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Norma's character was horribly written in 4x09

posted 8 years ago by on_fire
9 replies | jump to latest

I always thought her death would be horrible to watch, but unfortunately I still find it so anti-climactic. There were some great moments but overall it felt really rushed because it wasn't true to her character.

Her character made a lot of progress in the past two seasons. She was NOT in denial about Norman. She was looking for a psych ward in S3. Norman pointed a gun at her and made her scared for her life in S4. She's the one who called Romero in 4x02, telling him Norman must be locked up. SHE put him in Pineview. She wasn't happy that he wanted to be released and she was happy without his presence in the house. She was reasonable at this point. 4x08 just proved that his return was awkward and things had changed. It makes no sense she'd refuse to believe he was dangerous and fight with everyone over that fact. She's the one who got him committed in the first place.

Take the scene between Norma and Dylan, the writing is OTT forced. "You're just inventing all of this, you're making *beep* up because you're jealous of him, you always have been!" - COME ON. Even Vera could barely sell such a forced line. Also, when he walked out, she didn't even try to apologize or make him stay, she just asked for the earring. Again, her character made progress with Dylan and they even had a mature discussion about Norman needing help at the end of S3, why would she be such an idiot NOW after he pointed a gun at her?

I also didn't buy that she would tell Norman that Romero and Dylan were against him. It was so immature.

The last scene with Norman was also pretty disappointing. The way they were laughing and he was singing to her... Or when she asked Norman if he was serious about the plan to move and said that they're "meant to be together in the end"... just seemed dumb to me. It just took away from the tragedy of the story because it made no sense. Her character was better than that and deserved a better exit. It would've been much more tragic if she hadn't been so blind. That's what I thought they were going for, but instead for the first time on the show I found her unlikable and stupid.

Also, why was Romero suddenly there in the middle of the night, knocking on their front door and repeatedly calling out Norma's name instead of just going to her room? It was obviously late, can't you just check her room instead of going around the house and calling her name? This one isn't that big of an issue, but still I found myself suspending disbelief this entire episode. The rest of the season was 10/10 so it sucks they messed up the most important part.

At least Nestor did a great job with the final scene and Vera can act the hell out of being dead. That scene made her death a lot more tragic, but still wish the buildup was better.

[–] Ohthedrama15 8 years ago

It was extremely rushed. Norma may have had to die but the execution could've been much more thoughtful and believable.

Most people seemed to have loved seasons three and four but their was a small minority that whined, whined, whined about the character development we saw in Norma and Alex (who became very sympathetic) and Norman (who became, ya know, a psycho).

Episode 9 felt like the show's writers looking at that contingent of unhappy fans and saying "there!! The b*tch is dead. Will you shut up and be happy now?"

***I will say to an extent I do think Norma knew damn well that she was a lot happier without Norman around and she had a lot of guilt over that. I think her being so quick to lash out was related to her own guilt and feeling like she was a bad mother for wanting him back in the hospital. Vera herself said she thinks Norma "needed to sleep on it" and would have most likely had a different outlook in the morning.

[–] JCrusher723 8 years ago

Norma will always choose norman. Even vera said that the show is kind of a love story. Anyway it wasnt rushed at all. I loved the way it was executed. There was no need for it to be dragged on

[–] on_fire 8 years ago

***I will say to an extent I do think Norma knew damn well that she was a lot happier without Norman around and she had a lot of guilt over that. I think her being so quick to lash out was related to her own guilt and feeling like she was a bad mother for wanting him back in the hospital.

That's an interesting way of seeing it, but the writers (as we both said) could've done a MUCH better job showing us that.

I agree with the rest of the post, too. I think they wanted to keep Norman's character as "clean" as possible so that the audience would still like him, and as a result Norma's character (and death) was compromised. Even the killing method (gas poisoning) was boring and anti-climactic, and she died unaware of how right everyone else was - after a super cheesy "good night" scene, no less. He killed her for the same reason he wanted to do it in 4x02 and it seemed almost completely unrelated to his jealousy about her marriage, so what's the point? It was more more like "couldn't do it then, I'll try again" as if the rest of the season didn't happen. She made all this progress only to become more delusional than ever, and for no apparent reason.

Hell, even the choice of Mr Sandman wasn't that great IMO. It's too bad because the season was perfectly paced and the ending of 4x08 really set things up for a much better closure.

[–] Ohthedrama15 8 years ago

That's a good point. We have one season that'll be completely centered on Norman so him looking COMPLETELY savage could've been something they wanted to avoid.

It did definitely divert from how the Norma and Alex deaths were described in Psycho. That was more in line with what we saw in 4.8.

[–] on_fire 8 years ago

That's a good point. We have one season that'll be completely centered on Norman so him looking COMPLETELY savage could've been something they wanted to avoid.

True, but they still failed because many viewers (including myself) can't wait to see Norman go down. He still made a conscious decision to kill her, it just wasn't dramatic enough.

It did definitely divert from how the Norma and Alex deaths were described in Psycho. That was more in line with what we saw in 4.8.

I'm all about diverting from the original story to keep future events less predictable (I, for one, want Alex to survive) but that's where the series failed. The jealousy aspect should have been more clear, it wasn't just about keeping "Mother" from killing people, otherwise he could've killed Norma in 4x02 (would've been a lot more dramatic though, just the fact she was AWARE of what was going on). Obviously jealousy played a part in the TV series too, but they could've been more clear about it. The suitcase scene just didn't cut it.

[–] VirtualSide 8 years ago

Everything you mentioned is the tragedy of the show. Things were looking like they would get better at the mid-point of the season (Norma finally realizing that Norman has serious problems that she can't control, Norman finally realizing he has those problems and working to deal with them), but then Norman found out about Norma marrying Alex and it all came crashing down as he rushed to get out of Pineview WAY before he was even near ready so he could break them up.

It was Norman pulling at Norma's heartstrings (when he begs her to let him come home) that undid all her progress.

[–] on_fire 8 years ago

but then Norman found out about Norma marrying Alex and it all came crashing down as he rushed to get out of Pineview WAY before he was even near ready so he could break them up.

Well, the way he ended up killing her made it seem like her marriage to Alex had very little to do with it. He just reached the same conclusion he had in 4X02, that she's dangerous and they both don't belong in this world. It would've been a lot more believable if he murdered her less "peacefully" while she still had some brain cells left. But no, they had to make Norman as "likeable" as they could with the source material.

Norma was not an idiot. She realized he had real problems by the end of S3. Not once in S4 (before 4x09) did she ignore the fact he needed professional help. For her to suddenly push everyone away and even get excited at her SICK son's future plans for them, as if it's possible in his condition... I don't buy it.

Oh well, wish I could view it the same way some of you do. The rest of the season was pretty much perfect up until that point. But her death + Rihanna's upcoming appearances... I just hope it's not gonna keep going downhill.

[–] Regina_Giddens 8 years ago

Ugh I just finished watching and I agree. She knew he was dangerous and wasn't in denial then all of a sudden she's convinced he'd never hurt a fly? It was so irritating and especially since it lead to her death, like why was she being such an idiot when she wasn't one?

Did Norma know or highly suspect he murdered Audrey Decody? It was unclear to me. Because that would make it worse.

Your future is all used up

[–] on_fire 8 years ago

Did Norma know or highly suspect he murdered Audrey Decody? It was unclear to me. Because that would make it worse.

Yes, that's why she asked Dylan to give her the earring he found and pretended it was hers. Norman even confronted her about it earlier in the season and told her that he knows she killed the teacher, Bradley AND Audrey. Doesn't feel true to character at all.