2.10 The Immutable Truth The trouble with lie detectors is that the truth is frequently subjective. Did Norman kill Blair Watson? Yes, in the strict sense that it was his hands that performed the murderous act. But was it Norman? Had Romero been able to subject the boy to the examination prior to his enforced remembering in the steel box, he may well have passed through ignorance of commission. This week, having finally been wired up, Norman did indeed pass. There was a slim window of opportunity during which it was perhaps possible for Norman’s awareness of, and guilt for, the act to cohere and let the Sheriff get his man. That chance has passed and the truth of Norman’s actions have proven to be fatally mutable. Part of the reason for that plasticity of veracity is Norma. Her, entirely understandable, desire to keep her youngest son under her control has created in him a type of ‘denial-by-proxy’. Absent of any better ideas, Norma’s approach is to repeatedly, and at times shrilly, insist that no, he didn’t do those things and no, he’s not a bad boy. With painful irony, it only works because Norman is ordinarily, and by intention, such a good boy. His capacity to absorb Norma’s suggestion is a function of his obedience. He remains free precisely because he is such a dutiful and biddable son and it is because he is both of those things that he continues to be at liberty to eventually kill Norma. That unavoidable destiny is the real immutable truth about Norman and about Bates Motel as a whole; that for all the twists along the way, the destination remains the same and all these characters can do is swim about, ignorant of the tide. A further layer of poignancy was added by Norma’s reconciliation with Dylan, perhaps the most welcome of all of this week’s events. The Caleb storyline has been an odd one; he seemed to have been introduced as a new antagonist but instead took on a secondary role as setter of the cat amongst the pigeons before retreating to let his intervention do its own damage. Dylan’s emotional exile was as understandable as the reason for his return. It’s significant that Norman provided the motive for this, he’s the central binding force in the family (to which we may now add Emma, who is party to the family secret), unwittingly drawing them in to join that dread fate. At least Zane won’t be joining them. The closure of that particular storyline was handled relatively (and mercifully) swiftly and shifted out of the way for more important matters. The dexterity with which Bates Motel handles its central family and the care and attention it provides to the examination of Norman’s condition only made Zane appear worse. At times, it felt as though he’d wandered in from some other show, one that is prepared to ignore the contradiction of having a professionally-run narcobusiness employ such a flagrant wild card in an influential role. More can be done with the drug storyline, especially now that Dylan has been promoted, and with further evidence of Romero’s direct involvement, but it would be better handled with rather more smartness than the latter stages of this season have offered. Read Mike’s review of the previous episode, The Box, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
