‘Bates Motel’ episode 5 review: How does Norma move forward?

If there really is one word to describe Monday night’s episode of “Bates Motel,” “complicated” would see to fit the bill perfectly. It was an hour stuffed with some good news / bad news scenarios … in particular when it comes to the Bates family. (Who else would you expect here?)

The biggest event of the night was pretty clear: Norman and Emma managing to finally prove that Shelby is indeed not the good-natured deputy that Norma and many others project him to be. Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear just what Mama Bates can really do with the information that she now has. From one standpoint, he’s clearly a man with some issues; however, he’s also a man with feelings for her who managed to basically get her out of a murder convention. If she goes down the wrong road here, it could end up going very badly for her. It is these moments that Vera Farmiga shines the brightest, and the show is just so fortunate to have both her and Freddie Highmore as a part of the cast.

So where do we go from here after this fascinating hour of television? We’ll leave you with this bit of scoop via executive producer Kerry Ehrin’s chat with The Hollywood Reporter:

“She has to be extremely careful and make it seem, on the surface, like nothing has changed between them — even though everything has changed. She has to try and recover Keith Summers’ belt. So once she and Norman figure out a way to bring Shelby down he can’t then go after her. But as long as Shelby has that over her, she’s screwed. So for the time being, she has to be very careful around him and pretend like nothing has changed for her emotionally — which could be pretty tense.”

Overall, what do you think about this “Bates Motel” episode? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below, and you can also read some more news related to the show just by paying a visit over to the link here.

Photo: A&E