Somewhere, there’s a cinematic universe where these two met.
The Big Picture
- Norma Bates of
Bates Motel
and Mary Villiers of
Mary & George
share numerous similarities, such as their unusual relationships with their sons. - Both characters are set up intriguingly through memorable introductions, with both coming across as suspects in their respective husbands’ murders.
- The pair aren’t completely similar, however, as Norma Bates is a more tragic character while Mary Villiers succeeds in ways Norma never could.
Audiences have always had a soft spot for antiheroes. From Scarlett O’Hara to Walter White, there’s nothing quite like rooting for a less than perfect character. One of the most fascinating new anti-heriones to grace the screen recently is Julianne Moore‘s Mary Villiers. One half of the titular Mary & George, the 1600s-based show, has delighted viewers with her ambition and questionable morals. Between blackmailing noblemen to preparing her son, George (Nicholas Glatizine) to seduce the king, and even playing apart in the “mysterious” death of her husband, Mary is an intriguing character to say the least, and is reminiscent of one of television’s all-time best anti-heroes.
Debuting in March 2013, A&E’s Bates Motel was among the shows at the forefront of the golden age of cable. Taking a more nuanced look at the lure of Psycho, the show introduced a slew of memorable characters, including the infamous Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga). Based on description alone, the ambitious Jacobean area Dutchess, and the mother of cinema’s most notorious character seem to have nothing in common. From their obsessive determination for a better life, to their eerie introductions and, of course, their relationships with their sons, these two are more alike than viewers realize.
Mary & George
- Release Date
- April 5, 2024
- Creator
- D. C. Moore
- Cast
- Julianne Moore , Nicholas Galitzine , Tony Curran , Laurie Davidson , nicola walker , Niamh Algar , Trine Dyrholm , Sean Gilder , Adrian Rawlins
- Main Genre
- History
- Number of Episodes
- 7
- Network
- Starz
Norma Bates and Mary Villiers Share Many Archetypes
Both the debut episodes of Bates Motel and Mary & George start memorably, and their leading ladies make quite the entrance. Norma is seen dutifully, and almost uninterested as she exits the shower as her son, Norman (Freddie Highmore), frantically tells her that her husband might be dead. On the other hand, Mary Villiers comes on to the scene giving birth to a baby, George, who is dropped on the floor by her midwives. More annoyed than worried, she already has big plans for George. Moments later, there is a time jump where she finds a now grown George hanging from a tree in a failed suicide attempt. Mary is once again irked and cuts George down more with a sense of obligation. Both opening sequences set the characters up brilliantly. They’re simple, yet shocking openers, that immediately make it clear to viewers that the characters are deeply complex, and for characters so akin as these, there is no better way to introduce them.
The episodes continue to showcase similarities between the two, with both coming off as manipulative, cold, and more intriguingly, the audience’s top suspects for the murders of their respective husbands. But, in fashion, both shows make it clear that there is far more than meets the eye to mysterious deaths. In Bates Motel, Norman finds his father, Sam, dead under a collapsed shelf. Norma uses the insurance money to buy the motel which she moves herself and her son into. One can’t blame the viewers for at first thinking Norma is a cold-hearted killer. But, as the show’s first season continues, and Norma becomes more and more complex, it’s revealed that Sam was abusive to Norma, and Norman, in his classic Psycho-esque state, killed Sam to protect Norma. She moved the body to protect Norman from what he had done, and pursued the move to allow the pair a fresh start. She and Norman are, in a sense, twisted soulmates, and she is completely motivated by the love she feels for Norman.
Before ‘Bates Motel’ Was a Beloved Series, It Was an ’80s ‘Psycho’ Spin-Off Movie
It features an 18-year-old Jason Bateman in a supporting role!
Like Norma, Mary has a close, near-controlling relationship with George. After cutting him down from the tree, it’s revealed that she intends to send him away to France to work on refinement. George doesn’t want to go, and uses his father’s protection as defense. It is of no surprise that his father turns up dead in the very next scene. Clearly, the ambitious and controlling Mary is behind his sudden, and almost comical, death. But, like her doomed predecessor, Mary’s motives are not what they seem. Her husband was also abusive and vile; as she tries to get away from her husband’s battering, they fall down the stairs together, and he dies of injury. Like Norma, Mary is an opportunist and uses the death to fulfill her plans for George, which she believes will give him a better life. Throughout both series, Norma and Mary do whatever it takes to protect their sons, even when their actions are morally questionable at best, and bluntly wrong at worse. However, their fates are not completely intertwined.
Mary Finds the Success Norma Never Could
Norma and Mary are certainly two of the strongest antiheroes on modern television. However, despite their similar motivations, the outcome of their actions is where the two begin to part. Norma Bates did not clock a lot of wins in her time, and, though Bates Motel established itself as its own take on Psycho, the character’s fate was sealed to an extent before the show even began. The series never gave Norma much of a break, no matter how hard she tried. Whether it was buying the motel and finding out a new road was going to take tourists away from her route, or finally finding a happy marriage only to be murdered by her son right after, Norma earned her place among some of television’s most tragic characters.
Mary, on the other hand, has been victorious in her pursuits. She’s certainly faced challenges, like the scheming Somersets, but Mary is not a force to be reckoned with and uncovered a violent plot which saw her enemies condemned to death. She’s also been successful in molding her son into the man she thinks he needs to be in order to obtain a better life for them. While the series has only aired a handful of episodes thus far, the real Mary Villiers lived to be 66 years of age. Like Bates, the show has taken liberties with its basis, but, should the series continue on the track it has, Mary may succeed in ways Norma never could.
At first glance, there seems to be very little in common between Norma Bates and Mary Villiers, but when examining both their tragedies, ambitions and their victories (or, in Norma’s case, lack thereof), the two are spiritual successors. While Norma was always doomed to her fate thanks to Psycho lore, Mary Villiers has been able to accomplish goals that would make her antiheroine successor proud.
Mary & George is available to stream on Starz in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com