5 Moments of Goodness From Bates Motel “The Man in Number 9” 

After last week’s jaw-dropping ending and the death of Deputy Shelby (Mike Vogel), you might think things would settle down for a bit, at least to have a funeral and an investigation.  Well, not so for White Pine Bay.  With a mix of a psychotic, homicidal 17 year-old, his borderline deranged mother, and now, even creepier “guests” of the newly renovated Bates Motel, we shouldn’t expect things to get back even close to normal anytime soon.

Here’s our top 5 moments from this week’s episode “The Man in Number 9”:

WARNING: Contains spoilers!  DO NOT read if you have not seen the episode.

5. The Creepy Mr. Abernathy

Well, it’s about freaking time – the Bates Motel finally gets its first guest!  But, who is this mysterious “Mr. Abernathy” (guest star Jere Burns) and what’s so special about Room Number 9?  With his inquiring about Keith Summers, the big roll of 100s, and his “standing reservation” for an entire row of rooms every other month, we can take a guess as to what this man’s business is.

The real question is exactly why did this man stick around after he was told Keith Summers was dead.  Perhaps he doesn’t know that Deputy Shelby is dead as well.  Regardless, I’m wondering how in the hell the White Pine Bay sex-slave business can even continue without Summers and Shelby who appeared to have run it.  Could someone else be involved?  Hmmm….

4.  Norma meets Bradley

As I was writing this, I realized that we actually have a love triangle going here, except it’s not the typical one.  Here, it’s between Norma (Vera Farmiga), Emma (Olivia Cooke), and Bradley (Nicola Peltz).  Poor Emma shows up at the Bates Motel hoping to see Norman, but he’s shut himself up in his room while pining over Bradley.  But, Mrs. Bates showers Emma with her faux motherly love, and just enough for her to get the deets on what’s going on with her Norman (Freddie Highmore).

When Mrs. Bates finally sees Bradley in her yoga class, what went through her head totally creeped me out.

She’s like a locomotive of sexual energy – Emma to Norma

With that quote, we simply see a pretty girl doing yoga, but Norma sees flashes of sex scenes of her son and Bradley.  Were the intimate Norman/Bradley scenes simply an indicator of Mrs. Bates trying to protect her boy from a manipulative, teenage tramp, or were they an indicator of some perverted relationship between Norman and his mother?

3.  Deputy Shelby Aftermath

I live in a small town, and I know that if a Sheriff’s Deputy shot a young girl that was his sex slave, and then, is shot and killed afterwards, there’d be a huge investigation.  Heck, it might even make 60 minutes.  But, in White Pine Bay, what happens?  Nada.  The Sheriff simply listens to probably the most far-fetched story he’s ever heard, and then, just ends the conversation with,  “Okay, this is how it’s going to be…”

Wow, did I miss something?

2.  Dylan and Bradley Awkward Meet

We know that Dylan (Max Thieriot) works for the same “employer” as Bradley’s father did.  But, it didn’t dawn on me until tonight that they hadn’t formally met, not even through Norman.  But, after their finally meeting tonight, it is clear that something is between these two.

That puppy-dog look that Bradley gave Dylan appeared to be the same look she gave Norman at the beginning, and so, Bradley could just be setting her sights on big brother now.  But, Dylan’s look was … well, something else.  Dylan’s last comment to Norman gave me the super-willies:  “Is that the girl who texted you the other night, the one I told you to sleep with?  Have you seen her since then?”

Dylan certainly appeared to know something about Bradley’s father’s murder, but could he have been involved or possibly knows who did it?

1.  Norman and Bradley Showdown

God, Almighty, after Bradley blew Norman off on her doorstep, the quote that Norman uttered under his breath sent chills down my spine:

Personally, I don’t think nice girls show up on your doorstep looking for a guy 1 day after you move, or sleep with someone they barely know.

At the age of 17, no less!

What kind of girl invites you over to her house to have sex with her after her Dad dies?

In my opinion, this was one of the best scenes in the series thus far, and Freddie Highmore did a fantastic job in it.  Norman had this crazed, psychotic look on his face, the same look we saw when he killed his father and attacked Keith Summers.  It was almost like he was in a trance, and the only real question is did he snap out of it in time.  Or, next week, will we have another dead body in White Pine Bay, that of Bradley Martin?

So, what did everyone else think?  Did you favorite moment not make the list?  If so, chime in the Comments section, and let us know!

Bates Motel airs on Monday nights at 10 p.m. EST on A&E.