Bates Motel – Visiting Hours

By: Kelly Kearney

Crime Scene Investigations and A growing Body Count

As “Bates Motel” nears its end, Norman (Freddie Highmore) can’t escape the ever-growing body count he and Mother (Vera Farmiga) racked up over the last five seasons. This week, Norman’s crimes touch a little close to home when Dylan (Max Thieriot) and Emma (Olivia Cooke) suffer a big blow thanks to the news that Audrey DeCody’s (Katrina Logue) body has been found. With only one episode left in the series, the episode Visiting Hours shines its spotlight on Emma and how she deals with the news that her best friend and brother-in-law killed her mother.

We begin at the police station where Mother is being booked on three counts of murder. The reality of her crimes has yet to sink in and she treats the finger printing process like an annoying formality. Of course, while Mother is being her usual difficult self, Sheriff Greene (Brooke Smith) and the local police tear apart the Motel and Bates house. To say the White Pine Bay P.D. is thorough would be an understatement as they have a whole CSI team combing through every inch of that property, especially the house, where they find recent DNA on the bed. DNA that no doubt belongs to Alex Romero (Nestor Carbonell), the man who killed Chick (Ryan Hurst) in the basement and yet another body the police find. Besides the one dead writer and the bed DNA, metal detectors uncover something buried in the motel parking lot. After a female deputy (Kailey Spear) digs a few feet below the ground, she finds Audrey DeCody’s suitcase, successfully tying Norman to the woman’s body found in the lake.

Speaking of Audrey, Emma comes to town to be with Dylan, thankfully leaving their baby girl back in Seattle with her dad. After a tearful hello, Emma learns that her mother’s body was not only found but Dylan’s fears about Norman killing her turned out to be true. This news puts a giant wedge in between the couple since Dylan is standing by his sick brother and Emma is confused by how she should feel about it. Everything seems surreal to her and even though it isn’t Dylan’s fault, Emma’s emotions are tied with the guilt of her friendship with Norman. The grieving woman decides to stay in White Pine Bay to handle her mother’s burial, but wants no part of Norman or his case.

Insanity pleas, revenge plots and tearful goodbyes…

Plead insanity or else you could wind up in prison for life or on death row. That’s the advice Julia Ramos (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) gives Mother over Norman’s impending court hearing. Julia agrees with Dylan that Norman is sick and most likely suffering from D.I.D., otherwise known as dissociate identity disorder. Ramos wants what’s best for her client, but what’s best for Norman isn’t what’s best for Mother and she’s not about disappear so he can spend his life medicated in an institution.

At the King’s Motel, Emma is really having issues processing the news about her mother. She tells her father via phone to keep Kate in Seattle, while disregarding Dylan’s feelings that they’re safe and seeing their daughter would do them all good. The two get interrupted by Ramos who’s there for an update about Norman. Emma is not interested in hearing about Norman, his insanity or his defense so she leaves Dylan to figure it out with the lawyer. Of course, Julia is there asking Dylan for damage control with the media. Norman’s hearing is tomorrow and it’s a public event so having Dylan there would look good. Only Dylan’s wife might not think this is good and he’s reluctant to say yes. The poor guy is really stuck in the middle here. He knows his brother is sick and he doesn’t want him to die by lethal injection, but at the same time he loves his wife and the family he’s started. Tough choices for the elder Bates son, especially with his wife handling her mother’s burial all on her own, a choice Emma made.

At the funeral parlor, Emma goes over the details of her mother’s final remains and learns Norma is buried in their cemetery. Kneeling on Norma’s grave, Emma tells the woman who was more a mother to her than Audrey was that she’s sorry and she misses her. It’s a heartbreaking goodbye for the daughter Norma never had, but truly loved as best as she knew how. Emma’s not the only one feeling nostalgic as Dylan is at his motel looking though old and new family photos trying to decide where his loyalty stands.

Speaking of loyalty, nobody is more loyal to their cause than the cop turned vigilante Alex Romero. After killing Chick, Alex is on a mission to finish Norman. Only his step son in cooling his heels in a local holding cell. Alex has been driving around in his stolen car trying to come up with a plan when he stops for gas and almost gets made by an overly friendly car enthusiast. Alex is playing fast and loose with his freedom and only has one goal in mind, kill Norman.

The State of Oregon vs. Norman Bates: Case Docket #386

The preliminary hearing begins and Mother is representing Norman. He/she is charged with three counts of murder in the first degree and Sheriff Greene is the first to take the stand. Piece by piece the sheriff dissects the evidence and gives an account of the murders. The deaths sound like a nightmare for the victims’ families, but Norman sits calmly while he listens seemingly unaffected by the gruesome accounts. Madeleine Loomis (Isabelle McNally) can’t take it and she leaves the court room followed by Dylan who attempts to give the widow his sympathies, only she blames him for not doing something sooner.

While Norman’s in court, Alex shows up at Maggie’s (Jillian Fargey) looking for a computer and angry his friend didn’t tell him Norman had been arrested. Maggie seems sweet and has Alex’s best interests at heart. She tells him she kept the news from him to prevent him from doing something stupid. Doing something stupid is just what Alex has in mind. He wants to kill Norman and no amount of pleading from Maggie is going to stop him. He gets Norman’s information off the police website and leaves Maggie hoping that one day, the two can run off together and live in her family’s abandoned cabin. Alex seems to be on a suicide mission and as kind as Maggie’s been, he’s not thinking of romance – he’s thinking of homicide.

Over at the funeral parlor, Emma watches her mother’s cremation and later scatters the ashes in the Oregon mountains. It’s a cathartic goodbye to a woman she hardly knew, but never the less didn’t deserve the end she was given. After the impromptu memorial, Emma goes back to the motel and tells Dylan she’s going back to Seattle to take care of their daughter. Dylan tells her he was at the hearing, but she just wants to sleep and talk about Norman later.

In the morning, Emma leaves and while things seem slightly better with Dylan, there is still an obvious wedge between them. Of course, before Emma can hop on a plane out of town she goes to the jail to see Norman. Unfortunately, she’s greeted by his unfamiliar alter personality. Mother tries convincing Emma that she’s Norman and he didn’t kill her mother.  Emma knows the person she’s talking to isn’t her best friend and asks Mother where he is. In one of the most brilliant and tense scenes of the series, Mother tells Emma that Audrey had to die for tricking Norman. Besides the fact she wasn’t a good mother to Emma, her death was part of the deal the minute she stepped into their orbit. Emma insists on talking to Norman but Mother says, “He’s sleeping in his room. There’s an apple pie in the oven and when he wakes up, he’ll smell it and know everything’s ok.” Even as an alter Mother still shelters and protects her boy. It would be sweet, if it wasn’t so tragic. And Emma realizes this. Staring into Norman’s face, while Norma’s refection is starring back in the glass, Emma asks if she can relay a message to Norman. “Can you tell him, I miss him,” she asks an unfazed Mother, who’s staring through the eyes the boy she once loved.

Outside the police station, Alex grabs his former secretary Regina (Aliyah O’Brien) and takes her hostage outside the police station before he storms his former office. He orders everyone on the ground and demands to see the Sheriff. Things get out of control quickly when he shoots an approaching officer and ushers the rest of the police force into the holding cell where he comes face to face with Norman. Alex grabs his stepson by the throat and starts to choke the life out of him, while his former colleagues watch on from the cell. Seconds from taking his life, the homicidal man changes his mind and drags Norman into the back of a car while ordering Regina to drive. If this is going to be a murder/suicide mission, Alex has one last request: take me to Norma’s body!