Bates Motel: Season 1, Episode 6: 'The Truth'

“Bates Motel”, season 1, episode 6, “The Truth”

Still processing what she learned about Officer Shelby, Norma sits in a comatose state. When Norman and Emma talk about what to do, Norma springs to life and runs for her car. Norman chases after her, trying to stop her from going to Officer Shelby’s house. She starts the car and begins to drive, but Norman dives in through the passenger window and wrestles her for control of the car, throwing the keys out the window. She is angry, saying Shelby can’t get away with it, but Norman says they have to deal with it the right way. She calms down and agrees.

Dylan meets with his boss, Gil, and tells him what happened with Ethan, and tells him that he’s dead and he is sorry. Gil asks Dylan if he’d be able to identify the man who killed him, and Dylan says that he already did and that he ran him over. Gil says that he stepped up and took care of things, and he says he did a good job. Then he asks how Dylan plans to cover it up, and he Dylan says he has the truck still. Gil instructs him to take the truck up a deserted road, fill the tank, and then set it on fire.

Dylan does just that, and a man shows up, surprising him. He says that Gil sent him, and his name is Remo. Dylan starts asking about him, and Remo realizes just how young Dylan is. Dylan assures Remo that he’s a hard worker and won’t get in the way. Remo tells him that Dylan isn’t working for him, but that he’s working for Dylan.

In the motel, Norma brings the Chinese girl some food, but she can’t seem to wake her up. Norma returns to the house and tells Emma and Norman. Emma says they need Jiao, the girl, to go with them to the police, otherwise no one would believe their story. Emma suggests calling the FBI, but Norma says Jiao just needs a lot of sleep, and that they can take her in the following day. Emma seems okay with this.

Norma and Norman walk Emma to her car, and Norma asks if she should call Emma’s mom, and Emma points out that her mom left her 8 years ago. Norma apologizes and says she deserves better. Emma gives Norma a hug and says that she just wants to do the right thing. Norma assures her that they’ll take care of everything the next day. Emma drives away, and Norma tells Norman there’s no way in hell that they’re going to the police, not until they can get Keith Summers’ belt back from Officer Shelby.

That night, Norma dresses up. She plans on going to Officer Shelby’s house and searching for the belt when he goes to sleep. Norman doesn’t think it’s safe. Norma apologizes for not believing Norman’s story about Jiao. Dylan overhears and says that if Officer Shelby knows they found the girl, then he’ll turn in Norma. He asks where Norman found her, and he says she was on Keith Summers’ boat, so Dylan has Norman lead him there, because that’s where the belt would be, since Norman couldn’t find the belt in Officer Shelby’s house last time.

On the way to the boat, Dylan tells Norman that he paid for his new place and he has the keys. He tells him that he needs to move in with him because Norma is going to bring him down.

On the boat, they search through every nook and cranny. As they search, Dylan asks Norman how he thinks his dad died. Norman says it was an accident, and Dylan says he believed that Norma did it and took the insurance money and ran, and that she’s insane. Dylan finds the belt hidden in a ceiling panel.

Meanwhile, at the house, Officer Shelby pays Norma a surprise visit. He couldn’t wait to see her, and she says it’s a bad idea that he’s there (since she’s waiting for her sons). He says he was hoping they could sneak down to the motel and get their freak on. She goes with him, but doesn’t seem too enthused.

At the boat, Ethan throws the belt overboard, reassuring Norman that no one will find it now, and now Norma is in the clear. He says that he’ll take Norman home to pack his things so he can move in that night.

At the motel, Officer Shelby notices the water running in one of the rooms. He asks Norma if they have any guests, and she says no. He draws his gun and tracks the sound. He tracks it to Jiao’s room. He knocks and tells her to open the door, since he’s a cop. Norma tries to lead him away from the room, but he knows she’s lying. Jiao opens the door and sees it’s him, and she panics and runs away into the woods. Officer Shelby chases after her, trying to shoot her. He shoves Norma against a wall and she collapses to the ground.

The boys get back to the motel, and Norma weakly walks over to them. They tell her about the belt, and that they’re there to grab Norman’s stuff because he’s moving out. Norma can’t believe what she’s hearing… And she informs them that Officer Shelby is there and he found Jiao and he has a gun. They tell her to get in the truck, and they’ll drive her to safety, but she refuses to move, saying she doesn’t care of Shelby kills her or not. She demands to know from Norman if it’s true or not, and why he would ever leave her.

As they talk, Officer Shelby returns. He draws his gun on Dylan and Norman. He instructs Dylan to hand over his weapon, and then he tells them all to march up to the house for a little chat.

In the house, Shelby is in a panic. He blames Norman for snooping around. He says that he truly loved Norma, and that he was going to take care of her and Norman for the rest of his life, but Norman had to ruin everything. Norma tries to beg him to let them go, and he begins to hit her. Norman goes into a trance and attacks Shelby, causing him to drop his gun. Dylan dives for it and starts shooting at him. Norman passes out after hitting his head, and Norma tries to wake him up. Dylan and Shelby get into a shootout.

Dylan gets shot in the shoulder but eventually shoots Shelby in the leg, causing him to drop his gun. Dylan goes to dispatch him, but his gun is out of ammo. Shelby reaches for his gun, and shoots at Dylan. Dylan runs upstairs for cover, and Shelby weakly chases after him.

Norma drags Norman outside, trying to wake him. She calls 911 and finally gets Norman to come to. She has him stand up, and she walks with him to the car. He’s out of it, and she says she’s going to take him away. Except that she left her keys in the house. She hears several more gunshots in the house, and then silence. She curses herself and notices a man walk out of the house.

It’s Officer Shelby, covered in blood. He raises his gun towards Norma, but collapses. Shortly after, Dylan walks out of the house. Norma runs out of the car and hugs Dylan, happy to see him alive. The police are coming, and Dylan suggest they just tell the police the truth. Norma says they can’t because Dylan doesn’t know the whole story.

Back to the day Norman’s dad died, Norma tells Dylan the real story. Norman’s dad was smacking Norma around over money problems, and it escalated. Norman went into a trance and ended up killing his father with a blender. Norma couldn’t get Norman to snap out of it, so she put him in his room and cleaned up the body. She dragged it into the garage and knocked over a shelf to make it seem like an accident, and then never told Norman the truth of what happened.

Back to now, she tells Dylan that they need to protect Norman, and that he can either help or get out of her way.