TV REVIEW: BATES MOTEL - SEASON 1 EPISODE 4 - "Trust Me"

If it wasn't for the fact that I have committed myself to reviewing the entire first season of Bates Motel, this episode would have been the drop off point. Even though things "happen" throughout the course of the episode, it's all presented in such a bland and mechanical way that it feels like nothing really has progressed.

The only real event worth mentioning is the ending, where Norma is arrested for the murder of Keith Sommers, the rapist from the first episode. I'm sure she'll be out of shackles by the next episode's end, so that drama just comes off flat. I did love the sudden switch to slow-motion when the police come to arrest her. Vera Farmiga also gets two really unintentionally funny lines this episode ("I killed the crap out of him!" and "Putting up with my ass?") that saved me from total boredom.

Ugh, what else? Norman has sex with a grieving Bradley. Nothing really interesting there, except to fuel the high school drama plotline once Anna comes out of her episode hibernation cave. I'm so excited for those scenes.

I can't even muster up much else about this episode. Did the show forget it was a Psycho prequel and drift off onto the Lifetime Channel? When other networks are showing how to do a horror prequel right, it really makes Bates Motel look even worse. Any interesting and risque ideas that were being floated around seem to be drowned in the soap opera shenanigans this episode strictly focuses on. I kind of want the show to go completely bonkers and have alternate universes where a black and white Norman Bates appears and starts slapping everyone silly. I hope next week is better, or else alcohol may start factoring into my viewings.