Norman Bates (Bates Motel)

"I'm not mad - except in the British sense of the word, like the Mad Hatter. In that way, I am mad. But there are plenty of mad people who function, some of whom are heads of state. So I think I can manage running a motel."

- Norman Bates

Norman Bates is the protagonist villain of Bates Motel, a 2013 TV series based on the horror classic Psycho, and he turned into the main antagonist from Season 4 onwards after he went insane and killed his mother, Norma. His split personality and hallucination "Mother" acts as the Big Bad and primary antagonist of the fifth season, as "she" begins to take over Norman and influence his actions in a bid to keep him to herself. He is based off of his original incarnation of the same name.

He is portrayed by Freddie Highmore, and occasionaly by Vera Farmiga as Mother.

History
Norman grew up in abusive household under his alcoholic father, Sam Bates. Sam often abused them on a regular basis and at one point caught Norma trying to leave him with Norman while she was driving around the neighborhood looking for Norman's older half-brother Dylan. Sam forced her at gun point to drive home, where he took a young Norman out of the car and pointed a gun at his head. Norma persuades him not to kill them and tells Norman to hide in the house. He goes into the house and hides under his parents' bed, where Sam rapes her on. Norman holds Norma's hand through he entire ordeal. It is implied that it was this specific event that may have lead to Norman developing Dissociative Identity (Dis) order later in the series - as such an illness is usually caused by a deeply traumatic event in one's childhood. Dylan eventually left the house out of jealousy of Norman - always feeling Norma favored him more.

When Norman was 17 years old, he overheard Sam and Norma arguing in the living room while he was making a smoothie. The argument lead to Sam beating her, and it is then that Norman develops his altered personality for the first time, "Mother", and hits Sam over the head with the blender, killing him. Norma takes Normanwhile he's in a trance to his room and makes Sam's death look like an accident. When Norman's comes out of his state, he finds his father's dead body in the garage with a shelf over it. He gets Norma to come out of the shower, and cries in his mother's arms over Sam's death.

Biography
Wanting to start over and get Norman away from Arizona, Norma buys the Seafloor motel in White Pine, Oregon with Sam’s insurance money, as well as the house that comes with it, and move in there, along with Norman. Norman later befriends Bradley martin and seems to attract his English teacher’s, Miss Blaire Watson’s, attention. As Norman is dusting the rug on the porch, Keith Summers, the original owner of the motel and the house, shows up and berates him and Norma, saying they know nothing about running a motel. Norma threatens him, so he leaves.

After Bradley and her friends invite Norman to come over and “study”, Norma refuses to let him. Angry at her, Norman texts Bradley to meet him and the bus stop and he sneaks through his bedroom window. When they meet, he realizes that she never intended to study and they go to a party where Norman meets Bradley’s boyfriend, Richard. It’s made clear Bradley takes an interest in him for being what she calls “different”.

Back at the house Keith Summers breaks in a rapes Norma as revenge for taking his motel away from him. Fortunately, Norman arrives and knocks him out with a door stop during the rape. They handcuff an unconscious Keith and Norman goes upstairs to get the first aid for Norma, whose hand got cut during her struggle with Keith. Keith recovers and Norma gets the kitchen knife ready. Keith makes a mistake in teasing her about the rape, and Norma kills him in an unstoppable rage. Norman arrives and is shocked by his mother killing Keith, but believes what she did was self-defense. He wants to call the cops, but Norma refuses out of fear that it will ruin the business (as well as her being arrested due to the fact that she didn’t kill him out of self-defense).

After Norman and Norma drag Keith’s body into one of the motel rooms, some blood gets on the carpet in the process and they out his body in the bathtub. Realizing they need to get rid of the blood on the carpet, they de-carpet the floor but take all of the carpets out. As Norman is taking out the carpet for one of the rooms, he finds a book underneath it that depicts sex slavery in manga fashion.

Sheriff Romero and his deputy Zack Shelby arrive and are suspicious of them taking carpet out so late at night, so they investigate the motel, inconveniently picking the room with Keith’s body to start with. Romero uses the restroom, but doesn’t notice Keith’s body in the tub due to the curtains covering it. They leave after getting a call in, and Norman and Norma decided to call it a night and dispose of the body the next day. At some point, Norman took Keith’s belt to keep as a “memory” and hid it under his bed.

