Home > Bates Motel > Season 3 « TV Series Page Bates Motel: Season 3 (2015) SEASON: Season 3 Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Want to see Episode List Season 3 Bates Motel Critics Consensus Bates Motel further blurs lines around TV's creepiest taboo mother/son relationship, uncomfortably darkening its already fascinating tone. 95% TOMATOMETER Critic Ratings: 21 93% Audience Score User Ratings: 431 More Info × Close Submit review Want to see Submit review Super Reviewer Super Reviewer Tap to review this movie Review this tv season Edit Review Super Reviewer Rate this season Oof, that was Rotten. Meh, it passed the time. It’s good – I’d recommend it. Awesome! So Fresh: Absolute Must See! What did you think of this tv season? (optional) Submit Continue Super Reviewer Step 2 of 2 How did you get your ticket? Submit By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie. You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket. Super Reviewer Rate this season Oof, that was Rotten. Meh, it passed the time. It’s good – I’d recommend it. Awesome! So Fresh: Absolute Must See! What did you think of this tv season? (optional) Submit How did you get your ticket? Submit By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie. Episodes 1 A Death in the Family Air date: Mar 9, 2015 Norma sets boundaries with Norman in the Season 3 premiere. More 2 The Arcanum Club Air date: Mar 16, 2015 Dylan and Caleb meet a new neighbor. More 3 Persuasion Air date: Mar 23, 2015 As Norman grows closer to Emma, he starts grow apart from Norma; Norma balks when Romero asks Norman some tough questions; and Romero meets his competition for reelections. More 4 Unbreakable Air date: Mar 30, 2015 Norman and Emma take a day off from the motel; Romero begins to dig into two mysterious deaths in White Pine Bay; Norma returns to school; and buried secrets start to emerge for Caleb and Dylan. More 5 The Deal When Norma finds herself in a rare position of power, she appeals to Romero for guidance. Norman and Dylan both come undone at the fallout of a secret. Celeb considers an offer made to him by a surprising source. ---(C) A&E More 6 Norma Louise Air date: Apr 13, 2015 Norma considers a life outside of White Pine Bay, leaving Norman in a vulnerable position. As Dylan and Emma bond over helping their friend through a rough night, Caleb makes a difficult decision and Romero is confronted by a new threat. More 7 The Last Supper Air date: Apr 20, 2015 Norma has one big mess to take care of upon her arrival home; Norman agrees to get help; and Dylan receives shocking news about Emma's health. More 8 The Pit Air date: Apr 27, 2015 Romero confronts Norma about new information that has recently come to light; at the same time, Emma makes a decision about her future with Norman, who is left reeling from a recent discovery; and Caleb and Dylan accept a job that comes with some risk. More 9 Crazy Air date: May 4, 2015 Norman spends the day with a surprising visitor; Norma struggles to keep secrets under wraps; and at the farm, Caleb helps Dylan follow through on a good deed, but there's a cost. More 10 Unconscious Air date: May 11, 2015 In the Season 3 finale, Norma hits a breaking point with Norman's issues; Emma has a surprising reaction to seemingly positive news; Romero seals his fate in the town by finally choosing sides; and Caleb makes a decision that will uproot his new life. More Bates Motel: Season 3 Photos View All Photos (71) Tv Season Info Series 3 opens with Norman, now a high school senior starting his first day, hallucinating about Miss Watson, the teacher he previously killed. Because of this, Norma decides to homeschool Norman. Dylan confronts Norma about letting Norman sleep in her bed, and, as a result, she sets some boundaries with Norman. Genre: Drama Network: A&E Premiere Date: Mar 9, 2015 Exec. Producers: Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin Cast Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates Vera Farmiga as Norma Louise Bates Max Thieriot as Dylan Massett Nicola Peltz as Bradley Martin Olivia Cooke as Emma Decody Nestor Carbonell as Sheriff Alex Romero Keegan Connor Tracy as Miss Watson Brittney Wilson as Lissa Richard Harmon as Richard Slymore W. Earl Brown as Keith Kenny Johnson as Caleb Calhoun Michael Vartan as George Heldens Kevin Rahm Keenan Tracey Joshua Leonard Andrew Howard Peter Stebbings Emiliano Diez Show More Cast News & Interviews for Bates Motel: Season 3 50 Fresh Scary Movies and TV Shows to Watch on Netflix People’s Choice 2017 Winners Announced People’s Choice 2017: Vote Now for Your Favorite Movies, TV Shows and More View All Bates Motel: Season 3 News Episodes 1 A Death in the Family Air date: Mar 9, 2015 Norma sets boundaries with Norman in the Season 3 premiere. More 2 The Arcanum Club Air date: Mar 16, 2015 Dylan and Caleb meet a new neighbor. More 3 Persuasion Air date: Mar 23, 2015 As Norman grows closer to Emma, he starts grow apart from Norma; Norma balks when Romero asks Norman some tough questions; and Romero meets his competition for reelections. More 4 Unbreakable Air date: Mar 30, 2015 Norman and Emma take a day off from the motel; Romero begins to dig into two mysterious deaths in White Pine Bay; Norma returns to school; and