Bates Motel
A&E | Release Date: March 18, 2013
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 61 Critic Reviews
Positive:
46
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyMar 3, 2014
Season 2 Review: Bates Motel remains such a well-acted show that it discourages casual viewing more and more with each episode. Read full review
60
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoFeb 27, 2014
Season 2 Review: Many of Norma's freak-outs have a black streak of over-the-top humor, and it's in those moments that Farmiga and the show shine. The dramatic material, especially that involving the young cast, still feels slight and unengaging to me. Read full review
60
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyMar 18, 2013
Season 1 Review: Bates Motel has a talented cast and a memorable back story that guides, but doesn’t limit, the narrative, and at its best it’s intriguing and enjoyably grim. But even more than Norman, the series itself has a split personality, a Hitchcock classic grafted onto a much more mundane brand of suspense. Each new twist moves it further from “Psycho” and closer to Nancy Drew. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyMar 18, 2013
Season 1 Review: It could be problematic that we know almost no one here will live happily ever after. But while it could head down several wrong highways, it could also give us a nice creepy ride. Read full review
60
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayMar 18, 2013
Season 1 Review: Whether other people's secrets will prove to be as interesting as the intimations of Norman's not-so-sweet future remains to be seen. Read full review
60
PopMattersJ.C. Macek IIIMar 18, 2013
Season 1 Review: Bates Motel isn’t Hitchcock, and doesn’t try to be. But the show does make intelligent use of what you already know about Norma and Norman in their efforts to “start over.” Read full review
50
Washington PostHank StueverMar 3, 2014
Season 2 Review: So far, several story lines of small-town secrets and drama have fanned out and fizzled, making it hard to tell if “Bates Motel” wants to be compellingly chilling or just tediously unnerving. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian LowryFeb 28, 2014
Season 2 Review: Despite the considerable craft that has gone into creating a world designed to take on a life of its own, it’s difficult to see how the serialized narrative can run much longer without beginning to muck up its own Hitchcockian mythology. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzMar 18, 2013
Season 1 Review: I’m torn between condemning the series for piggybacking on a classic and promising an origin story it doesn’t really care to deliver, and praising it for avoiding the homicidal Muppet Babies formula and pulling a pretty brazen bait-and-switch. Read full review
50
People WeeklyTom GliattoMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: The show is overworked and overthought. [25 Mar 2013, p.43]
50
VarietyBrian LowryMar 7, 2013
Season 1 Review: To their credit, the producers do keep things interesting, for the most part without resorting to the cheap tricks that have characterized the vastly overrated “American Horror Story.” Nevertheless, the premise becomes its own creative prison, fostering a hurry-up-and-wait attitude as the story metes out its examples of the things that make this duo, well, different. Read full review
40
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanMar 14, 2013
Season 1 Review: All in all, the stories about the town feel somewhat contrived, and the lead characters' arcs feel predictable, despite the texture the actors are occasionally able to give the material. Read full review
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