The Immutable Truth

"The Immutable Truth" is the season finale of the second season of Bates Motel. It aired on May 5, 2014.
==Synopsis==
A tragic event from the past haunts Norman; Norma tries to prevent Norman from making a terrible mistake; Romero and Dylan find a way to end the drug war; Emma makes a decision about her future.
==Summary==
While Norman is still concealed within the container, Dylan is escaping from Nick Ford's compound after killing him, Sheriff Romero is searching for Norman at the behest of Norma, and Norma is waiting worryingly to hear the status of Norman's whereabouts. As Romero is driving to Nick Ford's compound to confront him about Norman, he sees Dylan running across a field on the other side of the road. He stops his car and backs up. Dylan confesses he just left Nick Ford's compound and that Nick Ford died by his hands before Romero tells him to hop in the police car.
When they arrive at Nick Ford's compound, Romero demands Dylan wait outside. Reluctantly Dylan abides to this order. Romero charges through the compound, searching the premises until he finds Nick Ford murdered. While examining Nick Ford's body and palpating his neck for a pulse, Romero hears a loud noise reverberating from upstairs. He slowly walks up the staircase and hears a second noise coming from a room, where he sees one of Nick Ford's bodyguards looting the safe. Romero points his gun at the bodyguard and asks if he knows Norman Bates' whereabouts. The bodyguard declares ignorance of Norman's whereabouts. Romero smacks him hard across the face and threatens to shoot him if doesn't tell the truth, forcing the bodyguard to reveal where Norman is being held.
Both Romero and Dylan leave from Nick Ford’s compound and pull up to an RV in the woods. Getting out the police car, they look for Norman. As Romero enters the RV, Dylan yells out his younger brother's name. Faintly hearing his name being called, Norman screams his older brother's name. Hearing the sound of Norman's voice in the distance, Dylan and Romero rush to Norman's location. They hear his voice coming from a metal container. They try to open the container to no avail. Romero tells Dylan to back away from the container as he shoots the lock and takes it off. Dylan and Romero jointly open the lid of the container.They see Norman in disarray and help him out the container. Dylan then hugs Norman. Romero breaks up this touching reunion by saying they have to go.
When Norma gets a call that Norman was admitted to the ER, she rushes to the hospital and asks to see her son. Directed by a nurse to Norman's location. she sees Dylan is there. She asks him if they found Norman. Dylan replied that he and Romero found him. Instead of thanking Dylan for finding Norman right away, she goes and sits by Norman's bedside; however, shortly after, she shows her appreciation to Dylan by saying she loves him. Feeling Norma wants to be left alone with Norman, Dylan says he will find the doctor to talk to Norma about Norman's condition and exits.
Finally alone with Norman, Norma caresses her son's face and apologizes for putting him into danger. Norman wakes up and mumbles to his mother about Miss Watson and the dreams he had, trying to reveal his part in her death. Before Norman can tell her about the ghastly murder Norma stops him from speaking, telling him to forget everything that happened and put it in the past like a horrific nightmare.
Now discharged from the hospital, Norma and Norman arrive back at the motel. Emma approaches them and asks what happened to Norman but Norma makes a lie up about Norman having the stomach flu. Emma seems confused as Norma once told her that she could not find Norman and now Norma says she knew where he was. Trying to not continue the conversation and convince Emma of her new lie, Norma helps Norman out the car and heads up the steps to the motel, leaving Emma to look on in confusion before heading back to resume her duties.
After getting some distance, Norma tells Norman that Emma is quitting and he asks why. Norma replies Emma feels left out of the loop and explains to Norman why she could not tell Emma what was really going on as Nick Ford would have killed him if she told any outsiders about his kidnapping. Norma said halfheartedly she will miss Emma.
As Norma tucks Norman into bed she says she will be going to the grocery store to make him pot roast. As she lays close to Norman, she lays her hand on his chest and he said he was not hungry. Norma runs her fingers through Norman's hair and suggests making him something else, as Norman needs to eat and rest up. Then Norma confides to Norman that she would not know what to do if he had died; she kisses him on the cheek, gets up from the bed, and leaves for the grocery store.
In the midst of shopping, Norma catches Christine swinging her cart from out the aisle, heading straight toward Norma and continuing to angrily ignore her. Refusing to be ignored, Norma stops Christina and apologizes to her for the verbal altercation she had with her brother, George. Christina disregards Norma's apology and vents about welcoming Norma into her family. As she gets ready to leave, Christine remarks that she is having the mayor over for dinner and makes an innuendo that Norma's position in the city counsel will be revoked.
