Geek Syndicate
Rating
G G G GG
Episode Listing:
1. “First You Dream, Then You Die”
2. “Nice Town You Picked, Norma...”
3. “What’s Wrong with Norman”
4. “Trust Me”
5. “Ocean View”
6. “The Truth”
7. “The Man in Number 9”
8. “A Boy and His Dog”
9. “Underwater”
the first ten episodes so set it up to
be wrapped up nicely within a single
year. To be fair they had good cause.
This show should never have worked.
But as the show developed, so did the
audience and with that development,
the show runners realised that they
could slow down, reset and prepare to
be around for a while yet.
The show isn’t perfect. It’s true that
the series is at i’s best when it focuses
on the Bates family, rather than its
frequent veering off into Twin Peaks
style events and characters. That’s
not to say that this doesn’t work, because it does. But the story of the boy
and the mother who loves him just
that little bit too much is far stronger
and more compelling than ideas from
a television show from a quarter of a
century ago. Also it can be a bit soapy
and when the story isn’t on the Bates
family relationships, it feels very familiar. But these are small points in
what is overall a very good first year.
strong characters and confidant show
running. Only time will tell if this story
has legs to run past another season
but for now Bates Motel is a pleasant
surprise, and one that deserves your
time.
10. “Midnight”
Fact fans: A&E’s “Bates Motel” is not
the first attempt at making a television show based in the universe of
Psycho. That honour fell to a 1987
pilot starring Bud Cort, Lori Petty,
and Jason Bateman that failed to be
picked up by a network and wound up
airing as a TV movie on NBC.
Phil Hobden
So the ultimate question: Is Bates Motel worth your time? In a word, yes.
Alongside the similar Movie-to-TV
show, Hannibal, this was one of the
surprises of the 2013 television schedule. Charming and chilling in equal
measure (much like Norman I guess)
this is a show that, despite all the predictions of doom and gloom, broke
through with great performances,
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