In
this day and age, serial killers actually have fans. Maybe it is not the best way to get back at
your mother anymore. Nonetheless, a mild
mannered teenager named Norman has a complicated relationship with his mother
Norma that will eventually drive him to become the definitive psychopath. High school may not help much either. Viewers will learn how he gets from here to
there in A&E’s prequel reboot Bates
Motel (promo
here), which
premieres Monday night.
Norman
Bates as played by Anthony Perkins in Hitchcock’s original masterpiece and a
series of better than you might expect 1980’s cash-in sequels was always a tragic
figure, even when hacking away at a guest in the shower. Despite the body count we never hated Bates,
because he never took pleasure from his compulsions. In contrast, Motel periodically intersperses its primary drama with flashforwards
to what appear to be the mature psychotic Norman engaged in some Saw-like torture-horrors. It is a rather dubious strategy, undercutting
viewer sympathy for the appropriately awkward but earnest Freddie Highmore’s
Norman. At least that is the case in the
first episode, “First You Dream, Then You Die.”
After
some messy but ill defined business with Norman’s father, Norma Bates decides
she and Norman need a fresh start.
Sleepy White Pine Bay looks like a nice place for it. Buying a foreclosed motel right off the
highway with a spooky old house out back, the Bates are ready to start over. Of
course, Norma Bates is not about to allow her son to socialize with the school
hotties who show an inexplicable interest in him. She also hears some troubling news about a
highway bypass. Worst of all, the former
owner seems determined to harass her.
This will be a profound mistake on his part.
Highmore
really could pass for a young Perkins, but seeing Norman Bates with an mp3
player just does not feel right. The
character and locale are just so firmly in 1960, any attempts to update them
are jarring. Still, the interaction
between Norman and Norma plays well for fans of the franchise. Frankly, it is a little scary how easily we
accept Vera Farmiga as the mother of all manipulative mothers. It is hard to judge from just the initial
outing, but even some of the high school kids show potential to grow as
characters. Indeed, innocent young
Norman Bates confronting Twins Peaks-style
small town mysteries is definitely a promising premise. However, it is hard to get around the pilot’s
buzz-killing tonal shifts.