S05.E10: The Cord

[walnutqueen]

From the moment he hit my peripheral vision until his unsatisfying demise, I despised Norman.  So, YAY show and actors for a job well done, I guess.

[Stringey]

2 hours ago, Rustybones said:

I had to rewatch it again On Demand to pick up on some details I'd missed.  When the entire series is available I plan to buy that as well.  I do have the  original Psycho series, but other than I and 2 they stink.  Another thing, Freddie beats the shit out of Perkins IMO.

What's interesting is I don't  think any of the sequels are available on DVD netflix. I don't know maybe psycho II was. As far as psycho III i actually enjoyed it because we saw a lot of interaction between Norman and the corpse even though that one did not belong to his mother. In that movie I did though hate the plotline they did of Norma supposedly not being his real mother. Not sure why they did this. I will say one thing in Psycho II it was the fault for sure of Lila crane and her daughter that norman snapped again.  For some reason I could picture Madeline Loomis(even though her husband was a scum bag) doing this in the future if the series had ended like the movie and Norman had the chance to be released. As far as Psycho IV I found this on YouTube and saw that Norma was also young when he murdered her. I think the idea was she got older in Norman's mind as time passed. The woman that played Norma in Psycho IV had the same accent sort of as the voice of Mother in the movie.

[Rustybones]

I bought the set of DVD's on Amazon.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

The woman that played Norma in Psycho IV had the same accent sort of as the voice of Mother in the movie.

That was Olivia Hussey, Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's sublime Romeo and Juliet.

[Stringey]

What I am about to say is going to sound comical and like I am making a joke but i am not really. Well I guess there is dark humor in it but it's a point. Anyway I can't help thinking that when Dylan threw up when he saw Norma's corpse it was the result of two things. Yes he was horrified at seeing the body but the putrid odor that was forming might have added to his need to barf. Maybe the body was not rotting on the outside yet but I believe a few hours after the thaw her body would resume the process that I think would naturally happen a few hours after death. I heard that the body starts giving off gases and this creates the putrid odor that does not take long to occur. However ....... in the case of Norma I might now be wrong when I rethink it because wasn't she embalmed after death??? And if so would that prevent the body from natural decomposition to a certain point. 

[SunnyBeBe]

I am a former avid viewer of this show, but, grew annoyed with Norman after Norma died.  I left, but, returned to see what viewers thought of the finale.   I'm pleasantly surprised by the positive comments.  I will watch the finale.  Should I preface that by watching any other episodes this season?  Will the finale be self-explanatory?  

Edited May 9, 2017 by SunnyBeBe

[Complexity]

1 minute ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I am a former avid viewer of this show, but, grew annoyed with Norman after Norma died.  I left, but, returned to see what viewers thought of the finale.   I'm pleasantly surprised by the positive comments.  I will watch the finale.  Should I preface that by watching any other episodes this season?  Will the finale be self-explanatory?  

Personally, I'd recommend watching every episode. I don't know how self-explanatory the finale is by itself, but I know you'll be missing a really great show if you skip directly to the finale.

[SunnyBeBe]

10 minutes ago, Complexity said:

Personally, I'd recommend watching every episode. I don't know how self-explanatory the finale is by itself, but I know you'll be missing a really great show if you skip directly to the finale.

Well......I'll try to start with this season.  I  was just so annoyed with Norman, that it was a real chore to watch him.  I thought that I could handle his demise though.  lol 

[truthaboutluv]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I am a former avid viewer of this show, but, grew annoyed with Norman after Norma died.  I left, but, returned to see what viewers thought of the finale.   I'm pleasantly surprised by the positive comments.  I will watch the finale.  Should I preface that by watching any other episodes this season?  Will the finale be self-explanatory?  

Just to clarify, were you upset about Norman killing Norma in Season 4 that you stopped watching the show entirely and haven't watched any of Season 5? Because if so, I'd say don't bother. I love the show but I feel like if Norman as a character essentially bothers someone and Norma being dead also is an issue, then you wouldn't enjoy the season. Much of it is heavily focused on Norman and his madness and then of course his ultimate demise. 

[SunnyBeBe]

2 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

Just to clarify, were you upset about Norman killing Norma in Season 4 that you stopped watching the show entirely and haven't watched any of Season 5? Because if so, I'd say don't bother. I love the show but I feel like if Norman as a character essentially bothers someone and Norma being dead also is an issue, then you wouldn't enjoy the season. Much of it is heavily focused on Norman and his madness and then of course his ultimate demise. 

