S04.E06: The Vault

[Solzhenknitsyn]

I don't think it's a coincidence that "The Vault" has generated more discussion than the other episodes in this (overall excellent) season. The writers did a great job of weaving together all of the threads that make this show so engrossing.

 

    Norma's contradictions:

• strength v. vulnerability;
• cruelty (telling Dylan "Have fun leaving me") v. lovingkindness (sensing that Dylan misses his father and telling Caleb to call him);
• maturity ("I've never loved someone enough to feel obligated to be honest with them") v. immaturity ("Do your best, you GIANT LAME ASSHOLE!")

 

     Tragicomedy:

• Her final stand against Chick in the foyer. Despite the aura of impending doom, it had me guffawing from the moment Norma snarled, "You can put it...RIGHT HERE" and double-pointed at her feet in the universal "Come at me, bro!" gesture.
• Norma to Alex, convinced that Chick is about to spill her deepest secret: "I, um, I love you. I just want you to know that." Alex: "You're telling me this right now?" Always the romantics, those two. :)

 

    The cycle of abuse and the price of keeping secrets:

• "Are you lonely, Norma Bates? Something tells me that you're lonely, because you can't tell the people you love that you had sex with your brother." My heart was breaking for Norma during the scene with Chick in the diner.
• The scenes with Norman and his psychiatrist, which reveal Norma's traumas and edge closer to revealing the murderous truth about Mother.

 

   "Twin Peaks" realness:

• ​Holy cow, Chick! I finally saw his appeal in this episode. Loved how his artistic, insightful nature made him that much more effective as a total sociopath.

 

     Danger:

•  Again, Norma's scenes with his psychiatrist, particularly when Mother coldly tells the doc that Norman must be protected from remembering his horrible past. "Or I will have to do something about it." Dr. Edwards is DOOOOOOMED.

   

[ganesh]

I'm not a fan of Caleb reappearing. When he was all "Maybe I'll move back", I was hoping Dylan would be like, "that's not a good idea." 

 

I'm rooting hard for Dylan to escape this craziness and just get on with his life. I really liked his interview when he actually pointed out his qualifications even though the business was weed. He's not an idiot by any stretch, and there's no reason (other than being a Bates) that he can't have a good life. 

 

I mean, given what we know is going to happen, I would think someone should have a reasonably happy ending. 

[peacheslatour]

 

Holy cow, Chick! I finally saw his appeal in this episode. Loved how his artistic, insightful nature made him that much more effective as a total sociopath.

I have always liked Chick. Probably because I knew a guy just like him. He was from a very wealthy family, leaders of the Seattle cultural and arts scene- his dad did the sculpture of Christopher Columbus that still graces the Seattle waterfront. He ended up being into drugs and gun running, the whole nasty underbelly of the eighties club scene. Yet he never lost his cultured way of speaking, his elitist views and old world manners. R.I.P. Beau.

Edited April 21, 2016 by peacheslatour

[OSM Mom]

That rape scene was so hard to watch. I had a similar situation happen to me with an ex. It brought back a lot of bad memories. Thanks, show.

[Guest]

O.k., obviously we know that Norman had an unendurably horrific childhood. We saw what his father did to his mother and how Norman ended up killing him. All perfectly understandable. But, I wonder if they will show that Norman was "dangerously disturbed" when has very young or if his psychosis is a product of his environment. Can a person with no chemical imbalance be driven the to kind of homicidal madness Norman displays just by having a fucked up childhood? I would think not.

I think so.  I did a group research study on Ted Bundy in college and I don't remember much about it but I recall coming down on the side of nurture with sociopaths, more so than nature.  

 

Norma has been a horrific mother.  Norman should've been in therapy his entire life for what he's seen and been forced to do.  Not only did she never remove her kids from those abusive situations, she never got him help, then she fanned the flames of his crazy with her inappropriate closeness.   It was mostly about her own needs... she was too afraid to be alone to get Norman help.  

 

I wouldn't be holding hands with my boy while I was being raped.  I'd be screaming for him to run and hide.

 

My teen asked tonight why Norma's always getting raped.  I said because tv writers love rape.  I know for this show they really need to dig deep for terrible events that could make Norma and Norman as messed up as they are, but I'm a little tired of writers going to that well.  Was it Bryan Fuller who never stooped to rape on Hannibal or some other show runner I'm thinking of?  I appreciate that.  And Hannibal was some twisted shit.  Of course, the Bates family needs that incest undercurrent and I guess what's more conducive than a shared rape experience or three? 

