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 that 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 the X-ray vision the Shield gives 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.

Faraday confronts Haly with the robbery. The circus owner is fed up with him, and vows for all his crew. He claims to have done a bed check, and everyone was accounted for. The Team watches the conversation, and Artemis and M'gann note that he's lying, because they weren't in their beds last night.

Back in their wagon, they discuss the matter. Artemis is convinced there are two thieves: Carlo and Dragon's Breath. Robin pulls up the security footage from Madrid and Paris, and suspicion is also laid on the strongman and the clown. Red Arrow posits that, with so many performers involved, it's likely that Haly's behind it. Robin refuses to accept it, and heads out. M'gann proposes reading his mind, but Roy becomes distrustful. She could be tipping him off in the process. Conner angrily walks up on Roy, telling him that he knows why he's come: to spy on them. Roy's theories on his mole suspects do not sit well with Conner, who threatens to hurt him. M'gann calms him. They leave the wagon. Artemis berates him for his stubbornness and his distrust, and leaves too.

Robin walks by the train cars, until he comes up to one with a Flying Graysons poster. He thinks back to his days in the circus, but is interrupted by Wally, who calls him on the com link. Robin tells him he's on a confidential mission from Batman.

Wally knows that's a lie—he's checked with Red Tornado, and Batman has not given any missions. Robin comes clean, and tells his best friend about the robberies and Jack Haly's possible complicity. Wally is sore at being left behind, and wanted to come along to keep Dick objective.

Haly finishes off the show. He urges everyone to pack, as the train to Geneva leaves in two hours. Ray walks over to Dawn Danger, and grabs a case at the same time as she does. Their hands briefly touch, and he asks if she needs a hand. Dawn declines, and points at other artists who've become too weak to load the train. The flu's going around in the circus, they conclude. Haly hurriedly orders everyone to get aboard the train, and it promptly leaves.

Diane and Dan discuss the latter's flu, but it's over. Now, Dawn is hit. They compare notes, and realize the source of the flu is likely Ray. They go looking for him; Jack Haly mentions he's down with the flu in his cabin.

The cabin is empty, but they discover ash from the warehouse fire in a trunk. Diane also finds a mask resembling Ray's face. Dan splits them up to search the train.

As he checks the wagons, Dan hears muffled cries for help. Jack Haly's been bound and gagged by Ray since just after they left Bruges. Dan scrambles to the others, leaving Haly tied, to his anguish. He tries to contact Dawn telepathically, and when that fails, with the com link. She tells him the flu prevents her from using telepathy. He contacts the others to tell them their opponent can absorb powers.

Dean checks the dining car, and hides when he sees a clown entering. He takes a Shield, and notices with X-ray vision the clown is carrying a case with stolen equipment. Realizing he's been found out, the clown telekinetically throws all the tables and chairs at Dean. He chases him, and calls the others that the thief is on the roof. He is telekinetically pushed off, but manages to fly around him. Dan arrives, and explains he knows who the thief is: Parasite. Parasite confirms it, and admits to having stolen the powers of just about all performers. He was surprises Dawn "tasted like Martian Manhunter". He brutally grabs Superboy and absorbs his powers, and uses them to destroy the bows of Diane and Dane. With that, he flies off, though Dan tries to stop him. If it wasn't for Dawn, he would've fallen off the train. Diane and Dane help pull him up.

They check on Dean, and Dan remarks Parasite had more powers than Superboy ever had. Not wanting to reveal his usage of Shields, Dean shrugs it off as the genetic potential.

With their thief's identity certain, they drop the act and change into their uniforms. Robin had swiped a data drive from Parasite, and cracks the security. It reveals to them he's been working for Intergang, and with everything he's stolen, he can create black holes. For that, his next target would have to be the Large Boson Collider in Geneva. Red Arrow proposes that just he and Robin go, because the others don't have powers. Artemis remarks she has a back-up bow too, and Superboy makes it clear (by punching the wall) that his powers are back too. Miss Martian refuses the be left behind, and joins too.

Robin finds an injured guard, and they all head into the Large Boson Collider's building. Superboy pauses to get a new Shield.

Without his flash drive, Parasite is struggling with the controls, but he gets there eventually. He installs the hardware and starts the particle accelerator. Winds kick up, and clouds start to circle mere yards above the building.

Robin tries to form a plan to lure Parasite away from the command console, but Superboy rushes in. Parasite promptly responds by pulling him in telekinetically, but Superboy lands a punch in his face at the last moment. After throwing him around the room, he absorbs his powers again, but he's surprised he's recovered so quickly—not even Superman did it that fast. Robin puts his plan into action: Miss Martian goads him into pulling her in; as she nears him, she ducks and kicks his legs. Red Arrow shoots a foam arrow at him, trapping him. But Parasite still has his powers, and telekinetically starts to crush Red Arrow. He breaks free, but by now, Robin has made it to the console. He can evade an attack by Parasite with heat vision, which gives Artemis the shot she needs. She shoots a gas arrow at him. It explodes, weakening Parasite, and making him lose his grip on Red Arrow. Parasite tries to attack them again, but Miss Martian remarks he's absorbed her weakness to fire as well. He collapses. Robin powers down the accelerator.

Faraday arrives with an inhibitor collar, and they take away Parasite. He thanks Robin for alerting him to the situation. Artemis helps Red Arrow up. He's become convinced there never really was a mole; he distrusted them but he hadn't seen them in action before.

The next morning, the train is being unloaded. Haly thanks Dan Danger for saving his circus. He also tells him he knew from the start he wasn't Dan Danger, but Dick Grayson. Though they planned on leaving, the Daring Dangers give Haly one last performance.

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"| Dragon's Breath
 * colspan="3"| Dragon's Breath
 * colspan="3"| Dragon's Breath

Continuity

 * Wally knows of Robin's past; Dick had told him his secret identity as revealed in "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.

Goofs

 * When the Dangers discover Ray is Parasite, when Artemis Crock gets on top of the train her hair is blowing in the wrong direction.

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?