BWW Recap: Mother and Son or Husband and Wife? The Lines Blur on BATES MOTEL

Norman's downward spiral into insanity continues on BATES MOTEL! Tonight's episode picked up mere hours where we left off last week; we can safely assume Norman has killed Anicka, the young call girl staying at the motel. When Norma goes down to check on Anicka the next morning, she finds the motel room empty. Fearing the worst, Norma asks Norman if he has seen Anicka around. Norman assures her that he has not, but his facial expression as she exits the room suggests something different. Is it possible that Norman's blackouts have stopped and he remembers his own violence?

Later that day, there is still no sign of Anicka. Emma tells Norma that she last saw Anicka before she drove into town with Norman, which immediately sends Norma into a panic. She confronts her son about his previous bluff, but he covers his tracks by claiming Anicka had gone out drinking and asked Norman to bring her car home for her. Norma doesn't buy a word he says, and nor should she!

Emma and Norma decide to search Anicka's room for clues towards her disappearance. Norma comes across an invitation to a party at a hunting club, and asks Emma not to tell Norman about it. She later goes to the party posing as Anicka, but fails to get into the party. She decides to sneak into the event. To her surprise, she ends up witnessing what appears to be sex workers doing their, well, business. Even more surprisingly, Officer Romero was a guest at the party, and catches her snooping on the other party guests. He urges her to go home and promises to keep an eye out for Anicka.

Norman and Emma go on their first date and manage to share each other's sexual history. Norman correlates sex to nearly being another person entirely, which is probably due to his blackouts; the only person Norman has slept with and hasn't murdered is Bradley. Emma believes Norman's mother is does not want him to grow up and participate in adult activities such as sex. I think she's onto something.

To close the episode, we confirm what we already feared: Anicka is dead. Her body is currently lying beside a lake, but it is unclear how her murderer (cough NORMAN cough) put her there. Could he really be so careless as to toss her body in plain sight? And how long will it be until someone spots her?

We also met a new character this week; Chick, Caleb and Dylan's neighbor. Chick showed up on their doorstep completely randomly, claiming he was looking for his dog when in actuality he just wanted to snoop. Chick was involved in the marijuana business in its heyday and it's clear he is upset about the downfall of the business. Judging by his sketchy attitude, I'm betting Chick will only bring more trouble to an already troubled father-son relationship.

Norman's level of eerie was kicked up quite a few notches tonight. In several scenes with Norma, his eyes were lowered and his gaze was creepily intense, and he even sniffed her hair during a hug! As the series progresses, Norma and Norma grow closer to acting as husband and wife than mother and son, complete with bed sharing and intimate conversations. In fact, so much of their dialogue could easily be said between a married couple (once you realize it, it's pretty hard to un-realize, so I apologize in advance). I believe Norman never separated from his mother at the proper age, and as he reaches sexual maturity, his loving feelings for her are beginning to mix with sexual ones. And Norman's 'sexual' lines were pretty blurry to begin with. After their lingering lip kiss during the last season's finale, I don't want to think about what's coming next for these two.

Keep tuning in to BATES MOTEL Mondays at 9pm EST on A&E!

Photo Credit: Official Site

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