Max Thieriot

Norma's going to have some explaining to do on Monday's episode of Bates Motel.



The previous episode ended with a huge confrontation between Norma (Vera Farmiga) and her oldest son Dylan (Max Thieriot), who was furious that Norma wouldn't give her estranged brother Caleb (guest star Kenny Johnson) a second chance. When Norma tried to explain that Caleb raped her repeatedly as a child, Dylan flew off the handle and called Norma a liar, which led to a brawl between Dylan and his half-brother Norman (Freddie Highmore). As the fight escalated, Norma was forced to drop a major bombshell: Caleb is Dylan's father!

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So, how will Dylan react to the news? Will this end his relationship with Norma once and for all? And how much can Dylan even worry about his home life while his work seemingly puts him in more and more danger? TVGuide.com chatted with Thieriot about all that and more. Plus: Is Bradley ( Nicola Peltz

) really out of the picture?It changes everything! It throws a huge curveball into their family dynamic. It changes how he thinks about himself and how others perceive him as well.It will disrupt their relationship. This is another thing Norma had been keeping from him and [it's] the biggest yet. He does understand, but at the same time, he doesn't understand why she would bring a child into the world that will instantly be despised because of the circumstances.Possibly over time. But right away he is totally hurt and repulsed.Yes. However, his final outcome from this card he's been dealt will reveal the type of person Dylan is.

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It's interesting you say that, because Dylan has changed so much from his first episode to now.

Thieriot: It was a tough character when I was first reading the script. In the first two or three episodes, you really want to hate this guy. He comes in and throws a wrench into the spokes of this relationship between Norma and Norman. He's rude and really over-the-top mean and says a lot of terrible things to his mom. All of a sudden, we start showing these different colors and sides to this guy, and we want the audience to like him ... or relate to him. [The writers walked] a fine line because you don't know if the audience is ever going to change their mind.



Especially when Dylan is still mixed up in a very dark and dangerous drug operation.

Thieriot: He's trying to do what he can to survive and make money and live. On the other hand, unlike some of the people in the business, he has some moral issues with what they're doing, with people dying for no reason. But he's gotten himself in deeper than he expected, and he's been warned that he can't get out. Until he can figure out what a long-term exit strategy is, he's just trying to stay low-key.



Is he not afraid of that danger catching up with him?

Thieriot: He definitely thinks he's in over his head. He saw all this money he was making... but he didn't realize what the repercussions were and the danger of what he was getting himself into. But he seems to always land on his feet. Where other people are dying, he seems to end up being alright in a lot of these situations.



Dylan could have made his bosses happy by turning over Bradley once he learned she killed Gil. Why didn't he?

Thieriot: Besides the fact that he obviously has feelings for Bradley that he's trying not to act on, he also feels for her going through this trying time with the loss of her father. Since Dylan comes from a broken home, he understands that and can see she has these problems.

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I think he definitely feels some guilt. He knows he's partially responsible for this because of the information that he gave to her. He didn't expect her to do anything like that. He tried to help her, but it obviously backfired and has gotten him even deeper.Right. He's already been linked to her last season. He knows it's risky to get in deeper with Bradley, and if anyone finds out that she's the one who's responsible, he's got a huge mess here.He definitely still worries about that. The only way he could for sure know that he's covered all of his bases is if Bradley's dead. And if he were anybody else in the business, that might [already] be the case.That's hard to say at this point. I don't know if that's in him. But that being said, people always say to me, "Dylan is the normal one." I don't know about that. One thing's for sure: He's still Norma's son.Bates Motel airs Mondays at 10/9c on A&E.