Zero to Sixty

"*Is it always best to tell the truth? People assume the answer is always "yes". But in real life, no one can be truthful 100% of the time. Sometimes a lie is less cruel than the truth. But if there's one area where the truth is important, it's when you think about change. I've always thought I was a person who didn't have any doubts about why I'm going to college. But I'm someone who embraces things changing. Because there are a lot of things to like about change. But I never really understood how difficult change would be. How hard it would be to let go and move on. But change is not a choice.*"
—Naomi
**Zero to Sixty** is the third episode of the first season of The CW's superhero drama *Naomi*. It aired on January 25, 2022.

## Synopsis

**LEARN TO WALK BEFORE YOU CAN RUN** - Naomi gets guidance from Dee as she learns to harness her powers, all while juggling her everyday life as a teenager finishing her college application. And as Naomi's obsession with uncovering answers has her and her friends engaging in dangerous behavior, Zumbado seeks out the help of an old friend to help further his plans.

## Plot

Naomi finds her parents in the living room, on the couch, watching old home videos, brought on by the arrival of college week. Admittedly, both Greg and Jennifer are excited, as Naomi has been talking about attending Hartford University for years, though she hasn't even finished her admissions essay yet. Naomi is also only a junior, informing her parents that anything can happen, but they remind Naomi that Hartford is her dream school and that no matter how old she gets, she'll always be their daughter.

Zumbado tracks down Akira, an old friend of his, to an underground art gallery, after sixteen years apart, though not even a decade and a half is enough for her to forget or forgive. She hates earth, from the people to the food, and the gallery is the only place that keeps her sane. When she questions how he found her, Zumbado reveals that he found the Disk and the girl, who Akira warns him to stay away from, but he can't do that, especially since her abilities are starting to manifest. Not only are they not safe in their own world, they're no longer safe on earth with the government hunting their kind down, Akira informs Zumbado.

Naomi finds Dee in a training center underneath the tattoo shop and grabs a pair of nunchucks off the wall, but Dee has other plans in mind for Naomi. He hands her a tennis ball and tells her to bounce it on the floor with both hands. She has to walk before she can run, he explains. "Control your body, control your mind, control your powers," he states. However, Naomi can't seem to stop thinking about the disk, and she recalls seeing similar markings at the mill. She feels as if she's connected to the Disk, but Dee advises her to remain focus on the task at hand: bouncing the balls. While it's natural to want answers, Dee warns her against going to Zumbado.

Naomi and her friends meet with various college reps to discuss why they seek to attend college. For Nathan, soccer is all he knows, and that's never changed for him. Jacob, on the other hand, is fascinated by robots and wants to build one to go to Mars. Esme wants to be the next Jeff Bezos, and Anthony wants to get a degree in architecture to revitalize Port Oswego. Annabelle, however, is unsure of her future, as she's more so in the browsing stage. As for Naomi, her plans have been the same since she was 8-years-old: become an environmental scientist and specialize in geoengineering to fight the global climate crisis.

Naomi and Annabelle head over to the Claws & Effect pet shop, where they trick Mrs. Anderson into confronting Zumbado at his dealership after claiming that Zumbado gave Annabelle's mom a 20% discount. Enraged by their claims, Mrs. Anderson approaches Zumbado after buying a car from him herself juat last week, and he made no mention of a discount. Zumbado assures Mrs. Anderson that he's never given a local discount and that he's simply a small business owner. Naomi proposes that Mrs. Anderson goes looking around the lot for something cheaper, providing a distraction for her and Annabelle, who search for the disk, which she finds in the safe that she used her powers to open.

Naomi and her friends are on a school bus headed for a tour of Central Oregon College, where she, Annabelle, and Jacob discuss the markings on the disk. Annabelle suggests that Naomi tell her mom, considering that she's a linguist, but Naomi is afraid of how her mother would react if she learned the truth. Jacob is amazed that the markings didn't weaken the material. Suddenly, Naomi recalls that Central Oregon has an advance geology department, which they intend to sneak off to in order to test the disk. However, Naomi needs someone to cover for her, but both Annabelle and Jacob wish to join her. So, she asks Nathan to cover for them, but he too would rather ditch the tour. The same goes for Anthony. It is then that they are joined by Lourdes, who is on campus after her check-in with a local administrator, who is encouraging her to attend Central Oregon despite the fact that she dropped out. However, Lourdes is almost finished with her GED, technically putting her ahead of all her friends. After noticing that the tour guide and the rest of the class have continued without them, Naomi and her friends sneak away.

