‘Bates Motel’ Season 3 Spoilers: Bradley Triggers A New Hallucination For Norman In Episode 9 [RECAP]

Think things can’t get anymore complicated on “Bates Motel”? Think again! Only two episodes remain in Season 3 of the A&E “Psycho” prequel, and they’re pulling out all the stops when it comes to drama.

Episode 9 kicked off with Norman (Freddie Highmore) facing his old flame, Bradley (Nicola Peltz). “Bates Motel” fans last saw the troubled White Pine Bay teen at the beginning of Season 2 when she killed her father’s old partner. Dylan (Max Thieriot) and Norman helped Bradley fake her death and leave town – but she’s back.

Norman found her in the middle of the road and sporting a new look, shaggy dark hair. “My life has been a living hell since I last saw you,” Bradley told Norman. She continued that it’s been difficult living without any money or parents and that she’s ready to come home.

“I don’t want to be dead anymore, Norman,” she explained. “I want to come home.”

The catch? She’s supposed to be dead.

Norman decided to hide Bradley at the motel while they figured things out. But Bradley already had a plan – she wanted Norman to break the news to her mother that she’s alive and wants to return home.

Meanwhile, Norma (Vera Farmiga) was trying to clean up the mess that James (Joshua Leonard) created when he confessed everything he knew about Norman to Bob Paris (Kevin Rahm). She promised to give Bob back his flash drive and tried to say that James lied about her son. But Bob Paris wasn’t buying her story. He warned her that she’s no longer calling the shots …. And that Romero (Nestor Carbonell) is no longer wrapped around her finger.

“Don’t slip and fall into your pool,” Bob warned her before she left. “You might never get out.”

Following her exchange with Bob, Norma went to visit Romero – who was avoiding her calls. She demanded that he hand over the flash drive, but Romero wouldn’t budge. Instead all he told her was that he was “taking care of it” and they they were done talking … “about anything.”

As Norma dug herself into a hole, Caleb (Kenny Johnson) almost ended up in one. He confronted Chick (Ryan Hurst) after the drug run almost resulted in Dylan’s death. When he demanded that Chick hand over the money he promised, Chick asked for the guns and money that Caleb and Dylan were supposed to pick up. Caleb told him that the guns and money were gone – and that didn’t sit well with Chick. Pretending to pour a drink, Chick grabbed a gun. Caleb was too fast for him though. He beat Chick to the brink of death but didn’t kill him.

Caleb ended up stealing the money from Chick. The money would help Emma (Olivia Cooke), but it also meant that Caleb had to disappear. Dylan had a hard time saying goodbye to his dad, but was happy to do something for Emma. He quickly brought the money to her father in order to bump her up on the lung transplant list – but he made her dad promise not to tell her where he got the money.

Things were looking up for Emma, but unraveling for everyone else. Afraid that the police would reopen the case of her dead husband, she began throwing out all of Norman’s taxidermy stuff. Her argument was that it would look “weird.” But Norman wasn’t buying her story. He told his mom that he loves her and that she’s the first thing he thinks of when he wakes up in the morning and the last thing he thinks about at night – however, he was beginning to question her.

“How do I know it wasn’t you who killed my father?” he asked.

Norma was distraught, but bent on keeping Norman’s secret. She broke into Romero’s house in order to find the flash drive, but it wasn’t there. Romero found her inside his home and confessed that he handed the flash drive over to the DEA. Tired of all the shenanigans in town, Romero wanted the criminals to pay. Unfortunately that meant that Norman’s secret could potentially be dug up.

Norma had a meltdown over the news, but Romero didn’t care because she was still lying to him. He demanded that she tell him the truth about her dead husband, but she wouldn’t budge. She tried to say that she was the one who killed him because he was abusive, however that wasn’t good enough for Romero.

“Stop lying to me,” he yelled. Norma couldn’t make herself say the words though.

“You know the truth,” she begged. “Don’t make me say it.”

Romero was forced to hold down Norma as she turned physically violent, slapping him and crying. Things got weird after that though. As Romero restrained Norma, he seemingly tried to kiss her.

Episode 9 of “Bates Motel” concluded with Bradley realizing that she really is “dead” in White Pine Bay. Not wanting to be alone, she asked Norman to run away with her. When Norman didn’t immediately agree, she admitted that she was wrong for not appreciating him when he told her that he loved her. The two began hooking up, but things got cut short when Norman began to hallucinate his mother. He ran away before he could hurt Bradley – but fake Norma was waiting for him outside.

“What are you going to do about that girl in there?” she questioned him. “I know what you want to do.”

She told Norman that they didn’t need any more trouble than what they already had, and Norman agreed. He walked arm in arm with fake Norma towards the house.