Broadcast TV Naomi (The CW) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

From Oscar® nominee/Emmy® winner Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship (“Arrow”), and starring Kaci Walfall (“Army Wives,” “Power,” “The Lion King” on Broadway) in the title role, the DC drama NAOMI follows the journey of a cool, confident, comic book–loving teenager as she pursues her hidden destiny. When a supernatural event shakes her hometown of Port Oswego to the core, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, with a little help from her fiercely loyal best friend Annabelle (Mary-Charles Jones, “Kevin Can Wait”). She also has the support of her adoptive, doting parents, veteran military officer Greg (Barry Watson, “7th Heaven,” “The Loudest Voice”) and linguistics teacher Jennifer (Mouzam Makkar, “The Fix”). After an encounter with Zumbado (Cranston Johnson, “Filthy Rich”), the mysterious owner of a used car lot, leaves her shaken, Naomi turns to tattoo parlor owner Dee (Alexander Wraith, “Orange Is the New Black”), who becomes her reluctant mentor. While unfolding the mystery about herself, Naomi also effortlessly navigates her high school friendships with kids on the military base as well as well as local townies, including ex-boyfriend and high school jock Nathan (Daniel Puig); Annabelle’s longtime, loyal boyfriend Jacob (Aidan Gemme); proud “townie” Anthony (Will Meyers, “Bad Education”); and fellow comic book enthusiast Lourdes (Camila Moreno), who works in a vintage collectible shop. As Naomi journeys to the heights of the Multiverse in search of answers, what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes. Based on the characters from DC, NAOMI is written and executive produced by Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship (“Arrow”), and executive produced by Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes of ARRAY Filmworks. Amanda Marsalis (“Echo Park,” “Queen Sugar”) directed and co-executive produced the pilot episode. The series is from ARRAY Filmworks in association with Warner Bros. Television.

First Look:

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The dialog was often groanworthy, but the setup left me intrigued. It's a superhero origin story where everybody around the superhero knows more about who she is than she does.

Starting with the fact that while her glasses give her normal vision, that doesn't mean the same thing it does for everyone else who wears glasses.

 

[NeilO]

I just watched the pilot. I am intrigued enough to want to continue watching. I wonder how much her parents know.

 

[jayembee]

I really liked Brian Bendis's comic. So far (with just the pilot) it seems like a fairly faithful adaptation. The most notable change is that in the comic, Naomi is very much a part of the DC Universe. The Superman incident actually involved Superman (fighting Mongul). The show appears to treat Superman as a fictional character, though.

 

[NeilO]

Just started the second episode and I have to wonder why her parents didn't ask Naomi why she wasn't wearing her glasses. And why she didn't ask her parents about why she "needed" those glasses. Maybe it comes up later in the episode, but it doesn't make sense at the moment.

[Edit]Finished the episode and no one mentioned anything about the glasses at all.

I guess this is another parallel Earth from DC.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I wonder how much her parents know.

That was my biggest question after the second episode. I had assumed that the military had found Naomi as a baby, and that Major McDuffie was selected to raise her, and to observe and report back.

But the scene with his commanding officer seemed to make it pretty clear that McDuffie had no idea what the military was up to in Port Oswego. So either he and his wife really are clueless about Naomi's origins, or they're keeping the secret from the military too.

One thing that throws me: Port Oswego is evidently in Oregon, but there's a Port of Oswego north of Syracuse in Western New York on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. But Oswego is pronounced completely differently than the pronunciation on this show.

The most notable change is that in the comic, Naomi is very much a part of the DC Universe. The Superman incident actually involved Superman (fighting Mongul). The show appears to treat Superman as a fictional character, though.

There seem to be a couple reasons for this:

1. In story terms, it's a much bigger shock to discover you're a superpowered alien from another planet if the only aliens and superheroes you've encountered are fictional.
2. Of the DC shows on The CW right now, only this one and "Stargirl" are shot in Atlanta; the others are shot in Vancouver. It was hard enough doing crossovers between the Atlanta shows and the Vancouver shows before COVID, and it's pretty much impossible now. Like this show, "Stargirl" has its own continuity as well, with only the Jay Garrick Flash shared between it and the Arrowverse shows.

Just started the second episode and I have to wonder why her parents didn't ask Naomi why she wasn't wearing her glasses. And why she didn't ask her parents about why she "needed" those glasses. Maybe it comes up later in the episode, but it doesn't make sense at the moment.

She did raise it with her parents in the first episode, and they sort of explained it away as being some rare degenerative eye condition. It was actually one of the stronger indicators in that episode that they know more than they're letting on.

So far, Naomi has:

• Super sight
• Super hearing
• Some form of invulnerability; unclear whether its an innate difference in anatomy (denser, stronger bones and skin, perhaps?) or if it's a biproduct of her energy powers.
• Energy powers of some sort, not yet clearly defined. They allow her to swirl debris around her when she feels threatened, though, and aided in a soft landing when she jumped off of the bridge.

I guess this is another parallel Earth from DC.

It definitely seems to be a multiverse situation. When Dee said that he and Naomi vibrate on a different frequency than all of the humans, I wondered if it was less about being extraterrestrial and more about being from a different universe entirely. Dee mentioned he was from Thanagar, which would definitely tie into a more mainstream DC Comics continuity.

 

[NeilO]

She did raise it with her parents in the first episode, and they sort of explained it away as being some rare degenerative eye condition. It was actually one of the stronger indicators in that episode that they know more than they're letting on.

.....

