Naomi – Who Am I?

By starrymag | May 20, 2022

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

We open with Naomi (Kaci Walfall) updating her Superman blog after a long hiatus. She’s remembering everything that’s happened, everything she’s learned in the past few months. Despite not having been posting she explains that she’s been thinking a lot about the kind of hero she’d like to be. She wonders when Superman felt ready to fly and she remembers what Zumbado (Cranston Johnson) told her when this all started: “don’t believe everything you think.”

 

After blogging she tells her parents she talked to her birth parents and she saw Greg (Barry Watson) and Jennifer (Mouzam Makkar) put her on the vessel that brought her to their current Earth. She thanks them, but her revelation makes them sad. Jennifer said they’d hoped that she’d never have to re-live such a terrifying night. Naomi then reveals that her birth parents told her they died because someone they trusted betrayed them. This startles Greg and Jennifer and Naomi says she thinks it’s time to leave.

 

Greg and Jennifer explain they’ve got to leave right away if someone close to them can’t be trusted. Naomi isn’t wild about the idea of picking up and leaving without saying goodbye to her friends; however, Greg says they don’t know when or where Brutus (Ray Porter) is going to strike next so they’ve got no other choice. Jennifer adds that not knowing they’re location will be safer for their loved ones.

 

With that said Naomi goes to see Zumbado to give back the disk. Zumbado says it’s hers to keep.  Naomi insists she thinks he should have it, but Zumbado figures out the McDuffies are leaving and he tells her it’s a bad decision. Naomi just doesn’t think it’s worth it to stick around and endanger people. She feels like she almost got her friends hurt at prom and points out that he and Dee have been impacted too. Naomi tells Zumbado she’s sorry he’s uprooted his life so much for her. Zumbado says he understands why she’s afraid, but she has a destiny, but Naomi doesn’t feel like a hero. She just feels like a teenager who happens to have powers. Zumbado says she’s right that powers don’t make a hero, but that choices do. For the time being though Naomi isn’t convinced. So, she gives Zumbado the disk, thanks him for everything and leaves.

 

Somberly Greg, Jennifer and Naomi drive away ready to never return, but then the car is flipped over out of nowhere. Naomi is unharmed, but she’s horrified when she emerges from the wreckage to find that her parents are missing. Shocked, she goes to Annabelle (Mary-Charles Jones) to tell her what happened and Annabelle is sympathetic, but she’s also hurt to find out that Naomi was going to leave town without saying goodbye. Naomi explains she would’ve reached out once they got somewhere safe but it still stings.

 

At any rate, she and Annabelle reach out to Dee (Alexander Wraith), but he’s missing and then they go looking for Zumbado and Akira (Stephanie March). Unfortunately, they’re gone too. The girls are now worried that Naomi’s loved ones are in danger. We get an answer to some of Naomi’s questions when we cut away. All of Naomi’s usual protectors have been kidnapped and are being held in a facility that dampens their abilities. They figure out that Mac designed the room and there’s no way out.

 

With Dee, Greg, Jennifer and Zumbado all together it’s time for some uncomfortable questions. Dee wants to know where Greg and Jennifer were going. Zumbado blurts out that they were running, which he strongly advised against. Greg and Jennifer say in their defense that Naomi found out that someone betrayed her birth parents so they didn’t think the town was safe for her. And Akira reveals that Mac offered Dee a deal, but Dee insists he didn’t even consider taking it. It’s going to be a long night.

 

Elsewhere Nathan (Daniel Puig), Anthony (Will Meyers), Jacob (Aidan Gemme), and Lourdes (Camila Moreno) are playing paintball. When Annaballe and Naomi track them down they’re relieved that they’re okay. Unfortunately the relief is going to be short-lived because Naomi spots the assassin lurking in the shadows, but he vanishes without attacking.

 

Annabelle and Naomi take their very confused friends back to Dee’s tattoo shop and explain what’s been happening. Jacob thinks his alien tracking device can be of assistance, since all of Naomi’s adults are from another world. Naomi apologizes to the gang for the secrecy and for putting them at risk again, but everyone’s pretty understanding and say that they’re a team. And Jacob’s device pings a location. Naomi is grateful for the info and says she needs some air. At first the group doesn’t think much of it, but then Jacob and Annabelle remember the last time she “needed air” when something big was happening. They go outside and realize she’s gone off on her own.

