Season 1 – Bates Motel

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Jacob B Aug 12 Being a devotee of Hitchcock, I avoided this series for a decade before giving in. I’m sorry I did. I have a prejudice against “prequels” and most sequels. Any competent writer should be able to tell you everything you need to know in one film (or one season), with a few exceptions — and this isn’t one of the exceptions. This series tells you nothing more about Norman than what one already knows from the novel, and the 1960 Classic film, and the three film sequels or the wretched remake. It treads water with its characters development, it adds ridiculous and unbelievable subplots that add nothing to the overall narrative (I mean, this small town is more violent and crime infested than NYC), and, most importantly, it has absolutely nothing new to add to Norman Bates backstory. There is absolutely nothing that wasn’t already known or suspected (and updating it to the present day adds nothing either, except to make the lovingly recreated Bates House and Motel of the original film seem ridiculously anachronistic). If this had been created as a limited series chamber piece that focused on Norman and his mother and his girlfriend, it might have worked and maybe mined some new insight. But as a five season series, it is bloated, unintentionally campy and a waste of time for anyone who already knows that no matter what the writers conjure up, Marion Crane will eventually have to check in and take a shower. See more Martin B Apr 10 What more could you want in a series? Great characters played by accomplished actors. The scripts never get old and the setting centered around the old hotel and house unique and compelling if not new. Loved it when it first came out, loving it just as much a second time 10 years later. See more michael p @Labspeciman 09/01/2024 The stories are amazingly fun. Creepy Norman and his doting mother. The original movie was based on the story of Ed Gein. Central Wisconsin cannibal. That is another real life horrow story. See more Michael L @MikeLewis 01/30/2024 It took me forever to start this show. I had watched 1-2 episodes before and always switched. I finally decided to sit down and actually plow through this thing. Don't hesitate, watch it. It's such a good show. Once it got to season 3 I started asking myself why the vibe of this show seemed so familiar. The intro, the pacing, reminding me Lost. Sure enough, it's the same guy who did that. It gets better and better, and things start to get into 4th gear by the 3rd season when it comes to Norman really making a drastic dark change. See more Mike P 06/08/2023 Interesting premise. It's sort of, what if the whole Psycho story happened today; and the characters were all more normalish than the psychotic menagerie you saw in the original movie... Like, more like US, the audience; how would that play itself out? So the challenge here is to touch on all the same beats of the original story; but the characters are US, and this is happening now. And how would this work out? (Or put another way, this is sort of the Psycho story plugged into the Wicked formula; i.e. taking a classic story, flipping it upside down and making the villain the hero; etc)...Most of it works great. English actor Freddie Highmore once again proves he's an extremely gifted and versatile performer; and Verma Farminga proves the same; as Norma and Norman Bates, respectively. And they have excellent chemistry. I'd say this works better as a drama, or psychological thriller; rather than horror like the source material was. And there's times when they're straining for effects and kind of shoe-horning this story into the formula here. But it's always compelling and interesting. Verdict: thumbs up 👍!! RECOMMENDED!! See more Claudiu I @Clausion 06/04/2023 I like how they build up the characters. A lot of broken people ruining their own lives and others. I loved how they build up tension and suspense. See more Read all reviews

Bates Motel — Season 1

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