 

Yeah, it was Fuller--

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/28/hannibal-rape-thrones

[Solzhenknitsyn]

My teen asked tonight why Norma's always getting raped. I said because tv writers love rape.

Seriously. Domestic abuse can involve so many different forms of violence and terrorization. Why do we gotta see the rape?

I agree that it's largely due to lazy writing, but I'll bet that an additional reason is that a sexual assault scene is easier to film, from a production perspective, than a scene where the character gets brutally beaten. There's less of a risk that production shuts down for a week because your star gets clocked in the jaw by accident.

So yeah. Lazy writers, lazy production team.

[Black Knight]

I saw someone ask about what was in the letter Emma's mother wrote to her. It's easy to read all three pages if you freeze-frame because the handwriting is very legible and there's a clear shot of each page in full. The gist: She wrote that it's hard for her to believe that any mother could leave her child, that she could leave Emma, but she did. It wasn't that she couldn't live with Emma, it was that she couldn't live with Emma's dad. Emma's dad has been a good dad to Emma, he's been there for her when her mother wasn't, but he was not a good husband. He never was actually physically or sexually violent, but he was physically intimidating and psychologically abusive. She knows he doesn't want her around Emma, but once Emma's feeling better, she'd love if they could spend some time together.

 

Just a few details that struck me that nobody has mentioned yet:

 

I wonder if Romero's decision to give his ex the key, and saying he doesn't want a cut of the money, was his way of trying to close the door on that so it won't cause trouble for him and Norma. As long as he held onto the key, the ex was probably going to continue being annoying, and if he takes some of the money he gets implicated (further). It just seemed telling to me that that scene came after his conversation with Norma about being happy, him telling her not to screw it up, like this was his way of, on his end, not screwing it up. He's excusing himself out of that whole situation so it won't cause trouble for him. Of course, this being Bates Motel, I'm sure it's not going to be so easy.

 

While Norma's line to Dylan about having fun leaving her was petty and mean, I also thought it showed growth on her part that instead of just continuing to rant in that vein as she certainly would have done in earlier seasons, she stopped herself, acknowledged she was in a bad mood, and stopped talking. Sometimes that really is all you can do when you're in a bad mood, keep your mouth shut so you don't say awful things.

[TattleTeeny]

Thank you--I think it was me who asked. I was worried that there was something in it beyond the Emma & Mom stuff (though what, I don't know) that might pertain to another story line. Haha, I am usually the person who pauses the TV to see every little thing too (often to my BF's dismay)--letters, texts (oy, Pretty LIttle Liars is so annoying in this regard), books on shelves behind a character who's talking, the face of someone in the background...I don't know what made me not do it for the Emma letter!

[DangerousMinds]

I liked how Norma was totally over Chick and Romero just responded with a "what the hell?" Though he handled the whole thing rather well. 

 

I was actally hoping Norma was going to shoot Chick, but I think it's better this way because he wasn't expecting that at all and probably was like, "damn I dodged one there; hey send me the check nbd."

 

No one chops more angrily than Norma.

 

The best part of the episode was Dylan pulling over to use the cell phone.

Yes, I was sooo happy to see him pull over to use the phone!

[DittyDotDot]

On 4/19/2016 at 1:03 PM, FanOfTheFans said:

I've seen the actor (Rick Hurst) in movies and he usually plays a good guy.

The actor's name is Ryan Hurst. I only know him from the little bit of Son's of Anarchy I watched. I believe Rick Hurst is his father, though.

On 4/21/2016 at 10:23 AM, truthaboutluv said:

Well this season we got confirmation from Norma that she cheated on her first husband with Norman's dad so that would explain Dylan's being bothered by her leaving him. But it still doesn't explain where he is and why Dylan just didn't go off with him when he needed a place to stay, especially considering how tense and tumultuous his and Norma's relationship was when he first showed up. 

It seems like back in S1 or S2, Dylan tracked him down only to find out he was already dead or dying or something...but maybe he just didn't want anything to do with Dylan? I can't really remember now, but it seems like there was something about Dylan trying to reconnect with the man. Which made me sad in this episode when Emma said something about loving someone who didn't want them and Dylan immediately saying he wanted her. Dylan, of all people, gets how she feels.

[FanOfTheFans]

22 hours ago, DittyDotDot said:

On April 19, 2016 at 1:03 PM, FanOfTheFans said:

I've seen the actor (Rick Hurst) in movies and he usually plays a good guy.

The actor's name is Ryan Hurst. I only know him from the little bit of Son's of Anarchy I watched. I believe Rick Hurst is his father, though.

Thanks for the clarification.?