TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Naomi Episode 5: Shadow Ridge

Not unlike what I said for my Superman and Lois review I put up a little bit ago, it’s felt like a while since Naomi was on. But it’s back and…it’s honestly still going at the same pace that it’s been going at since episode 2 & 3. But with “Shadow Ridge”…we honestly got a lot more “teen drama” and…not much else.

The big character development for Naomi herself was that she had a bit of PTSD from her fight with the bounty hunter, and was having dreams of what would happen if Dee hadn’t been there to save her from said hunter. If only Dee could’ve saved himself from that terrible fight scene, ZING!

It was that fear that actually broke a “Naomi Tradition” of her and her friends seeking out trouble no matter what because she was afraid she might be able to face whatever was out there because it was “too dangerous”. And then…she overcame that fear pretty quickly and got the job done.

Meanwhile, a very unlikely meeting happened between Dee and Zumbado (whom I don’t think actually met in the Naomi comics, it’s been a while, so I might be wrong on that. If they did meet, it was only for a fight scene.) Apparently, their connection is MUCH deeper here, and they even made a deal to both stay away from one another, as well as Dee staying away from Naomi, but for what reason such a deal was made was unclear. Furthermore, Dee is apparently a deserter (which I believe was comic lore for Dee in the books, again, been a while) and is trying to atone in his own way and make a new life on Earth.

The banter between these two was honestly fun, and I wouldn’t be opposed to it going to new heights in future episodes. Especially since we definitely don’t know a lot about Zumbado still (and he definitely isn’t comic accurate in this form). And if I heard that name in their final scene right, Dee’s “lost love” is on Earth…

Oh, and we also got some interesting tidbits about the scope of this “superheroless world”, because Dee dropped the name of Adam Blake (Captain Comet) again, and said that the bounty hunter was put in the Phantom Zone. This again raises the question of why so many think that superheroes aren’t real when they’re apparently all over and have access to technology that is beyond Earth. Hopefully, we’ll get that answer soon enough.

Moving on, the McDuffies (in this case, Naomi’s parents) were brought into a situation where the army found Naomi’s “landing spot” and they had to work fast in order to make it seem like it wasn’t extraterrestrial in order to save their daughter. I’m glad they’re building up this plot point, as they need to be involved as the army is obviously not going to let this go.

But…this was a key point of where the episode started to fall apart. Because as we find out, they were caught on camera trying to enact their plan…and they didn’t seem to think this was the case. Why wouldn’t a camera watch them go into a KEY LAB, as well as the fact that even if the camera wasn’t there, his badge would’ve been read by anyone looking at the data log. Hopefully, they get caught in their lie sooner rather than later.

Another key fault of the episode was that “Shadow Ridge” just so happened to be home to (presumably at least) one of the 26 (the people that were mentioned on the disk). But as to why, the how, and the blue rocks that apparently make humans feel bad…we have no idea. In fact, the moment we started getting answers, the bad guy revealed himself…and then it was over.

Yeah, there were two “fight scenes” going on and…they ended in one shot a piece. Really? At least the last fight TRIED to be compelling (but was shot horribly), these two didn’t even try. One punch and one blast and it was over, that really hurt things.

Just as bad though was the weird way that they handled the relationship that Naomi JUST GOT BACK INTO. They almost literally pulled a Kara/Jimmy from Season 2 of Supergirl (which was truly…truly terrible) where Naomi got with “who she wanted” but then apparently they wondered if it was “fine to be together”. Really? What’s more, apparently the reason that Naomi broke up with Nathan the first time was because she was scared in that it was “too real”…what???

And then she admitted that she reconnected with Nathan because she “wanted the fun parts”…but that doesn’t sound like Naomi at all. She’s not that shallow. What’s more, if she was scared of such relationships, why was she quite literally keeping her options open and openly flirting with Nathan, Anthony, AND Lordis (who thank goodness didn’t randomly show up in this episode “just because”).

Oh, and this isn’t going to stop, because the preview of the next episode showed that Anthony thinks that Nathan “isn’t good enough for Naomi”. WHAT?!?!? It was bad enough that he said the “he’s not the only game out there” line, but now the “you’re not good enough for her” line? Are you kidding me, CW? Not every person has such a complicated love life!

In the end, “Shadow Ridge” continued the “Naomi Tradition” of giving us a little progress in the overall, and some cool moments, but…it hinders itself in the smaller moments and details that hurt the overall quality.

Oh, and Annabelle? There’s nothing to fear but fear itself…and snakes…and spiders…that goes without saying.

3/5