[Review] Bates Motel

I just finished watching Season One of Bates Motel, a thriller TV drama. The story is about a peculiar teenage boy Norman Bates [played by Freddie Highmore, the Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]. He moves in to a coastal town with his mother Norma Bates. After the death of her husband, Norma buys the Seafarer Motel to start a new life as its owner. A series of unfortunate, and dangerous events begin to unfold and bring great misfortune to the Bates Motel. IMDB describes this as the prequel to the movie Psycho [1960]. Everyone has his or her own secrets. Norma Bates has a secret,  Norman has his secrets, and even the town has its sinister secrets.

I liked the show because it doesn't involve gore - like in Dexter - and the sexually explicit content has been limited. So I can skip through the content without missing the storyline. 

It was a bit weird seeing Freddie Highmore in an unusual, crazy role like Norman Bates after the kid he played in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Finding Neverland. Nevertheless, his acting is brilliant.

There are multiple themes to this thriller. There is mafia and gangsterism, psychotic horror, murder mystery, and high school. The good bit is that there isn't unreal involved, like exorcism - so far, or lurking monsters and spirits at the motel. Everything is human, and yet the sinister side of human is enough to give me eerie dreams at night.