It’s getting near time to check in to the Bates Motel again, folks. On Monday, March 3, to be exact!

Yep, after debuting with 10 intense episodes late last Spring – which saw star Vera Farmiga nominated for an Emmy – A&E’s prequel/spin-off of Psycho is ready to open for more business. Check out a couple of super-teasey teasers below!

As a not-so quick recap of Season One – Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) and his mama Norma (Farmiga) pack up and move to a seemingly quiet Oregon town called White Pine Bay after Norm’s father “mysteriously” dies. With dad’s life insurance payout, Norma purchases a run-down motel and moves into the adjacent Victorian mansion with hopes of starting fresh. Yeah, right. Within the first 30 minutes of the first episode, Norma is first berated and then raped by the previous owner of the house, whom she then shanks to death. The entire rest of the season revolves around mother and son trying to cover up the crime. In the interim, Norma clashes with the perpetually grumpy Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell), to whom she eventually confesses the crime and he helps keep a secret. Norman starts school and becomes infatuated with blonde beauty Bradley, much to the chargrin of his forced-upon gal pal Emma, a loner chick who makes up for her lack of dignity with a whole heap of Cystic Fibrosis. So, Norman finds himself in a wacky love triangle, made all the more complicated by his way-too-hot-for-school teacher, Miss Watson (Keegan Connor Tracy). Oh, and Norman also has a good-for-nothing brother, Dylan (Max Thieriot), who shows up to live with them.

By the end of Season One, Norman has slept with and then been abandoned by Bradley, Norma hooks up with the Sheriff’s deputy who keeps an Asian sex slave in his basement, Dylan becomes involved with drug dealers then kills the deputy, Norman learns some taxidermy, and Emma eats a pot cupcake. Oh, and in the season finale, Norma reveals she was sexually abused by her brother and Miss Watson turns up dead after taking Norman home from a school dance following a beat-down by Bradley’s boyfriend. Aaaand BREATHE.

Okay, so, what does Season 2 have in store? Well, hopefully, more Crazy Norman. The best episodes from the previous season were the ones that revolved not around the misadventures of his mother but of his own deteriorating mental state. There were, like, a whole good 2 episodes when we weren’t even sure if he’d actually slept with Bradley or not, as we’ve come to be rather untrusting of anything we see from his POV. And just before we see Miss Watson dead in her home, Norman has a hallucination of his mother taunting him about what a dirty whore the teacher is. To assume that Norman was the one who brought the hammer down isn’t a stretch, as mid-way through the season, it was revealed that Norman killed his own father while in a state of fugue… Much like adult Norman would do later on in the events of Psycho.

So far, the hints about Season 2 are pretty vague. We do know there’s a funeral for Miss Watson (see pic above), and apparently Norma gets a new love interest in the form of former “Alias” hunk Michael Vartan. From all initial reports, the character (George) seems pretty on the level, but come on… this is “Bates Motel”. The s*** will hit the fan eventually.

Sez Vartan: “I know George lives in a gigantic house and has a lot of money, but I never found out his last name or what he does for a living. So stay tuned to see if Norma’s happiness collapses.”

I think it’s safe to say that it’s not a matter of “if” but “when”.

But like I said, that stuff doesn’t interest me much. WHAT ABOUT NORMAN?? Well, apparently he might be getting some sugar too, thanks to new cast member Paloma Kwiatkowski (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters) in an unspecified role. So, looks like Emma will be getting the shaft once again, but really, what does she expect?? Also, Carbonell has stated that the mystery of Miss Watson’s death will be wrapped up pretty early in the season… which is either a good thing or a bad thing. I have a suspicion that she was killed by her ex-husband, whom Norman overheard her arguing with on the phone. Yawn, but whatevs.

Here’s hoping for another CRAZY 10 episodes this Spring!

(Photo via A&E)

- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor

katie@younghollywood.com