While eating, Norman has something to say to his mother concerning Miss Watson's death and his part in it. Norma interrupts Norman and says she already knows about his involvement with Miss Watson sexually and that Romero had found a semen sample that matched Norman's and insisted for him to take a polygraph test. Eagerly wanting to know know more about the polygraph test, Norman asks his mother what questions will be on it, to which Norma replies it doesn't matter as he didn't kill Miss Watson. Norman starts tearing up and confesses that he might have killed her. In dismay, Norma denies what he just said and asks why he would say such a thing Norman replies that he remembered everything that happened that night of Miss Watson's death, that he had sex with her and killed her. Norma tries to console her son by telling him that he was hallucinating and fabricating these surreal dreams, caused by the trauma he underwent inside the container. Norman retorts this notion, saying these dreams were real. Not wanting to hear anymore of her son's lunacy, Norma yells for him to stop speaking and continue to eat his pot roast before it goes cold.
After finishing his dinner, Norman goes upstairs into his mother's room and takes a gun from her dresser. The next morning Norma is in her rocking chair watching Norman sleep in his bed. Then she looks up Montreal on her laptop in the office of motel, where Sheriff Romero enters and she greets him. He brings up the date of polygraph test, offering Norma the paper that shows the address of the place of the test, and she quickly snatches it out of his hand, reading it. She tells him that it's too soon for Norman, but Romero explains he could not postpone the test any longer since he might have sent the wrong man to prison and the only way for him to not reopen this case is for Norman to pass the test. Norma reluctantly agrees to his demand for the testing.
Meanwhile, Norman is making a to do list and adds "Emma" and "Mother" as the last two items. Emma is at the front desk of the office giving keys to a new guest of the motel when she gets a call from Norman, asking if she can bring up his book from the front desk. When she goes up to his room, he asks her of her decision to quit. She confesses she quit because she feels like she doesn't belong here and that she doesn't feel a part of his family. He reassures her that his mother loves her and requests that she stays employed at the motel. She says to him that she will think about it.
Later, Norman helps his mother clean the dishes and behaves extra nice to her. She tells Norman about the polygraph test but he seems unmoved by this information. At the end of dinner, he asks his mother to dance to the song "Dream Lover". As they dance, holding each other, he says into her ear that she is the best mother in the world, that she means everything to him, and loves her more then his own life.
Dylan and Romero somehow coerce Jodi to work together to stop Zane. Talking to Zane on the phone, Jodi tells him that Dylan killed Nick Ford. She explains that she ordered Dylan to do it. Then Zane asks Jodi what should he do to Dylan and she implies she doesn't care. She asks her brother to meet her at her place to take care of some business (which is just a set up).
Meanwhile, Dylan, Romero and Jodi await for Zane to appear. As he arrives a blackout occurs, caused by Zane himself. Sheriff Romero tells both Dylan and Jodi to wait in the room to see what is going on. Being startled by the gunfire, Jodi jumps up from the bed. Dylan asks Jodi where are her guns.
While Jodi walks down the stairs cautiously, Dylan runs out the room and calls for her, which she pays no herd to as she continues down the stairs. Reaching the bottom, she pulls out a pair of shears from a bag and heads onward. The barking of her dog comes from a room away from the hallway she's in. Then a gun goes off and silence the dog. Jodi rushes to her dog and Dylan follows. As he gets closer to Jodi, Dylan hears her arguing with Zane. When Dylan turns the corner to the room, he sees Zane pointing a gun at Jodi. Taking notice of Dylan's entrance, Zane then aims his gun at him. While Zane is distracted, Jodi slashes Zane across his arm with the shears. Zane reacts to this and shots Jodi dead. As Zane aims his gun back at Dylan, Sheriff Romero creeps up behind Zane, telling him he will be keeping his word about talking him down, just before shot gunning him to death.
Now both Zane and Jodi lay lifeless on the floor, and Dylan asks Romero what will happen. Romero fabricates a story that will encapsulate the killing of Nick Ford, Jodi and Zane, to allow Dylan to walk away non-liable. Both Dylan and Romero exit from Jodi's house. Dylan brings up the question as to why Romero is letting him walk away without any consequences, but he is grateful that he is letting him go, nevertheless. Romero explains to Dylan that he understand the rules in White Pine Bay. He goes on that say there is a vacuum (referring to the vacancy of the kingpins in the drug underworld in White Pine Bay) and suggests that Dylan fill that void. Dylan declines the offer, but is forced to accept it.
Norma drives to a deserted place to meet with Dylan in private, so she can tell him about Norman. She reveals to him that Norman thinks he had killed Blaire Watson and Romero issued for a polygraph test to be taken. To Dylan's chagrin, it was not he wanted to hear. Norma doesn't know what to do and resorted in the option to the exodus of White Pine bay with Norman accompanying her to Montreal. Dylan is against her fleeing from White Pine Bay, but she feels she has no other options, if she wants to ensure Norman's freedom from prison. She reveals to Dylan that she bought him a ticket as well to come with them, which stuns him. Norma begins to tell Dylan how sorry she is for treating him badly for blaming him for shortcomings in life, and goes on to say that he's a miracle, despite the fact he was born by rape and incest. Dylan forgives his mother and hugs her out of compassion.
