TV Review: Bates Motel S3, Episode #7 (The Last Supper)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

EPISODE 7: The Last Supper

CHECKING IN: Norma (Vera Farminga) returns home to everything being upside down, Dylan (Max Thieriot) tries to warn Norma about how fruity Norman is, Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell) wants to know what's on the flash drive while Norman (Freddie Highmore) finally comes to terms with an ugly part of him: he wants his Mother…yeah…THAT way.

THE ROOM: After last week’s rock and roll episode, BATES MOTEL did a wise move here, it slowed down a bit, wound up its arm once again, getting ready for its last curve balls of the season. At the end of the day, there are only 3 episodes to go, so this episode basically acted as the calm before the storm. Although more low key than your usual BATES MOTEL TV party, there was still lots of shit that went down cause well, a chill BATES MOTEL is more erratic than your usual up temp TV show. The most important scene (well for me anyways) was the bearded shrink dude (Joshua Leonard) aka dead man due to the “Norma's Dead Boyfriend Curse” having a tete a tete with "psycho" Norman (Freddie Highmore). 

Yeah…this didn't go too well…

Not only was the bit intense as hell with both actors bouncing off each other beautifully, it also acted as the “wake up call” for Norman in terms of accepting his twisted feeling towards his momma. When the shrink asked him “Do you want to sleep with your Mother?”, his reaction said it, which made way for the creepy finale that had Norman caressing his mom’s curves as she slept – pervy look on his face…brrr.  With last week’s “Norman wearing a dress talking like Mother”  incident and now this- we’ve entered a brand spanking new Bates minefield. All we have to do now is wait for the fireworks to go off! 

Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell) and Norma’s (Vera Farminga) repressed romantic subplot inched forward this week as well with a drunk Romero almost kissing a reciprocal Norma. I was on the edge of my seat during that scene with mixed feelings going on. On one end, I’ve been wanting for Romero and Norma to get together for a while but on the other end, I am very much aware that if that goes down, Romero will have an expiry date via, once again, the "Norma's Dead Boyfriend Curse” and I don’t want that to happen. So yeah, Romero dodged a bullet there! Good on ya! Love was in the air with Emma (Olivia Cooke) and Dylan (Max Thieriot) too. Although their obvious affection for each other will spell trouble once Norman’s gets wind of it, I couldn’t help but be happy for these crazy kids for half a second! They deserve each other… in a good way! Speaking of Emma, the stakes were raised higher when it came to her bad health, which will of course make way for a new plot line to surface. My theory is that out of love for Dylan, Caleb will do the “gun drive” to get Emma the dough for a transplant– we’ll see! 

Cheers Romero! You didn't kiss Norma and lived to fight another day!

Finally, the show ended beautifully in a rare moment of temporary serenity with the Bates family and their close friends having supper together. Even Caleb wound up being part of the mix, which changed up the dynamics a tad and made me smile (Norman really hates that dude, his face every time he's around… lol). NOTE: Caleb reminded me of James Dean in East of Eden in this episode by way of his internally tortured and love starved demeanor. I’m gonna miss Kenny Johnson when Caleb buys it down the road; I really dig the dude’s vibe.

Add to all that; all kinds of funny “Norma being Norma” scenes ("Can't a woman be in a mood for one night without the entire world coming to an end?"), hilarious lines (my fav being “Norman, stop it, you’re acting like a twit. It’s not masculine and it’s not attractive.”), us getting to know Romero more in depth (the reveals humanized him) and even a slick wink to PSYCHO (“We all go a little mad sometimes”) and you get yet another TOP NOTCH episode! One of Season’s 3 best… AGAIN! Take her home BATES MOTEL! We're ready! 

RANDOM THOUGHTS: This episode was called The Last Supper; a nod to the meal Christ had before he was betrayed and killed. So should we expect a betrayal and a murder by the end of the season?

I think we can all agree that Caleb will most likely do that drive for Emma (and Dylan). Question are – will he die from it? And will Emma get her transplant? Thoughts? Would be cool to have a non-sick Emma, would change up the Bates Motel game a tad!

Am I alone in having lost most of my sympathy towards Norman this season? He's pretty much the "villain" of the show now…

RATING ON 10

TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THE EPISODE BELOW