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Psycho lives rent-free in the minds of generations of movie fans, a masterpiece of horror from the "Master of Suspense," Alfred Hitchcock. The film has ingrained itself so deeply in pop culture that few, if any, know that the movie is an adaptation of a 1959 horror novel by Robert Bloch. The writer wrote two sequels, Psycho II and Psycho House, while the film spawned three sequels, the first of which, Psycho II(unrelated to Bloch's novel), was released three years after Hitchcock's death in 1980. It also was victimized as the infamous shot-for-shot 1998 remake Psycho, and a largely forgettable 1987 made-for-TV horror film, Bates Motel.
So what happens to Norman Bates after the events of both the film and the book is well-documented, to say the least, and widely varied. But no adaptation ever took a look back to see how Norman Bates became the Norman Bates. Even the book only devotes a handful of pages to Norman's backstory. But in 2013, a five-season TV serieswent way beyond the book to create a deeply detailed history of the character: the excellent psychological horror series Bates Motel, available now on Prime Video.
There Are Big Differences Between 'Bates Motel' and 'Psycho'
Those few pages devoted to Norman's past in the book don't provide much, but enough to get a generalized idea. Bates Motel largely ignores it, following its approximate timeline and little else. Where and when the series is set is the first indication that the series looked to expand greatly on its forebears, taking place in contemporary White Pine Bay, Oregon, as opposed to late-1950s California. Both pick up after the death of Norman's father, but under completely different circumstances: in the book, it's revealed that the father abandoned Norman and his mother when Norman was a baby; in the series, Norman (Freddie Highmore) accidentally kills his father while trying to protect his mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga). It's a difference that takes our preconceived notions of both Norman and Norma and flips them around, changing the narrative from straight to psychological horror. But we'll get to that.
The pair move to Oregon to start a new life, with Norma purchasing a roadside motel, the Seafarer Motel, at a foreclosure auction with the insurance money, as opposed to building it from scratch with her lover. This is a different Norma than we know, still alive for one thing, and far from the abusive tyrant of the page. As for Norman, even Hitchcock knew that the middle-aged, overweight, balding loner of the book wouldn't fly, instead casting Anthony Perkins as a handsome, sympathetic character with a tragic backstory.Bates Motel doubles down with Highmore, who creates a shy, gentle, and sympathetic Norman, one whose trauma wasn't beaten into him.
Norman inherits a half-brother (half-brother and cousin, that is), Dylan Massett (Max Thieriot), whom he never had in the novel, who comes to be recognized as the only sane one of the bunch, and friends, too, including Emma (Olivia Cooke) and Bradley (Nicola Peltz), who, sadly, isn't "Mother's" friend. These and other key differences from the book and the movie (the character of Marion Crane (Rihanna), for one, isn't beheaded in the shower like in the book, nor stabbed like in the film, but doesn't actually die at all, although the shower scene is recreated...) allow the series to succeed on its own terms, creating a different beast altogether.
'Bates Motel' Succeeds on the Strength of Those Changes
As a result of these changes, Bates Motel succeeds in turning the story we thought we knew into something far deeper, and is far better for it. That begins with the aforementioned death of Norman's father (told you we'd get there). Norman did kill his father, but doesn't remember doing it. He actually believes Norma did it to protect herself, but it's a false narrative, driven by a mental illness that plunges Norman slowly into madness. Norma, on the other hand, is driven to protect Norman from his own mental health, even arranging his father's body so it's staged as an accident to save Norman from the truth.
Norma's not a monster, but her overprotectiveness and her refusal to get Norman help creates a toxic, co-dependent relationship between the two that manifests in Norman as an obsessive fixation, bordering on incestuous. Ultimately, it's that fixation that leads to her death, not as an act of sexual jealousy and rage as in the book, but as a perverted act of protection, a murder-suicide pact so they could die together from gas inhalation. And it's that act that allows his "Mother" personality, the one that killed his father years before, to emerge, with Norman conversing with her as a separate, living entity.
All 50 episodes track the life of Norman Bates from his life-changing actions to his death at the hands of Dylan, unable to face life with the knowledge that his mother is actually dead. It's horrifying to watch as he slowly reaches his inevitable end, a slow burn stoked by his own mother. Bates Motel is, in many ways, as much a tragic love story as it is a horror masterpiece, something it never could have become had it played by the book.
