Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho is one of the most iconic and chilling films in history. It introduces the charming and unstable Norman Bates, who gives other horror movie villains a run for their money. Norman has always been a fascinating character. He switches from a humble and slightly quirky young man happy to indulge his seemingly domineering and violent mother to a sinister predator entirely consumed by his "Mother" persona. In 2013, Bates Motel premiered on A&E and served as a contemporary prequel to Hitchcock's thriller. It details young Norman's (Freddie Highmore) life with his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) and his eventual slide into madness. The series stayed true to Psycho's spirit, but Norman's fate deviated.
Psycho has become such a pop-culture staple that even people who haven't seen the film are familiar with the ending. Norman is arrested, and the bodies of his victims are discovered in the lake behind the Bates Motel where he lived and worked. While sitting in a jail cell, Norman is taken over by Mother, who tells her deranged son he is the only one to blame for his crimes. She vows not to lift a finger, not even to hurt a fly, and the film ends with Norman leering at the camera. The ending of Psycho promised Norman would be held accountable for his crimes. While the film's sequels prolong his story, he was ultimately brought to justice and institutionalized for the rest of his life.
In Bates Motel's fifth and final season, Norman kills the former sheriff Romero who was also married to Norma after snapping when his mother died in the previous season. Before he dies, Romero tells Norman he will never escape the fact that he killed his mother. With the truth finally revealed to him, Norman's Mother persona leaves him for good. Delusional and desperate to be reunited with Norma, he takes her body back to Bates Motel and invites his brother Dylan (Max Theriot) for dinner. Determined to die, Norman charges Dylan with a knife, and his brother is forced to shoot him. He holds Norman in his arms as his younger brother dies, finally reuniting with Norma in death.
Bates Motel's producers always planned to deviate from Psycho's original ending. In an interview with TV Insider, executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin stated that the series was a romantic tragedy, which meant its conclusion should come as no surprise. "Romantic tragedies don't end up in a happy place. We always viewed this as a story about these two people who loved each other passionately. In this world, that kind of love could never truly survive. This was the inevitable fate that these characters had to meet."
Bates Motel didn't just change Norman's fate. Marion Crane (Rihanna), the victim of Psycho's infamous shower scene, survives her encounter with the deranged young man. In a shocking twist, it's Sam Loomis (Austin Nichols), Marion's boyfriend and Psycho's hero, who Norman brutally stabs and kills in the shower.
Despite these changes, Norman's death inspired the most conversation around the show's final season. Unlike Psycho, he escapes justice for the sweet release of death. Considering Norman's intense love for Norma, reuniting with her in death is arguably a happy ending for the serial killer. While Bates Motel's ending is strangely poetic, the infamous Norman Bates doesn't quite get the punishment he deserves.