TV Review: The Arrow’s take on Bates Motel S2, Episode #6

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

EPISODE 6: Plunge

CHECKING IN: Norma tries to cut her ties with shady moustache abuser Nick Ford while still aiming to get a seat on the council. Norman and Cody's relationship comes to a head, in a nasty way of course. And Dylan recovers from his injuries and gets mucho close to “the boss” i.e. gets laid.

THE ROOM:  This week's Bates Motel was more of a set-up episode than a payoff one, until the end that is. The focus was largely on Norma's quest to get a seat on the council; either via her meeting with Nick Ford, a yap with new best friend Christine (Rebecca Creskoff ) and her brother “nice guy” lawyer George (Michael Vartan) and even the Mayor of Pine Bay! Hey I'm not complaining, the more Vera Farminga, the better! The lass had a handful of meaty scenes to chew on here! Her bit with Vartan was incredibly endearing, her brief confrontation with Cody (Paloma Kwiatkowski) was also a keeper and her moment with Sheriff "King Shit" Romero (Nestor Carbonell) had me smiling from ear to ear. A note on the latter; the chemistry between the two was so palpable. Every time both actors are onscreen together and go at it, the whole thing comes alive a little more than usual. And that was just 25 seconds or so! I can't wait to see more rapport between the two!

On his end Norman (Freddie Highmore) is starting to fall apart. Dude is having more black-outs, is going through a rebellious stage with Momma and got mucho agressive many o time in this episode. The psycho bomb wants to explode and it finally did to some degree at the end – but more on that later. My favorite scene of the lot was definitely the “Emma takes the plunge” bit. The lake location was beautifully captured and I am relishing how the character of Emma is developing. Although terminally ill, the gal wants to live while she's alive (like in that Bon Jovi song) and the lake sequence made way for some intense drama that grabbed me by the collar. It also reinforced the affection that Norman and Emma have for each other in a “awwww” kind of way. Come on, lets get these crazy kids together already! Stop going for the bad-girls Norman!

What about Dylan (Max Therriott) you may ask? He's resting at the boss place (played by the sexy Kathleen Robertson) and other than him getting a new assignment and some poon, nothing too interesting happened there. Now on to my two complaints about this episode. Taking into account what Norma knows of Nick Ford and how the Mayor reacted to her application – I found it too convenient that she didn't put 2 and 2 together. Yes, Norma; Nick Ford (Michael O'Neill) wants you to have that seat for whatever reason, that's why your socielite bud Christine pushed you to take that meeting and why the Mayor folded like a cheap shirt. You're being set-up baby girl! Can't you see that?! I know Norma is a tad fruity but she's not stupid. So that came off as so-so writing to me. 

Lastly what happened with Norman and Cody's dad didn't grease me right either. It felt very deja-vu and too easy for a show that usually is able to surprise me. On that, if I go by the preview for the next episode; it will at least have acted as a trigger for more compelling things to go down.

So all in all, Plunge entertained me but I wasn't blown away by it; maybe because the game it was playing was a bit too transparent this time around. The next episode looks promising though! See ya next week!

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Was I alone in feeling uncomfortable when Norma hugged Norman on the bed after she got the seat on the council? Too close for comfort there…yeesh!  

In my opinion, it is blatantly obvious that Nick Ford has Christine in his pocket and is using her to get what he wants from Norma. So does that mean that Christine's brother George is also in on it? Hmmm…I'm not sure…

Will Cody die by the end of this season? If so by who's hand? Talk to me! I say yes and I think Norma will whack her. You?

RATING ON 10

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