SEASON PREMIERE: This is the fifth and final season for Bates Motel – and knowing this, the producers can plan accordingly, making this last batch of episodes align with events from Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal 1960 film Psycho, which has served as this prequel series’ prime inspiration. That makes these final episodes even more intriguing, especially since Norman (Freddie Highmore) begins the year by installing a new shower curtain. And since his mother, played by Vera Farmiga, died in last season’s cliffhanger. She remains dead… but, in Norman’s mind and in this series, she remains very much alive. The relationship of mother Norma and son Norman, clearly, can transcend even the hurdle of mortality – after all, mom always liked him best.