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.

Could you imagine -- if she and Lex had married and had offspring how dangerous the kids would grow up to be?

Joy,
Lynn

I can't vision Mindy with kids...ok, maybe one,a son, Lex has boy children. She would later have Lex killed and he would, without doubt,stay dead.

There were lots of unexplored issues in this one. If Mindy knows Superman has been on earth most of his life, what would happen if she revealed that fact to the world.

There are a few fan fics where they explore various reactions to the Lois/SM/Clark relationship by her parents.

It is also interesting that we never really get to see Sam and Ellen's reactions to Clark. Not even really here. They have been engaged long enough that we do not get the first reaction.

FoLCs have written some serious and moving fanfic related to this episode.

Anti-Kryptonite explores Jonathan's feelings in A Father\'s Kryptonite , with her typical poetic turn of phrase.

The counterpart to this fic is Bellarata's Home Is Where The Hero Is , which is from the point of view of Sam Lane. It's an interesting contrast.

Some more Sam Lane-centric fics are Deadly Chakram's A Doctor\'s Oath , Kathy Bell's The Day After Christmas , Bobbart's Like Father, Like Daughter , and Caroline K's Extraordinary . It's kind of fun to get some fics from Sam's POV as he was an under-used character in the show.