Zumbado opens his safe, where he discovers that Naomi has stolen the replica disk he created, while the real disk remains hidden inside a secret compartment. Zumbado grabs the disk and places it on a tiny altar, causing it to glow.

Naomi and her friends have successfully sneaked into the geology department to run tests on the disk to determine what it's made of. However, the machine doesn't return any data and begins to smoke, causing the fire alarm to sound and the disk to vanish.

Naomi sits outside of the Principal's office with her friends, where she agrees to take the blame, but Anthony reminds her that they all came along willingly and that they should all be okay, as none of them have been in trouble before. However, Nathan fears the Principal may come down hard on them to set an example. Lourdes jokes that one of the benefits of dropping out is that she can't be expelled, though Jacob worries if they'll have records, but Naomi is more concerned with the disk and the fact that it disappeared.

Jennifer exits the Principal's office and expresses her disappointment in Naomi and questions why she went on a tour of Central Oregon just to break into their geology department. Of all the times to start acting like a delinquent, Jennifer wonders why now. Naomi reminds her mother that she's never been in trouble before and that she's sorry. However, Jennifer couldn't help but notice that Naomi has been off the last few days and tells her to be home by 6:00 tonight.

Naomi resumes her training with Dee and reveals that she got into a fight with her mom for the first time. Naomi also admits to blowing up the geology lab while trying to analyze the disk, which she now regrets, as Dee also advised her against it. When she mentions that the disk vanished into thin air, Dee reveals that he knows a man named Adam Blake that might know something about the disk. Adam, like Dee and Naomi, is also an alien, and he and Dee fought alongside each other long ago.

Naomi and Dee visit Adam, who reveals that the disk is an ancient form of encrypted communication, but they don't tend to disappear without a trace. Adam can read energy signatures and grabs Naomi's hands. Direct contact allows him to tap in and trace it. Adam discovers that Naomi is connected to the disk, as it matches her energy, almost as if he's its key, but the disk she had today was a fake and made of different energy. Essentially, what she had was called a transmutation — an object conjured from nothing. He warns her that whoever did it was dangerous. Naomi has power that Adam has never felt before, making her a threat to a lot of people. Naomi questions why she can't read the disk despite being connected. Adam explains that the language is only one of the disk's secrets, but every language can be translated. Just as Adam explaining how early explorers from a century ago in Port Oswego would've had what she needed, Naomi's super hearing alerts her of a special ops team moving in on Adam's hideout. She warns them, and they get down just as an explosion opens a whole in the wall. Adam distracts the intruders whilst Naomi and Dee slip out.

Naomi and Dee return to the tattoo shop, where Naomi regrets leaving Adam behind, but Dee informs her that Adam is a soldier who can take care of himself. Naomi insists that she can too, but despite her powers, Dee tells her that she wasn't ready for that level of combat, as she has no control over her powers, which is even more dangerous, especially when going up against a special ops team, but Naomi is skeptical, as her dad would've said something if the military were doing raids. Naomi remarks that she'd be more ready to use her powers if Dee allowed her to use them, which he will, but when the time is right. Still, Naomi is determined to find out how she's connected to the disk, even as Dee tells her she's not ready.

Naomi returns home, where her parents await. Jennifer recalls telling Naomi to be home by 6:00 and is upset with her for breaking that promise. Naomi asks if this is about the lab, but Greg informs her it's about her not listening and asks where was she. Naomi claims she was with Lourdes, but they reveal that Lourdes called about an hour ago, looking for Naomi. When Naomi neglects to tell the truth, they ground her and take away her phone. Naomi is curious as to why her parents are coming down so hard on her when they usually treat her like an adult; if not about College Week, then what is it about, she wonders. Greg simply replies that it's dangerous out there right now.

