On last week’s Bates Motel, Norman and Norma talked about Double Indemnity, a film that Norman claims to have watched about a hundred times. In the great Billy Wilder film, Fred MacMurray plays Walter Neff, an insurance salesman and all-around good guy, who is turned into a murder at the suggestion of a woman he craves to please, played by Barbara Stanwyck. The film is a noir classic about the duality of our lives, how a person can seem so pleasant on the outside, yet underneath can be capable of horrible things. It’s sort of perfect that this is a film favorite in the Bates’ household, as this double lifestyle is what everyone in this family has to deal with, especially in the penultimate episode of this season, “The Box.”
Obviously, Norman Bates is having the hardest time dealing with these dueling sides of his own personality and trapped in a literal case of emotion, he starts to deal with these battling sides. At the end of last week’s episode, Norman was kidnapped by Nick Ford’s drug team because Dylan wouldn’t kill his boss, Zane. Now Norman is trapped until Dylan does what Nick wants him to do. Throughout his capture, we see every element of Norman’s personality.
He starts off innocent enough, reciting Meet John Doe to himself in its entirety, but after an escape attempt, you can see the darkness in his eyes growing larger and larger. He tries to find solace in his mother, having visions of her telling him that everybody’s mother lives inside them and if he’s worried about something, all he has to do is hear her voice to know everything is okay. But by the end of the episode, Norman looks like he’s dead inside, covered in rain and mud and remembering the night he killed his teacher, Miss Watson, while he had sex with her, seemingly without any remorse. This is by far the deepest into the darkness we’ve seen Norman go so far.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