Hmmm.......I"m not sure if I can say precisely what bothered me the most about Norman....besides the obvious.  lol  I watch shows about other killers that don't effect me the same way.  I would accidentally land on the show once in awhile, but, didn't follow it regularly, after Norma died.  She was the life of the show for me.   I'll think about it. Spoilers don't bother me at all, so, I may watch the finale and then backtrack if inspired. 

[truthaboutluv]

Just now, SunnyBeBe said:

She was the life of the show for me.

Right...that was my assumption, which is why I said you probably shouldn't bother. I mean it is up to you and you may enjoy it because as I said, I loved it. But then I never hated Norman and the character didn't bother me. I never lost empathy for Norman, no matter how awful and tragic the show and his character got. But if Norma was the life of the show for you, then unlikely you'd enjoy a season that's really 90 percent focused on Norman. YMMV.

Edited May 9, 2017 by truthaboutluv

[Stringey]

On 5/9/2017 at 10:31 AM, SunnyBeBe said:

Well......I'll try to start with this season.  I  was just so annoyed with Norman, that it was a real chore to watch him.  I thought that I could handle his demise though.  lol 

What was it that annoyed you about Norman.  I assume you knew the show is connected to Psycho and he is not supposed to be a good guy. Yes besides being a killer he was kind of odd but i don't like when people say they hate a character or worse a real person because they felt that person was dorky or different or something like that. For example let's say it is a crazy person or character in a show like Norman. If it is a guy character and he is not a alpha then it seems people love to go on about  how they hate the character even more if he is kind of different.

[SunnyBeBe]

14 minutes ago, Stringey said:

What was it that annoyed you about Norman.  I assume you knew the show is connected to Psycho and he is not supposed to be a good guy. Yes besides being a killer he was kind of odd but i don't like when people say they hate a character or worse a real person because they felt that person was dorky or different or something like that. For example let's say it is a crazy person or character in a show like Norman. If it is a guy character and he is not a alpha then it seems people love to go on about  how they hate the character even more if he is kind of different.

No, my annoyance with Norman wasn't really due to his personality.  He could be quite charming.  I think there were multiple reasons for my annoyance.  One being that I don't like it when the character just kept catching breaks.  His mom would always bail him out., excuse, overlook, ignore, abuse, etc. And then, other characters would give him the benefit of the doubt. So, he continues on his path.   Seeing that go on and on got old.  Plus, I think that I had trouble buying into the premise of the story.  I bought it in the movie, but, in the tv show....I struggled.  I had trouble believing that Norman really could not remember when he murdered.  I suppose that's like multiple personalities or a pseudo psychiatric condition.  I just never could buy it.  If you can't buy that, then, the story is somewhat limited. 

It's funny, because, I liked Dexter. (Except not the last couple of seasons.)  I also liked Walter White in Breaking Bad.  So, I have been a fan of some killer characters.  Not sure why I never warned up to Norman.  

Edited May 11, 2017 by SunnyBeBe

[Fable]

8 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

No, my annoyance with Norman wasn't really due to his personality.  He could be quite charming.  I think there were multiple reasons for my annoyance.  One being that I don't like it when the character just kept catching breaks.  His mom would always bail him out., excuse, overlook, ignore, abuse, etc. And then, other characters would give him the benefit of the doubt. So, he continues on his path.

I think that was the point of the series though.  It’s about a mentally ill, naive young man who kept falling through the cracks until eventually the weight of his illness caved in on him.  I enjoyed it, but I can see how it’ would not be everyone’s cup of tea. 

I don't necessarily think you have to watch the entire season to enjoy the finale, but it definitely adds quite a bit of context.  

[Complexity]

2 hours ago, Fable said:

I think that was the point of the series though.  It’s about a mentally ill, naive young man who kept falling through the cracks until eventually the weight of his illness caved in on him.  I enjoyed it, but I can see how it’ would not be everyone’s cup of tea. 

I don't necessarily think you have to watch the entire season to enjoy the finale, but it definitely adds quite a bit of context.  

I agree and withdraw my recommendation for watching the entire season. I don't even recommend watching the finale for anyone who does not believe Norman has mental illness and, instead, is using it as an excuse to get away with grossly unacceptable behavior. The whole point of the show and especially the finale is Norman's Disassociative Identity Disorder and its affects on Norman. Without that, it's not worth watching.

