REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 4 Episode Four 'Lights Of Winter'

 REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 4 Episode Four 'Lights Of Winter'

If there was ever a perfect subtitle for Season 4 of Bates Motel, it would be 'The Fractured Mind of Norman Bates'. Norman (Freddie Highmore) is getting increasingly closer to how he appeared in the Hitchcockian classic Psycho, as he falls deeper and deeper into his psychotic mindset. Norman appears to be losing his grip on reality by the minute; you can practically feel the shower curtain beckoning. It's perhaps a good job he isn't at the motel right now.

The episode throws us straight into Norman's mind from the very start, as we see him experience a number of flashbacks to his previous murders. Only he doesn't see himself committing the killings, but his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga). It's a smart way of showing us these inner workings that occur within the brain of Norman Bates. He's well and truly convinced himself that his mother is responsible for the deaths, because to him it is his mother. That's the identity he assumes.

This is made all the clearer when Norman and his new friend Julian (Marshall Allman) break into an office at the care home, where Norman rings his brother Dylan (Max Thieriot). Max Thieriot communicates so much in his performance here, with this real sense of sadness as he realises that his brother has well and truly lost his sanity. Dylan is left with no option but to humour him as Norman asks him to keep an eye on Norma, in his belief that the police will be arresting her for the crimes he has convinced himself she has committed. Norman, in Dylan's eyes, is essentially a victim of his own brain, having lost all sense of self through these dangerous delusions. 

Norman and Julian escape the care home and hitchhike a ride to a strip club, and this is the last place I ever expected to see a young Norman Bates visit. Given his traumatic past with his teacher Blaire Watson, a strip club is the very last place you should take Norman, and it's really no surprise as he adopts the 'Mother' persona once more. The editing and camera work here is particularly impressive, as we keep flashing between 'Mother', which is what Norman believes in his mind is occurring during this blackout, and what's really happening, with Norman playing with the stripper. It's such an effective way to communicate the disturbed mentality of Norman, and just how much he has lost all sense of his own identity. He truly believes this 'mother' stuff.

There are some hints this week at a potential exit for Emma (Olivia Cooke) and Dylan, as Emma is moving to San Francisco and asks Dylan to join her. I hope this doesn't mean they are leaving, as they are easily one of my favourite duos on Bates Motel. They are such a likeable and endearing pair, and it would be a real shame if they don't make it to Bates Motel's last season. The show would be missing something without Emma and Dylan, as they provide a lot of the series' personality.

Sheriff Alex Romero (Nestor Carbonell), has his own problems to contend with this week, as people start to suspect his involvement in the murder of Bob Paris. I like that this happens when life is on a high for him here; he's bagged the girl in Norma, and is living married life in bliss. These suspicions add something that has the potential to disturb this new status quo, adding this threat to their relationship that's growing closer and closer the more he tries to keep it hidden.

Especially as this episode ends with a break in to the motel. As Norma rightfully asks due to her ignorance regarding Alex's situation, who would try to break into and ransack the motel? This leaves us with this excellent sense of a looming presence, waiting to send major ramifications through Alex and Norma's relationship. Alex hasn't told Norma about the murder he committed, and yet he insisted that Norma tell him everything about her son Norman, so it will be interesting to see how she reacts to this blatant hypocrisy when the truth unravels. 

Overall, 'Lights Of Winter' is yet another fantastic episode of Bates Motel. Once again we are thrown into the deep psychology of Norman Bates as a character, showing just how disturbed and lost he is within his own state of mind. This is a guy who has lost all sense of his own identity, who is clearly too far gone, and any who have the misfortune to come into contact with Norman would be wise to stay very far away. After all, we all know what Norman can do with a knife.   

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