Naomi – Worst Prom Ever

By starrymag | May 9, 2022

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The episode starts with a tense family meeting. Naomi (Kaci Walfall) is still not ready to forgive Jennifer (Mouzam Makkar) and Greg (Barry Watson), but she’s got questions and they answer some of them. For starters, remember the event that gave the twenty-nine their powers? Greg and Jennifer weren’t one of them, but since the event was caused by an environmental disaster they as scientists were called in to fix the disaster which was called the tear. Unfortunately, they couldn’t and Earth-29 still died. After the tear there was violence and chaos and they wanted to protect Naomi. Naomi says she deserved the truth and doesn’t feel protected. Jennifer and Greg say that they promised her birth parents they’d protect her from the chaos.

 

Later, Naomi tells Annabelle (Mary-Charles Jones) everything that her parents told her. Also, it’s prom night and Naomi is still upset, but she’d like to take the night off from being an alien and have fun. Luckily, Annabelle has a pre-prom to-do list that’ll keep them busy. Plus, Naomi and Nathan (Daniel Puig) are on speaking terms again. But Naomi says he still seems a little angry, about the locker incident and the pics she posted with Lourdes.

 

Flashback time. Naomi and Nathan met at the comic book store. His mother had just gotten reassigned and his little sister wasn’t taking the move well, so he wanted to get her some comic books to cheer her up. Naomi recommends superman comics. Nathan takes the recommendation, but he calls being a superman fan childish, which Naomi as a lifelong fan takes offense to. So she leaves very annoyed with Nathan.

 

In the present Jacob (Aidan Gemme) and Nathan come to pick up the girls. Greg gives a scary dad pre-prom talk and Jennifer takes pictures of Annabelle and Naomi in their dresses. They head off to the prom and aren’t super impressed with the theme. Things are cool for all of five minutes before the lights go out. So much for a drama free prom.

 

At first they hope it’s just a normal glitch, but then Naomi tells Jacob and Annabelle that she can hear the same noise she heard at S.T.A.R. labs, which means this is likely an extra terrestrial problem. They go to the restroom without Nathan to investigate the noise Naomi can hear and they find a very not normal force field. Elsewhere Greg gets called to the army base and is informed that there’s been a significant energy spike in town.

 

Back at the school things go from bad to worse when Naomi, Jacob and Annabelle realize the force field is keeping everyone inside the school. Naomi assumes it must be Brutus coming after her again. But she doesn’t understand what he’d want with a bunch of high schoolers. At any rate the prom ends in two hours and they’ll have a tough time explaining this to their classmates, so they need to figure out how to stop whatever’s happening. They try to use their phones, but the force field knocked out the school’s reception. So, Jacob tweaks some walkie talkies and they call Dee (Alexander Wraith). Unfortunately, the call is spotty and ultimately intercepted. A voice comes through and a man named Julian (Owen Harn) tells Naomi to come to the east wing to meet him. Or else.

 

It’s another flashback. Naomi is throwing a party while her parents are out of town. Annabelle is impressed with how much her parents trust her. The talk about how cool they are is interrupted when Nathan shows up. He comes over and tells Naomi that his sister loved the comics, but Naomi is still annoyed because superman has always been important to her. Nathan apologizes and then they bond over army brat experiences.

 

In the present Naomi is dodging Nathan who wants to know why she and their entire group have been so absent. Naomi tries to lie about Jacob needing help with a science project, but Nathan doesn’t believe her. He says he’s leaving, but Naomi says he can’t. She finally admits that there’s a force field and it’s because of her. At first Nathan’s skeptical, but then he sees she’s serious. Nathan is shocked and doesn’t completely understand what Naomi’s telling him, but he sees she’s visibly distressed so he hugs her.

 

Presumably after being cut off from Naomi, Dee sought out Greg, Jennifer, and Zumbado (Cranston Johnson). They reveal that the school is being held by a uniquely Earth-29 force field. Which means it’s likely the work on one of Brutus’s flying monkeys. They’re worried about the kids and worried about exposure as there have been a lot of close calls lately. The McDuffies are still blaming Zumbado for Naomi being dragged into this. But Dee interjects and points out that he’s the one who told her the truth. Plus, her powers were manifesting, the secret wasn’t staying a secret one way or the other. They decide to table the fighting to figure out a rescue strategy.

 

Nathan is eager to become a part of the team. They all agree, much to Naomi’s frustration, that they don’t want Naomi to meet Julian. So, they decide they’re going to distract their classmates and keep them in the basement until reinforcements arrive. Naomi agrees and then after she gets a threatening message from Julian she sneaks off.

 

Julian wanted a few things tonight: 1) to use Naomi’s classmates as leverage and 2) to see who Naomi is without her protectors to swoop in and save the day. So, he’s giving her a very perverse test. She has a to make an impossible choice – she can save Nathan, Annabelle and Jacob with her powers or everyone else at prom. But one group has to be incinerated by the force field.

 

Elsewhere Naomi’s parents, Dee and Zumbado are working to take the force field down. Dee and Zumbado combine their powers to disable the machine creating the force field but that doesn’t solve all their problems. They realize it was a red herring of sorts and there’s another force field that needs disabling.

 

Speaking of that, Naomi has to explain to Annabelle, Nathan and Jacob about Julian’s test. She apologizes for putting them in so much danger. But wait! What if she can save them and the rest of the prom goers? Jacob says it’d be close, as in a one second gap close, but it’s doable if she disables their force field and the one in the gym back to back. Naomi doesn’t know if she can move that fast, but Annabelle says they believe in her.

 

Luckily, Naomi manages to disable both force fields, but she’s really shaken up. Her parents hug her and are relieved that she’s okay, but she tells them she’s not quite ready to leave the prom yet. As they’re leaving, Zumbado and Dee wonder why Julian didn’t take Naomi. They realize whatever he’s planning is probably going to be ugly.

 

When they go to the gym Nathan and Naomi’s song plays and they remember their first date. Nathan is a believer in fate, but Naomi not so much. Either way in this moment, Naomi cares a lot about Nathan but she realized that being with him puts him in danger. She’d never forgive herself if he was hurt because of her. So she thinks they should end things. Nathan still wants to be with her, but respects her wishes. They continue their dance, but it’s bittersweet. Nathan tells Naomi though that whether she thinks so or not, she’s a hero.