TV Favorites: Bates Motel

 Do you have that TV show that you just love? Like, it does it for you, even if it might be flawed, and you recognize that.

Well, if you can think of that show, then you are getting close to what I feel for Bates Motel.

This is actually a show I started a year ago, right after I was done with my high school exams, I remember it. I started it because of Freddie Highmore, yes, the guy from The Good Doctor! I was mesmerized by his performance of an autistic doctor, it was delicious. Then I discovered that he played in this so I gave it a watch.

Objectively speaking, there are a lot of things wrong with this show. First of all, it isn't loyal to the story of Psycho as it was written by Robert Bloch. That kind of upsets me, but obviously it wasn't intended to be completely so, the writers seemed to take artistic liberty. Like, a lot of it. Enough to imagine an entire backstory for Norman Bates and his life with his mother Norma (by the way, in the book there is no implication that her name was Norma, Norma was the name of one of Norman's split personalities, the one who represented his mother, but I digress). Then the writers go ham, imagining a small town afflicted by drug trade and how the Bates family comes in conflict with influential people involved in both said trade and the town's politics. Norman gets a love interest, several actually, and a (half-)brother, Dylan, born out of incest. Norma gets a love interest as well, the town sheriff. These are all diversions from the original story.

However, the house and the motel remain unchanged from the way they were described in the book and pictured by Alfred Hitchcock, which is a part I like. The by-pass story is also present and cleverly tied in to the drug trade and politics thing. Norman's personality, mental disorder, and passion for taxidermy remain more or less intact, but Norma is given more dimension than in the book (where she was mostly just a voice in Norman's head). 

The TV show also makes many subtle and not-so-subtle nods to passages from the book (the subtle ones would be picked up by those who have actually read it, not just watched the movie). The very ending is marked by the arrival of Mary (or Marion, as is her name both in the show and the movie) Crane (who, for some reason, is played by Rihanna, but I'm not complaining), which signals that everything we've watched so far happened right before the events described in the novel.

Another thing, incest. The show amps it up to the max, like seriously. A lot of people think Psycho is about the incestuous relationship between a mother and a son, but the incest hypothesis only shows up at the end, as an accusation and a mere guess of the forensic psychiatrist. Norman's mother was extremely overbearing but there were no clues to point towards an inappropriate relationship between the two. 

Still, while it was merely implied in the book, in the show, the relationship between Norman and Norma is blatantly incestuous. From jealousy over each other's love interests, to scenes explicitly depicting their relationship as more than just mother and son. All of this is made better by the fact that he is played by Freddie Highmore, and she is Vera Farmiga- a truly electric pair, I have to admit. Or maybe I just love well done incest trope.

For example, the story itself disturbingly opens with a rape attempt on Norma, which Norman helps to stop, resulting in the pair's first murder. His strange infatuation with his mother (whom he consistently calls by the cold, sterile vocative "Mother", just like in the book) prompts him to keep the rapist's belt and store it in his room. This is just one of the many instances where Norman's inappropriate attraction to his mother manifests explicitly. There is even a deleted scene depicting a kiss between the pair but I guess that was a little too much, lol.

This obviously isn't everyone's cup of tea. Which might contribute to the little popularity of the show, as it takes up almost the entire plot (unlike, say GoT, where incest is present as a albeit consistent subplot) besides murder, of course.

Another thing I love is the visuals. They are seriously on point. All you have to do is search up "Bates Motel" and you'll see what I mean, but here are some of my favorites:

Overall, I think the show puts a nice spin on an already great story, even if I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the backstory the writers have weaved, with all the drugs and the political power games. I think pairing Freddie Highmore with Vera Farmiga as incestuous son and mother was a stroke of genius. And btw, Freddie was not only on point at channeling Norman Bates, but also fine as all hell (not finer than Anthony Perkins though). He went from this, to autistic doctor, btw, the guy has range. Well this ended in 2017 so it'll probably never get a popularity boom. But I'm fine with it as long as it remains my secret treasure.