REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 5 Episode Ten 'The Cord'

 REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 5 Episode Ten 'The Cord'

After months of making my way through Bates Motel, I've finally reached the end. The very last episode. It has been a show of many, many highs and very few lows; an absolute masterclass in how to offer a new take on an Alfred Hitchcock classic. Some shows have to be seen to be experienced, and Bates Motel is absolutely one such show.

The final episode gets going at a rollicking pace from the off, as we continue where the previous episode finished. Alex (Nestor Carbonell) has kidnapped Norman (Freddie Highmore) and wants him to reveal where he buried Norma (Vera Farmiga). As part of his plan, he has also taken police station office manager Regina (Aliyah O'Brien) hostage. As somebody who used to work with Alex, we see the former Sheriff very much from her eyes. We see how much he's become just totally unrecognisable from the man he was, a man who through his hate and obsession has become a shadow of the person he once was. This is a very different Alex from the one we saw at the very beginning of the series, an Alex who has changed for the worse and become this angry and bitter madman. In some respects him and Norman are quite similar, as both have given in to psychopathic behaviour over Norma Bates. Using a work colleague really works to communicate this, as she used to work with Alex, so she knows what he used to be like. 

This is the episode where we finally get the long-teased climatic fight between Alex and Norman, and it's just as satisfying as you'd expect. Both characters fight with murderous intent, both in some way blaming the other for Norma's death - although as we know, Norman was actually responsible for her demise. Ultimately it's Norman who comes out on top, hitting Alex with a rock and killing him in the same place where he buried Norma in the snow. There was no other way Alex could be written out though. He'd quite clearly pushed his luck too far. 

Norman envisions 'Mother' leaving him, as she tells him he no longer needs her, and this feels somewhat meta in a sense. It's almost like 'Mother' is talking to us, telling us as the audience that this is the end. It creates this foreboding sense of finality, the show itself essentially trying to beg Norman to realise that it is time to move on. Norman being as obsessed with 'Mother' as he is is in complete denial though; he's not ready to commit to the notion of life without 'Mother'. 

As we see when he relives the events from the very first episode, when Norman and Norma first arrived at the motel. This does feel somewhat self-congratulatory, like the writers are patting themselves on the back, but by this point it feels deserved. They have done a fantastic job in the series, and I think their work warranted a final episode that acts as a celebration as well as an end for the entire show. It helps to make Norman seem even more disturbed too, as we see the extent he goes to relive these events from the past, even going as far as to sit Norma's corpse at the table, like she's actually having dinner with him and Dylan (Max Thieriot). It's one of the most disturbing things in the show, which is saying something.

Speaking of Dylan, his choice to visit Norman at the motel really does seem to unsettle Emma (Olivia Cooke). Poor Emma is in tears, as she begs him not to go and worries about what may come of her husband. It's almost like watching somebody wave their partner off to some horrendous war, where they might not come back from the battlefield. Dylan is the guy going to No Man's Land, as Emma is the woman watching hopelessly and unable to act. It's beautiful to watch, with both actors giving fantastic performances, and it conveys just how much of a threat Norman possesses. Emma is genuinely scared that her daughter will end up without a Dad, and given what we have seen both in the original film and these past episodes, she has every reason to be. 

I must admit, I was worried for Dylan myself a bit. When Norman grabbed the knife, I thought 'That's it, he's dead'. Remarkably, though, Dylan manages to avoid the knife and shoot Norman with his gun just in the nick of time. He becomes the man who takes down the monster. This scene reminded me a lot of the fate of Lennie in Of Mice And Men. Just like Lennie, Dylan effectively 'puts down' Norman like an animal, because he's become too dangerous to continue living. Dylan is the George to Norman's Lennie, doing what had to be done all along to best protect his brother. Like Of Mice And Men, here we are shown this hopeless and dire situation, where a character is forced to kill a person who they care for more than anyone could ever realise. 

Overall, 'The Cord' is the perfect finale to one of the greatest U.S. dramas ever committed to television. Bates Motel began as a masterpiece, and it ends as an even greater one. The conclusion to these past five seasons is nothing short of outstanding, resolving the plot threads and confirming the characters' individual fates in a poetic and meaningful manner. Bates Motel is a show you absolutely must watch whilst it's on iPlayer, because it shows just how great a prequel can be when it's done right. It's all a matter of the writing and characterisation, something which Bates Motel understands to a tea.

What are your thoughts on the tenth episode of Bates Motel's fifth season? Let me know in the commnts.