Emma Spool

Psycho II character
Emma Spool
Aliases	Mrs. Spool
Gender	Female
Born	1915
Died	November 21, 1982
Race	Caucasian
Relationships	Mrs. Norma Bates (sister) Norman Bates (nephew) John Bates (brother-in-law)
Enemies	Warren Toomey Lila Loomis John Bates Norma Bates Mary Loomis
M.O.	Kills everyone who hurts her “son” (actually nephew)
Weapon of Choice:	Kitchen knife
Portrayed by:	Claudia Bryar (Psycho II) Kurt Paul (Psycho II, stunt-in for murder scenes)

Mrs. Emma Spool is a fictional character in the Psycho film series, created by Tom Holland for the screenplay of the 1982 sequel to the 1960 film Psycho, Psycho II. More attention is given to her character in Psycho III, although she's a corpse. She was played by Claudia Bryar.

Biography

Emma Spool was the sister of Norma Spool, about eight years younger than her, and she was also the aunt of Norman Bates. Both were probably born in Fairvale. Spool obviously shared her sister’s mental disorder that ran in the family. The Psycho films don’t give much clues on her childhood, but mostly give mention to her actions from Norman’s birth and on.

Norma Spool eventually met John Bates, who also seemed to have started an affair with Emma too, who was obviously in love with him. Unfortunately, Norma stole Bates away from her sister, thus becoming Mrs. Norma Bates. Emma, infected from birth with her mental problems, became insanely jealous of the couple and while her insanity grew worse, she seemed to start having a desire for a baby.

Norman (born in 1934 when Emma Spool was just becoming an early adult) was the couple’s first baby and named after his mother. Spool, more furiously jealous than ever and her insanity in the worst level, killed Mr. Bates in a jealous rage (by bee stings as revealed in Part 4) and kidnapped 5-year-old Norman, assuming in her demented mind that he was the baby she and Bates had together. Emma Spool was eventually captured and institutionalized, and Norman was returned to Norma Bates. Due to his extremely young age, since he was still a baby, Norman wasn’t able to remember his father or his aunt Emma. Norman was raised by a clinging, demanding Norma Bates (whom he always referred to as “Mother”) who described to him the evil of women and sex. He was probably never told about his aunt Emma.

In 1949, Norman (age 15), jealous of his mother who eventually got a boyfriend named Chet Rudolph, poisoned them both but later, under the pressure of his guilty feelings, he stole her corpse, stuffed it, and eventually created a second persona in his mind, speaking and thinking for his dead Mother, giving her his half life. Assuming the persona of Mother, he murdered two young girls named Holly and Gloria, probably aroused sexually by them. The murders went undiscovered.

In 1959, Norman was institutionalized and around the same time Emma Spool, was released after twenty years. Adopting the alias “Mrs. Spool”, she got a job as a waitress in a diner, owned by Harvey Leach, and rented an apartment owned by the landlord Lou. She decided to wait for Norman, still thinking he is her son. In 1975, Leach retired and the diner was bought by Ralph Statler. Mrs. Spool became the cook.

In 1982, Mrs. Spool, urges Ralph Statler to make Norman (who was released from the institution) the cook’s helper in the diner. Statler accepts and Norman meets with Mrs. Spool, although she seems to be reluctant to tell him that she is his “mother”, but she keeps behaving extremely nice to him. Very soon, Mrs. Spool’s sanity begins to crack up again, and she murders Warren Toomey, Norman’s motel manager, who repeatedly taunts heavily Norman’s recovered sanity. Mrs. Spool then murders Josh, a young boy, a punishment because he intruded her “son’s” house in order to have sex with his girlfriend and smoke pot. When she discovers that Lila Loomis was trying to drive Norman crazy again (by making phone calls and dressing up as Mrs. Bates and appearing in the window of Mother’s bedroom), Mrs. Spool sneaks behind her in the basement of the house, where Lila came to dress up as Mother again, and brutally murders her by shoving her knife in Lila’s mouth.

Mrs. Spool then calls Norman, but still not telling him her name, and reveals to him that Mrs. Bates was not his real mother but she was. Eventually, Mrs. Spool visits Norman in person, and reveals to him that she had him when she was very young and out of wedlock. She was put away by the state and Norma took Norman in her care. Mrs. Spool, while telling him this, is unaware she is actually sipping tea which Norman has poisoned. The poison takes effect and Mrs. Spool begins to cough. Norman picks up a nearby shovel, hits her on the head, and she is smashed to the floor, where she slowly dies.

