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S03.E02: The Arcanum Club

Tara Ariano

By Tara Ariano
in Bates Motel [V]

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DittyDotDot

DittyDotDot

You know, it can be the littlest things for me...I love the way Norma's car sounds. When she turns it of it does a chug-a-chug that sounds so very like a Volvo of it's era. Plus, Emma's car sounds like an old VW. I know, it delights me far more than it has a right to.

 

As to the episode proper...it was an enjoyable hour of viewing, but somehow I wasn't fully engaged. The awkward with Romero and Norma coupled with the awkward with Emma and Norman was so spot on, IMO. And Norma continues to be an overly-emotional and reactionary teenage girl is also spot on, IMO. Loved the new crazy neighbor guy. Still not sure how I feel about Caleb, though. I wish I had something to say about Dylan--I love the guy--but nothing he did or is doing stood out to me.

 

Was oddly distracted by Norman possibly getting his own freezer in the basement throughout most of the episode. Got me to wondering if he'd put his frozen snacks in there with the "other" things--a guy's gotta get hungry when he works, right? But then I started pondering what Norman's favorite ice cream flavor would be? I'm thinking classic chocolate. ;)  Seriously though, Norma's "fine, whatever" reaction to Norman saying he needed a freezer...Vera really should get more recognition than she does, I think.

  • Love 2
grunge barbie

grunge barbie

 

Dylan's neighbors are incredibly well-armed hippies! That book Chick was referring to, with two guys and rabbits... I'm trying to figure out what he's on about. It's Of Mice and Men, right? Insinuating their plans will go awry. At first I thought Watership Down, but that doesn't make any sense in context. So Dylan is George Milton and Caleb is Lennie Small? Or is it the other way around?

 

I'm pretty sure the book he was referring to is Jean de Florette, especially since the woman spoke French to Chick.

  • Love 1
editorgrrl

editorgrrl

(edited)

The minute that Norma got disgusted with Norman for using their freezer and he said he needed his own I was like 'Oh great, a little Dahmer in with the Gein now?' Yikes. You so know he's going to end up with a body in that freezer at some point.

Chekhov's freezer!

The one thing that puzzled me during this episode was the invitation that Norma had. Wouldn't the call girl need that to get in to the club? The girl left that behind when Norman drove her to town. Maybe she only needed the password but it was enough to make me wonder if the girl never went to that club in the first place.

Annika disappeared the night before the party, when she went to meet someone at a restaurant called the Olive & Anchor. She planned to return to the Bates Motel to get the invitation before the party.

And if she'd kept the invitation in her purse, then Norma & Emma never would've known about the Arcanum Club.

I'm pretty sure the book he was referring to is Jean de Florette, especially since the woman spoke French to Chick.

"¿Todo bien?" is Spanish.

Edited by editorgrrl
  • Love 1
queenanne

queenanne

Oh, how I do love Nestor and Vera, so many things are always going on in their scenes together.  What I love most is that they make it funny every time, I don’t understand that/how it’s never slapsticky, and maybe it is in bits that end up on the cutting room floor though I doubt it, because their veritable nonverbal body language is funny.  Taking second position to quiet, smoldering longing.  I too am not anxious to see any relationship hurried along primarily because I suspect that some day Norman would kill or get him killed, but it’s also interesting choices to me that IMO, Romero wants to be a (step)father so badly.  I think they/Nestor actually toned it down this season because 3.1’s interaction with Dylan wasn’t fatherly at all, but last (?) season roadside-stop definitely was; Romero interrogating Norman, etc.

  • Love 2
Ailianna

Ailianna

One of the things I find fascinating about this show is how it affects my own mental processes. I was feeling sorry for Norman, this poor screwed up kid, even though I know where he ends up. And I'm thinking about him and Emma and that he's had sex with three or four people. (Bradley, Ms. Watson, Cody, maybe Annika...) And then I'm thinking about how he's really a pretty sweet kid, just really messed up. Then I remember he's killed two people (I do kind of think he killed Annika)--Ms. Watson and Annika. Then I remember it's really four people--can't forget Bradley's dad or Norman's dad--and then I think about what it means that I see this guy who should be just a horrible monster as a vulnerable, damaged boy.

  • Love 6
queenanne

queenanne

I think that's because to some extent, the tough thing about Norman is, he's had many scenes and reactions of being good, sincere, honest, and true.  We "know" he will only end badly and that the better angels of his nature will not win out, and yet we don't know it.  We keep rooting and hoping for him to escape his future, which is both a great and terrible situation in which to place showrunners and an actor.

