If you were to walk up to a mini crowd of people on the street and ask if they knew showrunner and screenwriter Kerry Ehrin, you’d probably get some confused looks and a staggering amount of no’s. Let’s switch up the scenario, say you’re on the exact same street in front of the same people and ask if they know of Bates Motel. Some may immediately think of the 1960 Psycho, some may jump to the understanding of a simple Mother and Son duo on the small flatscreens of A&E, and a few might grin with the ideal of Norma Bates and her golden locks of glory or Norman Bates and his fine tuned stuffed birds or maybe the girl who drags the tank around.

What many don’t know is that Kerry Ehrin crafted this show with her heart and head full of ideas and intentions for some of these wonderful characters all set in the dark, cryptic (that’s a piece of Bates vocab for you super fans!) town of White Pine Bay. It odd to think of really. That one woman initially created the lovely, mercurial Norma Bates. The woman that can yell things like “Screw off, shithead!” to a stuffy man outside a drycleaners and then drown her son Norman with affection in the form of Turkey Pot Pies and viewings of Double Indemnity whilst curled up in bed together. She wrote the part of a sweet yet untimely psycho Norman Bates as a teen boy who only wanted his mother, his taxidermy, and a few classic records spinning on the turntable. Ehrin had the brilliance to come up with Alex Romero, a stoic cop who secretly lusts after Mama Bates and still manages to stuff the crimes of White Pine Bay under a rug. She even created Norman Bates a brother, a scruffy rebel who liked motorcycles and pot.

These characters wove their way into my life with such a ferocity. The road to the Bates Motel was initially nothing that miraculous for me, a chubby teen with Clark Kent glasses and a penchant for vintage culture. I was only a sophomore in high school and I had just started my spring break. I was watching Lifetime and I say a preview that really intrigued me. A mother and son sitting at a piano while singing Mr. Sandman...and a lot of blood splattering accompany. What’s not to like about that? Mind you, this was the season two promo. Of course I knew I had to find the first season and binge watch as fast as humanly possible. By the end of the series, I had one hell of a Spotify playlist inspired by the show, a batch of Fanfiction written, and a large fangirl following of show star Vera Farmiga.

I can recall how some of the times during my high school years were rough socially and emotionally, yet Bates Motel to look forward to got me through them in a tremendous way. I was happy because I knew that for two or three months out of the year, I would have some wonderful Tuesday nights. I would always sit on the couch and anxiously await the new story of Norma and Norman’s escapades. I loved it very much. Soon I started buying t-shirts, posters, and gained a great following through my fanfiction.

All that time, I knew that Kerry was responsible for this show. Every scene is done so incredibly well, every piece of dialogue is done so flawlessly. Watching this glorious show really does make me want to write screenplays of my own in the future. I want to reach out and touch viewers with my written creations, characters, and plot lines. I want to put myself in the writers bubble and have a created world of my own to escape into every now and then.

Watching the finale of Bates Motel on Monday night made me cry like a baby. I watched as Norman and his mother were reunited through life and death. How the chord really was never severed. I spent four years of my life loving this wonderful creation.

And now all I can do is thank Kerry for doing something so beautiful, something that gave me hope in a time where most things were dark. “Maybe some people don’t start over, maybe they just bring themselves to a new place”, made me realize that I could always start fresh after a shitty day. “People are generally disappointing,” reassured me that not everyone could be a happy go lucky human being. “I’m actually magical, I’m a unicorn”, reminded me that there would always be a shade of light in gradient darkness. “You are really special to me and I feel safe with you,” taught me that it was okay to admit deep feelings to those you feel close with. “Our family is so screwed up,” gave me the strength to admit that mine could be too at times.

Thank you, Kerry Ehrin for taking the time to make this show and give wallflowers like myself to feel utterly welcome in the town of White Pine Bay, though it could be a real colossal frickin’ face dive off a cliff at times. I hope to do the same as you, someday.