One Professor Von Brunner approaches criminal mastermind D.W. Griswald with a new invention of his. It seems that when Krypton exploded, it didn't just send glowing chunks out into space, but millions of invisible particles floating everywhere. Von Brunner has created a sort of radio station with a ray-gun that can pick up and focus the power of these particles. The only trick is getting Superman to stand in front of it.
Griswald, like so many criminals before him, knows that Superman will come if his friends are in danger. Another useful thing he knows is that Jimmy Olsen has become fascinated with magic. Griswald puts an ad in the paper offering cheap magic lessons, including a trick Jimmy really wants to know: how to levitate a woman.
Predictably, Jimmy and Lois walk right into the trap, which involves putting them into a 60-foot-deep hole with the gun pointed at it. When Superman goes down to save them, a shower of kryptonite particles weakens him. And just to make sureness double-sure, Griswald has also built the walls of the pit so they can close in on our heroes. However, Superman also happens to know the levitating-woman trick, which proves very handy right about now.
This episode contains examples of:
- Chekhov's Skill: Sort of. In an early scene, Perry White reveals that he used to be an amateur magician and demonstrates to Jimmy that he can levitate a woman. White himself doesn't use this later, but this establishes the trick as something even a normal person can do, so Superman can do it even when he's depowered by kryptonite.
- The Evil Genius: Professor Von Brunner, who's willing to use his invention to destroy Superman for money.
- Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: Jimmy's interest in magic never comes up before or after, but for this episode, it's strong enough that he gets into trouble pursuing it.
- Impossibly Awesome Magic Trick: Both Superman and Perry White can levitate a woman in any random location with no equipment, while also making her inhumanly stiff and putting her in some kind of hypnotic trance. When Jimmy Olsen asks how this can be done, he gets a Hand Wave about how "magicians never tell their secrets."
- Reaching Between the Lines: In the opening scenes, two mooks are communicating with Griswald through a walkie-talkie. When Superman catches them, he lights it up with his heat vision, which makes Griswald's own device burst into flames.
- Suddenly Always Knew That: Just how did Superman know that levitation trick?
- Villain with Good Publicity: Griswald has a front as a respected investment advisor, which is how Superman has failed to identify him despite capturing many of his mooks.
- The Walls Are Closing In: The concrete pit where Griswald traps our heroes has a moving wall, as it turns out.
- Wounded Hero, Weaker Helper: Superman is trapped at the bottom of a concrete bunker where The Walls Are Closing In and there is a Kryptonite ray pointed down to keep Superman drained of powers. Jimmy crawls up the bunker to the top and changes the direction the ray is pointing so it won't affect Superman any more, leading to his quick recovery.
