'Bates Motel' debuts on A&E

I just finished watching the first installment of A&E's newest drama, Bates Motel. This 10-part drama is a prequel, of sorts, to Psycho. I hedge a bit because it's actually set in modern times - not back in the 1960s era, à la Alfred Hitchcock's iconic film. If you can get past that, you're probably good to go with this new show.

Haven't you ever wondered why Norman Bates was so screwed up? I have. Obviously the man's got mommy issues of the highest order, but in the original Psycho, we never actually see mommy dearest. In Bates Motel, we most certainly do. She's Norma Bates, played exquisitely by Vera Farmiga. She plays Mrs. Bates with just the right mixture of charm and crazy, batting her eyelashes and guilting her teenage son into helping her with her dirty deeds. To me, Farmiga's performance stood out the most, at least in the Bates Motel pilot.

In Bates Motel, we meet 17-year-old Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore). After discovering his father's dead body in the family garage, Norman and Norma decide to move away from it all. She buys a foreclosed motel in an idyllic coastal town, with hopes of getting a fresh start. And, you guessed it: The motel's property also includes a 100-year-old house.

As Norman Bates quickly adjusts to life in the new town, Mama Norma struggles. Not surprisingly, she's domineering. She controls every single aspect of young Norman's life, and she's not exactly happy that he seems to be a bit of a, for lack of a better term, chick magnet. For the most part, Norman adores his mother. At one (really uncomfortable) point, he actually quotes Jane Eyre to Norma. It's just creepy and so, so wrong on so many levels, trust me. Norman loves his "Motherrrrrrrrrrrrr."

I think any comparisons between Alfred Hitchcock's masterful Psycho and Bates Motel would be unfair. In my mind, Psycho is one of the greatest films in cinema history. Bates Motel is a decent TV series with an interesting premise. And it's really nothing like the original film (or the novel it was based on). No, it's entirely new, but somehow a bit familiar too. We know the person Norman will become. We're fully aware he's way too attached to his overbearing mother. But now, we actually see her. That's new, and it's interesting.

Bates Motel's real strength, in my opinion, is in its acting. I've been a big fan of Vera Farmiga since seeing her Oscar-nominated performance in Up in the Air, but she hasn't done much since then that I've liked (sorry, Source Code fans).

I'm purposefully keeping this spoiler-free, but I should warn you: The Bates Motel series premiere does contain one particularly disturbing rape scene and, of course, a good bit of additional violence. This is definitely not a show for the little ones. Make sure they are tucked away before you hit the DVR.

Did anyone else watch the Bates Motel premiere on A&E this week? If so, what did you think?

Photo courtesy of Digital Spy