As they hug, Dylan tells Norma not to leave town, and if she does leave with Norman it would only make his mental illness worse. Dylan suggests the best option for Norman is an institution, though Norma is against it. After hearing Dylan's sobering words, Norma decides it's best for Norman to take the test, to see if he killed Blaire Watson or not.
Norma arrives back at the motel to find out Norman is not home. She goes up to his home to find a note and a taxidermied bird on his bed. The note summarizes that he loves his mother and that he will always be with her: the symbolism for the bird being that it's a part of him. Fearing the worst, Norma tries to find Norman and learns from Emma that he just headed on foot for the woods. Without a moment to spare, Norma rushes from the office and dashes across the street through heavy traffic to enter the woods.
Eventually she sees Norman carrying a gun, getting ready to commit suicide. Upon seeing his mother, he runs from her, but eventually she catches him. He explains to her why he must kill himself as he might one day hurt her, as he now knows the true nature of the horrible things he does when he blacks out. She tells him that he is not a bad person and never mistreats anyone. Then Norman brings up the question of what happened to his dad, as he remembers he blacked out that day when his father died. Norma asks Norman to give her the gun and she will tell him what happened. As she slowly reaches for the gun, Norma grabs the gun away from Norman and locks their heads together. She reveals to Norman what happened that day with his father and that he killed him because he was abusing her. Unable to comprehend what happened, Norman can't live with his shame. However, Norma tries to convince him to live or else she will kill herself right after him, as they are the same person and she can't live without him. She will face anything that comes their way as long as they are together. As Norma relentlessly pleads for Norman to not commit suicide, she kisses her son passionately and desperately on the lips and continues to beg him to stay alive. Norman agrees to live, telling his mother that she won.
The day of the polygraph test arrives. Norman, Dylan and Norma head to the location of the polygraph test. When they come to the building, Romero greets them all and shows them the way to the testing area. Before Norman enters to take the test, Norma hugs her son tightly until the hug is broken up by Sheriff Romero. Norman enters enters the testing room and the test starts. At the beginning of the test, the polygrapher asks Norman general questions to yes or no to, like is your name Norman Bates and do you live in White Pine Bay. As the testing progresses, each question becomes more perplexing and arbitrary, all accumulating to the final question of "Did you kill Blaire Watson?". Before Norman answers the question, he dissociates and hears the voice of an alter ego: his "inner mother" tells him that she was the one who killed Blaire Watson, not him. His "inner mother" tells him not to tell anyone this and Norman promises to keep it a secret. This results in a negative reading ('truth') on the polygraph test when Norman answers "no". The polygrapher leaves the testing room and tells the good news to the Bates family that Norman passed the test. Norma hugs Dylan in joy as Romero looks at the two in uncertainty.
As the final scene comes to an end, the audience is treated with the camera rotating around from behind Norman sitting in the lie detector chair to the front of him. The background behind him begins to fade as the camera focuses in on his face, forcing him to look directly into it.
==Cast==
===Main Cast===
* Vera Farmiga as Norma Bates
* Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates
* Max Thieriot as Dylan Massett
* Olivia Cooke as Emma Decody
* Nestor Carbonell as Alex Romero
===Guest Stars===
* Rebecca Creskoff as Christine Heldens
* Michael Eklund as Zane Morgan
* Francis X. McCarthy as Declan Rogers
* Michael O'Neill as Nick Ford
* Kathleen Robertson as Jodi Morgan
=== Also Starring ===
* Aaron Pearl as Ben
* Bonnie Hay as ER Nurse
==Notes==
*This episode was watched by 2.30 million viewers.
*As Norma watches Norman sleeping, she's sitting in a rocking chair. This is a reference to her eventual fate in Psycho as Norman places her mummified corpse in a rocking chair in the fruit cellar.
*The Bobby Darin song "Dream Lover" was released in 1959, the same year that Robert Bloch published the novel Psycho.
* The end scene where Norman looks straight ahead at the screen is a reference to the last shot in Psycho.
==Music==
Song Title 	Performer(s)
Dream Lover	Bobby Darin
==Videos==
Bates Motel 2x10 Promo (HD) 'The Immutable Truth'
Bates Motel Sheriff Romero Deals With Zane (S2, E10)
Bates Motel Norman Tells Norma He Killed Ms. Watson (S2, E10)
Bates Motel Inside The Episode The Immutable Truth (S2, E10)
Vera Farmiga In Knee High Boots
Bates Motel- Deleted Scenes (2x10 - The Immutable Truth)
==Gallery==
===Promotional Pictures===
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===Episode Stills===
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de:Die Wahrheit geht zu Ende
ru:Непреложная истина
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 2 Episodes
Category:Season Finales