Critic Reviews

Naomi does manage to stand out by virtue of being one of the most character-focused superhero endeavors to date. Presuming it continues on that path, there’s a lot of promise in store.

This one’s a winner thanks to an incredibly likable lead character, skate-boarding, comic book-loving Naomi (a winning Kaci Walfall).

It’s a welcome departure from The CW’s slate of otherwise too-often grim superhero dramas, and a smart blend of genre tropes that should fit well on the network should it allow it enough time to let Naomi’s more unique story unfold.

It does seem like Naomi is going to take its sweet time to explore its main character’s story. And that’s just fine with us, especially if it gives us more time to get to know what seems like an anomaly on TV these days, which is a teenager with her head on straight and a strong desire to find out more about herself.

It’s refreshing to see a high-schooler who’s a smart, driven academic success and is also universally liked, and who’s popular but not a queen bee or mean-girl type. Naomi is mighty wholesome, with its pansexual flirtations and warmly supportive, non-competitive central female friendship. But that also makes Naomi feel a bit too perfect to be real.

I’m going to go so far as to say that nothing that happens early in Naomi is really all that fun or interesting. What makes the show work is that all of the central performances are gawky and charming and, for the most part, less CW-polished than I would have expected, in a good way. There isn’t a standout performance, other than Walfall’s appealing lead turn, but the bickering and loose bantering is all quite natural.

Naomi is a character with lots of potential. In the comics, Campbell drew her wide-eyed and full of wonder. Walfall presents a slightly different visual and a little more depth: Her face always radiates kindness towards her friends and family, but she's also determined to find her answers — yet not gullible enough to fall for the first explanation presented to her. She could make a great superhero, but the show will have to make the journey worthwhile. The exciting thing about an uncertain future is that it's full of possibilities.

“Naomi” still has a lot of road to travel before the effort can be fully measured, but it’s nonetheless admirable how it uses the DC universe to center the story on a Black teen girl, offering a perspective rarely given focus while telling a different kind of superhero story.

Essentially, Naomi joins the list of teen-with-a-destiny dramas -- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comes to mind, a relic of the CW's origins -- in which the audience either buys into the soapy aspects or zaps through the at-school diversions to get to the good parts. For those who lean toward the latter, first impressions suggest the series could be a long slog.