Bates Motel
Season 5 Episode 7: “Inseparable”
Directed by Steph Green
Written by Freddie Highmore
Created by Anthony Cipriano, Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin
Starring Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Nestor Carbonell, Olivia Cooke, Ryan Hurst, Rihanna, Austin Nichols, Isabelle McNally
A&E
Air Date: Monday, April 4th, 2017, 10pm

Warning! Spoilers below for Bates Motel!

Last week was the episode we’ve been waiting for since the beginning of Bates Motel. We finally got THE SHOWER SCENE! Except in a unique twist it’s not Marion Crane (Rihanna) who takes the wrath of Norman Bates, but rather Sam Loomis (Austin Nichols). Loomis had been the bane of Norman’s existence this season, cheating on lonely hardware store-owning wife Madeleine (Isabelle McNally) and using the motel for his lusty affairs with Marion, who innocently believed him to be planning a life with her. Freddie Highmore continues to be Emmy bait this season, his scenes with Rihanna in Room 1 are frantic and unnerving. We are watching his Norman Bates fully unravel and as he loses his grip, Norma (Vera Farmiga) tightens hers. Now accepting his mother dead, Norman is forced to accept he needs Norma with him, to help him do the things he can’t or won’t. But for now, they need to dispose of a body”¦

In keeping with the mirrored shots from Hitchcock’s classic, on this week’s episode, 5.7 “Inseparable,” we open on Sam Loomis dead on the bathroom floor, the camera slowly panning from his eyes. Norman tries to cope with the realization that he is a killer. After all, he’s never done this before”¦ Norma has. As they approach the water to dump Sam’s body, the cops are there pulling Jim Blackwell’s corpse from the lake. Norman begins to freak out, especially when he finds out there may be more bodies in the lake. This is back to basics Bates with Highmore and Farmiga dominating the screen. Highmore wrote the teleplay for this episode, so he is a dual threat.

Sheriff Green (Brooke Smith) visits Norman with the “good news” that Blackwell has been found and thus not after him. Freddie Highmore stammers through their interaction. She has to know something right: police intuition? Romero (Nestor Carbonell) meanwhile is nursed back to health by Maggie (Jillian Fargey), an old friend. Norman, panicked that Sheriff Green may connect the dots and search the house, realizes they need to move certain things; well one thing in particular. He puts Norma’s corpse in a wheelchair and treks through the woods, leaving her where he can find her once the dust settles.

And then we get the reunion. Dylan (Max Thieriot) returns to the Motel upon finding out of his mother’s passing. Dylan shows off pictures of the baby as Norma lurks in the background. The camerawork is fantastic as Norma shifts in and out of view. Dylan sees through Norman and knows he is still sick. When alone, he breaks down and I’m nervous Dylan may not make it out of the house. Before I can gain any level of reassurance, Norma let’s Norman know it is just the two of them and Dylan needs to leave. And when Dylan tries to renew Norman’s prescription we learn a shocking reveal”¦ his doctor, who he JUST saw, has been missing over a year and presumed dead!

I have a terrible feeling Dylan is going to end up as the Arbogast of the series. Dylan bumps into Madeleine who is frantic looking for missing (dead) husband Sam. The dinner scene between the brothers is what tension looks like on a television screen and just when my heart is beating out of my chest, that ending!

Only three episodes left in this series and this was one of the most blood-pulsing episodes I can remember. I was literally shaking as I typed, and was about to start screaming at the screen during the last 10 minutes. The acting on this show is off the damn charts and so I again go to the hashtag”¦ #CanwepleasegetFreddieHighmoreanEmmynomination. Tweet it loud, tweet it proud. The man deserves to have his work recognized.

Bates Motel returns to A&E next Monday night at 10:00 PM.