Freddie Highmore is British, for those unaware, and his American accent waivers a bit but overall I

A E has gathered together some formidable talent to creates its  Psycho  prequel series  Bates Motel , with  Carlton Cuse  ( Lost ) and  Kerry Ehrin  ( Friday Night Lights ) producing, and  Vera Farmiga  ( Up in the Air ) and  Freddie Highmore  ( Finding Neverland ) as Norma and Norman Bates.  The series is billed as a contemporary prequel to Hitchcock s 1960 classic, hotels in tucson arizona and while the show does take place in that familiar setting with a few winking call-backs to the original film, it s clear that it wants to be its own thing.  The show is seeking to straddle that difficult line of basing itself off of very familiar material (which guarantees an audience, if just from the curiosity) though which also burdens it with the fact that things have to end up at a certain place at a certain point and doing something new with the story.  Things have started off slowly and strangely in the first hour, with the show seeming to not quite find its tone, but there are also some legitimately promising elements.  Hit the jump for why we belong to each other.
One of the issues I ve noted in a piece like  The Americans  is that because the show stays within the bounds of history, we already know the outcome on a macro level, and it s only when the show began focusing on more micro dramas that it began to really start to gain emotional traction.  As far as  Bates Motel  goes, we know how things are going to end up for Norma and Norman, and we can guess a lot of the rest.  And while  Bates Motel  teases this out by confirming a lot of our suspicions, it also attempts to do more than just be one long How I Killed My Mother.
Still, the pilot episode (like most pilot episodes) was clunky and occasionally campy, with Vera Farmiga playing a unsettling version of Norma.  She s not completely unhinged, hotels in tucson arizona but there is something hotels in tucson arizona not right about her, from the first moments we see Norman waking to find his father bleeding to death from an accident or was it?  Norma s calm and unhurried demeanor and slight smile seemed to indicate she was happy about how things played out, and possibly had a hand in them (saying I m sorry to Norman hotels in tucson arizona in comfort was it a confession?)
We find out later on in First You Dream, Then You Die that Norma is very resourceful when it comes to death, particularly when it comes to hiding a corpse.  That scene was very strange, and broke the trance-like hotels in tucson arizona pace of the rest of the episode hotels in tucson arizona with a very violent sexual assault on Norma by the creep whose family lost the motel and house to the Bates.  The moment was shocking hotels in tucson arizona and odd, as was her reaction to it later, after taking care of his body.   Norman, I m sorry that dirtbag raped me she says in a deadpan tone as they push the body off the side of the boat.
For his part, Norman doesn t seem comfortable with hiding bodies, and he vomits hotels in tucson arizona at school the next day over the thought of it.  He still seems salvageable, despite his interest in the manga sketches he finds that depict women bound and under duress (or did he create some of them himself?)  He s a weird kid, but he s handsome and likable, and is easily swooped up by a gaggle of attractive girls at his high school.  That development doesn t make a lot of sense, but it does give him a love interest (Bradley Martin, played by  Nicola Peltz ) as well as a friend, Emma Decody ( Olivia Cooke ), who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
In the original film, Norma is described as an overbearing mother hotels in tucson arizona who wouldn t allow Norman to have a life outside of hers, and while Farmiga s Norma is certainly emotionally manipulative, Norman does seem to want to escape from her close grasp (though surely feels guilt over it since the moment he leaves his mother is raped).  Yet, on the lake he basically professes his love for her.  Poor Norman hotels in tucson arizona comes off as being pretty confused.
One of the worst bits of the opening episode involved Sheriff Romero ( Nestor Carbonell ) and Deputy Shelby ( Mike Vogel ), who came poking around the  Bates Motel  in the night for no real reason, acting like they were suspicious of Norma but at that point, why?  And for Romero to pee right next to the corpse without seeing or smelling hotels in tucson arizona anything?  Unlikely.  But, as I have pointed out a hundred times before, pilots aren t usually hotels in tucson arizona that great, and  Bates Motel  has set up enough creepy small town elements to make it seem like it has the potential to become its own thing outside of the shadow of Psycho. hotels in tucson arizona  What people always want to know, after all, is what makes a killer.  It looks like we re going to get front row seats to this one.
Freddie Highmore is British, for those unaware, and his American accent waivers a bit but overall I think he s doing a good job.  The acting is a bit wooden at the moment hotels in tucson arizona but then again, it kinda fits in with the character.
Related Links: BATES MOTEL Episode Recap: Nice Town You Picked, Norma Comic Con: BATES MOTEL Panel Recap; Cast and Producers Talk Relationships, Re-Imagining a Classic, and Tease Season 2 Freddie hotels in tucson arizona Highmore, Vera Farmiga, and Producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin Talk BATES MOTEL at Paley Center Panel A E Renews BATES MOTEL for a Second Season First Look at Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore as Norma and Norman Bates in A E's BATES MOTEL
I watched this early the other night (On Demand) and I also tuned in tonight because hotels in tucson arizona I really liked what I saw. I may be biased towards the whole project though because I just love any, and everything Psycho related. Hitchcock s Psycho hotels in tucson arizona is my favorite horror film and I absolutely love Psycho II. I agree that the cops in the pilot episode were pretty much the only thing that bugged me. It felt very unnecessary. Why was he being so rude toward Norma? Didn t make sense. With that said, Im loving Vera Farmiga s take on Norma, it s wonderful. I have always liked Farmiga from The Departed to Up in the Air. Highmore is good too, I liked him in The Art of Getting By with Emma Roberts. I can t wait to check out next weeks episode. Im sure as is the case with most new show, this will only get better as it continues.
Just thought I d say the best callback was early in the episode when Norman came home for dinner and Norma was wearing the dress and her hair in the style of Norman s wig when we see him as the killer at the end of psycho!
Surprised by the review s harshness. It s a prequel to Psycho, there s allowed to be some suspension of disbelief (e.g. the cops). I thought the episode was great! One of the best pilots hotels in tucson arizona I can remember in a while.
SO COLLIDER the part about the cops Snooping around in Room 4 .. it will play a bigger part later on in the show !!!! why was the main Cop so rude and suspicious UMMM Hello it was his Book Norman found under the carpet !!!!!