Bates Motel: Season 1, Episode 5; 'Ocean View'

“Bates Motel”, season 1, episode 5, “Ocean View”

Norman returns home after his blissful encounter with Bradley. When he gets home, he finds Dylan eating breakfast. He asks where his mom is, and Dylan informs him that she was arrested the night before and is in jail.

Norman and Dylan visit Norma, who says she doesn’t want or need their help. Dylan says that they can put the motel up for collateral and bail her out. She tells them to leave, and that it’s all a huge mistake, and she didn’t do anything, so they’ll let her go soon.

Back at the motel, Norman digs through the papers in the office, trying to find the deed. Emma shows up and says she heard about his mom and that she’s sorry. Norman finally locates the deed and tells Emma that he can take it to a bondsman to get his mom out. She asks if he wants her to take him, and he says sure.

Dylan is working his job, as he and his coworker Ethan wander the woods. He asks Ethan if their bosses would ever give him an advance on his pay. Ethan asks how much he would need, and he says $5,000. Ethan laughs and says they’re not a credit union, and asks why he needs it. He says he wants to get a place for himself and his little brother.

In jail, Officer Shelby brings Norma some lunch, but she refuses to eat it, saying she can’t think about food. He sets it by her and leaves.

They get there and find it closed for lunch. They decide to wait for the bondsman to return. While they wait, Norman tells Emma that he has something he needs to tell her, but she can’t ask him a ton of questions about it. She agrees, and he tells her that he found the Chinese girl from the picture book. She presses him for details, and he says it was in a cop’s basement. Emma gets excited, saying they should go to the police about it, but Norman says they can’t. Not until he gets his mom out of jail. Emma leans in to give him a kiss and asks him if his mom actually did kill Keith Summers, because she wouldn’t blame her if she did. He says no, and the bondsman arrives.

That night, he sends Bradley a message saying that he had fun with her. He gets a message from the bondsman saying that the bail was posted, and his mom will be freed in the morning.

That morning, Norman waits outside the jail with flowers. Norma walks out and brushes past him, saying she has nothing to say to him, and that she’s walking home, despite him bringing cab money.

Later that day, Norma and Norman see Norma’s lawyer. Rebecca Craig tries to come up with a plausible story and get Norma off by claiming self-defense. Norma is upset by this, saying that she didn’t do anything and that she’s not going to admit to some false story. She storms out of the office.

In the car on the way home, Norman tries to tell Norma that she’s not helping herself. Norma goes off on him. She says that when she needed him most, he was out getting laid. He says that Dylan told him to go, and Norma says that everything is Dylan’s fault, and that he’s just trying to get Norman to turn against her. She’s also upset that Norman even told Dylan what really happened. He says he only told him because Norma has been doing stuff that scares him and he thought she needed help. She is upset by this and kicks him out of the car, 10 miles from their home. She tells him to walk, and she drives off.

As he walks home, Dylan drives by on his motorcycle and stops. He asks Norman what happened, and tells him to get on the bike. He drives him home. At home, Dylan says that Norma is a drama-addict and that it would be best for him to just walk out of her life. Norman says he could never abandon her, and Dylan points out that that is the whole point of a parent: to raise their kids until they leave them. He says that he’s getting a place down by the beach, and that if Norma goes to jail, then Norman is going to stay with him. And even if she doesn’t, Norman should stay with him anyway.

Later that day, Ethan gives Dylan $5,000 in cash. Dylan asks why, and he says that Dylan is good for the money, and that he and his brother need it. As they talk, a druggy walks up to the truck, and Ethan obviously knows him. The man draws a gun and shoots Ethan in the neck. Dylan panics, and tells Ethan to put pressure on the wound. He jumps into the driver’s side, and drives Ethan to the hospital. The hospital staff tells him to wait around, but once he sees the police arrive, he runs out.

That night, Norma drives out to meet Officer Shelby as sort of a secret rendezvous. She climbs into his Jeep, and he tells her that it’s best if they don’t see each other for a while. She knows where it’s going, so she climbs out of the Jeep, angry. He tries to talk to her and she cuts him off. He cuts her off by saying that he loves her and calls her stupid. He tells her that he was in agony knowing that Norma was sitting in the jail cell scared and alone, and there was nothing he could do. He says that he’ll think of something to get her off the hook, and she tells him not to get caught.

In the police station, Officer Shelby disables the security cameras and sneaks into the evidence locker and steals the only condemning piece of evidence against Norma.

While driving Ethan’s truck, Dylan spots the tweaker that shot Ethan. He runs him down, and ultimately runs over him.

In a coffee shop, Emma does some research of her own, using the little info that Norman gave her about the Chinese girl. She looks up other properties that Keith Summers might have owned. She finds that he owns a boat.

In the motel office, Norma gets a call from her lawyer saying that her case is essentially dropped because the crucial piece of evidence has mysteriously vanished.

In the house, Norman calls Bradley, still not hearing from her. He leaves her a long, drawn out, awkward voice mail and tells her to call him back if she wants. Norma rushes into the house and shares the wonderful news. He says that it was some kind of miracle, and she says she was pretty sure it was Officer Shelby. Norman isn’t happy to hear that, asking what Norma would have to do next to pay him back. He walks out of the house, just in time to see Emma pull up. She says she has stuff to tell him, but he tells her to drive him far away.

She drives him to a waterfront park, and she tells him about the research, saying that if Keith Summers was using the motel to hold the Chinese sex slaves captive, and eventually lost it, but he was working with Officer Shelby, as Norman said, then it would make sense that they’d move the Chinese girl to one of Keith Summer’s other properties. In this case, his boat. She notices that Norman isn’t listening, and asks why he keeps checking his phone. He says that he and Bradley are kind of together because they had sex. She points out that it was probably just a hook up. He says it was more, but when she asks him if Bradley changed her relationship status, he doesn’t answer, confirming her suspicion that it was a hook up. They agree to go check out Keith Summers’ boat.

That night, the sneak onto the boat and break into the cabin. They snoop around and Norman stumbles upon the Chinese girl from Officer Shelby’s basement. He and Emma help her off the boat and back to the motel.

At the motel, Norma sees one of the room’s lights on, and goes inside to see what’s going on. She sees the Chinese girl on the bed and asks Norman what’s happening. He says that she’s the girl from Officer Shelby’s basement, the one he told her about. She doesn’t believe him, and asks the girl. The girl confirms it. She still doesn’t believe, so she rushes to the motel office and grabs a picture of Officer Shelby. She shows it to the girl, and she tearfully confirms that it’s the man who imprisoned her. Norman apologizes to his mother, but Norma doesn’t know what to think of it.