‘What’s Wrong With Norman?’ cranks up the weirdness four or five notches, as Norman’s internal struggles started bubbling to the surface in disturbing ways. I think ratcheting up the camp on this show can only be a good thing (at least in the short term) as Bates Motel finds its voice, something it’s still fumbling to establish at times in this episode. With a more direct focus on Norman, however, ‘What’s Wrong With Norman?’ finds its footing more often than it doesn’t, despite taking some serious shortcuts to get there.
There are some things that feel like they’re happening a little too quickly: there’s four or five different stressful situations swirling around Norman at all times, and they’ve barely been established before we see his tear from reality begins to take hold. He doesn’t remember attacking his brother Dylan, he invades Deputy Shelby’s house in a trance (after having a conversation with his imaginary mother), and passes out from having sexual, bondage-flavored thoughts of his boss – events all self-contained to this 43-minute episode. And there’s suggestions of more: Norma clearly was hiding something in the hospital when she told the nurse he’d never passed out like that before.
It’s all laid on a little thick at times – topped off by Norman sitting on the floor, repeating “What’s wrong with me?” over and over to himself in the episode’s goofiest moment. But thanks to Freddie Highmore’s performance and the honest confusion of the character over his mental state, it at least presents him as a conflicted teenager in an interesting way. We know Norman is going to go over the edge one day, and right now, we’re starting to see him teeter on the edge of sanity: his temper is becoming less and less guarded, he’s having all sorts of weird thoughts – and best of all, he’s completely aware of it.
I do think there are some issues on how Norman’s mental devolution is being handled: so far, the show’s positing that a mix of Norma’s dysfunctional mothering and the town of White Pine Bay turned Norman into what he would inevitably become. The Norma material works really well here – there are allusions that suggest Norman could’ve killed his father, and Norma seems as confused as Norman is, asking him numerous times why he’d want to keep such a memento of such a violent memory. But the town material is being rushed through – the various oddities of the town are transforming Norman almost instantaneously, forcing other characters to push undeveloped stories forward in service of the character. Notice how direct the dialogue of characters like Emma and Shelby are in the episode; they’re not adding layers to relationships, they’re being overt in a way that’s tonally dissonant from other scenes.
When the show’s alluding to various things: Norma’s knowledge of Norman’s mental struggles, the fact Norman knows how bad his mother is for him (as we see on his face when Dylan talks to him about it), and the little connection made between Bradley (who still stinks as a character) and Norman over dead parents was intriguing material, stories that add complexity to a world in a meaningful way, rather than relying on burning bodies and Chinese sex children to drum up dramatic material.
At times, ‘What’s Wrong With Norman?” is captivating in subtle ways previous episodes didn’t quite capture me – but at the same time, most of the things not directly related to the Norma/Norman dynamic continue to be serious weak links for the show, issues that only seem to grow as the show pushes forward.
Grade: B-
Other thoughts/observations:
– how the hell did Romero get a warrant?
– the moment they paint Shelby as a nice guy, I think we all knew he had himself a sex slave.
– I wonder what else Norman might’ve hallucinated so far that the show buried as an Easter egg. In a way, the opening sequence felt a little like a dream – an event we’ll most surely revisit and flesh out at some point.
– Dylan’s mostly separated from his Bates brethren, off in the woods guarding a pot field worth $5 million. But I loved his interactions with Norman, firmly establishing a dynamic between the two to build off of moving forward, a better foundation than the one laid last week.
– more sexual violence alluded to: the Chinese girls in Bates Motel and Shelby’s house, Norma’s reference to Keith, and possibly whatever happened to get her that scar on her leg.
– I love the exterior shots of the house, or when Norman/Norma are around the stairs leading to it.
– Emma: “Ok, I’ll do bullet points.”
– after talking about how “brave” Norman is, and how “death is awkward,” Bradley blurts out the most generalized feeling in the world: “I just want to be happy.”