Norma Bates: [voiceover in police custody, as Norman is thinking] It’s sad, when a mother has to speak the words that condemn her own son… in the end he intended to tell them I killed those girls and that man… as if I could do anything but just sit and stare, like one of his stuffed birds…  Let them see what kind of a person I am. I’m not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching… they’ll see. They’ll see and they’ll know, and they’ll say, “Why, she wouldn’t even harm a fly…”

(From Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, 1960)

 

Don’t read this until after you’ve watched the Season Two finale of “Bates Motel,” unless you want SPOILERS!

That final shot of this season of Bates Motel, an intentional homage to the last shot of Perkins sitting in a room at a different police station in the film Psycho, almost gave me a chill… like watching that scene in the movie does every time. Creepy, and a great season finale. If you were really into this season of Bates Motel, don’t forget to watch the after-show, “After Hours at the Bates Motel” (or it might be the other way around, but you get the idea). There are lots of cool interviews (Highmore is not the only British cast member), trivia (the actor who portrays Dylan, Max Thieriot , was unwise enough to challenge Kenny Johnson, the actor who played his father Caleb and longtime arm-wrestling champion ranked #3 in the entire US, to arm-wrestling*), and even the fairly entertaining gag reel from this season. A&E is re-running the finale and the after-show on Tuesday, I believe-check your local listings, or Comcast on Demand.

Here’s another piece from EW.com-– this one more of a “reaction piece”. Seems a lot of people were horrified by that kiss, among other things. It was a little uncomfortable, but they didn’t get that passionate (thank God) and only would have really creeped me out if it had gone on another second or so… or there was tongue.  Bleh.  Some fans seem more upset about that kiss than the fact that Dylan’s father is also his uncle.

*I did have a good laugh in the episode this season where Norman, who looks like he weighs maybe a buck-fifty soaking wet, tried to overpower Kenny Johnson’s character Caleb and stab him. If Norman had somehow managed to best him in combat, I’m not sure if I could ever have taken the show seriously again.