Secrets

"Secrets" is the 18th episode of the first season of Young Justice, and the 18th of the overall series. It aired on November 18, 2011.

Logline
On Halloween, Artemis and Zatanna go to Manhattan for a night on the town, only to be hunted by Harm, a psycho-in-training, hiding a deadly secret...

Synopsis
At the Museum of Natural History, police investigates the theft of the Sword of Beowulf. The curator states that in order to use the sword one must be pure of heart and speak the incantation, "Abannan Afol Beowulf". Detective Daniels is not impressed, and remarks that the thief must be long gone. However, Harm shows himself. He needed the incantation to wield the sword, and now that he had it, he could unsheathe it. He took out the police. Frightened, the curator stammered that only the pure of heart could wield the sword. Harm stated that the legend did not specify the wielder had to be pure good. He kills the curator and leaves.

Wally, Megan and Conner are getting into their costumes; a werewolf, a zombie bride, and a mummy respectively. Much to his disappointment Captain Marvel discovers he can't go to the Happy Harbor Halloween Dance and leaves via the Zeta-tubes. Artemis and Zatanna arrive, dressed as a vampire and a witch respectively. Seeing Megan work on Conner's costume, Zatanna asked Artemis for how long they had been a couple. Artemis did not know, and was genuinely upset. Zatanna suggested they skip the dance, and go on patrol.

Artemis and Zatanna arrive in Manhattan via a Zeta-Beam.

Megan, Wally and Conner arrive at the Halloween party. Much to Superboy's chagrin, everyone is dressed as superheroes. They meet up with their friends Mal, Karen, Wendy and Marvin, who is focused on reports about a Martian invasion.

At Mount Justice, Batman has called a meeting with Red Tornado, Red Arrow, Robin and Aqualad to discuss the possibility of a mole. Aqualad no longer believes there is a mole based on the fact he or she wouldn't have helped them against the Injustice League, who they still believe is behind everything.

Zatanna tries to get Artemis to talk about Superboy and Miss Martian, but Artemis prefers to express her frustration through violence. They set off and foil several crimes. They're spotted by Harm who decides to hunt them for sport and for practice against their mentors Zatara and Green Arrow. He blows up their bikes to get their attention, and with the sword, he is superior to both young heroines. Zatanna and Artemis are helped by a mysterious girl, who can only mutter the word "secret". She lures them away from Harm.

Red Arrow doesn't trust Artemis, because he knows she isn't Green Arrow's niece. Aqualad did not know, but Robin had figured it out. He also doesn't trust Miss Martian, as he has heard from Black Canary that Martian Manhunter has only known her for five months. Batman is still unsure what happened to Superboy at Cadmus, and suggests he may be the mole and not know it.

Back at the High School, the power goes out. A voice claiming to be Homeland Security tells the students there is nothing wrong, leading the students to believe the stories about Martians. Conner uses his infrared vision to check out the gymnasium, and sees Marvin at the PA system.

Secret brings Zatanna and Artemis to a house opposite Abel's House of Secrets. Harm catches up to them, and is furious that they've found his house. He defeats them with the sword and captures them.

Conner, Megan and Wally use their powers to make Marvin believe there are actual Martians. Shocked with fright, Marvin runs back into the gymnasium and confesses his prank. The others then reveal that they pranked him.

Harm interrogates Artemis and Zatanna to discover how they found his house. "Secret" helps Zatana free herself, and she rescues Artemis in turn by distracting Harm with an illusion spell. Secret leads them to the backyard, where the duo learns she is Harm's sister, Greta Hayes, and she is a ghost.

She was killed by Harm years ago. Harm arrived and when confronted with the story, he boasted that he was proud of it. Greta was the only thing he loved, and for his heart to be pure, he had to get rid of her. Upon seeing the ghost of his sister, he shrugs it off as another illusion spell, but Zatanna points out that she did not speak any spell. Secret walks towards him and takes away his pure heart. The Sword now no longer answers him, and Artemis makes short work of him. As police arrives, Zatanna promises Greta they'll give her a proper burial. Seeing Artemis's troubled face, Zatanna urges Artemis to tell her the truth, saying that secrets obvioulsy don't stay buried. But Artemis refuses, saying that she has no secrets. Artemis then shows Zatanna the neon sign of the magic store across the street, which is broken, leaving only the word "Secret" highlighted, and suggests that it was the last thing Greta saw before her death.

Title
There are several likely meanings for the episode's title:
 * Miss Martian and Superboy have tried to keep their relationship a secret from the rest of the Team, and Artemis only learns of it in this episode.
 * Artemis keeps secrets from the rest of the Team and is unwilling to reveal them. Batman says that she must be permitted to have a secret identity.
 * Batman, Red Tornado, Red Arrow, Aqualad, and Robin have a secret meeting to discuss the issue of the mole within the Team.
 * The identity of the mole, or even if the mole exists, is a secret.
 * Harm's secret is that he killed his little sister, Greta Hayes, in order to become pure.
 * The last thing that Greta Hayes saw before she died was the word "Secret". As a ghost, this was the only thing she could say. Because of this, Artemis and Zatanna referred to her as Secret until they learned her true name.