  • Love 3
peacheslatour

peacheslatour

One of the things I find fascinating about this show is how it affects my own mental processes. I was feeling sorry for Norman, this poor screwed up kid, even though I know where he ends up. And I'm thinking about him and Emma and that he's had sex with three or four people. (Bradley, Ms. Watson, Cody, maybe Annika...) And then I'm thinking about how he's really a pretty sweet kid, just really messed up. Then I remember he's killed two people (I do kind of think he killed Annika)--Ms. Watson and Annika. Then I remember it's really four people--can't forget Bradley's dad or Norman's dad--and then I think about what it means that I see this guy who should be just a horrible monster as a vulnerable, damaged boy.

I totally agree with all of this.  If you remember the movie Marion Crane seemed to find him very sweet and vulnerable.  She thought he was being abused by his mother.  Also Cody's father :)

truthaboutluv

truthaboutluv

(edited)

I don't think it's strange or twisted to see Norman as a vulnerable, damaged boy. That's what I've found interesting in watching this show and Hannibal - essentially they are both about psychopaths, but I see Hannibal as just a completely irredeemable sociopath. A highly intelligent individual who lacks any and all empathy for humans, which is why he can not only so easily kill them but then also eat them. Norman, in so far as this series has shown anyway, is in some ways a victim of circumstance. Yes, maybe he would have always ended up down this path but you do have to wonder what if with him - what if after killing his dad in a blacked out state, Norma had gotten him the help he needed rather than covering it up and thinking she was protecting him and doing the right thing for him. 

 

Again, I do believe the way Norman has been presented on the show, I can completely understand not seeing him as just a complete monster. Norman had no clue he killed his father. I actually still don't think he knows. So he did it completely out of his mind. And Norma's response was to cover it up and continue making him think everything is fine with him. Then the Keith Summers murder - if we remember, Norman told Norma to call the police after she snapped and stabbed Keith to death (not that the bastard didn't deserve it). He reasoned with her that Keith attacked her, she defended herself, it would be fine. Norma gets the great idea to cover the murder up and basically makes her teenage son complicit in a murder and cover up. 

 

When Norman killed Cody's father, that was completely an accident and he was genuinely upset and shaken by it. Romero actually tried to make him feel better by telling him Cody's dad was a mean and angry drunk practically his whole life, for as long as Romero knew him and that it was just an accident. But Norman still felt awful and didn't just brush it off as "well he asked for it." And finally, with Ms. Watson, like his dad, he didn't remember and when he started having the flashbacks after he was kidnapped, he freaked out realizing what he might have done. There was the eventual confrontation with Norma where he tells her something is not right with him and she knows it and she's keeping things from him. Norma, bless her heart, because she really believes she's doing the best for him, keeps telling him he is fine and he is confused and he's really just a good and kind boy who just has a lot of feelings. 

 

So Norman and his crazy continues to go unchecked. And now we're at the current point which is why I can understand why some may not be comfortable with Norman cold bloodedly killing the hooker, because as I've noted with all the others, while he was a killer yes, he was never cold blooded about it. In fact, two of them he didn't even remember doing them. So it would be a bit of a tonal shift if he consciously murdered the hooker and is covering it up. But I don't think that's the case (of course I could be wrong). I think if he did kill her he may be aware on some level, but not so much that he did it. In other words he's morphing more and more into his disassociative mother vs. Norman state and so he probably believes "mother" killed her much as she killed Ms. Watson. And the real reason he may be acting guilty is because he likely had sex with her before he killed her, which he wouldn't want Norma to know about because she wasn't "a very nice girl."

Edited by truthaboutluv
  • Love 7
PreBabylonia

PreBabylonia

Heh---I actually think Emma is the most normal one in that town. I agree that Dylan is the sanest Bates, though that's an exceptionally low bar :) 

 

Nestor Carbonell and his permanent guyliner makes Romero more awesome than he would be otherwise. I agree with those who love his dynamic with Norma, irrespective of whether they ever actually get together. 

 

Whoever does the casting on this show is a freaking genius. In my idea of a just world, Freddie and Vera would both be perennial Emmy recipients. (Then again, I'm still not over Sarah Michelle Gellar never winning an Emmy for her portrayal of Buffy Summers, so take my opinions with several grains of salt!) 

 

One more random observation after rewatching: I love how layered and 'real' a character they managed to make Annika (sp?!) feel to me despite being on our screens for such a blink-and-you-miss-it period of time. So many shows could take lessons from this one about how to quickly and effectively establish characterization....granted, it helps when you have some of the best actors working in TV today! 

 

What I find really interesting is how difficult it is for a talented actor to do well in a badly written, and presumably, badly directed work. You're right, all of these actors are outstanding on this show, especially Vera and Freddie. I wasn't really familiar with much of their work beforehand. I think Vera was in a Bond movie, and a friend of mine said he's seen her in some kinds of sexy (soft-core?) movies. Remember Freddie doing a great job in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you could see the talent he had even then. But Nestor? Thought he was horrible in Ringers, just as I did with Sarah Michelle Gellar.  I found that show to be horribly disappointing, because I was a big fan of SMG in Buffy. And I agree, she should have won a few Emmys, especially in the special episodes - the musical, Hush, her mother's death and funeral. Same with Tracey Spiradakos, absolutely hated her in Revolution and blamed her for why the show was so terrible in the first place. It's a good thing I'm not a casting agent, just can't see past the previous misses. I so look forward to this show, and I'm hoping they'll cast more actors that redeem themselves from hideous shows.