buried secrets start to emerge for Caleb and Dylan. More 5 The Deal When Norma finds herself in a rare position of power, she appeals to Romero for guidance. Norman and Dylan both come undone at the fallout of a secret. Celeb considers an offer made to him by a surprising source. ---(C) A&E More 6 Norma Louise Air date: Apr 13, 2015 Norma considers a life outside of White Pine Bay, leaving Norman in a vulnerable position. As Dylan and Emma bond over helping their friend through a rough night, Caleb makes a difficult decision and Romero is confronted by a new threat. More 7 The Last Supper Air date: Apr 20, 2015 Norma has one big mess to take care of upon her arrival home; Norman agrees to get help; and Dylan receives shocking news about Emma's health. More 8 The Pit Air date: Apr 27, 2015 Romero confronts Norma about new information that has recently come to light; at the same time, Emma makes a decision about her future with Norman, who is left reeling from a recent discovery; and Caleb and Dylan accept a job that comes with some risk. More 9 Crazy Air date: May 4, 2015 Norman spends the day with a surprising visitor; Norma struggles to keep secrets under wraps; and at the farm, Caleb helps Dylan follow through on a good deed, but there's a cost. More 10 Unconscious Air date: May 11, 2015 In the Season 3 finale, Norma hits a breaking point with Norman's issues; Emma has a surprising reaction to seemingly positive news; Romero seals his fate in the town by finally choosing sides; and Caleb makes a decision that will uproot his new life. More Critic Reviews for Bates Motel Season 3 All Critics (21) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (1) Let me be clear: this is a good thing, that Bates Motel actually has it's own good little mood going on. Mar 10, 2015 | Full Review… Vinnie Mancuso Observer Top Critic I'm going to call this season of Bates Motel "the one where everything that you thought would happen didn't happen." Dec 15, 2017 | Full Review… Andrea Towers Entertainment Weekly Top Critic The series is not waiting around to develop Norman any further - he's ready, and so are we. As Norman says to Emma, "it's just time." Dec 15, 2017 | Full Review… Allison Keene Collider It's totally, completely Psycho. Dec 15, 2017 | Full Review… Michael Ausiello TV Line The show that would make even Oedipus cringe is back for its third season, and in the first of ten new episodes, Bates Motel looks like it's off to a great start. Dec 15, 2017 | Full Review… Alyse Wax Daily Dead "Bates Motel" is consistently entertaining, with flashes of dark humor, and a surprising amount of suspense, considering we all know how this story ultimately ends. Dec 15, 2017 | Full Review… Kristi Turnquist Oregonian Season 3 finale "Unconscious" put a major nail in the coffin Dec 15, 2017 | Full Review… Kevin Fitzpatrick ScreenCrush Tthe more the show can bring Kenny Johnson into the same scenes as Farmiga and Highmore, the more crazily intense Bates Motel will be, and that's a good thing. Mar 12, 2015 | Full Review… Ken Tucker Yahoo! TV "Unconscious" is an excellent finale to a exceptional third season of Bates Motel. This seems like a conclusion to the show we knew, and the beginning of a show where everyone realizes they are doomed. Dec 15, 2017 | Rating: 9/10 | Full Review… Ross Bonaime Paste Magazine For all the criminal complications, the focus is on the psychology of the characters, from a clingy and jealous Norman uncomfortably intimate with his mother to Norma's manic personality... Feb 12, 2016 | Full Review… Sean Axmaker Seanax.com It's a strong work of psychologically minded, character-driven fiction. May 8, 2015 | Full Review… Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Bates Motel's third season premiere isn't its best episode, but it's a strong, focused start to a season that has all the elements of being their strongest. Farmiga and Highmore continue to put out wonderful work here. Dec 15, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review… Daniel Kurland Den of Geek View All Critic Reviews (21) Audience Reviews for Bates Motel: Season 3 Mar 20, 2018 The Bates family begins to tear itself apart in Season 3 of Bates Motel. This season Norma makes a desperate play to save her motel by blackmailing the town's main powerbroker with a flash drive that has incriminating evidence on it; meanwhile Dillon tries to go straight as a marijuana farmer and gives his father a chance to mend their relationship. Additionally, Norman's psychosis becomes more apparent as he begins to regularly talk to and interactive with his alternate mother personality. However, despite some really interesting storylines, the writing is inconsistent; starting and stopping several subplots that don't come to much. Yet there are some incredibly powerful scenes and exciting plot turns that are quite engrossing. While it's a bit disjointed, the Bates Motel delivers a chilling and suspenseful third season. Dann M Super Reviewer Jan 29, 2017 When it comes to television shows making it past their first couple of seasons, it goes without saying that the quality of the show is either fantastic, or the fan base remains, regardless of the ratings. For Bates Motel, season three is yet another season that improves on its predecessors, solidifying that this is a show that gets better with age and much more mature as the seasons progress. Usually a show's third season is where things either begin to die out and become boring or just dives into deeper and more brutal material. The third season of Bates Motel is definitely the latter of that statement. Here is why the third season of Bates Motel continues the prequel series in an incredibly satisfying manor. