TV Review: The Arrow’s take on Bates Motel S2, Episode #8

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

EPISODE 8: Meltdown

CHECKING IN: Norma (Vera Farminga) struggles with Norman acting like a douche with her, finds out the truth about Nick Ford and takes her relationship with George (Michael Vartan) further. Dylan (Max Thieriot) is trying to clean up nut-job Zane's (Michael Eklund) mess while Sheriff "King Shit" Romero (Nestor Carbonell) attempts to get answers from Norman (Freddie Highmore) as to Miss Watson's murder.

THE ROOM: I had the same problem with last night's Bates Motel episode as I had with the last Game of Thrones; it felt too short in length. And in a way that is a compliment. At this point, I am so involved in the situations and the characters that when the end credits rolled, I yelled out "Come on! Already!?" I wanted more! WIth only two episodes left to go in Season 2, the volume was cranked up to DRAMA OVERLOAD here and I relished every second of it.

The plot line that left the most impression on me had to me Norman's passive/aggressive demeanor as to how he treated his mother (BTW Freddie Highmore was outstanding here – he's becoming Psycho scary). Now that there is conflict between the two, it really brought to surface just how F*CKED UP their relationship is. I had a couple of "yuck" moments while watching this episode being that mother and son acted more like disgruntled lovers than…well… a mother and son (right down to Norma using George to try to make Norman jealous). They were physically and emotionally way too close for comfort. The cherry on the top was that after being shunned by her son, Norma ran off to George and had sex with him as either some form of revenge on Norman or to gap the void that Norman just left her with. Either way…all kinds of wrong right there! On that the scene in question resulted in the funniest line from the episode, I am paraphrasing here: George and Norma are undressing and making out. George says: "I've been wanting to do this for a long time." Norma answers: "Well do it already." I freaking spit out my Kool-Aid on that one. Classic Norma! Oh how I love thee! 

Sheriff "King Shit" Romero (Nestor Carbonell) also got to own in this episode as he tried to get to the bottom of Miss Watson's murder by grilling Norman and tried to keep the potential drug war under control. Romero has his hands full now of late; his town is falling apart and so is his favorite family unit. I loved Romero's mix of caring and cut-throat attitude. On one end he had no problem telling a deputy that he'll ruin her career if she doesn't keep her mouth shut about Norman's sperm samples. And on the other, he attempts to act as father figure to Norman, wanting the truth out of him as opposed to having to book him or rat him ot to Momma. That made for a mucho gripping dynamic!

Moreover, Norman's little talk with Nick "epic mustache" Ford was a tad telling if you paid attention. Now all signs lead to Norman having killed Miss Watson. I still don't believe it as this show likes to f*ck with our expectations. But it's not looking good as to my theory on it. We'll see. Even the drug war subplot sported more momentum here and by result became more interesting. Dylan's (Max Thieriot) swift tete a tete with Romero and then Nick Ford (who is becoming more frightening as the episodes roll on) made for some compelling drama. It was swell that via Nick Ford's connection with Norma, Dylan's story-line finally got intertwined with the rest. Dylan's line to Ford: "If you ever come close to my mother again,I'll kill you" had me grinning from ear to ear. Thieriot meant that shit! It was about freaking time that they returned Dylan to the Bates circus. Hopefully now the character will have more of an impact on the whole as opposed to having his solo and ho-hum story.

Lastly; I dug the way they seem to be going about it with the Zane character. I don't think that dude will last for much longer. He's this season's Abernathy methinks. Any drawbacks? Not really. I guess my sole complaint would have to be the cliffhanger we were left with. I wasn't surprised it happened; I'm just not 100% sure if I like that turn of events or not. I guess the two outstanding episode will answer that one for me sooner than later. On the whole, It was another engaging, well acted and topsy-turvy stay at Bates Motel! This was a well rounded episode! Kudos! You can watch a preview of the next one HERE!

RANDOM THOUGHTS:  Now that Norma has slept with creepy George; I smell STALKER material. For her, he was a substitute for Norman (yuck). I don't think she'll want to continue the relationship. But I have a feeling he will and won't take rejection very well.

You think Nick Ford is gonna find out or assume that Norman slept with and maybe killed his daughter? Looks like it to me…

The Jodi Wilson (Kathleen Robertson) character is kind of so-so thus far. I wonder if they're gonna do something more with her or will she just be a love interest for Dylan that wll by the farm down the road. I'll go out on a limb and say: she'll be dead by the end of the Season!

RATING ON 10

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