Review: Bates Motel ‘Nice Town You Picked, Norma…’ – Don’t Stop Your Swiffering

On one hand, I like that Bates Motel is taking the slow burn approach, using its second episode to further build out a world and cast of characters. But on the other hand, I’m not really enjoying the world that’s being presented so far, and without much to go on plot wise yet, ‘Nice Town you Picked, Norma…’ isn’t a very compelling second episode to keep viewers interested.

There are some touches I liked – how the show’s set design plays around with time period is clever, giving Bates Motel and White Pine Bay a very ethereal atmosphere that the show needs without much happening on screen. And despite him being a massive rebellious, scorned brother cliche, Dylan’s character adds another dynamic to the household I think Bates Motel really needed, something to intersperse all the creepy mother/son attraction hints the show’s become quickly fond of.

Of course, the most fascinating character to watch is Norman, and I do like how the show is being somewhat subtle about the deep-seeded issues that have surfaced on occasion in the first two episodes. Inherently, this show is about Norman losing his mind, and if there’s anything I’m confident about, it’s his character in Freddie Highmore’s hands, whose done a terrific job with the role so far, even in the episode’s more awkwardly written moments, like his mother changing her shirt in front of him, and asking him how she looked. As Dylan so poignantly points out, Norma has “ruined him” – something poor Bradley and Emma will probably feel the effects of.

Emma’s larger presence was a nice touch in the episode – but again, there’s more of the sexual weirdness that permeates the show in way too many facets (she talks about being into really weird manga, dismissing Norman’s Chinese porno book/map as nothing that serious). It also pulls her into said Asian sex slave trading ring story line, as her and Norman go investigate a pot field and get chased by men with assault rifles out of the woods. Apparently White Pine Bay is a town cool with burning people in public and sex trafficking operations – two wholly uninteresting plot lines, that only get more conspicuous with little LOST-like nuggets tossed in for good measure (Keith’s belt that Norman keeps, the deputy’s speech about “dealing with things”, the shack they run by, but can’t investigate).

Besides that, there isn’t a lot entertaining going on in ‘Nice Town You Picked, Norma…’ , even as it tries to flesh out White Pine Bay and its residents. There’s no definition to why Bradley’s father shows up burnt to shit in front of the bus stop, and there isn’t much to tease out, except he’s connected to the shady dealings going on in the town. This is exemplified by a crying Asian in a strip club that Dylan shares a drink with, and then gets a job from a person who asks if he “knows how to use a gun.” Dark sides run in the Bates family – a trait that Dylan apparently has inherited from his lovely mother Norma.

I like that Bates Motel isn’t in a rush – but what is it taking its time to tell? From what the first two episodes show, it’s a lot of sexual violence (both actual and suggested) against women, with a creepy small mountain town vibe thrown on top of it (a town surrounded by forest, apparently). There needs to be more than that – whether it’s with the weird underbelly of the top, or the complex relationship between Norman and his mother.

Grade: C+

Other thoughts/observations:

– if you missed it, I’m doing a weekly podcast on Bates Motel all season at Sound on Sight – you can listen to the first episode here. Episodes will publish late Tuesday/early Wednesday, and be available on iTunes as part of the Sound on Sight TV podcast.

– Norman knows when his toast is done, thank you.

– how convenient that someone saw Kevin drive up to the mansion, despite nobody living around them and no traffic going by in the long landscape shots outside the hotel during that scene.

– Norma’s jealousy of Emma’s presence is quite entertaining, especially when she asks her “how long is your life expectancy?”

– Dylan’s super white teeth kind of take away from his ‘bad boy’ persona a bit.

– Dylan has his mother in his cell phone under the nickname “The Whore”, which ignites Norman’s temper, and he tries to attack his brother. Such a silly scene to contrive tension between the brothers, tension that isn’t needed because it already existed (Dylan’s jealousy, Norman’s hatred of how he talks to her).

– Dylan like plain bread and black coffee for breakfast.

– Romero’s the “last guy” you want on your bad side, especially when he thinks you murdered his childhood friend.

– as Dylan looks at the many, many pictures of Norma and Norman, Herb Alpert’s “This Guy’s In Love With You’ plays in the background. Subtle.

– why do main characters have vintage cars?

– Emma’s existential moment in the woods is way too wordy, and put in too tight of the scene – it comes across as rushed and extraneous.