Bates Motel Episode 201
“Gone But Not Forgotten”
Written By: Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin
Directed By: Tucker Gates
Original Airdate: 3 March 2014
In This Episode…
Season two opens the morning after last season’s finale, with Norma getting a phone call about Miss Watson’s death, and Norman waking up to the news. Norman takes the news really hard. He sobs uncomfortably loud during her memorial, and in the privacy of his room clutches her pearls like a rosary.
Bradley is too lost in her own downward spiral to know or care about Miss Watson. She is drinking and driving recklessly, finally pulling off the road when a big-rig nearly hits her. She considers things for a moment - then throws herself off a bridge, into the icy water below.
Four Months Later…
Norma has a new haircut and a new outlook on life. Business is doing very well at the motel. Emma is still working there, but things are icy between her and Norman. Bradley is not dead, but she is in a mental institution. Norman has been writing to her, but every one of his letters is marked “return to sender.” In addition to pining for Bradley, he is obsessed with Miss Watson and still mourns her, four months later. Norma is worried about him - between Miss Watson and his taxidermy, he needs to “spend time with living organisms.” She is thrilled when he asks her to take him driving - his driver’s test is coming up and he needs to practice. Finally, a “normal” request! Unfortunately, Norma is overbearing and Norman is a nervous driver. He drives to the cemetery, which launches them into a huge fight about about his obsession with Miss Watson. Driving lesson over, Norman makes his mom drive home. On the way, a construction site makes Norma swerve to a stop. Construction on the new overpass has begun, ahead of schedule. Norma thought she had more time. “This is the road that will ruin our lives,” she bemoans.
That night, Norma is preparing to take her fight to the city council. Norman tells his mom that he is headed into the village for a little bit. Shockingly, she does not fight him on this. He stops by Bradley’s house to see how she is doing and to offer his support. Bradley is cold, distant, and not interested in Norman’s friendship. Norman returns home and gets into bed with Miss Watson’s pearls and obituary. He dreams flashes of his night with Miss Watson, stopping short of remembering anything violent.
Norman goes to visit Miss Watson’s grave the next day. While there, he sees a mysterious man at the grave site. Norman snaps his photo and the guy angrily chases Norman off. Norman takes this photo directly to Sheriff Romero, who fails to see the significance of the stranger. He thinks this might be the mysterious “Eric,” whom Miss Watson argued with over the phone the day she was killed. Romero turns the focus back on Norman, wondering why he is so consumed by Miss Watson’s death.
Norma heads to the council meeting, where she is roundly dismissed. They close the meeting without hearing her, despite the fact that she was on the agenda, and when she does force her way to the podium, she is greeted with condescension and ridicule. The council dismisses the meeting, but Norma has to get the last word in: “You’re a dick.” Everyone freezes, and Norma has a mini-meltdown about being underwater on her mortgage and the town being built on drug money. The meeting is still adjourned. As she leaves, Romero sees her and warns her about Norman’s continuing obsession with Miss Watson.
When Norma gets home, she takes out her anger and frustration on Norman. “This has to stop! You are obsessed with Miss Watson! Why?” Norman finally admits everything - at least, what he remembers. He was at Miss Watson’s house that night, and didn’t tell her because she would have been angry. Norma softens a bit and sits beside him. He tells her that Miss Watson cleaned up his eye, and admits that he found her attractive, but it also felt wrong. Yet not wrong. Norma can’t hold out another second: “Did you sleep with her?” He didn’t, of course, but when she went to change he could see her undressing and he got scared. Norman starts sobbing, and Norma comforts her boy. “She tried to seduce you, and it wasn’t appropriate. You knew that, and ran away because you are a good boy.” Norman’s obsession stems from his guilt. He feels like he should have been able to prevent Miss Watson’s murder.
Bradley is pretty fucked up. After four months in a mental institution, she is cold, distant, and obsessed with her father’s murder. She plays with her father’s gun, and might have shot herself had her mother not interrupted. She pays Gill a visit, demanding answers to who killed her father. All Gill will say is that Jerry was out for himself and didn’t help anyone. He offers to tell her more if she comes inside, but his licentious looks scare her away. We later find out, after Dylan chats with Gill and some other guys at work, that Blair Watson was Gill’s girlfriend, and he wasn’t too happy to discover she was sleeping with Jerry Martin. Dylan meets Bradley out in the middle of nowhere and warns her to stay away from Gill and the whole operation. “I’m pretty sure your dad was having an affair with Gill’s girlfriend.”
Defying Dylan’s advice, Bradley goes back to Gill’s house. But this time she is going to seduce the info she wants out of him. Wearing a very short skirt, she sashays into the house and pours herself a drink, then starts kissing him. He sits, and she nuzzles him, then does the sexy little girl thing while gyrating on his lap and begging for someone to explain things to her. She takes off her jacket, unbuttons his shirt, and asks if Miss Watson was sleeping with anyone else. “I dunno, maybe,” Gill grunts. Bradley sinks down between his legs, but quickly reappears - with a gun. She doesn’t hesitate and pulls the trigger, blowing his brains out all over the window behind him.
Norman wakes to find Bradley in his room. “I need your help.”
Dig It or Bury It?
Well, Norman is no longer the craziest person on the show! Bradley has gone off the rails. I have a hard time believing that a father’s indiscretions could have such a powerful effect. I have to assume that is just a trigger. There is something else going on with her.
Norma and Norman’s relationship seems to have really evened out. Nothing particularly inappropriate happened tonight. Hell, even Dylan is growing up a little bit! I assume this won’t last much longer.
Is it possible that Bradley killed Miss Watson? That would certainly put her over the edge, make her try to kill herself. To me, it is more logical that Bradley would kill her father’s lover, then try to kill herself over the guilt, than it would be to simply try to kill herself because daddy had a mistress. Norman can’t remember what happened, and I don’t think it is an act. When he runs home, I don’t remember him being bloody. The more I think about this, the more I am thinking that Bradley killed Miss Watson.
Prophecies?
There is a lot of talk about what Norma would do if Norman left her. Seems kind of sudden, but okay.