Kudos has to be given to Norman for noticing that Emma had gotten all gussied up for a day at work. That’s the least he could do after the showrunners thought we missed the gratuitous scene of her getting all dressed in such a provocative way. But why does she continually want to impress Norman?
Yes, their relationship is new and in the honeymoon stage, and yes Emma has been crushing hard on Norman since his arrival in White Pines Bay, but from running out on her to take Annika into town to his being increasingly unkind toward her, we have to wonder if her condition hasn’t worsened and with limited time left if she hasn’t rationalized Norman as the best there is for her. That’s probably unlikely since she got all doe eyed for Gunnar at Dylan’s place. It’s more probable that the writers are trying to build her up as the loving girlfriend who did the best she could with a disturbed boyfriend and ultimately meets with an untimely and gruesome death.
But, if last week’s episode slowed things down a bit, this week’s episode drastically slowed down. Although there were a couple of exciting moments between emphasizing that Romero isn’t winning any popularity contests, Romero dealing with the cocky Marcus Young who’s vying to be sheriff, the reveal that the body found in the water at the end of last week’s episode wasn’t Annika’s, Norma going off to college, and Caleb buying expensive wood for a protesting Dylan.
One of the exciting moments was Norman’s violent explosion toward his mother. The reason for his outburst is that he’s tired of his mother’s constant suspicions and her belief that he’s a killer. The result is the return of imaginary Norma, who persuades Norman to nearly drown himself in the bathtub. And by episode’s end, he’s flip flopped on whether or not he remembers the events during his blackouts. You can be sure that next week mother and son will have a sit-down to talk about things… actually, Norma likes to sweep things under the rug and pretend like things are normal, so maybe no heart to hearts next week.
While Norma may not talk things out with her son, she may take up the offer made by the professor she met at college, Professor James Finnigan. The two met when Norma, in the wrong class, told Finnigan to get his own chair when he confronted her about her being in his usual seat. Dumb ass should have announced that he was a professor, because he does look like a generic hipster student.
Nonetheless, Finnigan and Norma had another encounter on campus and he apologizes to her, while also telling her that she has issues — because he has a superpower that enables him to recognize members of the “secret club of the damaged.” If he only knew how on point he is. In the end, he offers to “treat” Norma, which will probably lead to Norman finding out that his mother is making confessions to Finnigan, and then lead to a happy hipster offing.
The episode was somewhat bookended by Annika, who shows up at the end all bloodied and hanging on to her last thread of life. Before she goes into the big sleep she hands Norma a flash drive, mumbling something about Norman.
Where do you stand on this episode? What do you think is on the flashdrive? What will Norman’s blowout lead?
Rock Hard \m/
