Bates Motel: Dylan's Job, Shelby's Secret, More Clues Surface

You know, I made it the bulk of the third episode without getting scared, and actually managed to handle the fourth just fine. I can't say this about the pilot or even the second installment. We do know now that Norman most definitely has some sort of mental problems, which will undoubtedly be further explored as the series goes on... into a second season, as was freshly announced by A&E. I'm still game for this creepy series, though I'm a bit freaked out as more and more of the characters seem to have horrible secrets... you have to wonder what will be revealed next! I'm particularly intrigued by Shelby's secret slave... what are you most interested in learning more about at this point?

Bates Motel "What's Wrong with Norman" (S01E03): Dylan practices holding a gun, then takes off with another guy to the wilderness where his new job is guarding the weed fields for $300/day. Dylan hunts pheasant while they're out there, and he explains that he's lived in a few different places. Later, Norman and Dylan talk, and Norman doesn't remember coming at his brother with a meat tenderizer. [so, do we think that Norman often blacks out, and that he killed his father?]

Emma tells Norman that she only wanted to go look for the shed because she wanted to hang out with him. The two then find some Chinese written on the bottom of a sink at the motel, and Norman has to urge Emma not to go to the police. [hmmm...] 

Norman passes out at school, and when the tests all come back negative, Norma checks out her son against the doctor's wishes, suspiciously saying that her son has never blacked out before.

Joseph Lederer

While the Bateses are at the hospital, the police search the motel with a warrant, and Shelby secretly confiscates the belt that Keith was wearing the night he disappeared, as Norman had taken it for an unknown reason. [what in the world...??!?] Norma goes to Shelby, who said that he'll protect her, calming the woman. However, she still asks Norman to get the belt back so the deputy can't hold it over them, so he searches Shelby's home by the light of his iPhone, though he doesn't find it. [I'm surprised he didn't seem the least bit scared!] He comes across some keys, and after fighting off a dog, uses them to enter the locked basement, where he finds a sleeping Chinese girl. [whoa!] The deputy gets home as the episode ends.

Bates Motel "Trust Me" (S01E04): Dylan followed Norman to Deputy Shelby's home, so when Shelby gets home, Dylan distracts him so Norman can get out of the basement, where the chained woman clings to him. [and left one heck of an ankle bruise!] Norman denies it all when Dylan confronts him, and when Norman tells his mother that he wasn't able to find the belt, she says that he imagined that conversation. [whoa.] She then goes over to Shelby's house to spend the night, and finds nothing in the basement. [odd.]

Shelby offers to take Norman fishing so that they can get to know one another better. However, the outing is cut short when Keith's hand is pulled up by a fishing boat and Shelby has to go investigate. [how did the hand get separated from the body?] Norma is taken in for questioning, as there were carpet fibers under the watch that may match what Norma pulled up the night Keith went missing. She won't tell the police where she dumped all of the carpet that she pulled up, and she gets upset when the dump is closed so she can't go searching for it herself. [but what would she have done? taken it all back home and buried it??] Norman tells Dylan all about what happened, and the next thing you know, Norma is under arrest for Keith's murder.

Also, Emma has a cold, and with the complications from her CF, she won't be in school for a week. Without her around, Norman focuses on Bradley, whose father died. They eat ice cream, watch videos, and wind up having sex. [didn't see THAT coming!]