Catching Up with Bates Motel: Inseparable

Our weekly recap of what’s happening in the world of the 5th season of A&E’s Bates Motel

The fifth and final season of A&E‘s Bates Motel is in full swing. This weekly recap series will catch you up with the series and offer personal thoughts from this writer, who is an unabashed uber-fan of the series…

Read Bates Motel episode 1&2 recap

Read Bates Motel episode 3 recap

Read Bates Motel episode 4 recap

Read Bates Motel episode 5 recap

Read Bates Motel episode 6 recap

Bates Motel Season 5, Episode 7: Inseparable

This week’s episode was a big one. Hell, last week’s was a big one! It has always really amazed me how much the writers of this show manage to pack into one episode. It’s exciting to watch and completely exhausting once it’s ended. With only three episodes left to the show, I can’t foresee it slowing down and this week was no exception.

This episode started at the exact moment we left off with Sam Loomis’ lifeless face on the bloody tile floor of the bathroom with the shower still running. Norman stands bloody and unmoving, shell shocked by what he has just done. Norma is annoyed that he is not treating this situation like it’s old hat like she is. I mean, they have done the post murder clean up and body disposal more than a handful of times right?!  For a large portion of this episode, the interactions between Norman and Norma are a great display of humour at its darkest. I love that aspect of their chemistry. There is a great telenovela style slap fest between the two that had me in stitches. A much needed palate cleanser for such a heavy and grim predicament they have found themselves in.

My fears of Dylan returning to White Pine Bay and to the Bates Motel sadly rang true this week. It was absolutely crushing to see him break down in tears in mothers room when he really took in the fact that she was gone and that Norman is really really unwell. Even worse was hearing mother plant the seeds in Norman’s mind that Dylan has got to go.

Dylan returns back to the house and can’t even make it from his car to the front door without running into someone (in this particular instance, Madeline) seeking information on a missing person( Sam Loomis)  that has a connection to Norman. Right there, he should have left and gone home to his new born baby and to his wife who is not only a new mother but a double lung transplant recipient as a result of having CF.

Anyways, back to the dinner for two (mentally, three). Dylan attempts to talk Norman into getting back on his meds and that he will step in to help. I believe Dylan knows that this situation has gone far beyond anything that his involvement can turn around, but he will never stop trying. His selflessness has consistently acted as a form of self sabotage that will most likely result in his demise. What follows is a “for the record books” moment and an excellent example of character study and acting so gorgeously nuanced and meticulously crafted that its frightening in its genius alone. In this final scene we see Norma push her way front and center into Normans mind in the time it took him to fill a glass of water. When Norman Louise turns around to face Dylan and address him… it instantly becomes clear to Dylan that there is a surprise dinner guest… his dead mother Norma Louise. This is the moment when Norma strikes and hits Dylan over the head with a glass and tries to stab him. Norman steps in and Norma and Norman battle it out until Norman wins and picks up the phone to not call an ambulance for his brother… but to admit to the murder of Sam Loomis.

I really hope Dylan makes it till next week. Actually I hope he makes it in general. Romero is inching closer to Norman with every episode so it looks like the real face/off in the end will be between the two of them. With only a couple episodes to go, that could happen any day now.