By: Kh Ishrar
What To Expect In Bates Motel Season 03
Co-creator, Kerry Ehrin speaks to Zap2it about the upcoming season of Bates Motel. In Season 03, the drug trade affecting the city would be further brought into light. Kerry states “Season 03 is definitely about a deepening of the family.” Emma’s involvement with the Bates’ is likely to intensify in the following season. Bates Motel has to deal with its isolation from the road and Norman is going to try to be of greater use to his mother. Apparently, his high school graduation is coming up in Season 03, which is interesting, provided that we have hardly seen him attend school this season and have no clue as to how he is doing there. Norman will struggle to decide between which side of him he shall allow to take over throughout the entire season.
Kerry admits that the scene where Norma appears next to her son during the polygraph test and takes the blame of the murder which he committed, was not predetermined, it was rather impulsive. But when the thought of Norman’s hallucination having such command over him, that it controls his entire anatomy, changing the chemistry of his body, allowing him to pass the polygraph test, seemed like such a ‘cool’ idea that they had to go through with it.
Anybody as excessively bothered by the mother-son kiss between Norman and Norma as us? I found the kiss distressing, merely because it was between the disturbed kid and his obsessive mother and the manner in which it took place was also uncanny. Kerry explains it by saying, “Norma has such fear of abandonment and she has so many issues that she keeps pulling him into her. I think she unwittingly does it a little bit through sexuality; not that she’s sleeping with him, but that he’s grown up now and even though he’s her son, it’s almost like they’re an emotional couple even though they’re not a physical one. It’s almost like she (Norma) is trying to absorb him into her body. I feel like the kiss was more part of that physical union that she was trying to create, where it’s literally like they merge into one person, as opposed to being sexual. Because he’s a teenage boy, because he’s confused sexually, I think that that projects a sexuality onto it. I don’t think it comes from Norma.” So, thankfully, there will be no unbearably awkward moments between Norma and her son in the next season.
Dylan and Norma’s current relationship status is one of the best parts of the show. This mother-son duo seems to have found a comfortable place right now but, for how long? Executive Producer, Kerry, says that “The push and pull between them will continue forever.” This is expected, provided the history the pair shares and also because the major string of issue between them is coming back in the next season. Yes, we can expect Caleb to revisit the Bates’ this upcoming season. The EP thinks since Caleb is the only connection to Norma’s childhood, they will try to bring him back in an organic way, so that it doesn’t seem forced on. 
We believe that Caleb is a part of the story that was left incomplete as we know of his ties with Norma but we never saw him admit to any of his faults or tell his part of the story (may there be one). So, we simply need him back on the show in Season 03 and also because, Norman has some unfinished business with him.
Dylan being my favorite character, I keep getting worried about his existence in the show for the long run. Kerry says, “Dylan is more the eyes of the audience in that situation because Norma and Norman have blinders on because they’re trying to just live for each other.” This is very true and also the reason why viewers can relate to Dylan so easily. But since there was no brother in the movie, Psycho, what the show will eventually do with the character of Dylan, still remains a mystery for us.
Speaking of uncertainties, Emma is a character who is the underdog of the show. So when asked about her persistence in Bates Motel, Kerry said, “We’re not letting her go anywhere. We don’t have a concrete plan, but we want to pull her more into the interior of the Bates family next season. We’re not exactly sure what that looks like yet, if it is maybe getting closer to Norman and kind of going down the road with that a bit in terms of a romance. We just want to pull her way deep inside the family. Especially now that she knows the truth about Dylan, that’s going to open up, in a way, a door between her and Dylan because she’s going to see him differently now. Because she’s such a compassionate person, it will probably make her reach out to him more.”