 

With everyone powerless, the guardians aren’t having much luck with escape. And under the best of circumstances the parties involved have a tense relationship to say the least. Akira feels the ground and says she senses  geothermal energy.  Why does that matter? Because there could be a dimensional breach. Zumbado realizes that they’re just the bait and Brutus could be on the other side of the breach waiting for Naomi.

 

Naomi superspeeds to the warehouse and finds the assassin (Derek Russo) and Julian (Owen Harn). They confirm that yes, the guardians were just bait. But luckily her friends decided not to listen when she said she didn’t want to do this alone. Annabelle, Nathan, Jacob, and Lourdes distract Julian with paintballs while Naomi fights the assassin. She wins and Jacob disables the dampening device.

 

Elsewhere Zumbado manages to open the vault with his powers back. The group is prepared to fight their way out, so they’re a little surprised to come face to face with Nathan and Jacob. Dee and Zumbado, ever the proud fighters, are a little annoyed to be rescued by a group of mostly powerless teens but resolve to get them to safety. On the way out of the warehouse Dee comes face to face with Julian and tells him he’ll kill him if he doesn’t tell him what happened to Qyeala. Julian reluctantly reveals that she’s on the prison world.

 

Naomi gets to a portal to Earth-29 and Annabelle tries to stop her, but Naomi tells Annabelle that confronting Brutus is the only way to make sure the people she loves stay safe. Annabelle says she doesn’t want to lose her best friend. Naomi promises she’ll do everything she can to return and then jumps through the portal.

 

Earth-29 looks pretty rough, all the plants are dead and there’s no one there except for Brutus. Fun fact: he’s not from Earth-29 or even from this universe. Still, he says he’s spent a long time looking for Naomi. Reminder: she’s a living power source. He tries to get her to join him but she says she’ll have to pass on account of all the murder. She doesn’t buy this and gives a “this could lead the earths together” spiel, but he reveals why she got so sick the day of the Superman sighting. Two beings as powerful as Superman and Naomi can’t be close for too long – they cancel each other out. Then, he tells Naomi that since she won’t join him she has to die. Naomi points out she’s invincible, but Brutus says not on Earth-29.

 

He attacks Naomi and without her powers it’s very hard for her to put up a fight. Things do not look good for Naomi, but at the last moment her powers seem to partially come back and she distracts Brutus by bringing some of the flowers back to life. Luckily, just as Brutus is going in for the kill Zumbado and Akira come through the portal to her rescue. They subdue Brutus and Akira announces she’s going to stay on Earth-29 so she can destroy the portal, therefore keeping Brutus at bay. She gives Zumbado and Naomi the transmitter cube and finally thanks Zumbado for everything he’s done.

 

It seems like some time has passed and Dee, Zumbado and Naomi talk a little about the future. The working plan is to try to find surviving members of the twenty-nine and recruit them to their side because Brutus will probably come back one day. That includes finding Akira, but Dee and Zumbado gently warn her she could be dead. On a somewhat related note, Naomi thanks Dee for teaching her to fight, but she thinks she should do some training on her own. She’s not firing Dee, but she just knows about his lead on Qyeala and she wants him to follow it. Dee says she still needs him, but Naomi says he’s lost enough time with the woman he loves and if she’s alive Naomi doesn’t want him losing any more time on her account.

 

Reluctantly, Dee decides to go to the prison world to try and rescue Qyeala, but he says he’ll return. In the meantime, Zumbado says he’ll be there for Naomi. With that in mind they give her back the disk. Dee and Naomi hug later Naomi and her friends have a “we survived a mini alien invasion” party. It’s the end of the year and they’re excited that next year they’ll be senior together. Hopefully, without so many close calls.

 

A few days later Naomi goes to the woods with her parents. They’re going to bury the vessel Naomi came to this Earth in. Brutus might temporarily be gone, but it’s still important to make sure no one finds out about her. However, something unexpected happens when Naomi touches they vessel. It gives her another memory flash and she sees Greg and Jennifer taking her away from her birth parents as a baby. Not only that but they kill them.

 

She’s horrified for obvious reasons and she confronts them about it. They try to deny it, but then are forced to admit the truth. They tell her they’ve always known she was the key to saving the planet, but no one listened. Not even her birth parents. So, they claim that they had to take her. Jennifer says they’re family might not’ve started in the purest way but they’ve always loved her. Naomi doesn’t see it that way though. She says they killed her birth parents in cold blood and have lied to her for years. She doesn’t trust them anymore, so she tells them to stay away from her.

 

Due to her anger without even realizing it she starts floating. Realizing she can control this new power, over Greg and Jennifer’s objections, she flies away.