It definitely seems to be a multiverse situation. When Dee said that he and Naomi vibrate on a different frequency than all of the humans, I wondered if it was less about being extraterrestrial and more about being from a different universe entirely. Dee mentioned he was from Thanagar, which would definitely tie into a more mainstream DC Comics continuity.

I forgot they had mentioned the need for her glasses in the first episode. Still, they (and for that matter everyone else on the show) have said nothing about her not wearing glasses anymore.

Vibrating on a different frequency was one of the signs in Flash about being from a different universe. Thanagar definitely was a big sign about being related to some DC comics continuity. Dee did mention that he had met Superman. If they ever have him appear, I wonder whether they will have Tyler Hoechlin appear as this Superman as well.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

So Zatanna is a comic book character in this universe. Interestingly, the costume in the Superman poster on Naomi's wall seemed to match the Superman & Lois Superman costume, and the Supergirl ad on the back of the comic Lourdes was reading near the end looked like a promotional photo from one of the early seasons of "Supergirl".

But Adam Blake/Captain Comet is real. And Naomi's powers knew she was an alien, but they're not raising her on behalf of the feds.

 

[ponset]

Captain Comet first appear in STRANGE ADVENTURES #9.

Cool to see the character in Live-Action.
I have like Naomi so far.
Glad the parents knew all alone that their adapted daughter was a strange visitor from another world.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Finally caught up with last week's episode, which provided quite a bit more backstory, including the fact that Naomi, Zumbado, and Stephanie March's character are all from Earth-29. That implies that Naomi isn't really an alien, but rather a powerful metahuman from another dimension.

It's an interesting change of pace having a protagonist who is so in the dark about her own history. I do get sick of the Mary Sue qualities at school, where everybody loves Naomi. On the other hand, having coasted through life so easily up until this point makes the adversity she's coming up against all the more challenging.

 

[John Sparks]

That's why we stopped watching THE FLASH. Tired of that alternate universe crap. The wife is watching this but hasn't told me anything about it, maybe I should ask?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I don't think this show is particularly well written or well acted, but I am intrigued by the worldbuilding and the mystery of what's going on. We got another classic DC Comics reference this episode, with Dee stashing the bounty hunter in the Phantom Zone.

I was a bit unclear about Naomi's superstrength. The first couple times she used it, it seemed like she had to concentrate for it, like she was summoning some sort of energy force. But when she used it later in the episode, it seemed innate -- much like Kryptonians' denser physiology.

 

[ponset]

EW article and Interview with the Show Runners and the creators of the comic book.

How DC comics hero Naomi made the leap from page to screen in record time

Ava DuVernay, Jill Blankenship, Brian Michael Bendis, and David F. Walker explain Naomi's speedy jump from the page to the CW — and preview what's to come in both the comic and TV show.

ew.com

 

[jayembee]

I don't think this show is particularly well written or well acted, but I am intrigued by the worldbuilding and the mystery of what's going on.

I confess that I'm having trouble staying interested. I think you're right about the writing and acting...Kaci Walfall being an exception among the cast. It also seems much more solidly in the "teen drama" category than the other DC-based shows on the CW. What keeps me watching, at least for the rest of the season, is exactly that it has such a very different vibe than the other DC-based shows.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Tonight's episode was the best one yet. While I'm not sure Zumbado can be entirely trusted as a reliable narrator, we got a huge amount of information.

When we saw Earth-29 through his memories, I was pleasantly surprised by the worldbuilding. Usually the other Earths of the multiverse are very similar to our Earth, with only the DC Comics elements differing between them. Earth-29 is very different -- two moons instead of one, and entirely different vegetation -- operating on some process other than photosynthesis as we know it. Nor did the cars look like our cars; most of them had a vaguely Soviet-era design sensibility about them. I liked the small details too, like even the writing on the safety sign on the construction lift being in the same alien-looking alphabet from the disc and the wall.

And while, prior to the comet, nobody on Earth-29 had powers, the people of that Earth did not consider themselves humans. So there might be biological differences other than the ones triggered by the comet, that aren't outwardly visible or meaningfully different in function.

Also interesting that the S.T.A.R. Laboratories of this Earth has completely different branding than the Arrowverse S.T.A.R. Labs, even though it would have presumably been cheaper for "The Flash" to just ship some signage to Atlanta.

 

[NeilO]

Caught up with the most recent episode. An interesting cliffhanger before the break.

Regarding Zumbado, now that we know more about him and where he is coming from, I do have to wonder if his arc has been consistent. It might be interesting to see some of the earlier episodes with our current knowledge in mind.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I enjoy the fun juxtaposition between the mundane high schooler stuff and the multiversal superheroics, epitomized by Annabelle's to-do list with her little sister in tow, which includes both fetching items from her best friend's house and having a conversation with a winged alien.

And while I wouldn't say the writing is good at this point, at least it's not as laughably bad as it was in the beginning.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It was fun how all of the flashbacks to Naomi's journey to Earth took the iconography of Superman's journey from Krypton to Earth, and skewed it.

And if the show doesn't get renewed for a second season, that was an insanely dark twist to end on.

 

[NeilO]

Cancelled

‘Naomi’ Not Returning To CW For Season 2

EXCLUSIVE: Ava DuVernay’s superhero drama Naomi will not be back for a second season on the CW. Just two days after the Kaci Walfall-led DC series wrapped up its often pre-empted first season with …

deadline.com

I haven't yet watched last night's finale. I thought this was one of the CW's better shows this season.

 

[jayembee]

I haven't watched the finale yet, either. I've been of two minds about the show. It's a bit too much on the "CW teen drama" aspect, and the writing is quite dry and dull. But I've liked some of the acting, and there's something about its tone that's very different from the other DC shows.