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW. Throughout the first and second seasons, Bates Motel has been known to shock its audience with a twist every now and then, as well as creep them out in a big way. Season three ups the anti as far as the creepiness factor goes, having Norman wear Norma's clothes when she is not around and having visions of his mother in a much more sexual manor than ever before. For some viewers, this may be slightly more than what they bargained for when getting into this show, but if you have seen the film Psycho, you should know that the story is just going to become more messed up and twisted from here on out. If this show does one thing well, it's keeping the audience creeped out 24/7. When characters are explored and shown in a new light, it brings much more suspense to the story at hand. Dylan and Emma are two of the best characters on the show when they are given their moments to shine. Having said that, they have never had that much screen time together until this season, and seeing Emma drift away from Norman, to become infatuated with his brother Dylan, all while Dylan is trying to come to terms with the fact that his father is his mother's brother, is even more of a shocking twist. Her shy personality gleams off the screen and his portrayal of the badass, good-hearted accident-child is more than worth your time. Their chemistry has become my favourite portion of the show throughout this season. Although this season is trying to move the story forward at a very rapid rate, there are some very key episodes that return to past storylines, bringing in certain characters that have been absent for quite some time. Yes, there will be an eventual tie-in to the classic film when the show concludes, but that is still a couple of seasons away. There is quite a bit of room for exploring the past, having characters re-appear, and building up more secrecy, along with exciting twists. This is the darkest we have seen the character of Norman yet, and even though I know where his character will be in the future, I can't wait to see how he gets himself to that point. There are two seasons left. Let's see what they have in store. Bates Motel is the type of show that should have worked as a mini-series, but has somehow made itself into a five season television show that everyone loves. It is very rare that a product from the past is revisited for this long and doesn't run out of steam. Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore continue to to be remarkable together on-screen as mother and son, but the inevitable future will come that will tear them apart. I love where this show is headed. In the past seasons, the side-plot about Dylan and the drug business bugged me, because it felt like filler, but they have somehow managed to build a relationship with his father and Emma around it, making it just as interesting as anything else this show has to offer. There are a few slow episodes, but I couldn't find much to complain about throughout this season. Fantastic primetime television. KJ P Super Reviewer Aug 23, 2019 Vera Farmiga is Talented Best Show Ever Noah K Jul 07, 2019 as we become more and more disturbed by Normans behaviour and thoughts we become more and more disturbed by Normans incestuous thoughts christopher p Apr 04, 2019 Best season so far. Norman is developing, and his relationship with his mother Norma is growing and start to get more interesting. Still a lot of drama and unnecessary filler sub-plots. Ole-Martin P Jun 12, 2018 I have to say this is the biggest surprise of a tv show that I have had. Far better acted, written, and was far more interesting then I ever would have given it credit. When I originally saw teasers and trailers for the show I assumed that it was going to be A&E's copy of a teenage CW show with teen angst and drama. I had absolutely no interest after catching the first episode because it dealt with Norman at a new high school. I was entirely wrong about the show. I had assumed it was only a teenager show mostly because the actor looks like, and it is a young Norman Bates, and they focused on his mom a lot in the beginning, but for some reason I assumed she wouldn't be a lasting character. I mean how do you make Norma Bates, AKA "MOTHER!" a regular character. Not only is she a regular (and she is there on screen until the last episode), she is on the same level as Norman and they are both great characters, acted by very good actors. There is of course a lot of drama, violence, death and insanity, but that is expected from a reboot prequel of the original movie "Psycho". It hit all the notes for me, including the surrounding characters, unexpected reveals and even though several key facts about Norman are changed it is definitely Norma Bates. The only thing I hesitate on, and this isn't a