Even when she’s out of town for the week, Naomi can’t escape the alien high jinks!
Naomi Season 1 Episode 5 saw Naomi and company out in the wilderness for the week, on what was supposed to be a chill week in which Naomi could decompress from all the various stressors of her life and be with her friends, and possibly continue to reconnect with Nathan.
But the universe had other plans for her, and at this point, she should expect nothing less.
Coming off the events of Naomi Season 1 Episode 4, it was nice to see the series not gloss over what happened between Naomi and the bounty hunter, Jaeger.
Naomi has been in some dicey situations, but that was by far the most dangerous encounter Naomi has had yet, and before Dee arrived, she was all by herself and completely overmatched.
It’s very easy at times to forget that Naomi is just a child because she truly is so brave. She is always willing to put herself in inherently dangerous situations if it means getting some answers, but being brave doesn’t mean you’re immune to fear.
We’re all afraid at some point. No one walks through life, never having a moment where they’re scared. And for Naomi, the scariest moment of her life was on that soccer field, looking into the eyes of a man who wanted to snatch her away from her life.
It was that underlying fear that really drove most of the episode forward, as Naomi was once again thrust into an investigation with some members of the Scooby gang as they looked into the mysteries surrounding the camp they were staying at.
Now, they weren’t exactly subtle here with having both Anthony and Nathan on this trip, right after Naomi and Anthony shared that kiss in the prior episode.
It added another layer to everything, having Naomi between Anthony and Nathan at times, especially once it became clear that Nathan and Naomi weren’t on the same page about their relationship.
Nathan is a lovely guy, though his jealousy of Anthony is starting to get old.
We get it, they’re teenagers who think irrationally, but again this rivalry isn’t adding much story-wise, though it’s still early, I guess.
It’s just that Nathan’s only other personality trait is hating Anthony outside of being relatively kind and in love with Naomi.
But anyway, Nathan has legitimate worries when it comes to Naomi because being blindsided once was enough for Nathan to know he wasn’t willing to go down that road once again.
I enjoy how Naomi allows the kids to explore their feelings and not just gloss over things. We didn’t necessarily need the Nathan and Naomi walk down memory lane, but it helped parse out why Nathan was apprehensive about diving back into things with Naomi.
And that’s where that fear came back around for both of them.
Nathan: So we’re doing this? The real version?
Naomi: The real version. Plus the kissing. If you’re still, I don’t know, into that part.
At the end of the day, they were both afraid of being hurt, but letting that fear run your life makes for an awfully bleak existence.
Getting them on the same page by the end of the hour was sweet and a good starting point for them, though the love triangle was hardly put to rest here and will likely be a thing for the rest of the season.
Besides pining for Naomi and helping the gang break into establishments, we haven’t gotten a ton of Anthony. And we still don’t know much about him personally, but he got some increased screentime here, and he and Naomi make a good team.
Kaci Walfall has lovely chemistry with the whole cast, but she brings out the best of her co-stars, and they her, when they get to play off each other one on one.
While Nathan and Naomi’s relationship seems to be rooted in a deep respect for one another and a kind of light energy, she and Anthony definitely connect in their curiosity.
After what happened to him in the woods, Anthony wasn’t going to rest until he got answers. Which is to say he took a play out of Naomi’s playbook.
At first, I genuinely thought this was going to be an adventure that didn’t connect back to aliens and Naomi’s journey, and I perhaps would have liked that better.
I know this is about Naomi and how she becomes the superhero we all know she’s going to be, but I do think it’s okay to flip the script once in a while, especially as it pertains to the alien discoveries.
Especially when each week we’re reminded by Naomi’s own words that she’s looking for a small slice of normalcy amid the swell of chaos that’s been following her around.
So, what is the Dilustel? And who the hell was Counselor Jeff?
Considering Anthony, a human, had such a negative reaction to it, and Naomi felt nothing, it must be an alien metal of some kind. But what its purpose is, we’ll have to wait and see.
Naomi can’t even escape alien business when she’s out in the middle of nowhere!
Naomi using her powers in front of Anthony made me gasp! She’s been careful not to let anyone outside of Annabelle know what’s going on, though she has been more than willing to let her friends see the alien writings and other artifacts located along the way.
She’s just lucky no one has asked any more questions.
While the kids were off eating smores and almost getting killed, I finally got the answer to one of my questions, and that was regarding the relationship between De and Zumbado.
Not only do the two know each other, but they also seem to have a history together. And that history involves some agreement that Dee broke when he contacted Naomi.
Zumbado: You could’ve been more discreet.
Dee: And you could have told me about your visit from the bounty hunter.
Zumbado: I didn’t realize I had to check in with you about my movements.
Dee: You do, when it concerns Naomi.
Dee is a great character, even though he only gets about two facial expressions to operate with. You can tell he’s been to hell and back in certain ways and is very embattled. He wants to protect Naomi, and he wants to keep her safe above all else, and that’s the reason he even goes to Zumbado in the first place.
Zumbado is layered, and I will stick with that assessment until I’m proven otherwise. He was still at his villainy best here, but going back to tell Dee about Qyeala’s name being on Jeager’s list felt like an almost nice thing to do. Maybe?
This planet’s made you soft.
Zumbado [to Dee]
There’s much more to dissect here, from Dee being a war criminal (say what now?), the love of his life being on a hit list, and he and Zumbado being a pretty fun team, I wouldn’t mind seeing again.
This was a conflicting hour, but we got a lot more information and more questions as well. As we approach the midway point of the first season, we seem well on our way to getting Naomi to her rightful place in this alien hierarchy.
She’s destined for something big; you can feel it brewing just under the surface.
Extra, Extra
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Greg works on that base and isn’t aware there are cameras EVERYWHERE?!
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Speaking of the McDuffies, they went from very shady to doing whatever it takes to keep Naomi safe!
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That Moonshine Jimmy story was so silly, and the fact that it was genuinely scaring people at the camp and keeping them away from looking into things is WILD.
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Annabelle is such a perfect best friend. She never tells Naomi what she wants to hear but is honest with her, which has aided in her growth. Their conversations are always among some of the best parts of each hour.
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Naomi and Nathan go on some REALLY cute dates for teenagers.
Alright, guys, this was an hour that pushed some storylines forward, and that’s always a good thing. There have been no filler hours thus far with Naomi, which is nice, though I do itch sometimes for Naomi to get to relax once in a while.
It’s your turn to hit up the comments and let me know what you thought about this installment!
Remember you can watch Naomi online via TV Fanatic anytime your heart desires!
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Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
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