Emma

I find it unlikely they pandered to the normal straight part of the audience, that audience generally doesn't shift that much due to the absence of a straight relationship for a non gay character. She became close to the brother of the person she initially cared most for. I think she settled on the brother because Norman was well...insane and his brother went out of his way to care for her, finding his own happiness that his character was so desperately wanting. They gave him as close to a happy ending as his family was capable of having. I think also it was a bit of a twist because it seemed likely Dylan would die.

Emma IMO was an annoying character from the beginning (season 1), but since she was Norman's "best friend" I doubt he'd ever kill her. I really thought she'd die eventually due to her surgery or maybe the lung would fail. It would've been more "tragic" for her to die that way than for Norman to kill her, but no their writing sucks. Norman's storyline was always there, but the subplots from hell, made the show hard to watch and take seriously, and their subplots were dropped as fast as they were introduced.

As for Dylan, they turned him into, simply a wuss, who bailed out on his family. I know he was "tired" of being treated like an abandoned son, but the old Dylan wouldn't of left. He was so weak in the end, maybe that's what led him to Emma.

I wasn't a fan of them as a couple, I assume the writers didn't know what to do with them in the end and didn't want to kill them. They wanted them to have a "happy ending" which annoys me because wasn't this suppose to be a horror show? But it wasn't, it was soap opera drama with a mental patient. The show from Season 1-4 only took place really under a year! They forgot about that, to me that's a huge "continuity error"

Season 3 is when I began to realize this show doesn't know what its doing and the whole lung transplant thing was so laughable to me - I couldn't believe what was happening. Season 2 slowed the show down enough and then they gave us something worse.

Not sure why you're singling out "normal" straight people. I'm straight (as most people are), and thought Emma was irritating from the start. I wouldn't have minded them getting rid of the character and the union of her and Dylan seemed silly.

I see where you're coming from, but respectfully disagree.

Okay if you're going to use the word "necessary," you're completely right. But that's the case with pretty much anything here that wasn't directly about Norma and Norman. I've read/heard before that pairing the two of them together wasn't the original plan, but it happened organically because of the chemistry between the actors, which I totally get and see. I am kind of curious as to what would've happened to the characters had they not been romantically linked together. Dylan still would've had enough of a plot. Emma, they'd have to figure something else out, or write her out completely. Because as it were, her scenes in Season 5 were good, but I felt she was generally underused, in favor of servicing the larger plot (understandable but still a bummer).

When you say "straight" part of the audience, not really sure what you meant there, it's not like this was a "gay" show. A few scenes in gay bars does not a gay show make. And I am a gay guy for what that's worth.

How did Dylan turn his back on his mother? From his end, he was basically kicked to the curb, yet again.

People do crazy things for love.

I agree that Emma being killed would've been quite effective. Especially since, as a series-original character, she was a wild card. That said, she and Dylan seemed to have the best shot of making it out alive, so I was rooting for them to survive all five seasons, so it was a relief that they did. After all, the show, while not always fast-paced, was still a bit of a bloodbath overall, as they're the only two characters of real importance who survive.

I liked her in 1-4 seasons. She was a bit pointless in the final season except the one episode with Norman and Emma final scene, I love how she asked "her" that if "she" can ask Norman that she miss him. She understood that he's not Norman better than Dylan. I expected and I'd be glad if she got murdered, but I'm happy that she can be finally happy with family anyway.