With Bates Motel now headed into its fifth and final season, that trigger has finally been pulled; Norma met her untimely demise near the end of season 4.
Bates Motel season 5 premieres February 20 on A&E.
While it can be considered a prequel to the Psycho film franchise, Bates Motel has truly ended up carving out its own unique identity over the course of its four season run.
The above differences aside though, it never stopped being clear that the Bates family journey was leading to one inevitable event: the murder of Norma Bates by her son.