At school, Norman still hasn’t recovered from the events of the previous night, and throws up in a trash after just seeing some ketchup on his foot due to it’s resemblance to blood. Emma Decody, who goes to English class with him, notices him throwing up and gives him some mints to help settle his stomach. The following night, Norman and Norma take Keith’s body and dump it in the lake, telling each other they’re all each other has.

The next day, Norman’s half-brother Dylan shows up to stay at their house and immediately starts causing tension. When Norman meets Bradly at the bus stop for school, her father’s car crashes and he’s found inside burning. After the Romero investigates the scene, he finds Keith Summers’ car parked there and begins questioning Norma again.

Norman later partners with Emma on an English project and she decides to come over to his house later. Norman shows up at the hospital where Bradly’s dad is in a coma, and attempts to give her some flowers and comfort her. However Richard stops him and tells Norman to leave while he gives her the flowers. When Emma arrives at Norman’s house for the project, she finds his sketchbook and asks if she can burrow it for a while and read it, to which he lets her do.

After Norma leaves for an event to get Zach Shelby to help them, Norman gets into a physical fight with Dylan in the kitchen after he realizes he labeled Norma “The Whore” in his phone contacts. Dylan overpowers him and tells Norman that he’s a joke for letting Norma walk over him. He threatens to hurt him worse if Norman tries to attack him again. Norman’s Mother personality then takes over and tries to kill Dylan with a meat grinder. But Dylan is able to defend himself and punches Norman repeatedly, thus snapping him out of his Mother state.

The following night, Emma talks Norman into gong up to the mountains to investigate the events described in the book. She discovers that it depicts sex slavery and that one of them died from overdose and was buried near a mountain called Ladyface. When they get there the next day, they come across a marijuana field and are chased by men with cars. On their way to Emma’s car, they find the area the dead girl was buried. They manage to escape in the car.

The next day at school, Emma tells Norman she feels guilty about leaving the dead girl in the mountains and begins to panic. Norman tries to tell her to forget it and tells her he wants it back. At English class, Norman passes out after hallucinating image of Watson and Norman being tied up and tortured in the same the girls depicted in the book are. He’s taken to the hospital where Bradley visits him and thanks him for the flowers. After the cops begin investigating Norma’s house, she take Norman from the hospital and tells him about it. He immediately panics and goes into his room when they get there to see if the belt is still under his bed. However it’s gone, and Norman begins to cry, questioning what’s wrong with himself.

He tells Norma about the belt and they both start to panic. Emma shows up, and shows Norman the journal, where the number 4 is depicted in English. Norman tells her he found the journal in room 4 and they investigate the room. They find the writer’s name, Jiao, on the sink pipe. Norma later finds out that Zack kept it and intends to keep them covered out of his feelings for Norma. Norman suspects Shelby of using her and begins to develop jealousy over Shelby. Emma confronts Norman at school the next day and tells him she wants to go to the police-but Norman tells her not to her and berates her for it, but apologizes immediately afterwards.

The following night, Norman hallucinates Mother telling him it’s all his fault and that he has to get the belt from Zack’s house. Norman breaks into his house and goes looking for the belt. He ends up in the basement, and finds Jiao there chained up, realizing that Shelby was involved with Keith in the sex slavery business. Shelby arrives home and Dylan, who saw Norman break in, knocks on Shelby’s door and manages to distract him long enough for Norman to escape-but not before he promises Jiao he’ll come back for her.

The next day, Norman sees Bradley mourning her father’s death in the area where his car crashed and comforts her. The following night Zack sees Norman buying DVDs for her and manages to catch up to him, despite the later trying to avoid him when he calls his name. Zack tells Norman he just wants to help him and his mom, but subtly threatens him if he ever tries to avoid him again when he sees him. Norman tells Norma about Jiao, but she dismisses his story, but nevertheless investigates the basement when she stays the night at Zack’s house-only to find she’s not there. She later forces a reluctant Norman to go fishing with Zack-much to his displeasure.

When Norma finds out they found Keith’s hand and that it has carpet fibers on it, she realizes they can trace her to his murder given Romero saw her putting away carpets that night. After Norma and Norman manage to find where the carpets are located Norma panics when she finds the area is locked down and she can’t break in. Norman yells at her and tells her it’s her fault because she had very right o defend herself, but she confess to having simply killed him out of rage. When they get home, Norman spills out the whole story to Dylan out of fear. When he receives a text from Bradly, Dylan encourages him to go over to house to sleep with her, to which he does and spends the night there, while Norma is arrested for the murder of Keith Summers.

