Bates Motel: Season 1 - TV Reviews (2024)

Bates Motel's attempted shotgun marriage of the two master filmmakers is not only logical but a perfectly postmodern proposition.

Full Review | Apr 11, 2020

Bates Motel completely missed that point - and by doing so, ends its first season with an absolute dud of a finale.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Feb 12, 2020

The result is a show respectful to the memory of its illustrious predecessor, yet confident enough not to be overshadowed by it.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 7, 2019

Thus, the series can be seen perfectly without having seen Psychosis and is equally enjoyable for those who pay homage to Hitchco*ck. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jul 30, 2018

If it can balance out the tone a little better, Bates Motel has a shot at being a fascinating show. If not, it looks on its way to be just another show that uses violence to shock rather than for the sake of story.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 15, 2017

The show has been a surprise and delight in the way it has woven its story in an open, intricate and twisty way, along with the quality of its cast (particularly, of course, Vera Farmiga), as well as its ability to create some compelling new characters.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Dec 15, 2017

Between Farmiga as Norma and the potential for Highmore to bloom as Norman descends further into madness, the journey through an insidious small coastal town's underbellycould prove to be a ride worth taking

Full Review | Dec 15, 2017

The idea of a Psycho prequel, set now, may seem as appealing as a shower with Mother. But masterfully jangly lead performances and the go-for-broke pace make it surprisingly compelling.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 2, 2017

While we will wait and see if Bates Motel merits an extended stay plotwise, Farmiga gives a performance to die for.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Mar 20, 2013

Even with all these other melodramatic sideshows, it's the Norman-Norma show that's the reason to watch.

Full Review | Mar 19, 2013

The good news is that Highmore and Farmiga are game for everything and sell every false smile, blank stare and horrific scream that comes their way.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 18, 2013

At times, Bates Motel feels like Gilmore Girls with less humor and more murder. That, sadly, makes the series sound more appealing than it actually is.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Mar 18, 2013

Having started with a bad premise, producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin then made it infinitely worse by rejecting the loneliness and isolation that were the nucleus of Hitchco*ck's film.

Full Review | Mar 18, 2013

As in the film, the attraction here is Norman's (and now Norma's) multiple facets.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 18, 2013

Ya know what? It ain't bad.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 18, 2013

I'm torn between condemning the series for piggybacking on a classic and promising an origin story it doesn't really care to deliver, and praising it for avoiding the homicidal Muppet Babies formula and pulling a pretty brazen bait-and-switch.

Full Review | Mar 18, 2013

Cuse and Ehrin are making a thoughtful effort to study how a killer got that way. I give them credit for taking a stab.

Full Review | Mar 18, 2013

We keep getting distracted from what should be the main focus of the series - Norman's bizarre relationship with his mother - by subplots involving other bad guys.

Full Review | Mar 18, 2013

Very well-cast, clever, and fun.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 18, 2013

There does appear to be writerly method in the madness. More important, there is Farmiga, and she, like Norma, appears up to any task.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/6 | Mar 18, 2013