TV Review: Bates Motel S3, Episode #1 (A Death in the Family)

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

EPISODE 1: A Death in the Family

CHECKING IN: Norma (Vera Farminga) gets some bad news (her mother died), Dylan (Max Thieriot) wants out of the drug biz, Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell) is still King Shit and Norman (Freddie Highmore) starts going a tad more fruity. And that’s just half of what’s going down in this episode.

THE ROOM: BATES MOTEL is back and man was it in a hurry to set up its new bases to let her rip! I’m all for set-ups, it’s usually what the first episodes of a season do but on this run, it seemed that the BATES MOTEL peeps wanted to get all of their season sets ups done in one freaking episode. Lets see; in this Season 3 premiere episode: Norman dropped out of regular school (to be home schooled), he became manager of the Motel, Norman and Emma (Olivia Cooke) started dating (which means Emma is now in danger i.e. if Norman gets a boner, she's dead) and Norman potentially already killed somebody (a poor call-girl endearingly played by Tracy Spiridakos). And that’s just on Norman’s side of things! All in one episode?! And I didn’t even talk about Dylan, Norma, or Romero yet.  EASY TIGERS! Easy! On that, the upside of a twist-happy episode was that I was definitely not bored while tapping it. Season 3 started with a healthy kitchen knife stab that's for sure!

Busy first Season 3 episode for good old Norman…

And I gotta say it, Norman was even creepier here (almost as loonie as Norman Bates in Psycho) than he has been in the past 2 seasons. The deviant side of the lad has definitely rose to the surface and Freddie Highmore was looking less and less affable and more and more threathening (to me anyways).  With Norman “maybe” having a killed a chick in this episode – if that winds up being the case – the show is making a statement right there – Norman's "monkey" is officially out of the box (don't ask me what that means) and they're now gonna run with it. I’m excited to see how far they go, IF that is the case of course.

The episode also went deeper in terms of the at times sexually charged relationship that Norma and Norman have together (that opening in bed gave me the brrrs…) and with the death of Grandma Bates and the return of Caleb (Kenny Johnson) on the scene (Dylan’s uncle and father, born out of an incestuous relationship with Norma) I have a feeling that we’ll be exploring some of the darker and more depraved branches of the Bates Family tree and their twisted family dynamic. Hey I’m all for that. 

What about Dylan (as played by the mucho likebale Max Thieriot) you may ask? Well after last Season’s finale, I was sure that Dylan would become the top dog weed kingpin of the town, but as per this episode, he wants none of that shite. I dug that he turned his back on it, which will most likely result in more trouble for the lad. And as we all know trouble in BATES MOTEL LAND = high entertainment! 

I gotta say it, it was great to kick it in White Pine Bay again! The PSYCHO house looked as lovely as ever, Sherriff Romero showed off his charm (by slamming some dude’s head on a bar), Norma displayed her proper motherly skills (sleeping in her bed with her son – violently  dragging him out of the car to force him to go to school), Miss Watson (Keegan Connor Tracy) showed up in a “bloody” cameo…yeah… the madness was cranked up to f*ck yeah! Welcome back BATES MOTEL! Let the sleeze, squeeze and soap opera from hell antics begin!

RANDOM THOUGHTS:  Who is Norman gonna have sex with first? Norma or Emma? My money is on Emma.

So is there anybody out there that thinks Norman DID NOT kill that hooker? 

You think we’ll see Christine (Rebecca Creskoff) and George (Michael Vartan) in Season 3 or have they gone to RIP CAST HELL out of left field like Emma’s stoner BF did…

RATING ON 10

TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THE EPISODE BELOW