Spoiler alert: 'Bates Motel' just got really, really good

A few weeks ago, I expressed my pleasure with A&E's latest drama offering, Bates Motel. I wondered how and if we'd finally understand, from some sort of backstory, why Norman Bates became, well, psycho. And while Bates Motel is a bit of a prequel to the psycho days (even though it's set in modern times), until now, I really thought I'd figured everything out.

I was wrong. Oh man, I was SO wrong!

If you haven't seen this week's Bates Motel episode, which aired on Monday night, please stop reading now and go watch. Then, come back here to share what you thought in the comments that I hope will come.

You've been warned.

OK, here goes: Until this recent Bates Motel episode, I was absolutely certain that Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga) was the sole reason that Norman eventually becomes the crazy monster we know he will become. But in the sixth episode of this 10-part series, entitled (appropriately enough) "The Truth," we finally learn that it is not, in fact, mom who has issues at all.

After a particularly eventful evening of murder that involved gunfire between Deputy Zack Shelby and Norma's eldest son, Dylan Massett (Max Thieriot), Dylan has had enough. He demands that Norma tell the truth about what happened that night -- and then, Norma starts confessing. The night that Norman's father died in the family's garage, she did not kill him. Remember that scene from the beginning of the show? It was Norman! The boy conked his dad over the head, killing him because he was abusing Norma, then became disoriented.

Norma got Norman to bed and staged a convincing accidental death scene for her second husband. A disoriented Norman woke up with no memory of what he'd done.

It is at this point that the proverbial you-know-what just hit the fan: Norma has been protecting Norman all this time. And when Shelby went after his mom, Norman again stepped in (in a murderous, chilling rage) to try and save Norma. He got bonked on the head, woke up and once again had no clue about what was going on.

Poor Norma. All this time I was just sure she was an evil monster that was turning her own teenaged son into an equally evil monster. No, not at all. She's trying to help him any way she can.

Look out, residents of White Pine Bay: There is most definitely a killer in your midst, in the form of Norman Bates (played chillingly in this episode by Freddie Highmore).

Now it's really getting good, don't you think? Did you see this Bates Motel twist coming? I sure didn't.

Photo courtesy of TV Equals