Bates Motel Season 4 Episode 8 Review: Unfaithful

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As Norman angrily chopped wood, clasping that ax tighter and tighter, I was mentally screaming, RUN, ROMERO, RUN!!!

After that thought pounded inside my head, I verbally shouted at my TV during Bates Motel Season 4 Episode 8. ROMERO'S GONNA DIE!!! 

The thing is, nobody else in my house is smart enough to watch Bates Motel, so this anxiety is killing me, and me alone. And all of you. We're in this together, right? Now, if only we had Norma's number, or poor Alex Romero's. 

Torn - Bates Motel

If the next two episodes of Bates Motel Season 4 are going to keep up this pace (or kick it even higher), I might need a pace maker before this is all over. 

I do not think Romero is going to make it out of the season alive. 

Then again, there are so many other lives that Norman can take out of sheer frustration alone, any and everyone in White Pine Bay should be worried. If only they knew.

To put it mildly, Norman is not pleased with Mother's actions. The only reason everyone is alive is because he's still dealing with the situation he despises as himself. Thank God. If he becomes unable to cope, it will become another situation entirely.

Have we ever seen an angry Norman who is only Norman? While I continued to have a very hard time liking the lad (OK, I'll never like him again), when he finally drove his point about Norma's overbearing mothering style being the reason their bond is so deep in the first place, I backed off a bit.

The kid has a point. If Norma hadn't been so overbearing, if she had allowed him to make his mistakes, tossed him to therapists earlier and not protected him to the extent she did, he would not have misread everything about his life to read as he does.

The way Norman sees it, he wasn't allowed to live like a normal boy because his mother just wanted him all to herself. Which is not right at all. 

Would any mentally ill person take responsibility for the things that befell them because of the wrongs their illness made them do? It would be especially difficult for a child to be expected to understand any of that. He's still trying to grasp that he sees Mother inside his own head.

If we ever thought mother and son could go back to the way things were, it's very clear that's impossible now. Too much has happened between them. 

Remember when the two of them used to snuggle up in bed for comfort? We'd think it was uncomfortable, but they would find comfort in that action. When Norman climbed into bed next to Norma, the way she twisted her wedding ring, I'm surprised she didn't cut her finger.

It really was like she was being unfaithful to her new husband. Norma seems to understand now that her son is a grown man and his place isn't in bed beside her no matter how cold it gets in the creaky old house.

How, exactly, does Norman feel about Norma being in love with Romero? Well, she didn't even admit to love and he felt like this:

Norma: But that's not what happened. I like him.
Norman: You like him?
Norma: Yes.
Norman: [vomits]

That was hilarious. Will we see Christmas and New Years? We're at the point in the series where everything becomes a moment of suspicion. 

As soon as Emma pushed Dylan to make love in the house when he clearly knew it wasn't a good idea, I imagined Norman going nuts on them. Instead, he discovered Romero sneaking into the motel to see Norma.

But even that alone wasn't enough to drive Norman over the edge. Eating dinner with the man, though, was pushing it.

RUN, ROMERO, RUN!!! 

Not just backwards and out of range of Norman acting crazy with that ax, but down the sidewalk about of of their lives. Alex Romero can't do that. He'd never do that. He's a hero.

Alex Romero will go down fighting. He'll probably be trying to get Norma to believe him that Norman is extremely violent until his last breath, which will be stolen from him by the little psycho. 

What are your thoughts? Can you breathe now? Has your heart started beating normally again? Who is going to die first?

If you have not catched up, tarry not! You can watch Bates Motel online right here.

Unfaithful Review

Editor Rating: 4.75 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 5.0 / 5.0 (22 Votes)

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.

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Bates Motel Season 4 Episode 8 Quotes

So as soon as I get this all straightened out, which should be in the next two weeks, you and my mother can get a divorce.

Norman

Norman: So, did the sheriff actually have to live here?
Norma: Sometimes, yes.
Norman: Sometimes?