When we last saw Naomi and Alison, they were swiftly dealing with a blackmailing intern. Naomi has the serious feels for Alison, but we weren’t really sure if Alison felt the same way, especially after learning that she and her husband have an open marriage. The deal is, Alison shares the details of her sexual encounters, and Tom thinks it simply spices up their marriage.
All bets are off, however, in this week’s episode when during Alison’s debate with the Mayor of Boston, Tom sees Naomi looking at Alison with heart eyes as big as Texas.
First things first: During the debate, and after Tessa’s brilliant idea to supply her brother’s DNA to the police, Alison is ambushed with reports that the Silver Bells Killer is a member of her family. This can’t possibly hurt her campaign. Ha, just kidding, she’s toast.
Back at the house, all the family members (except oldest brother Garrett, who is out in the woods with his new lady-friend, who happens to be the daughter of an SBK victim) have to supply their DNA. Cam cracks jokes, while Tessa apologizes, and Alison stews. When Alison turns in for bed, she recoils at Tom’s touch, causing Tom to bring up her feelings for Naomi. He’s passive aggressive, as usual, but Alison doesn’t say anything to calm his concern that her feelings for Naomi aren’t just casual. Looks like Naomi isn’t the only one with heart-eyes after all.
The next day, Alison apologizes for up and leaving, and Tom agrees it perhaps wasn’t the right time to bring up the Naomi thing. When Alison isn’t looking, Tom swipes her phone and sees a text from a concerned Naomi. He pretends to be Alison and texts Naomi to meet him on the back patio. She responds with an “I love you,” which just makes Tom seethe.
When Naomi shows up, she’s surprised to see Tom instead of her lady love. He tells her that she’s just Alison’s newest fuck buddy, and he knows all about their escapades. At first, Naomi is taken aback, but the fact that they are even having this conversation shows that Tom is scared about her connection with Alison. He warns her to stay away, but she’s not going anywhere. I’m a little bit scared we might soon have another dead lesbian on TV if Tom tries to derail this relationship.
Alison has no idea what’s happening with Tom and Naomi because she’s dealing with her own family drama. When it’s suggested that their father was SBK, Alison can’t believe that her Wuthering Heights loving, squirrel- rescuing dad could have done anything like that. When she’s in his office later, she pulls out his copy of Wuthering Heights and finds it hollowed out with naughty pics of their mom, and a police report. After confronting dear ol’ mom, she admits she had an affair, and when their father found out, he beat the guy up really badly. Guess dad wasn’t the saint the kids thought he was.
Soon after, the police put out a manhunt for Garrett, who is currently dealing with a knife in the gut, thanks to his girlfriend who thought he was the SBK killer. Then the big news comes in. The DNA is a match to their father, which Tessa’s detective husband took from dad’s old football jersey. So now that dad is dead, what happens next?
The Alison-Naomi relationship is taking an interesting turn, seeing that Alison might just return Naomi’s feelings. Unfortunately, we only get to see Naomi in relation to her feelings for Alison, and she feels much less fleshed out as a character than the rest of the Hawthorne family. The same could be said for Tom as well, though, as the series really zeros in on the relationships between the matriarch and siblings. We are only halfway through the season, and a lot can happen in the remaining seven episodes.
American Gothic airs on CBS, Wednesdays at 9pm EST.
