It's Valentine's Day weekend, so you can be sure that DVD players everywhere were whirring away, playing every known romantic comedy under the sun, both yesterday and today. Whilst I do enjoy a lovey-dovey film from time to time, I managed to convince my significant other into starting the first season of Bates Motel this weekend; a programme I had seen but they had not.
So cosy on the sofa, eating our heart-shaped Thornton's chocolates, we started the first episode. And if a dark, twisted drama with strong Mama's boy undertones doesn't say 'I love you', then I don't know what does.
For those who don't know, Bates Motel is a reboot/prequel to all that took place in the story lifted straight from the 1959 novel 'Psycho' written by Robert Bloch. Even though the characters and plot did truthfully originate from that book, you may more commonly know the tales from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960's movie of the same name.
Freddie Highmore plays a teenage Norman Bates, the infamous fictional murderer who was best known for dressing up as his mother to off random ladies. Charming I know, but Bates Motel isn't quite as gruesome as that! It depicts Norman's beginnings in life and explores his messed-up, codependent relationship with his manipulative mother, Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga), giving you some insight into why he grew up to be so, shall we say, troubled? Yes, let's leave it at that.
What's so great about Bates Motel however, is it doesn't solely concentrate on Norman. The intriguing thriller-drama delves into the lives of all the Bates family members and how their moving to the picturesque area of White Pine Bay affected everyone around them. The storylines are fantastically paced as each mystery slowly unravels and another begins, making it almost impossible just to watch one episode at a time and call it a night.
Aesthetically too, the show looks wonderful. Set in the modern day (you would genuinely only know this from the technology used in the show), it so evidently pays homage to the roots of the story with it's trendsetting 1960's fashion and look. It's pleasing to the eye to see such elaborate costume and set design but in a 2014 setting and surprisingly, with the eerie small-town feel, it really works.
The acting builds on the greatness of the writing and style also, with excellent performances from Highmore and the rest of the supporting cast, but it is matriarchal Farmiga that really steals the show. Her portrayal as a single mother trying to maintain it all together and keeping her family safe whilst so obviously falling apart on the inside is fabulous to watch and she brings the character to life perfectly. Another way Bates Motel impresses is that every character is flawed. Norma isn't such an innocent woman with good intentions despite my description. Yes, she has her loved ones best interests at heart and she is so evidently losing it from the inside out as worse and worse things happen to her, but she's also selfish, insular, overly-dramatic and verbally abusive, controlling her son into doing whatever bidding she so pleases.
Norman's problems are much more under the surface, which makes him a lot more unpredictable and often, creepy. He's acts as almost the antithesis of Norma who makes such a scene throughout about her inner demons and the woes she goes through in life. Whilst Norma expels her angst outwards, you, the viewer watch Norman soak up her pain and worry like a sponge without ever telling of this burden, taking it upon himself to solve their problems, knowing all to well that that will have some dangerous consequences later on. Highmore gets the balance of vulnerability and scary so spot on, it makes the two leads brilliant to watch.
The perfect show to binge-watch, season one is ready for just that on Netflix UK at the moment, whilst both seasons are on Netflix US, so like me, I urge you pick Bates Motel as your show to watch this February ahead of the season 3 premiere at the beginning of March!
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