bates motel
A hallucination in the Season 2 finale of "Bates Motel" introduced a big game changer for Norman. A&E

Say goodbye to White Pine Bay. The Season 2 finale of “Bates Motel” aired on Monday, wrapping up some small-town drama.

Episode 10, “The Immutable Truth,” kicked off with Dylan fleeing Nick Ford’s house … and running straight into Sheriff Romero.

“Nick Ford’s dead,” Dylan immediately confesses to Romero. “I just killed him. He’s got Norman, but I don’t know where.”

Romero tells him to get in the car and speeds off to Ford’s house. And just as Dylan said, Romero finds Nick’s dead body. But that’s not all he finds. Quietly sneaking upstairs, Romero discovers one of Nick’s employees looting his safe.

After a couple of threats and a nice right hook, Romero finds out where Norman is. With Dylan in the passenger seat, the pair head to the woods. And thanks to Norman’s cries for help, they manage to get the teen out of the box and patched up at the hospital. But that doesn’t mean that Norman’s okay.

“I have to tell you something,” Norman tries to tell Norma of the dreams and memories he had of Miss Watson. But Norma doesn’t want to hear it. “Not now,” she begs her son.

With Norman safe and sound back at the house, Norma runs to the store. But she can’t escape her problems. This time the issue is Christine … and she is not happy with Norma.

“How the hell dare you,” she says to Norma when Norma tries to apologize for her breakdown with George. “You are a train wreck.” And just like Nick Ford, Christine threatens Norma’s position on the city council. Small-town politics, eh?

Back at the house, Norman tries to tell his mother the truth again. But Norma tells him that Sheriff Romero already told her about the semen sample, and that he’ll take a polygraph test to clear things up.

“You slept with her; you didn’t kill her,” Norma says to calm him down. But her comment only causes him to tear up.

“I think I did, mother,” he confesses. “When I was in the box I had these memories, things I never remembered before.”

Once again Norma tries to shoo off what Norman is saying, but he insists that it happened. “I saw myself having sex with Miss Watson and then I killed her,” Norman continued. “I do things when I black out … that’s why you wouldn’t tell me.”

But Norma won’t admit the truth; instead she just yells at him to stop and changes the subject. Norman can’t just forget about Miss Watson’s death, though. Getting a gun from his mother’s chest, Norman begins to make a list … seemingly preparing to kill himself.

One of the things on his list? Speaking with Emma. After learning of her plan to quit, Norman comes clean to her about Dylan’s incest secret. The big revelation makes Emma feel bad for pressuring Norma, and she agrees to reconsider her decision to quit.

Meanwhile, in the drug world, news is spreading about Ford’s death. And it appears Jody may have sold Dylan out. In a phone conversation with Zane, Jody tells her brother that she worked Dylan up into killing Nick. And when Zane asks about Dylan, Jody says that she doesn’t care and that Zane can do whatever he wants with him.

Still, not all is what it seems. When Jody hangs up the phone, it’s revealed that both Dylan and Romero are behind her. Turns out that Jody’s phone call was a set up to lure Zane to her house. And the plan worked … a little too well.

As the trio waits for Zane, the lights go out at Jody’s house. Romero leaves them upstairs, but Jody goes downstairs to get a gun after she hears a shot go off. But before Jody can get to her gun cabinet, Zane enters her house and shoots one of her beloved dogs. Jody confronts her brother, and things immediately go south. While Jody manages to slash Zane’s arm with a knife, her brother turns his gun on her … killing her instantly.

About to turn the gun on Dylan, Zane’s stopped when Romero turns up behind him.

“Remember what I said of burning you down?” Romero asks him, raising his shotgun. “Well, I’m a man of my word.”

In a surprising move, Romero kills Zane. But that’s not all. He comes up with a fake story to frame Zane for Nick Ford’s death, getting Dylan completely off the hook.

“What about me?” Dylan questions him of Zane and Jody’s bodies. “You were never here,” Romero responds.

But why is Romero letting Dylan off the hook? According to the sheriff, it’s because Dylan’s smart enough to figure out how things work in White Pine Bay, and he needs someone to fill the vacuum and follow the rules.

While Dylan’s still in shock about the night’s events, he agrees to meet up with an upset Norma. His mother explains the polygraph test situation for Blaire Watson’s murder – and reveals that she bought three tickets for Montreal. Dylan’s happy that his mother included him, and is surprised when she begins to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Dylan. I’m so sorry, for everything,” Norma tells her son. “For how you were born. For how I handled it. For how I shut you out.”

The moment’s sweet and offers a fresh start for the mother-son duo, but Dylan convinces Norma not to flee. Instead he tells her that of Norman really did kill Blaire Watson he needs to be placed somewhere he can be protected.

Norma agrees and heads back to the house to find Norman. But when she arrives she discovers a chilling note and a stuffed bird from him.

“I will always love you and we will always be part of each other,” reads the note.

Knowing that something is wrong, Norma runs into the Bates Motel office to search for Norman. When she learns from Emma that Norman just walked into the woods, Norma breaks out into a sprint – running straight into traffic.

Norma immediately finds Norman, but Norman doesn’t want to be found. Breaking into a run, Norman forces his mother to chase after him. However Norma’s able to catch her son when he trips and hurts his leg. Unfortunately they don’t share a sweet moment together though. Instead Norman kicks his mother and holds a gun to her face.

“I’m sorry, mother. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I am going to do this and you’re not going to stop me,” he yells at Norma. “There’s something wrong with me … I’m bad.”

Norma begs him not to do anything drastic, and Norman uses this time to finally get the truth from her. Questioning her about the day his father died, Norma promises to tell him everything that happened if he hands over the gun.

Norman agrees, and when Norma gets the gun she reveals the truth.

“He was hurting me and you were trying to protect me,” she tells him. “I will die if you leave … we have to be together, we’re supposed to be together.”

The next day Norman is ready to face his fate. Dressing up and eating a big breakfast, he heads to a warehouse with Dylan and Norma to take the polygraph test.

During the test Norman admits to having sex with Blaire Watson, physically harming another person, and withholding information from others regarding a crime. But Norman freezes when he gets asked if he killed Blaire Watson.

In a surprising twist, Norman hallucinates Norma sitting next to him during the polygraph test.

“You need to know something very important,” the hallucination of Norma tells him. “You didn’t kill Blaire Watson. I did.”

“You did?” Norman asks.

“Yes,” the fake Norma responds. “You have to keep this a secret. Do you promise?”

Norman agrees and the hallucination of Norma tells him to remember that she’ll always be there to protect him … no matter what.

The polygraph tester snaps Norman out of his trance and repeats the question. However “Bates Motel” viewers don’t get to see Norman’s answer. Instead they cut to the door opening, and the polygraph tester telling Romero, Norma and Dylan that Norman “passed.”

“In my opinion Norman Bates did not kill Blaire Watson,” he explains.

What did you think of the Season 2 finale of “Bates Motel”? Let us know in the comments section.