Overall: C+
Acting: C+
Writing: C
Story: C+
Technical aspects: C
Effects: C
Directed by:
Paul Edwards
Starring:
Freddie Highmore
Vera Farmiga
Max Thieriot
Nicola Peltz
Olivia Cooke
Mike Vogel
Particular trigger warnings: creepy incest vibes, images
of/implied slavery, mentioned rape
Passes the Bechdel test? No.
The
plot continues to thicken. As was fairly obvious from the last episode, Dylan
(Max Thieriot) is now working guarding the pot fields. Emma (Olivia Cooke)
confesses to Norman (Freddie Highmore) that she hadn’t initially believed that
the sketchbook described anything real, but had just wanted to spend time with
him; however, now she realizes it is true and feels like they have to do
something about it. Norman tells her to give the book back and forget about it.
Norman then has a blackout in class, and is hospitalized. Bradley (Nicola
Peltz) visits him, and Norma (Vera Farmiga) checks him out early. The police have
searched the house, and Norman confesses that he kept Keith Summers’ belt after
they disposed of his body, and the belt is now missing. Norma meets with Deputy
Shelby (Mike Vogel), and he tells her that he took the belt and is willing to
protect her. Later, Norman hallucinates his mother blaming him for the danger
they could be in from the police, and she tells him to go to the Deputy’s house
to retrieve the belt. While there, he finds a locked room in the basement, and
a terrified Chinese girl locked in; apparently one of the girls depicted in the
sketchbook.
This
is one of those times I feel somewhat conflicted, this time about pacing. I’ve
complained a lot about shows that feel like they’re plodding along without
progress toward a goal (see pretty much every review of an episode of The River.) This time
it feels like it’s racing along too fast, especially where Norman is concerned.
The hint of crazy during his attack on his brother (defending Norma’s honor)
was good. And the reveal in this episode that he didn’t remember doing so is
also good. But adding in the scene where he’s envisioning his teacher in
bondage, that he’s full-on hallucinating conversations with his mother… seems
like it’s jumping pretty far forward. The allure, in my opinion, of a “prequel”
of sorts to the Psycho story that we know, is in seeing how he got that way.
And the controlling, manipulative actions of Norma’s in the first episode
especially, though continuing into the second, really make sense as the kind of
thing that’ll fuck a kid up, considering the codependent/near-incestuous
relationship they have. But now we’re being shown a Norman who is clearly
already all the way crazy, not one who is slowly slipping.
There
could also be complaints regarding how convenient it is that all of our
characters find ways to be tied to each other. The Deputy with the enslaved
women, Dylan with the drug ring, etc. But hey, it’s a show with a relatively
short guaranteed run, so I’m willing to forgive that. (Though I think it’d make
more sense if they also did more to capture the small-town feel in other ways.)
Once
again, I found it jarring when we’re given scenes that really look like they
could be set decades in the past (the old-style TV, a lot of the wardrobe, the
rest of the sets in the Bates’ home) and then someone whips out their iPhone. I
don’t know if it’s some kind of deliberate anachronistic choice, if I’m supposed to be
inferring great meaning from it, or what.
The
acting was pretty all over the place. Freddie Highmore is great, I think, and
there were a couple scenes where he looked very much like Anthony Perkins. And
I still really like Vera Farmiga as Norma. Most of the rest was pretty
serviceable. But Nicola Peltz had some badly delivered lines… she’s
seemed shaky to me on and off since episode one, but this one was not her best.
Otherwise,
everything seems pretty unremarkable, in a not entirely bad way. Nothing about
the sound direction or filming or effects sticks out in a bad way, but nothing
being done makes me think “oh, that’s amazing” either.
The
bad things (some lousy acting, weird pacing) bugged me a little more this
episode, but not in a way that makes the show unwatchable or anything. I’ll
keep tuning in.
