MovieChat Forums > Bates Motel (2013) Discussion > Timeline (Spoilers)

Timeline (Spoilers)

posted 8 years ago by AdamWaldron96-2 (178)
9 replies | jump to latest

Can someone give me a timeline for this show? I don't know if I'm forgetting something, or if the people behind the show messed up the timeline or not. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Season 1 takes place in late winter/early spring, and Norman was 17 then, at least according to Dylan. Right?

Season 2 takes place in summer, a few months later. Right?

Season 3 takes place a few months later, in late summer, early fall, and in between Seasons 2 and 3, Norman turned 18. Right?

Season 4 picks up where Season 3 left off, and concludes with Norma dying before Christmastime. Meaning season 1 through 4 took place in less than a year. Right?

Season 5, according to Norman's Daily Planner, takes place in what I think is late October, early November of 2017, and Norma's gravestone reads that she died in 2015, meaning Norman would be 20 in 2017, and that he was born in 1997. Wait, 20? But he went into a bar and got drunk. Did he have a fake card?

Hang on a second. Norman's burial plot is next to Norma's, and it says Norman was born in 1995. So that would place season 1 in 2013, in order for Norman to be 17 in the first half of the year, and 18 in the second half of the year. This would mean Norma would have had to die in 2013, right? Or were the time jumps in between seasons 1 & 2? Well, it can't be years for seasons 1 & 2, since Ms. Watson's death is still being investigated, and seems to have occurred fairly recent. So that would mean a gap of two years would have had to occur between seasons 2 and 3. I would buy this, but now I have to question why Norman would still be going to high school at age 20.

My best guess would have to be that Seasons 1 to 4 took place in 2015, and that Dylan merely misspoke when he said Norman was 17, which is fine, considering they haven't seen each other in years. But Norman's burial plot still reads he was born in 1995. So he would still be 20 years old in high school. What the hell happened that caused him to be held back for 2 to 3 years?

Am I missing something here or is this just a screw up in the writing?

[–] SammiWin (1112) 8 years ago

Screw up in the writing.

The show has been on for 5 years, so to us it feels like so much time has gone by. When the series started they'd say it's that year, but then all of sudden they catch up to our year - recton.

I tried to figure this out a few weeks ago, it's annoying when writers cant put it together.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

I had not thought of it before reading your post, but it does seem pretty messed up. The gravestone is wrong or the calendar is wrong, or Dylan was wrong.

[–] AdamWaldron96-2 (178) 8 years ago

Well, if the gravestone is wrong, then Norman is really bad at math, but he would still be under 21 years old, and couldn't get into bars, unless he had a card. If the calendar is wrong, then Norman is not very organized, but I can buy it. I've known people who use calendars from previous and future years to organize events, but only on the numbered days, not by the day of the week themselves. I don't know why they've done and do this, but they do. But still, only a year and a half, maybe two years, have passed since Season 4, so Norman would still be under 21, unless he has a fake ID card. I can buy Dylan being wrong, but what I can't buy is Norman being 19, about 20 years old and still in high school. I graduated at age 19, but I was nowhere near 20, like Norman would be. Norma never mentioned Norman having troubles and being held back, and if he did, Miss Watson, Emma or even Bradley would have asked Norman about this.

So now, I'm going with him using a 2017 planner for no apparent reason, and Norma getting him a fake ID card in order to do so, but still, the gravestones read Norman to have been 20 when Norma died. So no matter how we can try to fix this, its messed up.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

Yeah it is messed up.
If he is 17 in the first season then he's supposed to be a junior in high school, I think?
If he was born in 1995 then maybe season 1 was supposed to take place in 2013?
March 2013 was the original air date of the pilot so maybe that is supposed to be when it takes place.
In which case, supposedly 4 years has elapsed between season 1-5 but how?
I would have to go back through all the episodes for some clue that more time had elapsed within a single season, rather than during the gap between seasons.

The end of season 1 has the high school winter dance. This makes me think that season 1 might be a whole year of time.
The storyline with the pot harvest and the trimmers staying at the motel, well a pot harvest takes place in the fall, if it is grown outdoors. But, if season one began in spring and then ends in winter, that means there was a summer break in the school year sometime in the middle, which we never saw?
And that would mean that season 1 begins with Norman as a junior (age 17) and ends with him as a senior. But that can't be possible because he's a senior in season 3.

