[Editor’s Note: The following interview contains spoilers for “Bates Motel” Season 5, Episode 6, “Marion.”]
It all seemed so familiar: Marion Crane checked into the Bates Motel. Norman brought her some food. She ate. They talked. Soon after, she climbed into the shower. Water poured from the faucet above. Tension slowly built. Then, suddenly, the curtain was yanked back, and…
“Screw this shit.”
With those words, Marion Crane stepped out of the shower and “Bates Motel” took its “Psycho” plot in a whole new direction. Rather than killing off the woman who stole from her employer in the hopes of starting a new life with her boyfriend — like in Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic film that inspired the series — showrunner Kerry Ehrin orchestrated a story that ended with Marion’s cheating beau, Sam Loomis, stabbed to death instead.
“That made me laugh, when she gets out of the shower,” Ehrin said, following a recent early screening of the episode. “That’s one of my favorite moments.”
Played by Rihanna over a two-episode arc, Marion survived in the end so she could start over as an independent thief on the run, while Sam (Austin Nichols) got what had been coming to him all season. Swapping the victim was something the writers planned out for a long time, with Ehrin telling Nichols early on he’d be the one to die in the shower in one of their first discussions.
“He was excited,” Ehrin said. “We talked a lot in the writers’ room about how to make bringing ‘Psycho’ into ‘Bates Motel’ meaningful, instead of just being like, ‘Hey, we’re doing “Psycho.”‘ [We wanted] to tell a different story than the woman being the victim.”
While the shower scenes featured a number of direct references to “Psycho” — including the water pouring directly into camera, Norman ripping back the curtain, and Loomis skillfully recreating Janet Leigh’s iconic face-first fall out of the tub — Ehrin and director Phil Abraham didn’t want to let the homages overwhelm the show’s ongoing narrative.
“We’re gonna have a little bit of ‘Psycho’ in here so it’s recognizable, but we’re also going to make it our own,” Ehrin said. “We’re going to put things in that you’re not expecting, so it doesn’t just become a frame-by-frame [remake.]”
Thematically, Ehrin was also very conscious not to reinforce a transphobic narrative — an accusation attached to “Psycho” because of how it demonizes a man when he identifies as a woman. In the film, Norman is dressed as his mother when he kills people, including Marion. Because Norman himself is innocent when identifying as a cisgender male and murderous when he identifies as a woman, one could argue “Psycho” propagates fear of trans individuals and supports a heteronormative viewpoint.
But in “Bates Motel,” Norman kills Sam as Norman. Though he’s become his mother before committing murder in the past, he’s not Norma when he pulls back the shower curtain.
“We wanted to be very careful about it,” Ehrin said. “In none of our minds is that what the story is about. It’s about a kid who very specifically thinks he’s his mother, as opposed to anything else. It really became about protecting that and not letting it slip or slide into anything transphobic.
“We kind of refigured the ending to make it more from Norman’s point of view, in the editing, because it really felt like you needed to be with him from when he was with [Norma] to when he made the decision to when he walked into the room. You had to be with him for it to have emotional resonance.”
Shortly before Norman kills Sam, he has a frank conversation with his mother. Norman has recently realized she’s not real (Norma died at the end of Season 4), but he’s struggling to get rid of her. She keeps talking to him, and, in order to rile him up so he’ll do what she wants, Norma tells him about his father.
“In the scene with Norma before he kills Sam, we’re bringing him back to his childhood,” Ehrin said. “She says, ‘This is why you made me up: to protect from these things you don’t want to experience or feel.’ What comes out of that is this rage that’s a combination of clarity and further insanity. Sam just becomes a stand-in for his dad.”
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So with Sam dead and Marion alive, is there a chance we’ll see more of the iconic character?
“After this episode, no, she’s gone,” Ehrin said. “[The effects of her story] will linger on, obviously, because shit has happened. But we were lucky we got [Rihanna] as long as we did. She was great.”
With only four episodes left before “Bates Motel” closes for good, Ehrin teased how this episode sets up the series finale.
“This really positions Norman for the run to the end,” Ehrin said. “It’s going to be a lot about him, mother, and control — the bottom falling out of things and people circling back in.”
People, that is, who aren’t Marion Crane.
