‘Bates Motel’ episode 4 review: Norman Bates is caught in a love triangle

After last week’s revealing episode of “Bates Motel” where we learned that Norman sees things that aren’t there and talks to people that aren’t there, we were sucked even further into Norman’s weird little world.

This week on “Bates Motel” Shelby comes home while Norman is in his house looking for Keith’s belt (and discovering a girl locked in his basement), but he manages to get out just in time thanks to Dylan’s diversion.  When Dylan confronts Norman about being in Shelby’s house, Norman shuts down.

The next day Norman runs into Shelby, and while he’s afraid that Shelby is going bust him on the belt (or from being in his house), really he just wants to bond with Norman because he really likes Norma.

Completely freaked out, Norman decides to tell his mother everything about the book he found and the girl he saw locked in Shelby’s basement. Norma tries to explain to him that sometimes he sees things that aren’t there, but he is convinced otherwise.

The next time Norma spends the night at Shelby’s house, she decides to investigate the  basement herself, but finds nothing there.  When she later tells Norman that she didn’t find anything she forces Norman to go fishing with Shelby so that they can get to know each other better. Unfortunately Shelby’s fishing trip gets cut short when Keith’s severed hand is discovered by a fisherman.

Norman tries to run home and warn Norma, but Shelby shows up at the motel to take her down to the station for questioning. After the conversation goes no where for the cops, Norma realizes she needs to finds the carpet they pulled from the motel and destroy it, but with no luck Norman goes to Dylan and tells him everything about what happened with Keith, Shelby and the girl locked in the basement. Dylan says that he’s going to help him and it’s really nice to see these two brother’s bonding.

Norman is still having difficulty being involved in a bit of a love triangle with Bradley who he bonds with because they have both recently lost their fathers and Emma who understands Norman’s darker side.  Although he had been spending a lot of time bonding with Emma, after Bradley’s father died Norman has become very close to her. Bradley invites Norman over to her house while her mother is asleep and not only do they share their first kiss, but also Norman’s first time with a woman.  Unfortunately while Norman is with Bradley, Norma is arrested for Keith’s murder.

Do you like Norman better with Emma or Bradley?  Do you think Norman is going to have to kill Shelby? And now that Dylan knows about what happened to Keith Summers will he find a way to bond with Norma?  Leave us a comment and tell us what you thought of tonight’s episode of “Bates Motel”.

Photo: A&E