Season 2 starts with Miss Watson's funeral so it has to follow season 2 pretty closely. But then 4 months pass just within this one episode. Miss Watson's murder is still being investigated because it's unsolved, but the bulk of the episode is 4 months after her death.
I am not sure how much time elapses during season 2 but it seems like more than one summer.

In season 3, Norman is just now starting as a senior. So was season 1 one school year or two? it is very confusing. Season 3 has his first day of school which sets it in August or september.

Season 5 is supposed to be 2 years after Norma's death. So at the most 4 years has elapsed between season 1-5, but possibly as little as 3 years.
So if he is 18 in season 3, then he'd be 20 in season 5, or POSSIBLY 21 depending on when his birthday is. But then it could not be 2017 in season 5. It would still be 2016.

[–] AdamWaldron96-2 (178) 8 years ago

They do live in Oregon, and hopefully more towards California than Washington, so they're probably not worried about snow or cold weather affecting the crops. I don't know if that's how farming in Oregon works or not.

Season 4 picks up where Season 3 left off, so they're continuous. Season 3 starts in late August, or early September, and Season 4 ends sometime before Christmas. Either way, Norman's birthday would have to be either in June, July, or early August. I know I earlier said I can't buy Norman graduating high school at age 20, but at this point, I can see Norman being 19 and graduating high school if his birthday is in either June, July or August. Perhaps Norma started him in preschool late? Maybe he had to go to preschool twice? That's how it was in my case, unfortunately to say.

Winter Dances in High Schools occur sometime between Homecomings and Prom. Prom is usually in May, but Winter ends in mid-late March. I was under the impression that it was Valentine's Day when Season 1 ended, so let's say Season 1 starts one week after the beginning of the second semester of the school year for Norman's Junior year, going from early January to before Valentine's Day 2014, where Norman would be eighteen, not seventeen like Dylan thought.

Season 2 takes place in early summer of 2014, four months after Season 1. Norman is still eighteen, but will turn so sometime after Season 2 ends.

Let's say Norma allowed Norman to take a year off of school to recover from being held captive by Nick Ford, and one year passes between Season 2 and 3. I don't know if any of the dialogue in Season 3 will contradict this, but until such proof is said, one year goes by between Season 2 and Season 3. Norman would be 20, its 2015, and Norman has to finish his Senior year in order to graduate, which he ultimately decides to not do. Season 4 concludes before Christmas of 2015.

So, technically, this can only work if we assume Norman started preschool late, and took a year off of school to recover from the events of Season 2. But again, I could be wrong, and Season 3 is supposed to start only a few months later. If so, the only way this would work is if Norma died in early January of 2015, which wouldn't work since mere days before she died, she was trying to get a Christmas tree, unless weeks occurred between getting the tree and Norma dying.

So either:
1). Norman started preschool late, took a year off of school to recover from season 2, and Norma died before Christmas in 2015.
2). Norman started preschool late, and Norma died after Christmas in early 2015.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

When your birthday is in the summer, then usually you are 16 in your junior year and 17 in senior year. Assuming you didn't skip a grade or repeat a grade.
To be 18 during your senior year, then usually that means you turned 18 during the school year.

But also he was only just getting his driver's license in one of the seasons which he would have done sooner if he was 19 in his senior year.
It is just messed up any way to try to figure it.

[–] AdamWaldron96-2 (178) 8 years ago

Okay, this will be last post on this topic and I'll stop bringing it up. The most recent episode, Marion, shows Emma reading an article on Norma's suicide. It says Norma is 41, as it should be according to the gravestone earlier in the season. But then the article continues to state that Norma is survived by her 18 year old son, despite his tombstone at the cemetery would show him to be 20 when she died. When I noticed that, I had to stop the episode, and think for a couple minutes before continuing. It's so screwed at this point, there's no bother with it anymore. I just thought I'd share that in case anyone missed it.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 8 years ago

Norman was 18 at the time she died, which is when the article would be dated. But 2 years have passed since the article was written.
(Norma will stay 41 forever, she was 41 when she died)

[–] ADBruno1985 (3572) 8 years ago

It's just a screw-up in the writing, you're over-thinking it, just go with it. Nice catch though. Since they've had the whole show planned from the start, I'm surprised they weren't a bit more consistent.