The fourth season of Bates Motel proved to be the showās darkest yet as it went to a place no one thought it would quite so early.
If you havenāt seen the fourth season of Bates Motel and want to avoid spoilers, we suggest you stop reading now. If you have seen it and want to hear our thoughts on season 5 then keep reading.
When Bates Motel started we all knew that Norma Batesā (Vera Farmiga) days were numbered but many, including this fan, thought that her death would come at the end of the fifth and final season. Well how wrong were we? Norma succumbed to Normanās (Freddie Highmore) madness in the second half of season 4 as he gassed her while she slept and attempted to take his own life. Romero (Nestor Carbonell), who married Norma earlier in the season, suspects foul play on Normanās part and the two shared some explosive scenes.
By the season finale Norman was seeing Norma alive and well in his imagination setting up the final descent into madness that leads to the events previously shown by Alfred Hitchcockās Psycho. Dylan (Max Thieriot) and Caleb (Kenny Johnson) have no idea that Norma is dead but just how long can her passing be kept from them? My guess is not all that long.
With the fifth and final season due to air in 2017, there is a lot of scope for the show to go out with its strongest season yet. Itās already been announced that Marion Crane will be making her way to the Bates Motel as a recurring character but not much else is know yet about the season.
Iāve put together a list of the 10 things I want from Bates Motelās final seasonā¦
1. Season 5 not to be a rehash of Psycho. I have a lot of faith in the writers of Bates Motel but I really hope that the arrival of Marion Crane doesnāt lead into a retelling of Psycho. Iād always expected the show to end with Marion checking in so the two didnāt really overlap but with the news that sheās a recurring character Iām slightly worried. I hope that the season draws to a close around the time of Marionās murder and doesnāt go further than that.
2. Romero vs Norman. This one has been brewing all season and Romero is determined to prove that Norman is responsible for Normaās death. If the show is true to Psycho, then Norma AND her new husband were both murdered by Norman. With that in mind I donāt expect Romero to make it out of the season alive but I hope he puts up a good fight.
3. Dylan and Caleb to return. Both characters know what Norman is capable so it seems likely that once they find out about Normaās death, they will return to find out the truth. It would prove an opportunity for some much-needed father/son bonding.
4. The truth about Emmaās (Olivia Cooke) mum to come out. That storyline felt slightly abandoned by the end of the season after Dylan was shut down by Norma when he started asking questions. Surely Emma needs to find out what happened to her mum?
5. More murders. It would seem likely that none of the characters, other than Norman, can really make it out of the season alive doesnāt it? Surely if Dylan, Emma, Caleb or Romero survived they would eventually find a way to prove Normanās guilt? This will all depend on how closely the show sticks to the source material of course so maybe itāll forge its own path by the end of the season?
6. Fewer pointless sub-plots. To be fair season 4 only had one plot I didnāt care for and that was Romeroās involvement with Rebecca (Jaime Ray Newman). Thankfully the drug trade played barely any part in the season so season 5 needs to concentrate solely on Norman.
7. Plenty of Norma. With Norma only existing in Normanās head now, thereās a chance she wonāt be as prevalent as she was in previous seasons. We know that Norma continues to be a huge presence in Normanās life after her death so I want to see Vera Farmiga getting a lot of screen time.
8. Chick (Ryan Hogan) to tell people what heās seen. Chick is the only character that knows Norman dug up his motherās body and has it in the house. He may have had a stormy relationship with Norma but Iād like to think that seeing her dead body lying on the couch in her house isnāt something heāll keep to himself.
9. The ghosts of Normanās past. If Norman is now seeing Norma in his head after he killed her, what about his other victims? It would be an interesting plot device if Norman was haunted by the ghosts of those people heās killed.
10. Plenty of shocks. I feel like season 5 could go in a predictable direction so I hope the show runners through a few curve balls. Unexpected twists, surprising shocks and jaw-dropping moments are what I want to see.
Bates Motel will return to A&E in the US and Universal Channel in the UK in 2017.