When A&E announced plans to create “Bates Motel,” a quasi-prequel series to the Hitchcock classic “Psycho,” the network executives must have been thinking that Monday night’s TV slots needed to get a whole lot weirder.
Telling the story of a teenage Norman Bates and his overbearing mother Norma, “Bates Motel” is quite possibly the creepiest and most unnerving show on television. The series, which was developed by former “Lost” producer Carlton Cuse, was able to combine intrigue, murder, marijuana and Oedipal overtones, all in the first episode.
The weirdest thing of all, however, is that through the first three episodes, “Bates Motel” works, and that’s because of the strength of its leads.
The relationship between Norma and Norman, played by Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore respectively, is the driving force of the series.
Highmore, who came to prominence after his performance in “Finding Neverland,” plays the young Norman, a 16-year-old who after finding his father dead from an accident, picks up and moves with his mother to Oregon to run a motel (which seems to be an odd grieving process, but it works with the way Highmore plays it perfectly). As Norman Bates is supposed to be charming and quiet on the one hand and a budding sociopathic murderer on the other, Highmore shows a subtle range in what is truly a difficult role that makes even the most cynical viewers involved in his development.
And as for Norma, whose overbearing nature is what fosters Norman’s psychosis, Farmiga is absolutely perfect at playing an overly attached, impulsive mother who espouses a motto of doing anything to protect her son.
Outside of Highmore and Farmiga, the remaining cast of characters leaves much to be desired. Jungian archetypes abound in the acting of the supporting characters, especially with “Lost” holdover Nestor Carbonell (who was probably casted through the combination of knowing Cuse and having the singularly most man-pretty eyelashes of all time) as a bloodhound sheriff investigating the Bates’ seedy past. Other characters include Max Thieriot as Dylan Massett, Norman’s angsty and shady half-brother, and Nicole Peltz as Bradley Martin, one of Norman’s two possible love interests (well really, the number is three if you count Norma). Luckily for “Bates Motel,” however, these characters occupy only minor moments on screen, as the series is dominated by the much more interesting story of Norma and Norman.
Aside from the minor character casting, another issue for the series is the overt creepiness of it. While Norman and Norma being weird is well within the bounds of imagination, “Bates Motel” doesn’t do itself any favors in terms of believability by making the entire world the the couple inhabits filled with weird people. It’s almost as if A&E is trying its best to foster a David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” vibe in every character. Not only are their neighbors one-dimensional, but some are rapists, murderers, pot-growers or even sadomasochists. It’s a town filled with so many deviant characters that the National Sex Offenders’ registry would mark this seemingly quaint Oregon town as one gigantic blue dot. The story would flow much more easily if the Bates’ were the epicenter of weirdness, not just another drop in the pond.
While “Bates Motel” is definitely not perfect, the positives far outweigh the problems. There are character holes and writing problems, but the strength of Highmore and Farmiga’s performances make it an hour worth watching.
While only in its third episode, “Bates Motel” is just starting to hit its stride in terms of plot lines for the rest of the season, and if the past sample has been any indication of things to come, it’s safe to assume that Monday nights will get a little bit weirder, in a good way.
“Bates Motel” airs at 10 p.m. on Mondays on A&E.
