5x06

Amazing. Spoilers to follow of course.

At first I didn't care for the change, because, well, I'm resistant to change like that. But now that it's set a little, just, WOW.

I'll confess. Due to the iconic role of Marion always dying in other versions, ie novel and original movie, and the fact that I don't hugely care for Rihanna, I was looking forward to seeing her bite the bullet, and bummed we don't get to. I figured it akin to Paris Hilton in House of Wax, if you like her, great, you get to see her, if not, great, you get to see her die. I supposed we could later on maybe see an article or have some sort of reference to Marion, but that would only make sense if it were a news story about her being arrested for her crimes, and I somehow doubt that. I think now that she's finally gotten her happy ending, they'll romanticize that and stick with it.

But all the changes, just...

Okay, firstly, I think their marketing, or in a way, lack thereof, was absolutely genius. Ever since the announcement that this season would be Psycho, and Rihanna as Marion, everyone's been questioning when she would die and how she would go. And the people involved in the show just allowed that to happen, and we were never aware we were asking the wrong question. Just, dang, nicely done.

And all the throwbacks were so great. I was happy they kept it raining for the episode, to lose that would've bummed me out, the rain fits so well. Marion's shower scene, oh my, I felt myself getting amped up just watching it. Kept feeling the energy build, thinking "This is it! What they've been building to for years!" Then nada. Have to admit, at first it felt anticlimactic. Was also confused because that scene was relatively early in the episode. But, I was thinking, Marion died relatively early in the film, part of the surprise. Loved Norman and Marion's conversation while eating. Wish they had touched on taxidermy a bit more, and a few lines from the film. "People suggest oh so delicately, put her... some place." And I wish we would've gotten the part where Marion was in her room and could overheard Norman and "Mother" arguing up at the house. But all of these are small prices to pay for that amazing misdirect. Even if you didn't love it, I think most of us were caught off-guard, which they of course wanted and succeeded at wildly. When Marion and Norman were talking in her room right before she left, I felt that was it. And was honestly at that point thinking I'd be disappointed if Marion lived. At that point, I figured Sam would walk to the motel, needing a place to stay, and see something related to her murder, then go from there to him being investigative like in the movie. But when Marion was telling Norman about her lack of family and close friends, and not being able to go home, and not even caring enough to pack her clothes, I figured Norman was then marking her for an easy victim, and she was done for, and she'd get decapitated like in the book.

Then giving the shower to Sam... Okay, I'm an Austin Nichols fan, so I was happy to see him shower, though briefly. Bummed that I've now seen him die on-screen twice in the past year (Walking Dead). But loved the comparison to Norman's dad, also named Sam. Not really fair though. Sam Loomis, liar and cheat for sure, but, depending on your view, that doesn't make him worthy of murder, and if so, should surely have been his wife and maybe Marion. But it was very smart of them to continue to subvert our expectations all around. Because had they done the shower scene with Marion, it would have been endlessly compared to the one in the movie, probably never favorably. Putting it on its head like this with the gender swap allows it to breathe, it's its own thing, and can be completely different, but with the influence of the original.

Probably one of the best episodes of the series overall.

Now just to see how it finishes playing out.

I think Romero is screwed. Emma, Madeleine, the sheriff, and Dr. Edwards (if we even see him again), will all survive. Dylan and Chick could go either way.