'Bates Motel' Season 1, Episode 3: 'What's Wrong With Norman?' Recap

“Bates Motel”, season 1, episode 3, “What’s Wrong With Norman?”

At home, Dylan practices in front of a mirror with his gun, trying to pick his most intimidating poses. After he’s satisfied, he joins Norma and Norman in the kitchen. Norma says she can use his help around the motel, but he tells her he has a job, but won’t go into detail. He walks out, grabbing a quick breakfast.

In school, Emma approaches Norman, telling him she feels guilty about their little adventure in the woods and that she’s scared the men are going to come looking for them. He asks her for the journal back, since it’s pornographic and they’re in school. He says that she’s obsessing over it, and she says that he’s the one obsessing. He takes it back and goes to class.

During class, Norman stares blankly at his paper, struggling to get the mental pictures from the journal out of his head. When the teacher comes over to see if he’s okay, he begins picturing her bound and gagged like the girls in the journal. He then faints.

In the ER, the doctors inform Norma that they’re running tests on Norman to see if they can find the cause of the blackout. They ask her if he’s had a history of it, and she tells them no.

Dylan’s coworker drives him out to his new job, a massive field of pot in the middle of the woods. They meet up with two other workers who bid them farewell. His coworker reveals that it’s their job to sit there and guard the $5 million worth of pot, and as long as it’s safe, they can do whatever they want. Dylan is amazed he gets $300 a day to do it.

In the hospital, Norma sits with Norman as they await the test results. Norma gets a call from the carpet guys, saying they need someone’s signature, and she tells them she’s on her way. She leaves Norman, but Bradley arrives bringing flowers. She thanks him for visiting her when her dad was brought in. He asks how he’s doing, and she tells him that he’s in a medically induced coma and she doesn’t think he’ll make it. She asks about Norman’s dad, but he says that he died in an accident. She points out that her friends will never understand what it feels like, and asks to stay with Norman. She climbs onto his hospital bed, despite an empty bed next to them. They watch an old movie together, and she reveals that she just wants to be happy.

Back at home, Norma is upset because the carpet guys are charging her for too many units. As they discuss it, the police arrive with a search warrant and begin scouring the house for clues to the missing man.

Back in the hospital, Norma arrives just in time to catch the doctor. He says that all of Norman’s tests came back negative, but that he wanted to keep Norman in overnight for observation. When the doctor leaves, she tells the nurse that she’s taking Norman home.

As she’s pushing him through the hallways of the hospital, she tells him about the Detective and the cops, but reassures them that they wouldn’t find anything because there was nothing to be found. Norman, however, kept asking if she’s sure they didn’t find anything. Norma wonders why he keeps asking.

When she gets him home, he bolts up to his room and checks under his bed. All of the items he hid under there were taken by the police. He sits on the floor and cries to himself, asking “what’s wrong with me” over and over.

After he calmed down and changed clothes, he went down to tell Norma that he kept the missing/dead man’s belt, and that the police took it. Norma asks why, but he doesn’t know why. She begins to formulate a plan.

In the woods, Dylan asks if they can smoke the pot when they’re guarding it, but his coworker says no. Dylan asks if anyone in the town ever gets suspicious, and his coworker reveals that the pot farm is what keeps the town alive, and it’s owned by a few business owners in town. He says that Bradley’s dad was made an example of to send a warning to other people. As they talk, they hear a noise in the woods. They investigate, and find a pheasant. Dylan starts to hunt it, and his coworker follows.

Emma pays Norman a visit and forces her way inside. She says she wants to talk about the journal, and something she saw written in it. She saw symbols written, and then a number 4. Norman takes her to room 4 in the motel where he found the book. Emma thinks that Keith (the dead/missing man) was a human trafficker and chained women up in that room. She checks the sink in the bathroom and finds some Chinese scribble into the bottom of it matching the symbols in the book, meaning the girl was real.

Norma tracks down the Deputy and asks why the Sheriff is harassing her. She tries to get information out of him, and he informs her that he’s on duty, and that they can talk over dinner at his place. He assures her everything will be okay.

At home, Norma tells Norman she’s paying him a visit because he knows about the belt. Norman feels guilty.

At the deputy’s home, Norma arrives dolled up. They start drinking, and the deputy asks about the belt. She tries to deny knowledge, but he tells her to cut the BS. He tells her to be honest, and she says that the sheriff has it out for her, but he says that he’s the one who found it and no one else knows. He says that Keith was a bully with a temper. He then asks if Norman killed him, and she says no. The deputy tells her to stop standing up for people and trying to protect them. Then he says he’ll protect her. Then he points out how beautiful she is, and they make out.

In the woods, Dylan and his coworker eat a freshly killed pheasant. He asks Dylan where he learned to hunt, and he tells him about Norman and Norma and how he’s not close to any of them, his dad included.

At home, Dylan gets home when Norman is watching an old movie. He points out how weird it is for Norman to call Norma “Mother”. Then he notices that Norman is wearing a hospital bracelet, and cuts it off for him. He asks where Norma is, and he tells him that she’s out and he’s worried that she’s not back yet. Dylan tells him he needs to get out more and that she’s smothering him. Dylan brings up Norman trying to kill him with a meat tenderizer, but Norman doesn’t remember it. Dylan points out that their family is messed up, and Norman apologizes for supposedly trying to kill him.

Norma gets home later, and wakes up Norman to tell him that the deputy has the belt, but he’s going to hide it for them. Norman isn’t happy that she’s letting the deputy use her. She doesn’t have any other options and asks why he kept it. He says it was a memento, and she asks why he’d want a memento of her getting raped, and he just apologizes. She hugs and kisses him, telling him she’s there for him.

In school, Emma informs him that she was able to translate the Chinese character, and it means “beautiful”, and that she’s going to go to the police after school. Norman snaps and tells her that she can’t do it, and no matter what she does, the girl will still be dead, so it doesn’t matter.

Later that night, he lies in bed and starts to hallucinate. He hallucinates his mother telling him to get the belt from the deputy, because it’s his fault he got it, and that as long as he has the belt, then he has power of their family, just like Norman’s dad. He gets out of bed and walks to the deputy’s house.

He breaks in and goes digging through the deputy’s things in search of the belt. He finds a set of keys, but a dog appears and goes at him. He grabs a baseball bat, and jams it in the dog’s mouth, giving him time to get out of the room and shut the dog in behind him. He heads to a locked door, and opens it with the keys. It leads to a basement, which he goes down into.

He finds a workbench and lots of tools. He turns on the light and sees another door. He opens it and finds a Chinese girl shackled to the floor, not moving. He goes to check her, and she comes to. She grabs his arm and begs for him to help her.

Outside, the deputy arrives home and walks inside his front door.