[Stringey]

15 hours ago, Complexity said:

I agree and withdraw my recommendation for watching the entire season. I don't even recommend watching the finale for anyone who does not believe Norman has mental illness and, instead, is using it as an excuse to get away with grossly unacceptable behavior. The whole point of the show and especially the finale is Norman's Disassociative Identity Disorder and its affects on Norman. Without that, it's not worth watching.

It's interesting that Norman as himself seemed to lose it completely once mother told him she was leaving. Well I interpreted it that way and as his alternate personality integrating with his main Norman one. After Romero told him he had to live with the fact he killed norma(well those were not his exact words but same meaning) and when he realized even his fantasy mother was really leaving forever(by the way it was so sad when he says he will truly have no one of she leaves) the reality of his life is just too painful and Norman as himself loses touch with reality even more. What followed was so beautifully creepy and tragic.

Edited May 13, 2017 by Stringey

[Virtual]

On May 12, 2017 at 8:07 PM, Stringey said:

After Romero told him he had to live with the fact he killed norma(well those were not his exact words but same meaning) and when he realized even his fantasy mother was really leaving forever(by the way it was so sad when he says he will truly have no one of she leaves) the reality of his life is just too painful and Norman as himself loses touch with reality even more. What followed was so beautifully creepy and tragic.

I mentioned earlier that I thought Norman could truly turn things around if Mother left him alone and stopped causing him to black out, but I already should have known from watching episode 4x10 that Norman would just find other ways to cope with not having any semblance of Norma. He can't function without that, which is the real tragedy and saddest part of Bates Motel, especially considering Norman had the potential to have a decent social life in the first two seasons.

[Stringey]

15 minutes ago, Virtual Side said:

I mentioned earlier that I thought Norman could truly turn things around if Mother left him alone and stopped causing him to black out, but I already should have known from watching episode 4x10 that Norman would just find other ways to cope with not having any semblance of Norma. He can't function without that, which is the real tragedy and saddest part of Bates Motel, especially considering Norman had the potential to have a decent social life in the first two seasons.

Here is something that is my own opinion.  If this show was not a prequel to psycho(well the last season I guess was not a prequel anymore) and not connected to Psycho I would find this characters attachment to his mother while she was alive and dead unrealistic. I would think  a mother might possibly be that unhealthy clingy but any kid realistically would eventually rebel and not want to be so enmeshed with his mother when he got to a certain age. However because we of course know this is Norman Bates it makes sense completely. And( I am now veering a little off topic) it's interesting when I think how they decided to portray Norman in a way where we were able to not lose sympathy for him.  The writers could have portrayed Norman so much darker and evil seeming. Think about the movie Psycho and how little it really reveals about Norman other than what was shown and told. A lot could be left to the imagination. Because so little info was given about him and the show got to create Norman Bates think about how unlikable he could have been written.  Different writers might have given us a more sadistic young man that they could have imagined as Norman Bates. I would have had no problem believing that Norman Bates from the movie Psycho in his younger days would kill animals on purpose to stuff them and have a demented interest in death and dissection even though he was nice and soft spoken. And since Norman Bates was loosely based on Ed gein whose to say that the body of his mother had not been the only one ever in the basement of that house. And that Norman could have a demented interest in making house decorations out of skin and body parts like gein did. The writers could have gone this way and given us a portrayal of a much more darker and scary Norman but we would not have had sympathy for him. 

[smorbie]

On 4/30/2017 at 9:10 AM, Rustybones said:

I had to rewatch it again On Demand to pick up on some details I'd missed.  When the entire series is available I plan to buy that as well.  I do have the  original Psycho series, but other than I and 2 they stink.  Another thing, Freddie beats the shit out of Perkins IMO.

Totes agree.  Perkins' Norman was unlikable to me.  He had a sly quality to him that was just uncomfortable.  I'm sure that's exactly what Hitchcock intended.  But Highmore's Norman had a sweetness and naivety that drew people in.

[bettername2come]

Dylan lived! I've thought this was impossible, but they managed it. Dylan lives! There's a happy, functioning branch of the family! I love Max Thieriot and thought he did some exceptional work here. That was Supernatural level holding the dying brother. Freddie Highmore is always good, and I liked the Norman's death. It was fair. Honestly, after three years of fearing for Dylan's life, I'm just so relieved to get the closest thing possible to a happy ending on this show.

Also, I really liked the use of "Que Sera, Sera" since it was originally in "The Man Who Knew Too Much."

