump Loomis’ body in a well – like a bad wish Norman hopes never comes true. With their latest body out of the way, Norman and Mother take his car to a local chop shop and walk the five miles back to town. With a bloody mess waiting for them at the Motel, Norman wonders if this is all too much and asks Mother if its time he turn himself in. Obviously, that is not in Mother’s plans. With Norman dead or in a mental hospital pumped full of mind altering drugs, Mother will disappear. So, she continues to manipulate his love for Norma keeping her in control and even asking him if he’d like her to take over for a while. Norman declines that bad idea and that’s when he sees Sheriff Greene at the Motel looking for him. Mother tells him to be cool and don’t screw this up, but Norman is a terrible liar (unlike his alter) and Greene doesn’t appear to be buying any of his nonsense.

The Bodies Are Piling Up

Standing right outside the door to the blood-soaked Room 1, Sheriff Greene tells Norman the morbid news; Jim Blackwell was found dead in the lake, but he’s not the only one. They’ve pulled quite a few bodies out over the night and Norman plays shocked, albeit badly. Greene seems determined to tie Blackwell to Alex Romero’s (Nestor Carbonell) escape and she can’t seem to drop the fact Jim had the Motel address in his apartment before he went missing. This woman is so close to cracking this case wide open and Norman knows it. He goes back to the house to start tossing evidence that could tie him or Mother to anything down at the lake. There’s only one problem; Norma’s body in the basement is pretty damning evidence and not something he or Mother really want to talk about. The two alters talk around Norma like she’s some ex-lover Mother will throw a fit over. Norman decides to go it alone and move Norma’s body to snowy patch in the woods until the heat dies down.

As Norman is saying a heartfelt goodbye to his beloved mother in the woods, Alex Romero is still at Maggie’s (Jillian Fargey), desperate to get to Norman. The two are old, trusted friends so it makes sense he would go to her when he was hurt. After a few doses of antibiotics and some soup, Alex is on the mend and wants his gun back but Maggie just wants him to rest. Rest is not what Alex needs. He needs to settle the score with Norman and Maggie is starting to understand the bigger picture; Norma didn’t commit suicide and Alex knows it.

Dylan Comes Home

After finding out his mother killed herself, Dylan (Max Thieriot) shows up at the Bates Motel looking for answers from Norman. When Dylan left, he knew Norman was sick and maybe responsible for a death or two but after seeing the condition of the house, things start to click into place. The home is dark, lifeless and Norma’s clothes are strewn about. Dylan tries to drag the truth out of his brother about what happened with their mother, but Norman is not acting normal. The young Bates doesn’t want to talk about their mother and Dylan notices he keeps checking the doorway like he’s waiting for something or maybe, someone. Thinking that odd, Dylan asks if he’s still seeing Dr. Edwards (Damon Gupton) and taking his medications, but Norman says no as he quit after Norma died. He did run into Edwards last week in town and everything is fine. Nothing is fine and Dylan can tell. Norman is sick and it’s not pretty so he tells his brother to go lie down. With Norman out of the way, Dylan looks through the house and winds up in their mother’s room. With her blue bathrobe still hanging up and her bed recently slept in, Dylan breaks down. Sitting on her bedroom floor with tears in his eyes, he begs for Norma’s forgiveness because he knows leaving her with his brother was probably what led to her death. No matter how strained their relationship was, that mother/son bond is strong and Dylan regrets how he left things with her.

After a short nap, Norman wakes to Mother peering over him. She might have love and devotion in her eyes, but this woman is not Norma and that’s evident when she tells Norman he has to get rid of Dylan. He doesn’t have to kill his brother, just make him a nice dinner to show him everything is fine and he can be on his way back to Seattle. Norman agrees that Dylan is too close to this and plans a charming dinner that he hopes will put his brother’s mind at ease.

Unfortunately, that plan hits a snag when Dylan takes it upon himself to try and fill his brother’s prescriptions. The pharmacist gives him a few pills to tide Norman over, but can’t fill it entirely because Dr. Edwards is missing and presumed dead! Missing people seem to be a problem in White Pine Bay and Dylan is starting to panic. He makes it home with the pills and runs into Madeleine (Isabelle McNally) who’s looking for Norman because her husband his missing, too. Norman might’ve been the last to see him and Dylan realizes the scope of his brother’s problems. He tells Madeleine that Norman is sick, but he will ask about her husband Sam and heads into the house where a very bizarre meal is awaiting him. Norman tries to put on his Norma, happy homemaker act, but the dinner is as sad as the man who’s cooking it and Dylan can barely watch. He hands his brother the pills and pleads with Norman to take them, but Norman starts to panic. The pills mean no more Mother and Norman isn’t ready to give her up – if her watching on with murderous rage is any indication. Angry, the crazed man approaches his brother and its evident Mother is in control. He grabs a mug, blind sides Dylan and careens him in the head knocking him to the kitchen floor. Mother grabs a butcher knife, ready to kill Dylan, but Norman tackles her and the two start wresting on top of the kitchen table. Dylan looks on in shock as he sees his brother flipping himself around on the table fighting with a ghost. The struggle comes to an end when Norman gets the knife from Mother, runs to the phone to dial 911 and says, “My name is Norman Bates and I killed Sam Loomis.”

How will Mother react to Norman’s confession? How many bodies are actually in that lake? Will Alex Romero finally get his revenge or will Norman’s arrest put a kink in his own murderous plans? Find out next week on an all new “Bates Motel.”