I think I mentioned in the “Season’s Greedings” thread that I watch this episode and the other Christmas episodes of “Lois and Clark” every Christmas. “Season’s Greedings” was a really lighthearted, feel good Christmas episode, and I love it for that, but what I like about “Home Is Where the Hurt Is” is that they dealt with a much more serious subject matter. The fact that Clark almost dies makes this episode more of a tearjerker than the previous Christmas episode that the show did, but I love it because of how well Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain performed their scenes together as Superman was near death.
It was really nice to see Lois’ parents get some screen time in this one, though I’ve always preferred the original portrayal of Sam Lane in season one to his later appearances. It’s hard to believe that this is the first appearance of Lois’ parents since season one since the Kents were such a big part of the show.
I also liked this episode for featuring Mindy Church, one of my favorite villains of the show. True, we never really got any closure to her character since she was able to escape being punished in this episode, but I don’t know if I would like her quite as much had she been exposed as a criminal. It was the way that she was able to manipulate the fall of Bill Church and Bill Church Jr. as well as the way that she managed to make Joey take the fall for her in this episode that makes her such a great villain. She’s about as manipulative as another favorite villain of mine, Lex Luthor, only she was never brought to justice like Lex, so she’s even more dangerous.
