When Norma ran away and was in the bar wearing a red dress, that guy she was with seemed younger than her. And so did her teacher/therapist that got ran out of town. And Detective Shelby also looked younger than her. What is the significance?
shareThe therapist was pretty close in age to Norma. The actor who played him is about 2 years younger. Shelby is 5 years younger.
Romero is about 5 years older.
I think the primary dynamic with Norma is her need to use men from time to time. I don't remember the pickup at the bar too well. I don't think he was too much younger and these men definitely thought of her as hot.
It didn't strike me as a cougar kind of thing going on. The guy at the bar was really, really angry about get aroused by her and putting up with Norma's mercurial mood change. He was definitely hot for her. Anyway Norma was pretty distraught by the news that Caleb had been back in town and both of her sons knew about it. She was winging out that night, selling her car and dressing up kind of trampy.
I think the primary dynamic with Norma is her need to use men from time to time.
She'd been abused by men all her life...her father, brother, both husbands (didn't ever say her first husband abused her, but she said the marriage was not good, so I don't know)....I'd say it's pretty common to feel superior to those who are younger than you, so maybe she went for mostly younger guys, to feel like she had an advantage over them, so she wouldn't be a victim to them.
I didn't notice it until now, but Alex was the only guy in her life in White Pine Bay that was older, that she never really hit on or tried to win over by using her sexuality. Going by real life ages, George was older than her, but he was so even tempered and calm that maybe his being older didn't intimidate her.
Yes she did try to sort of blackmail Romero early on to try to do something about the bypass, but that was more her thinking, like he said, that they were now on the same level as each other because she knew things...it wasn't the same sexual approach she used with Shelby and other men.
Even right up until they were already married, there was a ton of sexual chemistry and tension between them, but she never really openly treated him as more than a friend/acquaintance. And regardless of age, Romero was a pretty intimidating guy, so it makes sense that she wouldn't be so openly flirtatious with him and feel superior to him. Even though little things showed that she cared for him, she wouldn't let herself really acknowledge it for a long time.
Different strokes for different folks.
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