REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 4 Episode Two 'Goodnight, Mother'

 REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 4 Episode Two 'Goodnight, Mother'

Living under the same roof as Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) cannot be easy. The guy is the very definition of unstable, with his crazy visions of 'Mother' (Vera Farmiga) and his frequent blackouts which often trigger murderous tendencies. You'd be lucky to last the night.

Which was something that Emma's (Olivia Cooke) mum Audrey at the end of the previous episode. Here, we see flashes of memory returning to Norman in regards to what he did with her body after he murdered her in cold blood. Only he becomes convinced that his Mum committed the murder, because he sees himself as the 'Mother' persona. It's a really effective means of communicating how Norman is losing his connection with reality more and more by the day. He's effectively lost inside his own delusions, a man who will never escape the fallacy he has created regarding the 'Mother' persona that he adopts.

It doesn't take long for Norma to realise something is up, and it leads to some truly gripping scenes as both suspect the other of committing Audrey's murder. Norman thinks it's Norma because of his flashes of memory, and her claim that she locked him in the room whilst she got groceries, despite it being clear that the fridge is still missing the food that they were short of. Norma, meanwhile, thinks Norman is responsible because she knows he had a blackout, and he gives a vivid description of Audrey's appearance, confirming that he had met her the previous day. It makes for some strong drama, with the eye of suspicion cast over two people who are usually very close, and it plays with themes of paranoia which was always present throughout Alfred Hitchcock's work. 

Emma has a big moment in this episode, as she has her breathing apparatus removed for the first time. As previously mentioned, I like this ongoing story a lot as it inspires hope in an otherwise hopeless series. Emma is a rare case of a Bates Motel character who doesn't have some dark past, or engage in any sort of shady behaviour. Instead she's someone who shows that this world isn't just full of dodgy people, there are also some who are simply just nice individuals who try to live their life as best as they can.

Then there are the characters in this series whose loyalty knows no bounds. The perfect example being Sheriff Alex Romero (Nestor Carbonell), who makes quite the commitment this week. He agrees to marry Norma so that Norman's place in the care home can be secured faster, as their marriage means that Norma can use his insurance in order to pay for Norman's stay. This guy is someone who has come to the stark realisation that Norma has just been using him to reach her own ends, and yet he's still prepared to give up everything including his freedom as a single man for her in order to best assist with her awful situation. He's effectively the Milhouse of Bates Motel, somebody who won't give up on the woman he so clearly loves even though he may not get true love in return. He makes for such a likeable character; the kind who you find yourself rooting for indefinitely.

For a sheriff, he was surprisingly daft to fax through the forms for the care home to the fax machine where Norman occasionally works on the motel reception desk though. This was something I found particularly odd, as Bates Motel is established in modern times, where fax machines are hardly in common useage. If they had opted for a period setting with this series, then I could have excused Alex sending a fax, but when this series is set in the 2010s it would surely have made considerably more sense to send the documents to Norma's personal email. It would have decreased the possibility of Norman finding it considerably, instead of placing Norma in immediate danger by essentially giving a psychopath some documents which literally prove Norma's intentions to put him in a home.

It does lead to an amazing horror sequence however, where Norman - brandishing Norma's gun - sends Norma into hiding in her own motel, and creeping around when she's sure he has disappeared. It's a really powerful piece of writing to see Norma reduced to becoming the captor, having locked Norman in the very room that she now finds herself locked in as a means to hide from her son. The following nighttime scenes where she wanders around the dark motel, the lights having all been switched off, has this really eery vibe that feels as though it has been plucked straight out of the original film. It leads perfectly into Norma finding her son in the basement, and her son revealing to her that he knows about the documents. He's convinced that he doesn't need help, but he seems sure that she does - a clear way of addressing how he views 'Mother' as Norma acting out rather than himself committing these dreadful murders. 

Overall, 'Goodnight, Mother' is a Bates Motel episode that most perfectly captures that Hitchcockian vibe. It excellently recreates the paranoia that was so present throughout the legendary director's films, whilst also giving the same feel in its horror sequences as were present in the original Psycho film. Sometimes a show just 'gets' the franchise that it is based upon, and Bates Motel absolutely understands what made Psycho so great. 

What are your thoughts on the second episode of Bates Motel's fourth season? Let me know in the comments.