We all know—or at least should—the classic 1960 film by the brilliant Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho. We’re all intrigued by the story of Norman Bates, who suffers from a dissociative identity disorder. For big fans, we also know that Bates Motel is a stellar A&E series that acts as a prequel to this infamous film.
Starring Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga, this show offers 5 intense and creepy seasons of a young Norman Bates and his mother, Norma Bates. This show is where it all began, and what came to be one of the most famous killers of Hollywood. Here are the 10 best things Bates Motel did as a prequel to its famous counterpart, Psycho.
Introduction to Taxidermy
In Psycho, Norman Bates is a sweet, selfless, and down-to-earth man that just so opens to own the Bates Motel. However, he has quite the interesting hobby of stuffing dead animals.
In Season 1 of Bates Motel, we see Norman’s passion come to be when he meets Emma’s father, who happens to be a taxidermist. Norman continues getting better at and more interested in this hobby as the series progresses, resulting in the brilliant hobby we all know him to have in Psycho. For mega-fans, peep the owl, which Norman stuffs in Bates Motel, can be seen again in the motel office in the Hitchcock film.
The “First” Body Gets Sunk
When Keith Summers is brutally stabbed by Norma Bates in the television show, it seems like Norman is nothing but an innocent protector of his mother.
However, as they clean up the body, there are some pretty eerie similarities to Norman’s clean up of the famous Marion Crane in the film. Like, they literally cover the body in a sheet, load it into the trunk of the car, and drop it in the water so it sinks, never to be seen again. Looks like Norman learned a thing or two from his mother, after all.
No Girlfriends for Norman
Norma is pretty possessive throughout the series, and we see her become far too involved in Norman’s romantic—and sexual—life. However, this possessiveness definitely becomes a subconscious problem for Norman, as he believes he “sees” Norma speaking to him about any woman that gets too close.
We see this immediately with his first romantic interest, Bradley. This becomes a pretty prominent, and violent, theme of the show. It’s no longer really a surprise why Norman feels he must immediately murder Marion Crane in Psycho after he admits his attraction to her.
His Mother’s Relationships
During the prequel series, it’s pretty obvious that Norman becomes obsessed with and possessive of every man that comes into Norma’s life. With Detective Shelby, for example, he’s pretty adamant that the man is up to no good and stops at nothing to prove it. (Let’s just forget that he’s totally right about it.)
This obsession definitely explains why Norman Bates ends up murdering his mother and her lover, which is confessed by the detective in Psycho. It was only a matter of time, apparently. Oh yeah, we’re also assuming we met this lover in the series. Cough Romero Cough
Cleaning Up After His Mother
In Psycho, it seems almost disconcerting that Norman is completely chill about cleaning up Marion Crane’s murderous mess, which is done at the hands of his “mother”. For first-time watchers of the film, you might ask yourself, “why is he so okay with cleaning up after his mom murders a young woman???” After watching Bates Motel, you’ll learn that it might just be because this definitely isn’t his first rodeo. He’s been cleaning up after Norma since the death of Keith Summers, and, well, he eventually just cleans up after himself with no problem whatsoever.
Wearing His Mother’s Clothes
In Season 2 of the television series, it might come across as extremely odd when Norman is seen in the kitchen wearing his mother’s dress and pretending to be her. Actually, this should be pretty odd, but it explains quite a lot and provides some massive context for the film in which it becomes clear that Norman is simply his “mother”—wig and dress included. Watching Norman’s dissociative identity disorder come into existence is actually pretty neat… you know, in a creepy and disturbing kind of way.
Familiar Character Names
As the series reaches an end and the show and the film begin to collide, fans of the Hitchcock classic might just begin to recognize some familiar names. When Norman visits the hardware store in Bates Motel, he meets a woman, Madeleine Loomis, which should instantly perk up the ears of all Psycho fans. Later, when Dylan comes across the woman, it becomes clear that she is the wife of Sam Loomis, who is having an affair with the infamous Marion Crane.
If that isn’t enough, you might recognize the name “Chambers,” which is the last name of the female detective in Bates Motel in Season 4. This is a nod to Detective Al Chambers and his wife, Eliza, from Psycho. Remember, Eliza picked out the dress that Norma was buried in—periwinkle blue.
The License Plates
While this isn’t exactly a direct link towards the film, it’s definitely an interesting enough fact that it had to make this list. If you take a close look at Bradley’s license plate in Bates Motel, and you’re a real avid watcher of Psycho, you might just recognize the numbers and letters of the plate. That’s right, Bradley’s license plate is a huge nod to that of Marion Crane’s, which becomes extremely noticeable as it sinks into the water. Nicely played, nicely played.
The Room 1 Peephole
In Season 5, Sam Loomis—who uses the alias, ‘David Davidson’—checks into the hotel with a woman. Unbeknownst to him at the time, Norman checks them into Room 1. This should instantly grab the attention of lovers of the film, too. Norman removes the painting from the wall of the office, revealing a peephole through which he watches the couple get intimate. This peephole appears again in Psycho when Norman watches Marion Crane through it. So, apparently, it all began with Marion’s boyfriend. Good full-circle twist, writers!
All of the Sam Loomis Nods
The entire series comes full circle when it is revealed that “David Davidson,” the alias of the couple, is actually Sam Loomis. He owns the hardware store where he and his wife, Madeleine, work at. He is the boyfriend—and affair—of Marion Crane, who actually ends up at Bates Motel in search of her lover, who is only a short drive away from the motel in Fairvale. All of this also occurs in Psycho and was recreated beautifully in the final season of the series.
If this isn’t enough to blow your mind, Sam Loomis was actually at the Bates Motel in the show AND meets Norman, and has an affair with a woman in the SAME room that Marion is later murdered. All of these small details may seem completely irrelevant to fans of the show who haven’t seen the film counterpart, but, if you have, your mind is literally exploding right now.