Zumbado returns to Akira's art gallery, where he shows her the now glowing disk, reminding Akira that Naomi is the only one who can make it glow. Akira warns Zumbado that involving Naomi is bringing into motion something that he can't control. Zumbado doesn't care. Whether Naomi is ready or not, it's time to reunite them. Naomi and the disk are how they take back their planet. Zumbado recalls him and Akira being allies once, and he would like to be that again, but Akira will never trust him again. That said, Zumbado informs Akira that what he has planned is bigger than any one person and that if she won't help him, he will at least make certain that she can't stop him. Before leaving, he asks if she ever misses home. Akira replies that it doesn't matter, as he made sure she could never go back.

Naomi is sitting in her room, on her bed, when Lourdes sneaks in through the window. She brought Naomi some Zatanna comics, as the way the disk vanished reminded Lourdes of Zatanna's run a few years back, when she needed to keep a special artifact away from bad guys and created a huge fire to destroy it, only to reveal it was hidden the entire time. Lourdes also came to apologize for blowing Naomi's cover, but she doesn't blame Lourdes. At least she still has her laptop, but only because she has to do her admissions essay. Lourdes advises her to find something with a surprising angle, such as if it's always better to tell the truth. Naomi has always had a clear idea of who she is, but lately she feels that everything is changing. Change is simply a part of life, Lourdes explains, like when her dad got hurt. One random accident on a tour overseas, and now she's a high school drop out, but she doesn't even miss school anymore, as she still sees the people she likes, particularly Naomi.

Naomi recalls how in the comics, Zatanna's fire concealed her artifact. In 1921, the Port Oswego fire happened above the underground bomb shelter, and maybe that's where the translation key was hidden, which Naomi decides to sneak out and investigate. She climbs out her window and runs into Annabelle in the backyard, who decides to join her, remarking that she's Naomi's "ride-or-ride."

Naomi and Annabelle head to the underground bomb shelter, where they search for the translation key, though the tunnel is unstable, and the walls are coming down around them. Naomi finds the translation key lodged under a rock, so she uses her powers to hopefully create a path to the translation key. While Naomi manages to do so successfully, she also causes the tunnels to collapse, forcing her and Annabelle to flee with their lives.

Naomi returns to Dee's shop, where she reveals that she went to look for the translation key Adam told them about. She found it for a brief moment, before losing it and also nearly killing herself and Annabelle. Admittedly, Dee was right about her powers being uncontrollable. However, she was able to translate the markings on the disk, it said "The Twenty-Nine."

Back at the dealership, Zumbado opens his journal to a page labeled "The Twenty-Nine." Among the list of names is Akira's, who he crosses off the list.

Naomi sneaks back into her room through her window and begins writing her admissions essay, taking Lourdes' advice and writing about the truth and whether or not telling the truth all the time is best.

The following morning, Naomi approaches her parents in the kitchen, who reveal that they've been keeping a secret from her. While on a car ride to an unknown destination, Greg and Jennifer reveal that the military have discovered that there are aliens living on earth, who they believe to be a threat and are being hunted down, but that's not why they're driving Naomi out. They take her to the location where they found her as a baby. Embedded within the ground is a large alien object that resembles the disk, even more so when it glows as Naomi places her hand on it.

## Cast

* Cranston Johnson as Zumbado
* Alexander Wraith as Dee
* Mary-Charles Jones as Annabelle Peters
* Mouzam Makkar as Jennifer McDuffie
* Daniel Puig as Nathan
* Camila Moreno as Lourdes
* Will Meyers as Anthony
* Aidan Gemme as Jacob
* Barry Watson as Greg McDuffie
* Chase Anderson as Adam Blake

Co-Starring* Alie Urquhart as Esme Brooks
* Brittany Guess as CO Tour Guide
* Angela Davis as Hartford Rep
* Susan Gallagher as Mrs. Anderson
* Arusi Santi as Security Guard
* Melody Davis as Young Naomi

## Trivia

* Lourdes references Zatanna, who in the DC Comics, is a superhero and one of the greatest magic-users in the DC Universe.
* This episode marks the first appearance of Adam Blake, who in the DC Comics, is better known as Captain Comet, a space adventurer with psychic abilities.

## Gallery

### Videos

Naomi - Season 1 Episode 3 - Zero To Sixty Promo - The CW

## References

1. ↑ Naomi: Season One Ratings - TV Series Finale
2. ↑ Recently Added Episode Titles - Various Shows - 22nd December 2021 - SpoilerTV
3. ↑ Listings - The Futon Critic