The CW’s Naomi “Keep Your Friends Close” kicks off with a mystery. A person is on a stretcher at the beginning of the show. The setting appears to be the high school.
Throughout the show, most of the cast is being questioned about aliens, Naomi’s (Kaci Walfall) whereabouts on the night of the anniversary party, and Commander Steel (Brian Brightman).
The episode flashes forward and backward throughout the night. When we flashback to the Mcduffy anniversary party, Annabelle (Mary-Charles Jones), Naomi, and Jacob (Aidan Gemme) discuss the discovery of an alien at the party. Her mother then interrupts them, reminding her it’s time for the toast.
Naomi delivers a heartwarming toast to her parents and surveys the party. When the trio reunites, they come up with a plan to use everyone’s social media to determine who was on the block the night the disc was stolen from her room.
They find out that Nathan (Daniel Puig), Lourdes (Camila Moreno) and Anthony (Will Meyers) were all on the block that night. As a result, the three are at the top of the alien suspect list.
Naomi plans to use her abilities and a party game to determine who could be lying about their whereabouts.
Photo: Danny Delgado/The CW — 2022 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Commander Steel visits Dee’s (Alexander Wraith) shop, questioning him. After the Commander leaves, Dee calls Zumbado (Cranston Johnson) to explain the interaction. Consequently, the two determine they need to join the party to speak with Naomi and her parents.
Much to Dee’s chagrin, Zumbado helps him dress up for the event. He complains about how tight his suit is most of the night.
Straightaway, Zumbado and Dee speak with Jennifer (Mouzam Makkar) and Greg Mcduffy (Barry Watson). They share information about Dee’s unexpected visitor, and the McDuffy’s share that the Commander found Naomi’s birth rock and may suspect them.
Meanwhile, Naomi and her friends play Never Have I Ever. The questions ranged from innocent to targeted specifically for answers on why three had been on Naomi’s street. Naomi hears Nathan’s heart racing, and she suspects him.
RELATED: Naomi Recap: (S01E08) Fellowship of the Disc
After the game, the two talk, and when he states he had a late practice, his heart races again. He and Naomi discuss trust and secrets, ultimately resulting in a stalemate with neither sharing their secrets with one another.
Intending to narrow the suspects and prove who the alien is, Naomi, Anabella and Jacob hatch a plan to use film to determine who the alien is as their eyes become distorted on film. They enlist Anthony to take photos of everyone at the party.
An unexpected Commander Steel enters the McDuffy home, questioning Greg about Naomi. He vaguely mentions alien sympathizers, admitting his aim is to eliminate, not defend against them. This is in contrast to what the task force believes. Commander Steel tells Greg that he has evidence from S.T.A.R Labs. Hoping to dissuade his notions, Greg pretends to have no knowledge of this.
While the party is still going on, Jennifer and Zumbado break into the army base to start their contingency plan of accessing Steel’s computer. Jennifer discovers Steel has been tracking not only her and Greg but also suspects Naomi of being an extraterrestrial.
Pictured (L – R): Alie Urquhart as Esme, Will Myers as Anthony, Daniel Puig as Nathan and Camila Moreno as Lourdes — Photo: Tom Griscom/The CW — 2022 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
In the meantime, Annabelle and Jacob try to keep everyone at the party while Naomi gets supplies from the high school. They enlist Dee’s help with a murder mystery game.
While searching for supplies, Naomi and Lourdes discover Nathan at the school. She confronts him at her locker for trying to break into it. Because of Naomi’s accusations, he opens the locker to reveal his surprise to ask her to prom. He was only on her street to see which flowers in her mother’s garden were her favorite.
When Nathan leaves Naomi in the hallway, Commander Steel approaches her. He tells her he knows what she is and later pulls out a device called an S-RUD. He then explains that it only reacts to beings, not of this earth.
Suddenly Steel collapses before Naomi can attempt to use her abilities on him, and we find he is the one on the stretcher in the opening scene.
The final scenes in the show reveal the true reason Commander Steel collapses and the biggest secret of all. The McDuffy parents cause the Commander to collapse by holding what looks like Dilustel.
Just before the episode ends, Naomi develops the remaining film from the party. It’s a picture of her and her parents. All three of them are sporting glowing eyes, proving her parents were the aliens the device was picking up.
This was a plot twist I didn’t see coming! Now, I’m wondering if the Mcduffy parents being aliens means they always were and were lying or if there’s something else going on.
I enjoyed the entire tone of this episode. The episode switched back and forth from present-day interviewing about the night in question to the night of the party.
The friend group showed up and showed out with their answers to the questions being asked. They were such a unit, and no one gave away anything suspicious about Naomi or Greg and Jennifer. This episode was amazing.
Naomi airs Tuesdays at 9 pm on The CW. You can stream it the next day on The CW app.
- SUPERMAN & LOIS Recap: (S03E10) Collision Course - June 5, 2023
- SUPERMAN & LOIS Recap: (S03E09) The Dress - June 5, 2023
- TITANS Series Finale Recap: (S04E12) Titans Forever - June 5, 2023