poor reflection it is still great, I would have handled the last 3 or 4 episodes differently. SPOILER ALERT: I would have not had the final 3 or four episodes end the way they did, wrapping up the storyline 100%, instead I would have changed a couple of things that would allow it to end, right about where the movie started. That however isn't a bad thing, just a style thing. Pros: Excellent acting, writing, and kept my interest over the five seasons, even if I cringed sometimes. Cons: I stylistically would have wrapped it up at a different point, but that is purely a dramatic choice. I am really glad I did start watching it, and I encourage others to give it a try. Lucky B Feb 25, 2017 "Bates Motel" is a very strange show in that it has an audience that is practically split right down the middle. You have the fans of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" who are looking for a prequel tale (like me), and then you have the people who likely don't even know who Alfred Hitchcock is and are just wanting a solid psychological drama (the younger viewers). For that second group, this season will likely be a knockout effort. For the first ("my group"), however, this is unfortunately more of a "setup season" (much like the first) in the way it manipulates the backstories of the characters. For the first three episodes of this Third Season, I was completely absorbed. Norman (Freddie Highmore) has some great scenes with Norma (Vera Farmiga), and the issue of Norman's confused/innocent/odd sexuality (that is such a key component of Hitchcock's film) is pursued in earnest. It really looked like the show was going to continue to build off its incredible Season Two campaign. Unfortunately, the rest of the season is rather mediocre, for a number of different reasons. I won't go into any major spoilers here, but suffice it to say that there are just too many characters who aren't given very many interesting things to do (at least as they relate to Norman's backstory). For example... -Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell) is now almost completely useless to the show. I honestly don't see what his character brings to the storyline anymore, but he is likely contracted as a main player due to the fact that he WAS a main player in the first season coming off of his tremendous LOST success. -The same goes for Dylan (Max Thieriot). The writers try to give Dylan some interesting material by making his father, Caleb (Kenny Johnson), a major part of the season, but it still comes off as "just something to kill time". When Dylan's character was used to show how strange Norman really was, that was a much better usage. But, that could only last so long. -Emma (Olivia Cooke) suffers a similar fate as the previously mentioned characters. She is "always around", but when you really stop and think about it, nothing major seems to happen with her. All of that being said, this isn't a terrible season by any means. There are some truly great canon moments revolving around Norman/Norma. I'm talking moments that will almost take your breath away if you know their significance from the "Psycho" film. There were just enough of those moments to keep me interested to see what would crop up from week to week. As such, I view this season much like the first season, which was all about pot fields and hidden Asian girls and only little glimpses of Norman's psyche. The second season reversed the formula (more Norman, less hijinks), and this third season made the old switcharoo yet again...and not for the better if you are watching for the same reasons I am. So, I think the final verdict on this season will really come down to why you are watching this show in the first place. Those wanting an epic prequel to "Psycho" may be a bit disappointed (those great moments are few and far between), while viewers who couldn't give a rip about the film tie-in aspect might just enjoy the show as much as ever. In the case of "Bates Motel", it really is all about what you are looking for. Zach K Feb 01, 2017 Beware of Norman Bates because this season shows his dark side and split mind joseph h Nov 08, 2016 HERE WE GO, Norma gets focus here, Norman gets back to murder & other folks in White Pine Bay begin to wise up a little bit to the dangers in the Bates motel. BINGE VIEWING MUST! Mikael S Aug 26, 2016 One of my new favorite shows! Great cast, characters, directing, tension, great everything! Boogie B See all Audience reviews News & Features 150 Erotic Movies Ranked worst to best! 2019's Most Anticipated 63 movies coming up this year 200 Essential Movies Chosen by RT staff! Best of Netflix Movies and shows to binge now More News & Features TOP HEADLINES Who Is the Best Joker? – Rotten Tomatoes All 26 James Bond Movies Ranked – Rotten Tomatoes 100 Essential Spanish-Language Movies – Rotten Tomatoes 200 Essential Movies To Watch Now – Rotten Tomatoes The Best LGBT Movies on Netflix Right Now – Rotten Tomatoes 10 Great TV Shows That Failed in Their Final Seasons – Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes’ First Book Rotten Movies We Love is Out This October – Rotten Tomatoes Your Full List of All Upcoming DC Movies – With Key Details – Rotten Tomatoes More Headlines View All Results Go back More trailers