If Superman: the Animated Series is the least anthological series in the DCAU, excepting Justice League Unlimited (though I might argue that the continuity threads in Superman are far more subtly interwoven), then A Little Piece of Home is one of the most economic exhibitions of how it maintains its sense of progression even in episodes with no obvious continuity links. It is both a taut stand-alone introduction to Superman’s notorious Achilles Heel and a building block that ever so slightly develops character relationships even as it expands the breadth of Metropolis.
To critically demonstrate the wealth of connections and developments packed into this singular installment is to note three areas, each inseparable from the other two, which make its twenty-two minutes a treasure trove. The first is the basic narrative, that of how Luthor discovers he has Superman’s weakness in his possession and how he subsequently uses it for his own ends. The second is the specific happenings and character interactions that flesh out the larger Superman mythology and at certain points further the story as well. The third is the aesthetic aspects of production, music and art design, that both enhance the experience and offer telling tidbits of information.
The basic narrative structure begins with Superman’s inability to apprehend two museum thieves because of the inadvertent presence of Kryptonite in one of the exhibits. Luthor makes use of his newfound discovery in order to defeat Superman, at first luring him to an abandoned construction zone via hired lackeys and later luring him to the original museum via deception. In the meanwhile, Lois obtains a sliver, which she shares with Clark Kent out of newspaper fascination and then later with Professor Emile Hamilton of STAR Labs, who finds out how to shield Superman from its radiation. Already can be seen recurrent images of Luthor manipulating events from the shadows, ever with hidden cameras at his disposal. The parallel between the first heist and Luthor’s commissioned heist ironically suggests Luthor’s criminality. And a seemingly inconsequential scene that has Lois distractedly shooting crumpled up paper into the wastebasket reemerges to become the central climactic reversal of fortune.
But the minor character details further enrich the tale. The opening press conference has Lois questioning Luthor about how his museum may serve as one of his company’s tax shelters, continuingly hammering in both Lois’s fearlessness and her past relationship with him. Mercy Graves, Luthor’s bodyguard, displays her tendency to launch from silent obeisance to fierce athletic finesse in an offhand comedic moment and remains a central figure throughout the story without ever being insisted upon as such. Superman’s rescue at Lois’s hands leads to a quick exchange between the two that suggests the permanence of their now established relationship. And of course Superman’s facing down Luthor both harkens back to The Last Son of Krypton and keeps afloat in the viewer’s memory the particular nature of their dynamic.
The aesthetic qualities enhance the thematic significance of some of these observations. For instance the brassy jazz music gives the second-act currency heist the ring of a traditional high-excitement genre film. Given the relative blandness of the episode’s first heist, this musical seasoning can be viewed as a means of calling attention to the greater competence and resourcefulness of Luthor’s operations relative to those of other small-time hoodlums. In the same sequence, the establishing shot of the construction site contains a sign in the bottom right corner that reveals the building to be a LexCorp apartment complex, reaffirming again the idea that Luthor’s grasp extends to most areas of Metropolis and in keeping with the museum opening the notion that perhaps it’s an entirely self-serving operation. Other designs, those of the agent’s high-rise penthouse apartment and the diner that serves as a meeting place for Lois and Clark, maintain an architectural continuity for Metropolis (high ceilings, wide windows, and art deco sensibilities) in the case of the former and suggest atypical locales in the case of the latter.
Of course the most obvious bit of continuity is the foreshadowing at the end, announcing loud and clear that there will always be more ammunition for Luthor as long as he has his paws on everything from city engineering to archaeological excavations.
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