For starters, White Pine Bay is a very creepy place. I mean, we knew that, but now we know that: Not only are most of the citizens on the make in some secret shadow economy, but some of them run huge drug farms, and they don't even try to hide the fact that their town, and affluence, is a huge grody lie. Scariest of all, Emma uses Norman's porno comic to uncover a sex-slavery ring that's probably still going on -- and which investigation leads them onto a drug-crop property that nearly gets them shot to death in the process.

Bradley's father is one, but not the only, of the burning victims this week: In fact, the school day starts with his car careening into the side of the road -- with his burnt-up ass inside -- near the motel, while Norman and the other kids stare. That's about all we see of Bradley this week, between Richard Slymore's handy (and snarly) interception, the fact that she spends the episode in the ICU with her burnt-ass dad, and the focus on Norman's adventures with Emma.

Dylan spots one of Mr. Martin's employees weeping openly at a strip club, and before you know it he's taken a job as a killer (or pot-farm guard), which I guess means he's going to be sticking around. He accidentally goads Norman into the first berserker violence we've seen, which is pretty scary, and then hits Norma with a lot of exposition about how her second husband -- Norman's father -- was fairly abusive to them all, which would put a much bigger spin on his life insurance payout if it became public.

Norma redoubles her attempts to work Deputy Shelby as the Sheriff's suspicions about her accrete, but once she learns that the townspeople's "eye for an eye" extends to setting arsonists alight, locking him down becomes a much more important proposition. So while she's off pretending to be a secret agent in order to go on a pretend date that's actually a real date with a hot guy, her son is off solving ancient comic-book mysteries -- and getting his first kiss in such a breezy, sweet, lovely way it's one of the more enduring memories of the hour -- and the only person who realizes they're cheating on each other is Dylan, who finds the whole thing grotesque ... and couldn't be more jealous, of course.

The style is there -- it's a visual shock to see Dylan in his motorcycle jacket, standing in the Bates's timeless kitchen -- and the music queues are just as heartbreaking and clever as last week, which is worth a lot. The acting is stellar, of course -- Olivia Cooke is a powerhouse -- and we see just enough of Norman's quieter, scarier stuff to get a fuller picture than last week. The only thing hotter than Vera Farmiga flirting with a person is Mike Vogel getting flirty right back, so that's going to be fun. And funny! I didn't know they'd be funny, but they have a charming, friendly chemistry that crackles with more wit and layered implications than almost anything I've seen on TV in a while.

While it was great getting to know Emma better -- she's charming and gorgeous and maybe even more interesting than Bradley -- and we're grateful to Dylan for every bit of light he can shed on Norma's tortured history, it's still a bit of a comedown to see last week's claustrophobic shadowy mysteries open out into even the Town With Secrets we've been promised. A lot of the mysterious doings at this point seem to be splitting the difference between the grand guignol weirdness of Twin Peaks and the more mournfully banal corruption of The Killing, but it's a bit early to be making those comparisons and anyway, not my usual way of doing things. (If the latter's DNA keeps turning up as regularly as this episode indicated, though, we might need to have a little talk.)

In the meantime, introducing a rival into the house itself is a bold move: Dylan's relationship with Norma is every bit as inappropriate as his brother's, and has the benefit of being completely on the table. Norman's jealousy of her pursuit of the Deputy is played not so much for laughs or cringes as for a somber dance of manipulations by them both, but as with last week he's just outmatched enough that you can see how it would fuck him up. And finally seeing the snappin' gators at the bottom of Norman's lake probably satisfied more people than it didn't, although I'd like to see a few more dots connected -- is this a blackout thing, for e.g., or are we in constant-repression Bruce Banner territory? -- before the pacing of his development really presents itself.

Next Week: Dylan takes to White Pine Bay culture in a natural way neither Norma nor Norman can even understand, I'd imagine. Emma wants to stir up all kinds of shit about the sex ring, but Norman -- understandably; even moreso now that his mom's cheating on him with one -- doesn't want to mess with the police. He has another freakout and possibly ends up in the hospital this time, while Norma continues to work on Deputy Shelby now that she knows she's one false move away from maybe getting set on actual fire.