Bates Motel Recap: “Trust Me”

Bates Motel Recap: “Trust Me”
Original Air Date (A&E): Monday April 8, 2013
Season 1 Episode 4

by Julianne Snow:

The episode opens with Norman on the road in the middle of the night on his way to Officer Shelby’s house. His intention: to recover the belt of Keith Summers. Norman is operating in some kind of trance and doesn’t notice that his brother has seen him, or that Dylan follows him to the house. When Shelby comes home, he finds his dog locked in an upstairs bedroom. Meanwhile, Norman is trying to convince the young woman he found in the basement that he will come back for her before he escapes out the window. Seeing that the Officer has come home and not wanting Norman to get caught, Dylan knocks on the front door in a ruse to get gas, allowing Norman extra time to escape, which he does.

When Norman gets home Dylan confronts him, wanting to know what kind of trouble he’s gotten into. Norman is dismissive, telling his brother that he’s not in any trouble.

After finding the girl in the basement, Norman goes to talk to Emma about it. When he knocks on her door, it’s answered by her father who tells Norman that Emma has the flu. He also reveals that she has a crush on Norman and asks him not to hurt her feelings.

Norma meets Shelby for an afternoon tryst, part of the arrangement for Shelby not revealing the existence of the belt. After they use one the other motel rooms, Dylan sees them leave and is introduced to Shelby. There is a certain amount of awkward tension in the meeting as they both appear to recognize each other from the previous night. Dylan later confronts Norma about Shelby, stating that he doesn’t trust him.

Norman is cleaning at the motel when he notices Bradley putting a wreath on the spot where her father recently crashed. He goes to comfort her and they end up talking about their fathers and death.

Later that evening, Norman is returning from the local movie rental store when he does his best to avoid Officer Shelby. Shelby tracks him down and explains to Norman that he’ll be seeing a lot of him since Norma and he are involved. Shelby decides they should go fishing in order to get to know each other and once Norman reluctantly agrees (if you can call it that), he lets Norman leave.

At home, Norman is talking to Norma and reveals that he found a woman in Shelby’s basement. When Norma asks what he was doing there and Norman explains that she told him to get the belt, Norma emphatically states that she did not and reveals that Norman has an issue with fabricating things.

The next time that Norma spends the night at Shelby’s house, she waits until he is asleep and then goes snooping around the house. She ends up in the basement and goes to see if the room is actually there; confusion abounds when she doesn’t find it.

When Norman is getting dressed the next morning, he sees a bruise on his ankle. Confronting his mother about Shelby again, she tells him that there is no girl locked in the basement. He then shows her his ankle as proof but she rebuffs him. Her parting words are to tell him that he’s going fishing with Shelby.

On the fishing trip, Shelby talks to Norman about his father, revealing that he wants to protect Norma and therefore Norman. When Shelby asks Norman to trust him, Norman answers with a yes. Shortly after, Shelby gets a call and needs to get back to town. When he does, he makes his way to the docks where it’s revealed that a fisherman has recovered a severed hand with a watch on it. It’s the hand of Keith Summers.

Norman gets a text from Bradley and they go to have milkshakes and talk. Bradley is the one to tell him about the hand being found.

Norman runs home to tell Norma about the hand and she tells him not to overreact. Soon after the doorbell rings; the police are at the front door and they want to take her downtown to ask her some questions.

At the station, the Sherriff asks Norma to tell him what happened. Norma plays dumb and the Sherriff tells her they found carpet fibres in the band of the watch and that he can match them to the carpet he saw them tearing out of the motel. When the question of whether or not the carpet is in the hands of the police department comes up. Norma asks if she can leave. Without anything to hold her on, they let her go.

Norma and Norman leave the house to search out the carpet at the dumpster they disposed of it at. It’s not there, but Norma decides to call the waste management company to ask where the garbage would have been taken. When they get to the dump, Norma loses her cool completely because she cannot get inside. Norman tells her to calm down but she blows up at him, telling him that she’s had to just put up with things her whole life.

Later that night, Norman hears his mother crying and goes down to the motel, running into Dylan. Dylan apologizes to Norman for having to deal with her all alone. Norman tells him about Keith Summers and his murder, revealing that he lives in constant fear. He tells him about Keith’s belt, Shelby finding it, breaking into Shelby’s house, and the girl locked up in the basement. Dylan reassures Norman that he’s going to help him.

While they are talking, Norman gets a text from Bradley and Dylan tells him to text her back that he will be right over. When he does and gets a favourable text back, Dylan tells him to go to her. After a moment of consideration, Norman does.

When Norman gets to Bradley’s house, she lets him inside and takes him to her room. They talk for a few moments and she thanks him for helping her. When Bradley reveals that she just wants to feel something other than sad for a few moments, they kiss and then have sex.

Norma wakes up and goes to check on Norman. When she finds him gone, she asks Dylan where Norman is. Dylan tells her that he’s at a girl’s house and Norma loses her cool once again, the two of them ending up fighting. That’s when the doorbell rings again. This time it’s the police who have come to arrest Norma for the murder of Keith Summers.

After seeing what’s next via the short little preview, I cannot wait to see what happens next week!

DarkMedia contributor Julianne Snow was first lulled into the horror genre by her parents during an ill-advised viewing of Alien when she was only 4 years old. Since that date, it’s been a given that Julianne will watch and read anything that is horror related. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies from Sirens Call Publications and Open Casket Press, as well as The Sirens Call and various other websites showcasing short fiction. She is the author of the Days with the Undead series, which can be found on her website dayswiththeundead.com. Her first novel, Days with the Undead: Book One was published in early 2012 and is based on her popular web serial. Find her on Twitter @CdnZmbiRytr.