_Bates Motel_ is an appallingly bad made-for-TV movie that attempted to revive the _Psycho_ franchise. A young man named Alex West, who befriended Norman Bates while at the same mental institution as a boy, inherits the Bates Motel after Norman’s death and attempts to renovate and reopen it. Not only doesn’t it follow the continuity of _Psycho II_ & _III_, it doesn’t even follow the continuity of the original film. And the sentimental, maudlin tone is beyond bizarre, with Alex reverently carrying around Norman’s ashes (that’s Norman Bates, the serial killer) and talking about making him proud. And the plot takes some really strange turns, and breaks the fourth wall at the end as Alex turns to the camera and telling the audience what to expect with future visits to the Bates Model. A _Psycho_ spin-off in name only, _Bates Motel_ is a hot mess that has no understanding of what the films were about.