ICYMI: BATES MOTEL
Check It Out, But Don't Check In
In Case You Missed It is a series on PROVOKR highlighting cult TV series that have recently made their way to streaming platforms.
I remember the hype around Bates Motel leading up to its premiere. A modern day Psycho prequel starring Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates and Vera Farmiga as Mother? Sign me up. The series remained popular through its first season, and then, like so many shows before it, lost a lot of momentum after that. It’s a shame that a lot of viewers only stuck around for season one, though, because Bates Motel got better every year, finally winding down with a critically acclaimed final season that handily adapts the events of Psycho—featuring none other than Rihanna in the role of Marion Crane.
Much of the appeal of Bates Motel is aesthetic; from Farmiga’s vintage car to her and Highmore’s retro attire, this is easily one of the best-looking shows of the 2010s. Over five seasons and fifty episodes, showrunner Carlton Cruse of Lost fame crafted an anachronistic dream world which he then populated with characters created by Robert Bloch in addition to an enchanting roster of original ones. In this version of the Psycho universe, Norman has a drug runner older brother and a best friend with cystic fibrosis (Olivia Cooke, now a mainstay in the horror genre).
Bates Motel is also remarkable for succeeding where other “prequel to a beloved IP” shows have fallen short. For the first season, Norman’s high school life is a recurring B plot that sometimes takes the series into the soapy realm of teen drama. Unlike Smallville, which languished in high school purgatory for four long seasons, Bates Motel knew when to get out and get weird. It turns out “let’s take this character who audiences know as an adult and plop them down in classes, have them go to the big dance, have them go to house parties” is a far less engaging formula than other showrunners have thought it to be, so this series was right to drop it.
What else is there to say? The music is charmingly retro, the set pieces are Twin Peaks-gothic and the taboo themes that Psycho only hinted at are explored fully. Bates Motel is way better than it has any right to be, and if it weren’t on a cable network as obscure as A&E it might have gained more of a following when it originally aired. With all five seasons now available on Amazon Prime, there’s no excuse not to check in now to the Bates Motel.
