SPOILER ALERT – ‘Bates Motel’ Season 2 Finale Recap: Top 10 Best Highlights

Tonight was the season 2 finale for Bates Motel and it was filled with suspense from start to finish. Check out the full recap and highlights below, but keep in mind that it’s full of spoilers.


1. Dylan Tells Romero He Killed Nick Ford

The show opens with Norman suffering in the hole he’s being kept in by drug lord Nick Ford’s team. Romero is then shown driving down the street and comes upon Dylan Bates, who immediately admits to killing Nick Ford. Romero has Dylan get in the car and the two drive to Ford’s mansion. However, Romero makes Dylan stay outside.

While investigating the scene, Romero comes upon one of Ford’s security men stealing money and jewels from Ford’s safe. Romero forces him to tell him everything he knows about where Norman is being kept. Romero and Dylan are led to a trailer that’s close to where Norman is being held. As Dylan screams Norman’s name, Norman struggles to scream back to him for help. Dylan and Romero rescue Norman and the two brothers share a very emotional moment.


2. Norman Admits to Killing Blair Watson

When Norma rushes to the hospital to be at Norman’s side, Norman tries to tell her about the memories that flashed in his mind when he was trapped … the memories of him killing Blair Watson. Norma told Norman not to worry about anything and to just rest, so, of course, he didn’t get the chance to come clean to her about his crime.

Later in the episode, Norman gets the courage to tell his mother that he did in fact kill his teacher Blair Watson after he had sex with her. Norma tries to tell him it had to have been a hallucination and he tells her that it’s the truth. Norman tells his mother that now he knows what happens to him when he has his black outs. His mother does not want to accept it.


3. Christine Is Completely Upset with Norma

In the last episode, Norma slept with friend Christine’s brother and then takes all her problems out on him. Norma runs into Christine at the grocery store and she lets Norma have it, telling her that she can kiss her position on the city council goodbye.


4. Romero Orders Norman to Take a Polygraph Test

Because of the DNA evidence found at the scene of Blair Watson’s murder, Romero suspects Norman killed her and that he may have sent the wrong criminal to prison. While mother Norma tries to postpone it, she agrees with Romero that it must be done.

At the end of the episode, Norma and Dylan accompany Norman to a dark location to take his polygraph test. When asked if he killed Blair Watson, Norman has a hallucination where his mother tells him that he didn’t kill Blair Watson. In the hallucination, Norma tells him that she killed Blair Watson, not him. This makes Norman believe he is innocent and he’s able to answer the question truthfully, saying that he did not kill Blair Watson.

After the test, however, Norman seems to have become evil as he looks devilishly at the camera.


5. Norman Doesn’t Want Emma to Quit Working at the Motel

Norman brings Emma to his room and asks her why she’s quitting. She tells him that she feels left out from their family and that they never tell her anything about what’s going on in their lives. Norman takes this as an opportunity to tell her about how his mother was raped by her brother when she was young and Dylan was the product of their sexual encounters. Emma swears she will never tell anyone and says that she will think about staying.


6. Jodi Dies

Jodi Wilson calls her brother Zane, who is currently Dylan’s superior, and tells him that Dylan killed Nick Ford as per her request. She then tells him to meet her at her home. The camera then pans over to Dylan and Romero in the background as she makes the call, showing that Jodi was clearly setting up Zane.

While waiting for Zane, the lights go out and Jodi makes her way downstairs, grabbing a knife from her purse. She then confronts Zane after he shoots her dog. Dylan comes downstairs to back her up before Jodi cuts her brother with a knife. Zane then opens fire and kills Jodi, but before he has a chance to shoot Dylan, Romero saves the day, killing Zane.


7. Norman Is Planning to Kill Himself

After getting home and realizing what he did to Blair Watson, Norman leads viewers to believe that he’s planning on killing himself and this is in fact what he plans to do. Norman pulls a gun out of his drawer and then makes a check list of people and things in his life.


8. Zane and Jodi Take the Fall for Nick Ford’s Death

After Zane and Jodi both die, Romero works up a story. He tells Dylan that the story will be that he got a tip and went to investigate. Jodi and Zane killed Nick Ford and then each other before he had a chance to try to interrogate them. In turn, Dylan was never involved.

Upon accepting Romero’s generosity in not arresting him for the murder of Nick Ford, Dylan asks him why he’s letting him off the hook. Romero then tells him that he’s smart and “gets how things work” in their town. Does this mean that Dylan will be taking over the drug business?


9. Norma Wants to Flee the Country

Norma tells Dylan that Romero wants Norman to take a polygraph test and then tells him that she wants to flee the country. Dylan tells her that she’s insane, but Dylan gets happy when she tells him that she bought him a ticket to come along too. Norma then opens up to Dylan and confessing to him how much she loves him and how sorry she is for everything that’s happened.


10. Norma Stops Norman From Killing Himself

Norman leaves a stuffed little bird on his bed with a note for Norma that reads:

I made this bird for you … We will always be a part of each other’s lives.

This alarms Norma and she immediately tries to find Norman.

Norma runs down to the motel office and Emma says she had just seen Norman and he was going to take a walk in the woods. Norma finds him with a gun and chases him through the woods. When Norma catches him, he points his gun at her and tells her that he doesn’t want to be who he is. She manages to get the gun away from Norman by telling him that his father died from him protecting her from his abuse.

With that, Norma begs Norman not to kill himself, she gives him a big kiss, and he agrees not to end his life.