3.4 Unbreak-Able The moment that struck me was when Dylan, hurrying out of the house, turns to be faced with his brother, a jump scare that actually jolted me out of my seat. Norman has become legitimately terrifying, rather than just mildly creepy, and Freddie Highmore is selling the hell out of it. I had no idea what he was going to do upon seeing Caleb (considering the last time the two characters met almost ended in homicide) and even Dylan seemed scared of his brother at the end. It has become apparent that Norma has no idea just what she is trying to keep safe in her house and, as other reviewers have suggested, the time may soon come where she finds herself wishing she had let Norman kill himself back at the end of season two. Their relationship has never been healthy, but now it has become all out toxic. It was hard not to shudder watching Norman attempt to make his mother jealous by taking Emma on a date, and that creepiness extended to Norma’s reaction as well. Was she really concerned about Emma’s wellbeing (both illness and Norman related) or was her anger legitimate jealousy? Bates Motel has become quite good at dealing with ambiguity in the relationships between its characters, and I’m finding myself more and more impressed in how a series that used to be quite clumsy and obvious has me questioning motivations of characters just about every week. We’re nearing the halfway point of the season and while everything is pretty much in working order, the Arcanum Club plot just isn’t doing anything for me. I only have the vaguest interest in Annika’s flash drive, and Kevin Rahm’s character (whose name I haven’t bothered to learn) is so over-the-top villainous he’s hard to take seriously. I rolled my eyes at the evil goons breaking into the motel and honestly, I’m starting to get frustrated with the writers for even spending time on what we all know will just be another distraction like all the drug/people trafficking stuff of the first two seasons. Sherriff Romero is a good character and I like spending time with him, but surely there is a better way to give him something to do than this? Read Gabriel’s review of the previous episode, Persuasion, here.