Norman takes his new “Mother” upstairs, and basically repeats what he did with his real Mother (Norma): he speaks in Mrs. Spool’s voice and answers in his own. A month goes by, and Mrs. Spool’s murder remains undiscovered and she is thought missing. “Mother” (Norman dressed as Mother, assuming her persona) begins killing the girls Norman is aroused by, and a reporter named Tracy Venable is sure that Norman is the one responsible for the disappearances, although he is protected by the sheriff and his love interest, Maureen. Actually, Norman doesn’t know himself that he murders. His mind blacks out when he becomes Mother.

First a young musician desperate for money called Duane Duke who is helping out at the motel discovers the truth about Mrs. Spool. Norman kills Daune when he tries to use Norman's secret to extort money from him. Tracy eventually discovers the truth behind Mrs. Spool’s disappearance and her history, and rushes to tell Maureen, who has returned to Norman to apologize for abandoning him when she learned his past. Maureen is accidentally killed by Norman, and he, utterly distraught, vows revenge to his Mother. Tracy confronts “Mother”, and stalking her through the house, Tracy reveals to Norman what Mrs. Spool did: she murdered his father, kidnapped him when he was a baby, and all of these because she thought she was his mother, when Norma Bates really was his actual mother. Mother’s voice commands Norman to kill Tracy when she enters Mother’s bedroom and discovers Spool’s corpse, but instead, Norman fights back his fears and violently attacks Mrs. Spool’s corpse, thus killing her for the second time. Norman, free of the Mother nightmare, is arrested. While in the police car, he takes out the trophy from his battle with Mother: Mrs. Spool’s severed rotten hand. He caresses it, celebrating his victory and freedom in silence bearing an evil smile.

Meaning of the ending of Psycho III

In the first film, Norman is dominated by his dead mother Norma. As in the ending of Psycho, Dr. Richmond states that the battle of the two personalities (Norman's personality and that of his mother) has ended and the stronger personality (the Mother) has won.

In Psycho II, Norman is cured but is in danger of falling under the domination of his mother again. When he is convinced his mother is dead, he realizes that Norma Bates wasn't his true mother and that Emma Spool is. By killing her in the end of "Psycho II", he restarts again the same problem he had in the first Psycho. Now, dominated by Emma Spool, the ending of Psycho II allows Psycho III to feature in a similar way the events of the first film. But this time in Psycho III, Norman manages to win the second battle in his mind: by killing the already dead Mrs. Spool, the stronger personality is now his own personality and not that of his mother's. Now, completely cured of the Mother-domination-illness, Norman takes Mrs. Spool's hand as the trophy for winning the second battle. As Norma smiled in the ending of the original film after she has won the battle, Norman smiles this time since he is the winner of the battle that holds the judgment of his sanity. Norman cannot be dominated ever again.

Continuity

While Psycho III was the one that actually ended the Psycho series (Norman finally defeating his mother), the later sequel-prequel Psycho IV: The Beginning did not give much mention the two previous sequels (Norman briefly mentions killings taking place 4 years ago and the total he gives of his murder victims as 12 would include those killed by Norman in the first two sequels.), and Mrs. Spool is never mentioned in it, although her actions, since The Beginning is a prequel, are mentioned in Psycho III.

Mrs Spool is also said to have killed Norman's father in Psycho III. In Psycho IV, Norman's father is shown as having died of multiple bee stings. While it is still possible that this 'accident' could have been arranged by Emma Spool, no such indication is made.

Behind the scenes

• For the murder of Mrs. Spool in Psycho II (being hit with a shovel on the head), a special effects dummy was used that is seen in the interview of Andrew London (editor of Psycho II) on the official website of the Psycho movies. Although the Spool dummy can be seen for a brief second, Claudia Bryar did Mrs. Spool dying on the floor after being hit.^[1]

Other notes

The role of Mrs. Spool was one of the few of Claudia Bryar had in theatrical films. Most of her career as an actress was built by her roles in many TV series. Claudia Bryar was aged 64 during the filming. Both Claudia Bryar (Mrs. Spool) and Chris Hendrie (Deputy Mike Pool in "Psycho II") were cast in the TV series Dallas. Also, she and co-star of Psycho II Vera Miles appeared together ten years before Psycho II in the TV movie Jigsaw (1972).

Mrs. Spool was also played by Kurt Paul, who was Claudia Bryar's stunt-in for the murder scenes of Lila, Josh and Toomey.

Claudia Bryar, in the TV series Leave it to Beaver episode "Three Boys and a Burro", she plays a character named Mrs. Bates.

Claudia Bryar and Virginia Gregg, the actress who voiced "Mother" in all Psycho sequels co-starred in the episode A.P.B. of the series The Fugitive, Gregg as Mrs. Ross and Bryar as the Housekeeper 1.

Footnotes

1. ^ ::Psycho II (1983)::

External links

• Emma Spool at the Internet Movie Database
• Claudia Bryar at the Internet Movie Database
• Pictures of Mrs. Spool on “Cinemorgue”
• Analysis of the Mothers in the Psycho franchise