Bates Motel Page #11

(she laughs)

Puking being one of the more

pleasant ones.

(then)

Do you have some sort of chronic

illness?

NORMAN:

No -

EMMA:

(slightly disappointed)

Oh.

(then; shakes it off;

smiles

I’m Emma Decody.

NORMAN:

Norman Bates.

EMMA:

Yeah, I think we have language arts

together.

Awkward silence. Then...

EMMA (CONT’D)

Well, I just wanted to make sure

you were okay.

(she leans in; looking at

him. concerned; sensing

tension)

Are you okay?

There’s part of him that just wants to collapse. Just tell

someone everything. Admit he can’t handle the pressure.

Give up. Give in. Give over. But finally...

NORMAN:

(lying)

I’m okay.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. HARDWARE STORE - LATER

Norma, exhausted, waits at the counter. The CLERK comes out

holding a small pane of glass for a french door window...

56.

CLERK:

This should work.

EXT. STORE - LATER

Norma exits the store. Takes a moment to look down the

street. The town here is utterly charming and lovely. She

looks at it, wistful. This was not the “grand opening” she

wanted for her life in this place. She glances down at her

cut hand. Will I ever have a normal life? Then her gaze

falls on...

A POSTER announcing a town meeting to discuss the new HIGHWAY

101 BYPASS. She looks closely at the MAP. Her face falls...

EXT. HARBOR - NIGHT

OARS quietly lap through the dark water.

FIND Norman and Norma in a row boat. Norman rows. Norma

stares out into the night. Keith’s body lies on the bottom

of the boat, wrapped up in sheets and tied like a UPS

package. Weighted down with bricks and pieces of sawn off

iron piping. Very home made.

Norma and Norman sits in tense silence. Norman can tell

there is something up with his mom. Can tell she’s upset.

It makes him worry. Finally -

NORMA LOUISE:

I suck.

NORMAN:

Mom, he attacked you -

NORMA LOUISE:

I’m not even talking about him. I

found out today that the city is

building a new bypass on the far

side of town. It’s going to be the

new “main road”. No one’s even

going to drive by our motel

anymore. No one’s going to see it.

I bought a motel no one is ever

going to know is there -

NORMAN:

Why didn’t the real estate guy tell

you that?

57.

NORMA LOUISE:

Because people suck, Norman.

Everyone I have ever known has

sucked. The whole world sucks.

(then)

Except you.

She looks at him for a long moment, loving him so much.

Then...

NORMA LOUISE (CONT’D)

You’re too good for me. I’m the

worst mother in the world.

NORMAN:

Mother -

NORMA LOUISE:

Look at what we’re doing,

Norman??!!! You should be taken

away from me. I should turn myself

in and put you up for adoption.

There’s something wrong with me -

Norman stops rowing. Kind of terrified.

NORMAN:

You’re kidding, right?

NORMA LOUISE:

Look at the life I’ve given you.

You deserve so much better. When

you were born it was like -- God

gave me a second chance. All I

ever wanted was for everything to

be beautiful for you. And look at

it. Look at what your life has

been. What good am I doing you?

They little boat has stopped out in the middle of the vast

blackness. Two small people in the middle of infinity.

Norman is upset.

NORMAN:

Mom, you’re everything. Everything

to me. I don’t ever want to live

in a world without you. You’re my

family. My whole family. My whole

life. My whole -- self. You

always have been. It’s like

there’s a cord between our hearts -

58.

NORMA LOUISE:

Honey, that’s from JANE EYRE.

Orson Wells says it to Joan

Fontaine -

NORMAN:

Oh, right. But you know what I

mean. It’s you and me. It’s always

been you and me. We belong to each

other.

Norma just looks at her sweet son in the moonlight. Moved.

NORMA LOUISE:

I love you, Norman. You are the

best thing that ever happened to

me.

NORMAN:

I love you too, Mom.

A beat as they just connect. Heal. Then after a moment,

Norma turns to the water...

NORMA LOUISE:

I guess this is deep enough.

And with great effort they hoist the body of Keith Summers

into the dark water. As it splashes in, we...

CUT TO BLACK:

END ACT FOUR:

59.

ACT FIVE:

EXT. MOTEL - DAY

CLOSE ON TRUCK WHEELS spinning in the gravel, getting no

traction. HEAR THE ENGINE SURGE...

FIND THE SEA FAIRER MOTEL SIGN attached to some chains at the

rear of a professional SIGN COMPANY truck. Then the truck

lurches forward and we see...

THE SEA FAIRER SIGN CRASHES TO THE GROUND. Dust and debris.

As the crew prepares to erect a NEW SIGN...

FIND NORMA:

Watching. Something about seeing this is purging. It’s

gone. Keith Summers is gone. On to the future...

EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT

Norma goes outside. Excited, flips the switch for the new

sign. It lights up. (We see the light from it but do not see

the sign - we stay on Norma.) She looks at it, moved. It has

great meaning to her. She owns something. Something in this

world belongs completely to her.

INT. NORMAN’S ROOM - NIGHT

Norman is flipping through that small notebook he found under

the rug. He hides it under his mattress as he hears his

Mom’s footsteps. Norma bursts in without knocking. She’s

excited and happy.

NORMA LOUISE:

Come here! I have a surprise for

you -

She grabs his hand and pulls him to the window.

NORMA LOUISE (CONT’D)

Look, look, look. I turned it on -

NORMAN’S POV - THE NEW BATES MOTEL SIGN

Bright blue in the night sky. The classic sign we know and

love.

NORMA LOUISE (CONT’D)

I made it blue -- your favorite

color.

60.

NORMAN:

(smiles)

It’s cool, Mom.

She takes his hand.

NORMA LOUISE:

It’s ours, Norman. It’s our very

own. The past is the past and

we’ll never talk about it again.

Ok?

He looks at her. She looks like a little girl. Happy and

hopeful. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.

NORMAN:

Ok.

She looks back out at the sign -

NORMA LOUISE:

And you know what? You know that

new “bypass”? They’re not going to

build it -

NORMAN:

When did that happen?

NORMA LOUISE:

(smiles a wicked smile)

It didn’t. Yet.

The doorbell rings.

INT. FOYER

As Norma opens the door to see her estranged son DYLAN.

Holding a duffel bag. In all his moody glory. She is

startled, and not happy to see him. He gets this. He looks

her square in the eye.

DYLAN:

(f*** you, I found you)

Hi, “Mom”...

CUT TO BLACK:

END OF SHOW:

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