#30

Bates Motel

Bates Motel was based on Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho, though it took some step that the movie did not take. And it was for the better.

Bates Motel was on A&E and went five seasons.

I loved Bates Motel. It was so insanely well written and acted that these already iconic characters became even more so.

Freddie Highmore played Norman Bates as a teen and his performance as the mentally imbalanced youth was amazing. You knew Norman’s destiny, but you just could not help but hope they would find a way around it.

Vera Farmiga played Norma Bates and she brought the character to life. She was spirited, passionate and a force of nature and you wished beyond all hope that she would not end up dead as a corpse in the attic. Her realtionship on the show with Nestor Carbonell’s Sheriff Alex Romero is one of my favorite TV couples of all time. Both of these damaged characters absolutely came to life when they got together. It was way too short of a relationship.

Of course, the signature relationship of Bates Motel was between Norman and Norma. The relationship bordered on obsessive from both sides and the toxicity was obvious. Another excellent addition to the show was Norma’s other son, Dylan, played by Max Thieriot. The second son brought such an unknown quality to the show and became one of my favorite characters on the canvas.

You were never quite sure where the show was going. It combined amazing drama with horror and mysteries that seemed to have clear answers, yet you were never quite sure.

As a “contemporary prequel” to Psycho, Bates Motel was a thrill a minute.