Since Bates Motel premiered in 2013, viewers have waited patiently for Norman (the troubled kid) to become Norman (the full-blown psychopath) of the classic film Psycho, for which Bates is a prequel. The series has diverged from the timeline of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece as well as moved away from other little details, but writers couldn't resist using guest star Rihanna for a major moment: restaging the shower murder, one of the most famous scenes in cinema.
In the film—spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen a movie that came out in 1960!—Norman stabs hotel guest Marion Crane to death while she's naked in a shower. Cue the dramatic buildup, the shrieking violins, the nightmarish invasion of one's most vulnerable place... and a lot of blood running down the drain.
When it came time for Rihanna to recreate the scene in the episode which aired last night in the US, the audience still got their dramatic buildup and shrieking violins. But the villain here wasn't Norman; it was crappy water pressure. Instead of a killer ripping back the shower curtain, Rihanna's version of Marion pulls it back and steps out of the shower, unscathed. "This pressure is sh*t," she complains aloud.
It managed to be a sly and hilarious meta-moment for viewers, and standard Rihanna. In the hours since the episode aired, her scene has provided excellent meme fodder.
There was still a murder in the episode, but of Marion's boyfriend instead. Bates Motel director Phil Abraham told Entertainment Weekly, "The fun of the shower scene is all about that expectation, and the sequence and choice of shots are very much tied into that sense of what is going to happen." Long live Rihanna, and Marion. For now.
Kaitlin Menza is a freelance features writer. She lives in New York. You can see more of her writing at kaitlinmenza.com.
