Bates Motel “Crazy” 

Annnnd, we’re back to Bates Motel making me really nauseous. Seriously, y’all, if in whatever realm of closure we get next week, Dylan doesn’t survive it, or we don’t know for sure, I will RAGE.

This week, in the aftermath of the clusterfrak drug deal gone bad, Caleb beats Chick within an inch of his life and then steals $50K of his money and hands that off to Dylan, who’s dumb enough to take it and hand it off to Emma’s dad.

Norman spends quality time with Bradley, who I’m still not completely sure isn’t a total figment of his imagination. She’s struggled on her own, and she wants to undead herself until she sneaks into her house and sees that her mom has moved on in a big way — new husband, and her old bedroom is now the home gym. Norman shares with her that something’s wrong with him, and she isn’t fazed. She asks him to leave with her, and then she puts the moves on in. Mid make out session Norman starts to see NotNorma so he stops and runs out, where NotNorma tells him he knows what he has to do.

Real Norma is in a pickle because she goes to see Bob and he essentially tells her he’s dealing with Romero now, and he’s not beholden to any sort of promises to her, i.e. Norman’s secret isn’t going to be secret much longer. Norma goes home and has a shout down with Norman when she starts clearing his basement lair because she’s worried about appearances and he twists the knife that he only knows what she’s told him — how does he know she didn’t kill his father?

She’s over it, but hurt enough that she goes to see Romero and he shuts her down that he’s taking care of and she can’t have the drive. We see earlier that that means he’s working with the DEA, and an agent who’s particularly puzzled that he followed his derelict father into the sheriff’s office. Later, Norma breaks into Romero’s house and he finds her, gun drawn, and she tells him plainly to put it away, he’s not going to shoot her. He says he hates her and she says she hates him, and then she hilariously keeps ransacking his house, until he tells her who gave the drive to, and she’s livid, and hurt, and starts beating on him, repeating that she hates him.

Then she’s a mess of tears and rage and she can’t believe he’s done this to her. As she tries to leave, he grabs her and demands the truth again and she says she killed her husband with a blender because he was abusive. Then she’s weepy again and she begs him not to make her say it. He has her pinned against the wall and they’re right on each other.

The mood changes and he tries to kiss her and she pulls away from him and angrily tells him not to touch her. She repeats it and steps around him and leaves. And I am THRILLED because I so did not want that scene to become a hatef-ck and it was getting dangerously close to that. I want more for them.

After Dylan hands off the cash to Emma’s dad, he goes upstairs to see her, and wakes her from a nap. They visit very quietly for a little while, and when he tells her Caleb is leaving and he’s sad about that, she tells him that’s normal that he’ll miss his dad. And she confesses that she’s known about Caleb since Norman told her last summer. Dylan is embarrassed and Emma scoots forward on the bed and takes his hand and assures him that how we all get here doesn’t matter as much as that we are here. There’s a moment and Dylan breaks it when he says he has to go.

After Norma’s rageoff with Romero, she goes home and still seething starts shoveling dirt into the Put, which Bob menacingly suggested she not fall into. Exhausted, she pitches the shovel into the dark and screams that she won’t be defeated. Caleb drives up and asks s she’s OK and she says she doesn’t want to talk about and she won’t ask about his wounds either. He’s fine with that.

He tells her he’s leaving and he sets down a guitar he brought for Dylan. and she suggests he tell Dylan he’s going (he’d earlier told Dylan he was leaving the far, but staying in the area), but instead he tells her about his encounter with Norman the summer prior when Norman confronted him and thought he was Norma. Caleb warns her that Norman will hurt someone, and he hopes it’s not her. Unfortunately we do not get the moment in the promo pic above of them standing forehead to forehead. They take their leave of each other without touching.

And that’s where we stand with just 44 minutes left. GAH.

I was pins and needles about Chick popping up somewhere to finish Dylan, eve though Caleb was pretty sure he knocked him out of action for a while, and the Norma/Romero scene in his house was mega tense. I seriously did cheer when she walked out. I was quietly mantra-ing “be a better show than this,” and I was so glad when she pulled away from him and he didn’t force her to stay, or force himself on her. I may go back and watch the Bradley/Norman stuff from the first season, because I’m still not convinced this Bradley is real. It was certainly intriguing that she now regrets telling him back then that she didn’t love him.

I have no clue where we’re going, and absolutely no spoilers, but my spidey sense tells me we’re going to drop a cast member next week (especially because Bob and Chick are still in play), and I honestly know nothing, but I feel like they can’t all survive. It would suck to lose Caleb, but I’d almost see plotwise that we’d lose Dylan instead, to create a terribly loaded dynamic for Norma and Caleb if they survive him. And I hate that, so I want very much to be completely off base in my guess. Also, see above re: RAGE. Also RAGE if we lost Emma. And we can’t lose Norman, ever, or Norma, yet. So maybe just Bradley? But why bring her back just for that?

Everybody’s done such good work. I can see why Farmiga was exhausted when we chatted with her in March. I’m worn out just watching it. I do hope they come back next spring. I’m not done with these characters yet.

In case you missed it, this episode repeats at 11/10c tonight and throughout the week. It will also be online tomorrow. The Bates Motel season finale airs at 9 pm/8c on A & E next Monday. This season will marathon Saturday starting at 3 pm/2c on A& E.