'Bates Motel' season 5, episode 4 gets disturbing with Norman and Madeleine Loomis

Norman's got a dead body on his hands, and this time Mother isn't to blame.

Bates Motel season five, episode four recap

Episode four of Bates Motel season five picks up directly after Norman chased Caleb into Chick's oncoming car. Caleb is definitely dead, and Norman, Chick and imaginary Norma are arguing over what to do with his body. Norman wants to call the cops, but Norma and Chick agree that they should dispose of the body. Sorry, Norman! It's two against one! 

Chick takes Caleb's body and gets rid of it — by setting it on fire and sending it out to sea on a handmade wooden float. Personally, I think that's a little too flashy when covering up a murder, but what do I know.

Romero on the run

Fortunately, that's the only body to deal with at the moment. Although Romero was shot last week after trying to steal a car, the ex-sheriff is still alive and kicking. He sends the kid who shot him inside to get some bandages (nothing a little tape and some antibacterial cream can't fix) and runs before he gets back.

Romero is hellbent on getting to Norman, but it's not going to be that easy. Besides having escaped custody, he's dealing with a shotgun wound. And to top it off, the new White Pine Bay sheriff is connecting the pieces between Romero and the hit man who tried to kill Norman.

Time to panic

Of course, the sheriff doesn't know that Romero hired the guy to kill Norman  — or that Norman's split personality killed him. All she knows is that this man skipped parole shortly after leaving the same prison Romero was at, and that he had the address of the Bates Motel written on a piece of paper at his apartment. She heads down to the motel to ask Norman about the man and Norman acts ridiculously suspicious. Who? Never seen him before.

The sheriff seems to pick up the creepy serial killer vibes he's putting off. She pays him a visit later on to look through the motel log book for any clues. It's there that Norman drops the name of the man's hometown — a piece of information he picked up from his license — hinting that he knows more than he's letting on. 

Sheriff Green is onto him, and naturally it's time to panic. He kicks Chick out of the house, but then there's still the problem of Mother. He believes that Norma is solely to blame, and doesn't even know where she hid the car that the police are looking for. She leads him to the car in the middle of the woods and the two bicker about what to do with it. Norma believes that she did a good job hiding it, while Norman thinks that they need to permanently get rid of the car. Things get so heated that Norman actually strangles his (imaginary) mother to death. Her eyes go grey — just like her real body in the freezer back at the house — but in a second she's blinking and breathing again. 

Norman's blackout brings the hallucination of his Mother back to life, however that doesn't mean that they come to an agreement. Norman's forced to turn to Chick for help in disposing of the car, and that means coming clean about how "out of control" Mother is. Chick agrees to help, but it's clear that he's starting to really see just how unhinged Norman is.

A disturbing dinner

Bates Motel episode four concludes with Norman going over to Madeleine's house for dinner. Sam is out of town, and Madeleine doesn't have a puppy, so Norman is the next best thing. This isn't your average friendly dinner, though. Madeleine is wearing one of Norma's old dresses, something that Norman gifted her with earlier in the episode. There is nothing quite like dining with a love interest who is wearing your dead mother's clothes. 

The two "bake a cake" together, which is not a euphemism for anything. They literally bake a cake together. But then things do heat up a bit. Madeleine pulls Norman in for a kiss, and Norman gets handsy with the woman who is wearing his dead mother's dress. It seriously cannot get creepier — except it does. Norman hallucinates Mother standing behind Madeleine. She picks up a knife and cuts Madeleine's throat.

But wait! It's just a hallucination! Madeleine is alive! But Norman may be starting to realize that his mother is not.

Mic has ongoing Bates Motel coverage. Check out the main Bates Motel hub here.