Naomi (Skins)
"Naomi" | |
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Jack Thorne | |
Original air date | 26 February 2009 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Naomi" is the sixth episode of the
The episode was filmed in October 2008. The weather was so cold during filming that one scene taking place in a lake had to be shortened when Prescott was taken to a standby ambulance with suspected hypothermia. "Naomi" brought in 957,000 viewers and was E4's highest-rated programme of the week. Critical reviews of the episode were generally positive.
Plot
Naomi lives with her hippy mother Gina (Olivia Colman) and fifteen other people in a communal living arrangement. This is a source of annoyance to Naomi, whose privacy is invaded when she wakes up one morning, naked, to discover that a male hippy is sleeping in her bed. At college, she avoids Emily to meet with her politics teacher Kieran instead. In the students' common room, they are informed of the upcoming elections for Student President. Emily encourages Naomi to run for president, but Naomi refuses. She later comes across Cook, who tries to persuade her to have sex with him. She jokingly tells him that he has a better chance of winning the student elections, which he sees as a challenge and decides to register. Kieran walks her home at the end of the day and urges her to run in the elections, giving her a registration form. When she arrives at her house, she finds Emily waiting in her bedroom with another registration form. Emily starts to leave when Naomi is rude and standoffish to her—despite taking Emily's advice to enter the elections—but returns and confronts her. She frankly tells her that she is not obsessed with pursuing a sexual relationship with her, and Naomi suggests she stay the night with her.
The next morning, Naomi wakes up, with Emily asleep next to her. She is tempted to stroke her hair, but instead gets dressed and goes to college, leaving Emily in her bed. At college, she sees the massive presidential campaign staged by Cook and JJ (Ollie Barbieri). She launches her own campaign to rival Cook, but finds that most of her classmates' support is for Cook's anarchist ideas. She is doubly humiliated in front of the form when Cook ridicules her and Emily subsequently stands up for her. She flees to Kieran for comfort but leaves him, shocked and disgusted, when he kisses her. She goes home and, after finding a note from Emily in her bed, cries herself to sleep.
Naomi and Emily escape to the countryside later that evening and cycle to one of Emily's favourite places by a lake before sunset. After swimming in the lake, they light a campfire, and share a cannabis joint. An act of blowbacking the joint leads the two to share a kiss and they proceed to make love. Emily wakes up the following morning to find Naomi preparing to leave. She pleads with Naomi not to leave her a second time and tells her that she should accept that she needs to be loved. Naomi goes home to find Kieran in bed with her mother, and leaves for college, devastated. She sees her teachers rigging the election to prevent Cook from winning, and reveals this to the form when she is announced the winner. As his first presidential act, Cook starts a riot. In the ensuing chaos, Naomi forgives Kieran, encouraging him that if he likes her mother, he should tell her so. Naomi begins to have sex with Cook before she realises that it "isn't right". Surprisingly, Cook doesn't seem to mind, as he says that she must have a good reason not to follow through because she's clever. Naomi leaves, with her and Cook now sharing a better understanding of each other. That night, she visits Emily's house, but Emily refuses to open the door, not wanting Naomi to see her after she had been crying. They sit on opposite sides of the door, and Naomi admits that she does need somebody to love her. Emily offers her hand through the door's cat flap to Naomi, who finally reciprocates Emily's feelings.
Production
"Naomi" was filmed in October 2008,
Stylist Kirstie Stanway began to differentiate between Emily and her twin sister Katie's hair and makeup with this episode to show that the twins are starting to "move along their own paths". She re-styled Katie's character in particular to illustrate that she is now "desperate not to be lumped with her sister as she really doesn't approve of the new girl in her life".
Reception
"Naomi" drew 957,000 viewers and was E4's highest-rated programme of the week.[8]
Sarah Warn, editor-in-chief of lesbian-based website
References
- ^ E4.com. Archived from the originalon 22 July 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- E4.com. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ E4.com. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ a b Skins: The Complete Third Series โ Making of episode 6 (DVD). Channel 4 DVD.
- tv.sky.com. Archived from the originalon 7 February 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ French, Dan (18 March 2009). "A chat with Emily from 'Skins'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ E4.com. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Archived from the originalon 18 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- AfterEllen.com. Archived from the originalon 19 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Series Three, Episode Six "Naomi"". PopSugar. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ French, Dan (25 February 2009). "Same-sex scandals in 'Skins'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Skins recap Episode 3.06: "Naomi" (aka Lesbian cuteness and sexy times)". eurOut.org. 2 March 2009. Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ O'Neil, Cate (5 April 2009). "Skins Season 3 overview: All about Naomily". eurOut.org. Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
External links
- "Naomi" at IMDb