  • Love 2
tennisgurl

tennisgurl

Random, slightly unrelated thought: Does it strike anyone else as funny that A&E has "Be Original" or something like that as their networks tag, when almost all their scripted shows are remakes, or are based on already existing books or movies? 

 

Not a bad thing exactly, as I love this show, and like some of their other scripted shows a lot,but still...

  • Love 2
queenanne

queenanne

(edited)

What I find really interesting is how difficult it is for a talented actor to do well in a badly written, and presumably, badly directed work. You're right, all of these actors are outstanding on this show, especially Vera and Freddie. I wasn't really familiar with much of their work beforehand. I think Vera was in a Bond movie, and a friend of mine said he's seen her in some kinds of sexy (soft-core?) movies. Remember Freddie doing a great job in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you could see the talent he had even then. But Nestor? Thought he was horrible in Ringers, just as I did with Sarah Michelle Gellar.  I found that show to be horribly disappointing, because I was a big fan of SMG in Buffy. And I agree, she should have won a few Emmys, especially in the special episodes - the musical, Hush, her mother's death and funeral. Same with Tracey Spiradakos, absolutely hated her in Revolution and blamed her for why the show was so terrible in the first place. It's a good thing I'm not a casting agent, just can't see past the previous misses. I so look forward to this show, and I'm hoping they'll cast more actors that redeem themselves from hideous shows.

 

While personally I liked everything about Ringer except for Kristoffer Polaha, I wanted to mention that casting agents don't make the decision themselves in a vacuum.  I learned listening to a Paley-type panel on Once Upon a Time, that not only do the showrunners get approval, but the network executives too.  In fact, I believe the latter group's opinions can trump everyone else.  It's possible even the NBC president (the one in charge now I think even?), greenlit Tracey Spiridakos, who may have been too mature and worldly-wise an individual to portray that Revolution teenager, but is a natural as a twentysomething sorority girl type.  Sometimes it's a mass casting delusion that takes hold. :)

Edited by queenanne
  • Love 2
BonnieD

BonnieD

 

No one can play crazy like Vera, she is Lucille Ball and Lizzie Borden all wrapped in one.

Lucille Ball was EXACTLY who I was thinking of while watching her this week. Which I suppose makes Nestor Carbonell, Ricky. "Awwww, Luceeeee."

 

I'm sure the rabbit reference was to Of Mice and Men. One clever man and one big dumb one. Yep. It fits.

 

I wondered the same thing about this "hunt club" possibly being a hunting prostitutes for sport thing, but it seemed too outlandish so i've decided something else happened to Annika.

 

I agree that poor Emma is not long for this world. Somehow in some way she'll be killed before the end of this season I think. Where is her taxidermy dad during all this? He just lets her drop out of school to homeschool with Norman and work at the motel? Okay.  Here's hoping she escapes the crazy and goes off to college.

 

  • Love 2
truthaboutluv

truthaboutluv

Honestly, seeing her outfit when she showed up, plus her having the flash drive, I actually did wonder if she was actually an undercover cop investigating the club. I mean her name sounded a little made up to me but I didn't think much of it because really, how many high end escorts use their real name? But I do wonder if there's a larger plot there with her and again, if there was something more Norman knows but he just, for whatever reason, can't remember. 

  • Love 1
queenanne

queenanne

Honestly, seeing her outfit when she showed up, plus her having the flash drive, I actually did wonder if she was actually an undercover cop investigating the club. I mean her name sounded a little made up to me but I didn't think much of it because really, how many high end escorts use their real name? But I do wonder if there's a larger plot there with her and again, if there was something more Norman knows but he just, for whatever reason, can't remember. 

 

Well, if we're basing speculation on costuming, I think it's possible she was racketing around with Dylan and Uncle-Dad as part of the drug trade.  Or lumberjacking. ;)  (Seriously, maybe the Pot People are going to intersect with the Arcanum Club.)

raven

raven

I'm catching up and have to say that Romero's incredulous, whispered "Norma??" at the party, the back and forth whispering ("I'm not here for that") and his shooing her off the grounds were hilarious.  I love how this show can have such messed up, damaged characters, murder, etc and have these brilliant, funny moments.  Plus Vera was aces (as always) in her desperate worry for the girl, or rather, Norman in that scene. 

 

I've read the thread and I still feel sorry for Norman; he had a chance, gone now, where the right kind of help wouild have changed his life. 

 

OK, on to episode 3.

  • Love 3
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