Tonight on Bates Motel: more secrets, a new sexual relationship, and a Norman freakout (or two)! Let’s start with Norma: She seems worried about the mysterious death of Councilman Berman, but more worrisome to her is the fact that she finds a bottle cap in her son’s jacket. She doesn’t want Norman drinking with Cody, and she makes that very clear to him. Norman is effasive, but Norma declares “You can’t keep secrets from me!” Oh, Norma.

She goes to the docks to confront Nick Ford about Lee Berman. She isn’t comfortable with his convenient death and wants to end their little relationship, nothing personal. Nick Ford does not look happy or convinced that this is over. Back at home, the ever-intrusive Christine Helmons comes over to tell Norma she thinks she should run for the new council seat. She is going to send her brother, Michael Vartan, er- George, over to help her with the political stuff. George used to be a lawyer, so he can help. She assures Norma she isn’t trying to set them up romantically again. Norma is relieved. She is just not ready to date.

Side note: Is anyone else constantly irritated by the irrational, nosy, and interfering Christine? Why is she so far up Norma’s butt?

Meanwhile, in the world of the teens of Bates Motel, Emma and Gunner (Keenan Tracey) make out in his room. Cody arrives, music blaring. Norma overhears the music and in one of the funnier moments in this episode, runs down the hill to stop Cody and Norman from leaving. Norma gets in Cody’s car and tells Cody she doesn’t want Norman drinking with her… for medical reasons. Cody agrees. Once she gets out of the car, Norma tells her son that this is the last time he is going with her and to not do anything stupid.

Welp, Norman and Cody decide to cut tech rehearsal for the play. Instead they head over to Cody’s place, where she steals some rum and then they hide in the closet when her angry father suddenly shows up. In the closet, Norman blackouts and has a flashback to his childhood when he and his mother hid in the closet from his father. Cody tries to wake Norman up, but he remains blank and outside of himself.

Later, they head to a river, where Cody drinks liquour and talks about how her dad is sometimes okay. Then she and Norman make out. Emma and Gunner arrive at the same river, seeing Norman and Cody. What a coincidence! So, they all decide to hang out together and jump off a  giant rock using a rope. Cody peer pressures Norman to jump, and he does successfully. Then, Emma decides to take the plunge, though Norman is unsure if she should do it. She takes off her oxygen tank and does the jump, but then doesn’t come back up. Norman freaks out, rushing to save her. Luckily, Emma is okay once she has her tank back on, but Norman lashes out at both Cody and Gunner in a very vicious way. He tells Cody that everyone is not just someone she can play with. Mean Norman!

Later, Emma visits Norman in his basement and thanks him for saving her life. He apologizes for losing his head. Emma is glad someone cared about her. Later, Emma is playing awful music (again!), when Cody arrives. She apologizes to Emma and then lets her in on Norman’s little secret: blackouts! She thinks something is really wrong with him and tells Emma not to tell Norma.

Speaking of Norma, she’s been kept busy this episode. George arrives to help her out. We get a nice overhead shot – which is a callback to the movie, Psycho. Norma is really preparing for this meeting with the mayor. Sheriff Romero, who is still at the motel, tells Norma she probably won’t get the council seat because of all the politics. Then, he tells her that sometimes at night he can see her up in the curtains of her bedroom. She gasps, but then slightly smiles. Oy, vey! It’s another great callback to Psycho, but in a more jovial, than creepy way.

Before Norma heads to the mayor’s office, she tells Norman that George helped her. He seems jealous and angry about it, but he wishes her luck. Norma meets the Mayor. He isn’t interested in any of her ideas, just in who she knows (specifically the Helmons and Nick Ford). He tells her not to cross Nick Ford, before cutting the meeting short, saying she is in with all the right people.

Back at home, Norma gets the call. She got the seat! She runs up to Norman and they hug and fall on his bed, and I gag into a toilet bowl. Creepy! Norman is excited because today he is going to get his driver’s license at the DMV (he’s been talking about it all episode). Unfortunately, at the DMV, Emma calls Norma and tells her about Norman’s blackouts. So, like any rational mother, Norma marches up to the DMV tester and asks if someone should get a license if they’ve been having blackouts. Of course not! No license for Norman!

Norman doesn’t understand how Norma could’ve done that to him. She tells him that Cody told Emma, who told her, about the blackouts. Norman demands she pull over and they fight over the steering wheel, almost getting into a crash. Norman rushes out of the car, shouting that he isn’t a little boy and that Norma can’t keep him locked up. He tells her to go home, and she does. Role reversal?

Instead of going home himself, Norman goes to Cody’s house where he yells at her about telling Emma. They fight, her dad comes out yelling. He grabs Cody’s head and all three of them get into a fight. Norman rushes at her dad, pushing him down the stairs. He lands funny. Is he dead? Oh, yep, he looks dead…and Norman looks insane. What a satisfying conclusion!

Oh, and in a seemingly unrelated side-plot, Dylan is picked up by his supposed boss, Jodi (Kathleen Robertson). She is attractive, makes jokes, and flirts with Dylan. She takes him to her house, which happens to be an isolated cottage in the forest. She takes Dylan to her weed garden and tells him she made a mistake in appointing her brother, Zane, to be in charge. Well, duh, Jodi! Zane sucks. She wants Dylan to run things without letting on that he is running things. Dylan asks why he never sees her if she is his boss and she says she doesn’t like getting her hands dirty. Cut to: Jodi sneaking into a shirtless Dylan’s bed and doing it! Well, that escalated quickly.

What did you guys think of this episode? It definitely took the plunge for me! How is Norman going to get out of this one? Next week’s episode looks pretty exciting!

New episodes of Bates Motel air Monday @ 10/9c on A&E. Watch full episodes on AETV.com, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video.