The next day, Norman arrives home and visits his mother in jail, along with Dylan. But she’s still angry at Norman for leaving the house, even after he manages to bail her out. Their relationship begins to strain from there. Norman later tells Emma about Jiao. After Zack reveals he managed to destroy the evidence, Norma is relieved and tells Norman, but the later is still angry at her for relying on Zack to help her.

Emma discovers where Jiao is being held captive, and her and Norman find her held captive by Keith’s abandoned boat and rescue her. They bring her to the motel and fail to convince Norma about Zack. However, when Norma shows her a picture of Zack from the newspaper, Jiao identifies him as her rapist. Norma then flies into a rage but Norman manages to calm her down. The next day, Norma tells Norman she won’t go to the police until she gets the belt back. While Norman and Dylan get the belt back the following night, Zack arrives at the house to have another night with Norma in the motel. However he hears the pipes running water in Jiao’s room and catches her. She runs and he begins chasing after her. When Dylan and Norman arrive, Zack forces all three of them at gunpoint to get into the house. Zack plans to kill them, but not before beating Norma, which causes Norman’s Mother personality to surface and he begins attacking Zack. However Zack knocks him out, which snaps Norman out of it. A gunfight happens between Dylan and Zack that results in Zack getting killed. Norman recovers with no memory of attacking Zack. The cops arrive and Norma tells Dylan about what really happened to Sam. Romero tells them he’ll cover up their story in a way that will let Norma off the hook but also give him credit for killing Shelby.

Norman never gave up his obsession with Bradley and continued to try calling and texting her. He later befriended a stray dog under his porch whom he would later name Juno. Norman has an argument with Norma over Bradley one night, and storms out of the house to visit her. When he gets there he tells her she should break up with Richard and that they have a connection. However Bradley dismisses any mutual feelings for him. Norman storms off feeling rejected, and Bradley runs after. Norman’s Mother personality takes him over and he starts quoting what his mother said about her. When Bradley catches up to Norman, she hugs him, thus putting him out of his other personality, and possibly saving his life as well. She apologizes, but he leaves, still angry at her. When comes home, Juno shows up and tries to cross the road to get to him-however she gets run over by a car and dies. Distraught, Norman feels guilty and begs Norma to drive him to Emma’s father’s to have her stuffed, cause he’s a taxidermist. She is reluctant at first but agrees to do it to make her son feel better. Norman admits that he was wrong about Bradley.

The next day at school, Bradley shows anger towards Norman for telling Emma about them, given she told other girls at school. Upset and humiliated, Norman leaves school crying, despite Miss Watson’s objections. He later goes over to Emma’s and berates her for telling the other girls about him and Bradley. Realizing that Norman may have some emotional problems, the school discusses hiring a counselor for Norman with Norma. Norma agrees, however not without her being with him during his sessions. Emma’s father teaches Norman taxidermy and is able to get Juno stuffed. Emma apologizes to Norman and the two reconcile. Norma, who had been struggling with Shelby’s boss, Jake Abernathy, who wants Shelby’s share, is given one of the few shocks of her life when she finds he broke into her house and put Shelby’s dead body in her bed.

Still struggling to get over Bradley, Norman begins having nightmare about trying to drown her in a bathtub. Miss Watson’s starts discussing the possibility of having one of Norman’s short stories published, to which he approves of at first but seems adamant about later due to not wanting Norma to find out. One night, Norman had an argument with Norma when she brings up to possibility of moving to Hawaii. That same night, despite their argument, Norma decides to sleep in Norman’s bed with him due to still recovering from finding Shelby’s body on her bed.

The next day at school, Norman asks Emma out to prom. He also goes to English class to tell Miss Watson he doesn’t want his story published, but not before overhearing her arguing with her ex-boyfriend Eric, over the phone. She asks him not to tell anyone, and then hugs him. As Bradley starts hanging out with Dylan more to find out about her father’s death, Norman starts getting jealous. As Norman is waiting for Emma to pick him up for prom, Norma is stressed about the issues with Abernathy. Worried about him killing her, she confides in Norman that her brother, Caleb, used to rape her when she was young. Norman and Emma go to prom, but Emma can tell that Norman still feelings for Bradley, upset, Emma leaves Norman at school. Richard takes Norman outside and accuses him of taking advantage of Bradly after her dad died. When Norman denies this, Richard punches him and tells him to stay away from her.

