Bates Motel’s fourth episode this season didn’t really do much to move Annika’s murder mystery plot along, but it did provide us with some nice character beats for Dylan, and had Norman discover the truth about Caleb’s whereabouts. On top of that, Norma tries frantically (without success) to gain access to the contents of the flash drive Annika handed her while she died last week.
For Annika’s death being the big climax of last week’s episode, not much progress was made in the investigation this week. Romero does some investigating and finds out that the car she was driving was registered to Lindsey, the girl who was found floating dead in the water a few weeks ago. He goes to talk to Bob Parish (aka creepy sex club owner) to no avail, but Bob does ask if Annika had anything on her when she died. Of course, Romero doesn’t know what this could be referring to, so he goes to talk to another hooker. Turns out Annika had a threesome with Lindsey, which may have played a part in both of their deaths. Okay.
Bates Motel seems to have a fascination with secret organizations, and they never really seem to be that compelling. Firsts we had the secret drug trade ring, now we have an evil sex club. Bob hasn’t had enough screen time to merit being seen as a real threat, and that’s hurting this season. As I’ve stated in previous reviews, Bates Motel is at its worst when it’s not focused on Norma and Norman. This episode is no exception.
Speaking of Norma, she spent the entire episode trying to get into the flash drive Annika handed off to her right before she died. Of course Norma doesn’t just hand it off to the police. What fun would that be? Instead, she tries to access its contents herself. When that doesn’t work, she goes to some random Joe Blow in a coffee shop to hack into it. It’s not really the best plan, but it does provide for a few laughs. Eventually she confides in Dylan, which finally pulls him into her storyline and away from his marijuana business.
Sadly, they go about it the wrong way and hide all of their sneaking around from Norman, who of course is on to their game. Freddie Highmore had some more great moments tonight as he starts to (correctly) suspect Norma and Dylan of hiding something from him. I believe Norman is fully in his “rebellious teenager” phase.
The main focus of this episode was the romantic relationships. First, the bearded psychology professor (his name is James, in case you were wondering) asks Norma out for coffee and she accepts. She breaks down to this (mostly) complete stranger about how it is becoming more and more difficult to recognize her son. I’m not really sure if they are setting up James to be a love interest for Norma, but he is infinitely more interesting than Michael Vartan’s character was last season so I’m intrigued by his presence. At the very least, it allows Norma to bare her soul to somebody besides Norman so I’m looking forward to where this relationship goes in future episodes.
Then we have Emma and Norman, whose relationship is starting to tailspin. It is becoming clear (as Norma points out) that Norman is only dating Emma to make Norma jealous. It’s working, by the way. She seemed pretty livid that Norman didn’t plan on including her on his picnic with Emma and it was pretty hilarious to watch. We did get to see Emma call Norman out on his bullshit after he hesitated to have sex with her (because Norma told him he couldn’t). Olivia Cooke is one of Bates Motel’s strongest assets, and I’m happy to see them utilizing her more this season.
The best part of the episode (and I never thought I would say this), is Caleb and Dylan’s arc. Caleb finally gets to apologize to Dylan for raping Norma and tells him that he wants to make things right. Dylan is finally, mostly happy. he his getting closer with his dad/uncle and working together with Norma. Unfortunately Norma doesn’t know about Dylan’s relationship with Caleb, so when Norman finds them out in the final scene, it’s honestly heartbreaking. I can honestly say that it is the most I have ever cared about Dylan’s character. He doesn’t want to lose the relationship he’s started to repair with Norma, and once she finds out about Caleb he probably will.
Overall this was a solid episode of Bates Motel, devoted more to character development and revelations as opposed to moving the murder plot along. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just wasn’t that compelling of an episode. What did you think of “Unbreak-Able?”
Random Notes
- “A girl just died on me but I’m fine.” – Norma has the best way of bluntly describing a terrible situation.
- One of Norma’s password guesses for the flash drive? “SEXCRAZED.”
- Norman asking Norma if she still likes him was a great moment for Highmore and Farmiga.
- That makeout session between Emma and Norman was really….squishy. Please don’t do that again.
- “My son and I have always been close. Probably too close.” – Well at least Norma is aware.
- Norman, WHY would you tell Emma that your mother said you shouldn’t have sex with her.
- Emma referring to Norma and Norman as “two people that wouldn’t know their ass from a handbag if they had a head cold” is amazing. I have never heard this saying before and I want to use it all the time now.
- “I didn’t think your mother was coming on this date with us.” Amen, Emma.
- “It’s probably her pimp or whatever.” – Norma, on the man who was rummaging through the motel office.
- Dylan hides the flash drive inside the timer in his weed room. This will probably be important later.
- It’s great that Caleb is sorry for raping Norma, but shouldn’t he be apologizing to her, rather than Dylan?