For its third episode, "Bates Motel" delved deeper into Norman's psyche than ever before. What it unveiled was more than a little unsettling. All those times where Norman is quiet and staring, he may well be having a hallucination. He isn't even always aware of himself, as evidenced when he had no recollection of attacking his brother, which only happened last week.
After the police searched the house, they uncovered the belt of the man Norma had killed. Norman kept it as a memento. Haunted by his mistake, he had a vision in the middle of the night of his mother talking to him about it. She blamed him for the mess they were now in and told him he knew what he had to do.
Deputy Shelby had confirmed to Norma that he'd found the belt, but had not turned it in. Norman was worried that this would put Norma into his debt. And so, with the vision of his mother's approval, Norman broke into Shelby's house to find the belt. What he found instead, though, was an abused woman locked in the basement.
Or did he? With Norman seeing things, like his teacher tied up and on a bed, can viewers believe that what he's seeing here is real?
Collider summed up the hour by saying "the boy ain't right." Buddy TV agreed, writing, "This is the first episode to show so many different potential personality disorders Norman will one day exhibit. It's a lot to digest in only the third episode."
Things will probably only get more twisted as "Bates Motel" continues on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on A&E.
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