Edited May 30, 2017 by bettername2come

[Stringey]

On 5/27/2017 at 4:32 AM, smorbie said:

Totes agree.  Perkins' Norman was unlikable to me.  He had a sly quality to him that was just uncomfortable.  I'm sure that's exactly what Hitchcock intended.  But Highmore's Norman had a sweetness and naivety that drew people in.

I wonder if it also had something to do with Perkins face. His face and features were more sharp and sharper features tend to give people a more sinister feel. At least in my opinion. This was especially so when we saw his face from the side. 

[smorbie]

Maybe that's part of it, but it's in his expressions and body language, too.  

[Stringey]

On 5/30/2017 at 4:07 PM, smorbie said:

Maybe that's part of it, but it's in his expressions and body language, too.  

A great shot and scene from psycho is when Sam Loomis has come to look for the private detective and keeps yelling the guys name. Norman is standing there in a place where Sam won't bother him. His expression was perfect.

[Virtual]

Yeah, Anthony Perkins pretty much portrayed a version of Norman Bates whom was a bit more dark and sly. Highmore portrayed Norman like that at times as well (more so sly than dark though), but Perkins more often brought out those traits in his character of Norman.

 

Also, I meant to mention this sooner after finding out the realtor at the end was Jiao from episodes 1x03 - 1x06. She sure looks different now that she has a good life away from the human trafficking people. I wonder what she thought about the guy who saved her from the trafficking life turning out to be a mentally ill psycho.

Edited June 20, 2017 by Virtual Side

[Stringey]

This is random and off topic but I really wish they would have kept  season five on demand longer. Would have liked to watch the finale once more. Showtime has all the seasons of Dexter(a show I love) on demand right now and they make those available repeatedly.  Why can't A&E put season five back for a little while.

[Virtual]

I've said it before and I'll say it once more: the real tragedy of this great TV show has nothing to do with Norma or Romero. Both of them made their own bed, for the most part. Now they're lying in it (literally).

Norma kept covering up Norman's issues and defending him at all costs when she should have gotten him help at the very beginning of the series. Even towards the end of her life, people were telling her Norman was dangerous, and Norma denied it all, even though Norman had advanced toward Romero with an ax. She was pretty much begging for her death to happen. And Romero pursued him for all of Season 5. At the end, knowing full well how dangerous he was, he turned his back to a blacked-out Norman (though in fairness, he didn't know about Norman's split personality and probably underestimated him since he HAD just beaten him up bloodily).

To me, the tragedy of this show is the fact that Norman had the potential to have a decent social life had he not been failed by his mother. He was going to join the track team in the pilot episode, and interacted with his fair share of girls. Would him getting help have made a difference? Maybe not, but doing nothing just allowed the illness to escalate. It was painful to watch him try so hard to live a normal life in Season 5, and have his illness ruin every attempt he made at it. That's why I was glad the show gave him the ending they did, at least he's not suffering by battling with himself anymore.

[Pink-n-Green]

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 1:46 AM, SayMyName said:

I think the perfect epitaph would be "Loving Mother".

Works either way.

That's excellent.

[TheGreenKnight]

I liked the ending for the most part. I agree with someone earlier in the thread who described the confrontation scene as Norman committing suicide (via Dylan). Even though he was putting on an act, he called Dylan for a reason--which he wouldn't have done if he were really acting out Norman in S1 when he didn't like the way Dylan because of how he acted towards Norma. There was also the line about how being able to believe something if you just pretend hard enough, which I took that as him admitting he knew Norma was dead in that last scene without needing Dylan to tell him. And the knife was just his way of getting Dylan to shoot him. I'm not sure where Norman would fit into the afterlife. I guess heaven would be possible because of how ill he was. The only murder he did consciously (and intentionally) was Sam Lummis, and he felt guilt for all of it, even attempting suicide a couple seasons ago. If only Norma hadn't intervened, so many deaths would have been avoided.

I have to admit this last season has been a hard watch without Norma. I know there was "Mother" and all, but not the same. But I guess they pretty much made the viewer miss her absence as much as Norman.

What's still so odd for me is that the time Norman was in an institution was only 2 weeks in-show. When I was watching season 4, it felt like at least a month, maybe two. With Norma-Romero getting married, becoming intimate, enjoying house-life together without Norman, Norman slowly improving to the point where he actually liked the institution (before learning of Norma's marriage)--there's no way that all could've been in the span of two weeks??