Norman walks home in the rain, but Miss Watson drives by and tells him to get in her car. She takes him to the house and starts cleaning his wounds from the beating. She tells him not tell anyone, and starts to get undressed in her bedroom. Realizing she wants him to sleep with her, Mother starts arguing with Norman, and starts to take him over. They sleep together, and Norman slits her throat, killing her, and takes her necklace with him. Not remembering anything, Norman runs home to Norma, whose situation with Abernathy has been cleared. The two share an embrace and she tells him everything is fine.

When Norma gets word about Blaire’s death she tells Norman. When they attend her funeral Norman starts crying uncontrollably in Norma’s arms. Four months later, Norman is still obsessed with Blaire Watson’s killer-to the point of doing more taxidermy and always visiting her grave, even when Norma is giving him driving lessons. One day when visiting it, Norman sees Blaire’s father, Nick Ford, at her grave. Thinking he may have been the ex boyfriend Blaire was arguing with on the phone, he take a picture of him and runs when Nick spots him. He later goes to Romero’s office and shows him the picture, telling him what he suspects of the man. Romero questions Norman on whether or not Norman’s been to house, to which he replies that he has been there when they discussed his publishing his short story. When Romero tells Norma about this, she questions Norma. He breaks down and tells her that he was over at her house the night she was killed, but does not remember anything between arriving there and running home afterwards. Later than night, Bradley gets her revenge on Gil Turner for killing her dad by shooting him in the head at his house, killing him. She sneaks into Norman’s basement and asks of she can stay there-to which he says she can.

Wanting to get Norman’s mind of off Blaire Watson, Norma sings them up for a rehearsal for a musical. Norman goes shopping one day for Bradley and meets the cashier, Cody Brennan. When Norman and Norma go to rehearsals, things get heated when Norman realizes he won’t be able to drive Bradley to the bus station, so he calls Dylan and has him do it.

The next day, Emma informs Norman about Bradley’s supposed “death” after reading about it in the news, but is suspicious when he doesn’t really react. Things start to strain for Norma and Norman when Caleb shows up.

Victims

 * Sam Bates (unknowingly): Hit over the head with a blender. (in First You Dream, Then You Die)
 * Blaire Watson (unknowingly): Cut her throat. (in Midnight)
 * Jimmy Brennen (accidental): Pushed down a flight of stairs. (in Plunge)
 * Bradley Martin (unknowingly): Head bashed repeatedly on a rock. (in Unconscious)
 * Audrey Ellis (unknowingly): Strangulation. (in A Danger to Himself and Others)
 * Norma Bates: Carbon monoxide poisoning. (in Forever)
 * Gregg Edwards (unkowingly): Through means unknown. It is implied that Norman killed Dr. Edwards due to the fact that he is missing and presumed dead.
 * Jim Blackwell (unknowingly): Stabbed multiple times. (in Dark Paradise)
 * Sam Loomis: Stabbed repeatedly. (in Marion)
 * Alex Romero: Shot repeatedly (in The Cord)

Trivia

 * This is Freddie Highmore's first villain role, and his performance received critical acclaim.
 * Some fans said Freddie Highmore bears physical similarities with Anthony Perkins, the original player of Norman in the 1960 film produced by the late Alfred Hitchcock.
 * It's implied in the episode "Dreams Die First" that Norman may be bisexual-given the fact that at one point in the Mother personality, he had sex with a man in his car while dressed as Norma
 * It's almost entirely possible that Norman wanted Dylan to shoot him at the end of the last episode to put him out of his misery. This is evident when he stated "I just want to be with her, Dylan", which could have been his way of asking Dylan to send him to Norma. There's also the fact that when he lunges and Dylan and Dylan shoots him, he stabs the wall just to left of Dylan's head-indicating he never intended to stab his broter, but just make it look like he was so Dylan would shoot him in self-defense. According to interviews with the creators as well as Freddie Highmore himself, this is most likely the case.