Performance

"Performance" is the 24th episode of the first season of Young Justice, and the 24th of the overall series. It aired on April 7, 2012.

Logline
The Team goes undercover at the Haly International Traveling Circus to locate a thief stealing weapons technology across Europe. But a thief isn't all they find...

Synopsis
Jack Haly opens the Bruges performance of his circus with his latest act: the Daring Dangers. It's actually members of the Team undercover: Robin as Dan Danger, Miss Martian as Dawn Danger, Red Arrow as Dane Danger, Superboy as Dean Danger, and Artemis as Diane Danger.

During the act, without the safety of a net, Robin misses his trapeze. M'gann can't catch him without displaying her powers to the public, so Superboy throws up a barrel Robin can use to jump back up. The last few inches are done by Miss Martian's telekinesis. She admits she's been using it throughout the performance. Robin is sweating from a flu that seems to be going around in the Circus, and reflects on the mission briefing.


 * At the Cave, Robin discloses the recent thefts of advanced weapon technology across Europe, each robbery coinciding with stops made by Haly's International Travelling Circus. Robin has received a mission from Batman: they're to go undercover and apprehend whoever is responsible. Red Arrow joins the mission to keep an eye on the other members, one of whom he suspects to be the mole.

The Daring Dangers finish up their act and head backstage. Jack Haly also heads backstage where he is confronted by Carlo and his brother, who are angry at him for replacing them with the Dangers. Haly rebuts by telling them they were replaced for missing the show in Paris. Carlo explains he was sick, but Haly shrugs off the concerns. Haly is also confronted by Interpol agent King Faraday, who has been monitoring Jack because he suspects him to be behind the thefts. Faraday threatens to shut Haly's Circus down if he can prove they're behind the crime.

The Team gathers at a warehouse in Bruges. The Team wonders about the likelihood of the thieves turning up, but Robin is adamant in his confirmation that they will strike here. Interpol will have all other locations guarded. M'gann worries about Robin's growing illness, but he says he'll manage.

Superboy spots someone heading toward the warehouse, using acrobatic skill to vault over the fence. The Team moves to intercept. Superboy puts one of his shields on for extra powers. They gather outside the warehouse, wondering which one the thief is in. With his X-ray vision the shield gave him, Superboy locates the thief. They catch him opening a crate and pulling out a piece of machinery, and think it's Carlo or his brother. But the thief pulls out a flare and blows a large jet of fire at the Team. The fire ignites crates of live ammo lying about. The warehouse explodes with the Team inside it. With the warehouse on fire, Superboy has to resist chasing the thief so that he can get Miss Martian out before the flames kill her; while Robin wants to pursue the thief instead, he is too sick to do so, and Artemis and Red Arrow get him out as well before the building collapses.

Title
The title refers mainly to the Team, who goes undercover as circus performers in Haly's Circus. Also, Robin's performance as a team member is jeopardized for a moment when he is seemingly assailed by a malady. Additionally, it turns out that one member of the circus family is pretending to be someone else. Thus, he was performing for most of the episode. In the end of the episode, Robin acquiesces to Haly's request and does one last performance for old times' sake.

Cast and characters
! colspan="3"| Uncredited
 * Crispin Freeman
 * colspan="2"| Dane Danger
 * Stephanie Lemelin
 * colspan="2"| Diane Danger
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2"| Dan Danger
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2"| Dawn Danger
 * Nolan North
 * colspan="2"| Dean Danger
 * Jason Spisak
 * colspan="2"| Wally West
 * Adam Baldwin
 * Parasite
 * Clancy Brown
 * King Faraday
 * Stephen Root
 * Jack Haly
 * Adam Baldwin
 * Parasite
 * Clancy Brown
 * King Faraday
 * Stephen Root
 * Jack Haly
 * King Faraday
 * Stephen Root
 * Jack Haly
 * Stephen Root
 * Jack Haly
 * colspan="3"| Carlo
 * colspan="3"| Carlo

Continuity

 * Wally knows of Robin's past; Dick had told him his secret identity as revealed in Young Justice: Face Your Fears.
 * Superboy uses the Shields that Lex Luthor gave him in "Agendas".
 * Red Arrow continues his search for the mole, which was started in "Targets" and mentioned in "Secrets" and "Insecurity".
 * Red Arrow accuses Artemis and Miss Martian of hiding secrets. Artemis lied about being Green Arrow's niece in "Infiltrator", and Miss Martian lies about her true form in "Image". He mentioned both of them holding unrevealed information in "Secrets".
 * Red Arrow speculates that Superboy might have trigger phrases programmed into him, a fact that (unknown to him) was established in "Agendas".
 * When Red Arrow finally concludes there were no moles in the team, his reason is a direct echo of Aqualad's rationalization in "Secrets."

Trivia

 * Main title clips:
 * Jack Haly introducing an act (00:30)
 * The Team dressed up as circus performers (03:58)
 * A close-up of Superboy (reversed) (04:59)
 * Robin and Miss Martian standing in the podium (02:02)
 * Red Arrow and Artemis scouting (04:21)
 * Robin passing by a circus poster (09:17)
 * Wally is making a baloney sandwich, and says Robin is doing the same. Baloney has two distinct meanings, of different origin: bologna sausage and nonsense.
 * This episode aired in Brazil on March 15.

Cultural references

 * Artemis's stage name is Diane Danger; in Roman mythology, Diana is the equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis, who was the goddess of the hunt, and is often depicted with a hunting bow and quiver of arrows.
 * One of the posters circus shows an elephant with the name Titano on it. In the comics, Titano is the name of several different mutated apes with the ability to emit kryptonite eye-beams that have fought Superman on occasion.
 * When Miss Martian wonders who would have thought that a human virus could harm a Martian, Robin responds "H. G. Wells", the author of The War of the Worlds (1898). In his novel, mankind is attacked by Martians, who didn't account for their vulnerability to human bacteria and died from microbial infections.
 * When Dick leaves the bound Jack Haly, the circus owner yells that he's no Houdini, referring to the escape artist Harry Houdini.
 * The scenes in Geneva play at a building resembling the Globe of Science and Innovation.
 * The "Large Boson Collider" is named after the Large Hadron Collider. A boson is a theoretical subatomic particle; a hadron is a composite particle which may or may not be a boson (protons and neutrons are hadrons)
 * Parasite plotted to use the Large Boson Collider to generate miniature black holes. Fears of the potential for generating miniature black holes (and destroying the Earth from within) was one of the criticisms levelled against the Large Hadron Collider.

Unanswered questions

 * Where were Aqualad and Zatanna?
 * Why did Haly lie to Faraday regarding his troupe's whereabouts?
 * Why did Intergang want to create a black hole in Geneva?