“Bates Motel” airs new episodes on Mondays at 10 p.m. on A&E.
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I had no problem with the “twist”, as I thought it was rather cleverly done. What audiences thought was going to be an updated version of the iconic shower scene built up the suspense perfectly, right to that moment Marion stepped out of the shower. The problem I have is apparently with their reasoning for the change. Because of a woman as the victim for one, and then not having Norman kill Sam as Norma because that would be transphobic?? Seriously? Norman does NOT have gender dysphoria. He is not just a man who identifies as a woman. He is a frickin’ psychopath with dual personality, who believes he IS his mother when he kills. Also, he had a love/hate relationship with his mother anyway. Nothing to do with being transphobic. Switching Sam for Marion as the victim is fine, but it still should have been Norman as Norma, doing the killing. Remember, “Norman” was going to let Caleb go, but it was as “Norma”, that he followed after Caleb to kill him. This part just seems out of character, as Norman has done all the killing up to this point as Norma.
I totally agree with your take on this.
I agree. The whole episode played into the social justice narrative. She’s a woman and black, white males(bosses and Sam) did her wrong. I think it was even the reason she was given the part, because she surely cannot act opposite such a talent like Freddie Highmore…for the first time during the series, I saw him acting, rather than being Norman, maybe because he was acting to a brick wall…dull and flat! I think even a regular person on the street would be able to react to such an excellent performer like him right in front of their face better than she did!
Thank you Julie! I just can’t help but believe it’d be quite a stretch for any reasonable & thinking person to associate Norman’s “mommy issues” as otherwise taking this huge leap that would somehow be perceived as demonizing transgender people. The simple plot changes such as Marion being a women of color, or having Norman rush Marion out of the motel before “Mother” kills her out of jealousy, then attack & kill Sam the cheating partner instead, is all part of an interesting and acceptable twist. But, these things are not in any way transphobic nor are they specifically characterizing women as victims. Norman’s particular psychosis was being simultaneously in love with and repulsed by his mother and his feelings for her, all to the point of using “her” to eliminate anyone who made him feel uncomfortable and forced to deal with those hidden desires and feelings.
“Thematically, Ehrin was also very conscious not to reinforce a transphobic narrative — an accusation attached to “Psycho” because of how it demonizes a man when he identifies as a woman.”
This place has officially gone completely insane.
Transphobic? ‘Woke’? You’re aware this story is based on a real serial killer who was more than into ‘pretending to be a woman’ right? Jesus fucking Christ, THIS is what the horror genre is becoming? Norman Bates is a freak who dresses up in his mother’s clothing and murders people. That’s it. If you feel like being offended by it, why even investigate the Psycho universe at all? The reason they changed it is because it’s an entirely different take. I doubt ‘transphobia’ played into it at all.
Im dissapointed with the twist…i was so looking forward to this since episode 1 and now they change it!!…total bummer!
I thought it was a great episode, the only thing that I am upset with, is the fact it’s the last season :(
I am fine with whatever changes they wanted to make to the story from the original film that this series is based on, however, it’s their reasoning for the changes that is just bizarre to me. No matter what your political leanings, I can’t see most people connecting the dots they speak of above to somehow make this about demonizing transgender individuals. Again, Norman is not a man who self identifies as a woman, he does not have gender dysphoria, he is a frickin’ psychopath, and actually believes he IS his mother, when circumstances trigger this change before he kills or now this other personally is taking over during uncontrolled blackouts and exhibits wild behavior. Norman’s love/hate relationship with Norma carries over into his innermost feelings about women in general. In no conscious way does he identify as a woman. The idea that’s there is a transphobic element here somewhere was just too much of a reach in my opinion.
I’d considered watching this series but this article finally convinced me–I will not step anywhere near it. The man in charge of the series thinks Psycho is sexist because a woman gets murdered and transphobic because the murderer wears a wig.
If that’s your attitude towards your source material, you should not be making an adaptation. You are adding nothing. You are reinterpreting nothing. You are a modern Puritan, cleansing art of its “immoral” content so that it might not corrupt the impressionable masses.
Dude, no. It is a very good series, great writing and acting that is more like a Shakesperian tragedy than a horror/thriller. It gets you in the emotions. This episode was the only bad part of it.