Bates Motel – The Cord

By: Kelly Kearney

“Bates Motel” was a series that went above and beyond its Psycho expectations and gave fans a new chapter in the tragic tale of Norman and his beloved Mother, Norma. In life, happy endings aren’t always what they seem and for Norman Bates, nothing in life was what it seemed.

Alex says goodbye

The finale begins where we last left off, Alex (Nestor Carbonell) wants to see Norma (Vera Farmiga) one last time. With Regina (Aliyah O’Brien) driving and the former sheriff holding Norman (Freddie Highmore) at gun point, you’d think it would be easy. Unfortunately for Romero, Mother is in charge and tries pushing Alex’s buttons with her vague directions to the body. Regina is terrified that Alex has lost his mind and maybe he has because this mission seems doomed from the start. After kicking the distraught secretary out of the car Alex has had enough of Mother and her games, but would he kill Norman before they get to Norma? Probably not and Mother uses this as leverage to push Alex into bashing Norman’s head into the car door. With Norma only a few miles up the road and a short trek through the snowy woods, Norman reluctantly agrees to take him to the body. Throughout the scene, Norman and Mother quietly battle for control with a confused Alex looking on. A person with a homicidal personality split isn’t something you see every day and his step-father is having a hard time buying Norman’s “act.”

Back at the sheriff’s station, Greene is (Brooke Smith) reviewing the tapes of the Norman Bates hostage situation when Dylan (Max Thieriot) arrives to hear the bad news; his step-father took his brother and is armed and dangerous. Dylan becomes irate and thinks the police do not have Norman’s best interest at heart and fears Alex is on a mission to kill him. The worried older brother storms out of Greene’s office, but not before he warns her that nothing better happen to his brother since he’s still just a suspect and a very sick one at that.

Of course, Dylan hit the proverbial nail on the head, murder is exactly what Alex has in mind and Mother is not curbing those desires in the least. As the two men finally reach their destination, Romer has had enough of Norman’s games. He drops an F-bomb, pistol whips Norman and then places the barrel of the gun to Norman’s head. Seeing how the angry man has nothing left to lose, Mother gives in and the two start walking or should I say stumbling through the snowy woods. It’s not long before Norman finds the shallow grave and asks Alex to help him dig. The man is at the end of his rope and pushes Norman back as he digs his wife out of the snow. With Norman leering over him, Alex uncovers his wife’s face and what he sees no husband could ever be prepared for. Frosty and lifeless, that spark that made it so easy to love this complicated woman, was all but snuffed out by the boy who was her whole life. Watching him grieve, Norman tells him he knew how much the man loved his mother and Alex can’t take it anymore. In a furious rage, he attacks Norman beating him to a bloody confused mess. With Norman temporarily out of the way, Alex goes back to Norma and cries for the life they were robbed of and the happiness that was always out of reach for them both. Tearfully, Romero tells Norma he’s sorry and he’ll never stop loving her, but in the background Norman comes to. In a flurry of violence, the young Bates reaches for a stone and bashes Alex over the head with it. The fight is quick and brutal with Norman grabbing Alex’s gun, shooting him twice. As the life drains from his body, Alex’s dying words, “You killed your own mother, you can’t hide from it,” wake Norman from his psychotic haze. Alex fades away and Norman realizes the scope of what he’s done. So much so that Mother appears to tell him she’s no longer needed. Now that Norman knows the whole story, it’s time for her to go and Norman can’t take it. He begs her to stay. Losing Norma was awful, but losing his protective alter is too much for Norman and he passes out in the snow next to the body of his one true love and her murdered husband.

What Dream Are We In, Mother?

The reality of what he’s done and the absence of Mother sends Norman into a delusional dream like world. Bloody and lying in the snow, he envisions a glowing Norma alive and well and sleeping beside him. Everything seems perfect, the horrors of the last five years never happened. It’s a restart before they ever made the move to White Pine Bay. Norman remembers the very first time Norma brought him to the motel. “We came here to make a fresh start and I’m making a fresh start,” invades Norman’s thoughts. As best he can, he gathers Norma’s body and heads to the car for a bizarrely heartbreaking drive home. Hazy, half conscious and dreaming of better days Norman carries Norma’s body up the house steps while remembering how excited she was for their new life – a life that included Dylan, who is terrified for and of his brother.

Knowing Alex has Norman and the police aren’t going to go above and beyond to protect him, Dylan calls his old pot partner Remo for a gun. After the exchange, he heads to a bar where he gets the strangest phone call from Norman; he and Mother are home and would like Dylan to come over for dinner. Obviously, Dylan isn’t stupid and knows he could be walking into a dangerous situation, but he doesn’t have much faith in Sheriff Greene and decides to go to the motel alone.

Once Dylan arrives on the scene, he calls Emma (Olivia Cooke). Still reeling over her mother’s death, the couple remain on the outs and Dylan realizes this could be the last time he talks to her. Emma pleads with him to call the police and stay clear of Norman, but without his wife and his family Dylan doesn’t have much to live for. He tells Emma he loves her and always will (echoing the words Alex said to Norma) and then prepares to deal with his brother. Of course, once out of his truck he notices a guest at the hotel and hurries to tell the woman (Jennifer Copping) she must leave. He explains his brother is mentally ill and the motel is closed, giving her money and sending her on her way. With the guest gone and a gun at his side, Dylan climbs the house steps to find his brother and what he discovers inside that house is mind blowing. He finds Norman preparing an imaginary dinner while Norma sits defrosting at the table. Shock followed by revulsion hits the man hard and he instantly vomits. Dylan can’t believe what he’s seeing and Norman begs him not to ruin this for him. He tries getting through to his brother by saying none of this is real and that’s Norma’s dead body so he needs to snap out of it and get some help. Reality isn’t something Norman is used to and its easier for him to remain deluded, dealing with what he’s done is out of the question. Dylan begs his brother to get help. He wants his Norman, that sweet boy, back but most of all he wants the family he never had; the family that’s sitting lifeless at the table behind him. Irate with the idea he would ever turn himself over to a mental hospital, Norman tells Dylan that if he believes hard enough he can have everything he wants. Desperate to get through to him, Dylan tells him he can’t and Norman realizes there is only one way out of this. He reaches for a kitchen knife. Dylan, who’s afraid of what he might have to do, tells him to put it down and promises they can get through this together. Unfortunately, for Norman there is no happy ending without Norma and continues to spiral into madness. Approaching with the knife Norman says, “This is how it ends, isn’t it? I just want to be with her, Dylan.” Knowing what this means, Dylan begs his brother to not make him do this. In an instant, Norman charges forward with the knife forcing Dylan to shoot his brother and the two fall to the floor in tears. With Norman slipping away, he tells thanks his brother as he runs into the angelic arms of Norma. The two reunite at last in the only ending that seems to fit this tale of tainted love and murder. There truly was a cord between their hearts that, even the tragedy that is Norman, could not sever.

It’s true that happy endings aren’t always what they seem and for “Bates Motel,” happiness was always Norma and Norman. With the hotel up for sale and Dylan and Emma back together, it’s only fitting that Norman and Norma have their happy ending too. For a mother whose son was her entire life, Norman was the boy who loved Norma unconditionally and could never leave her side. For Norman his mother was his heart, his one true love, his protector and constant source of love and security that even in death could not be abandoned. In the end, Norma was right. They were meant to be together, like some twisted version of Romeo and Juliet spending eternity side by side, with their hearts as one.