Cast and characters
! colspan="3"| Non-speaking roles
 * Stephanie Lemelin
 * colspan="2"| Artemis
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2"| Robin
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2"| Megan Morse
 * Khary Payton
 * colspan="2"| Aqualad
 * rowspan="2"| Nolan North
 * colspan="2"| Conner Kent
 * colspan="2"| Marvin White
 * Jason Spisak
 * colspan="2"| Wally West
 * Lacey Chabert
 * colspan="2"| Zatanna
 * Ben Diskin
 * Harm
 * Crispin Freeman
 * colspan="2"| Red Arrow
 * Bruce Greenwood
 * colspan="2"| Batman
 * Chad Lowe
 * colspan="2"| Captain Marvel
 * rowspan="3"| Masasa Moyo
 * Secret
 * colspan="2"| Wendy Harris
 * colspan="2"| Karen Beecher
 * rowspan="2"| Kevin Michael Richardson
 * colspan="2"| Mal Duncan
 * Jim Daniels
 * Greg Weisman
 * colspan="2"| Lucas Carr
 * colspan="2"| Batman
 * Chad Lowe
 * colspan="2"| Captain Marvel
 * rowspan="3"| Masasa Moyo
 * Secret
 * colspan="2"| Wendy Harris
 * colspan="2"| Karen Beecher
 * rowspan="2"| Kevin Michael Richardson
 * colspan="2"| Mal Duncan
 * Jim Daniels
 * Greg Weisman
 * colspan="2"| Lucas Carr
 * rowspan="2"| Kevin Michael Richardson
 * colspan="2"| Mal Duncan
 * Jim Daniels
 * Greg Weisman
 * colspan="2"| Lucas Carr
 * Greg Weisman
 * colspan="2"| Lucas Carr
 * Greg Weisman
 * colspan="2"| Lucas Carr
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado
 * colspan="3" | Wolf
 * colspan="3" | Wolf
 * colspan="3" | Wolf

Continuity

 * Kid Flash still has his cast after he injured his arm in "Revelation" while fighting against the Injustice League.
 * Batman, Red Arrow, Robin and Aqualad discuss the revelation of a mole by Sportsmaster, which happened in "Targets".
 * They also discuss the fight against the Injustice League from "Revelation" and that they all believe the Injustice League to be the masterminds of the villain activity, still unaware of The Light.
 * Artemis's crush on Superboy is brought up once again, which was hinted in "Infiltrator" and "Denial."
 * Kid Flash is still flirting with Miss Martian and oblivious to the fact that she and Superboy are a couple.
 * Zatanna mentions a move she had practiced after fighting with the Reds in "Humanity".
 * Red Arrow points out that Artemis isn't really Green Arrow's niece, which Aqualad was not aware of. This was first revealed in "Infiltrator".
 * Robin then shows that he was aware of who Artemis is, and begins to reveal the truth of who she's really related to before being cut off by Batman. The fact that Robin knows more about Artemis than the others do was first suggested in "Homefront".

Trivia

 * Main title clips:
 * Harm unsheathing the Sword of Beowulf (01:16)
 * Batman stifling Robin in the mole meeting (06:58)
 * Zatanna in Greta's room (17:05)
 * Megan talking with Wally's elbow on her shoulder (reversed) (02:55)
 * Artemis shooting arrows (09:59)
 * Harm walking with fire behind him (09:12)
 * For this episode, Chad Lowe took over his brother Rob Lowe as the voice of Captain Marvel.
 * The words to unleash the power of the sword are "abannan afol Beowulf", which translates as "to summon + power + Beowulf". The verb is not conjugated.
 * The costume that Karen Beecher wears is similar to her comics persona Bumblebee.
 * The costume that Mal Duncan wears is similar to the original costume Superboy wore in the comics.
 * Other costumes at the party include:
 * Aquaman (multiple)
 * Batman (Marvin and one other student)
 * Black Canary (Wendy)
 * Captain Atom
 * Captain Marvel
 * Dorothy Gale, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz
 * The Flaming C
 * Flash
 * Green Lantern (multiple)
 * Harley Quinn
 * Hawkwoman
 * Norville "Shaggy" Rogers from Scooby-Doo
 * Red Tornado
 * Wonder Woman (multiple)
 * Harm is voiced by Ben Diskin who had previously voiced Venom in The Spectacular Spider-Man, another Greg Weisman production. Both characters exhibit idiosyncratic speech patterns: Venom spoke in the first-person plural to refer to himself ("we"), while Harm refers to himself in the third-person singular and uses the impersonal pronoun to refer to others ("it", "they" and a pluralized "its"). Moreover, both are psychotic and both have bound and gagged a character voiced by Lacey Chabert.
 * One of Zatanna's spells ("Erif nrub, nordluac elbbub") translates into "Fire burn, cauldron bubble", which is a line from William Shakespeare Macbeth (Act Four, Scene One). This line was also used in the recreated scene of the play in the episode, from series producer Greg Weisman's .
 * Abel's House of Secrets is a reference to the House of Secrets, a mansion that played a large role in mystical and magical DC stories since the 70s, including House of Secrets itself. Abel is the biblical Abel, son of Adam and Eve, who served as the host. His brother Cain lives in the House of Mystery and was the host in the sister comic of that name.

Goofs

 * The NYPD police cars are incorrectly colored black and white instead of white with blue markings.
 * On Harm's television, Zatanna is bound around her chest and legs. However, after Secret removes her gag, an additional coil of rope is around her waist.

Cultural references

 * Wally's costume is that of "Teen Wolf", the eponymous character of the 1985 fantasy comedy film starring Michael J. Fox.
 * Wally asks Megan, "So, you going as my favorite Martian?", making a subtle reference to the 1963 sitcom My Favorite Martian, featuring a telepathic Martian living on Earth.
 * On the wall concealing the Zeta-Tube to Manhattan there's a mural with the title "The Silver Blade", which can be a nod to the 1987 supernatural fantasy comic book series Silverblade, written by Cary Bates.
 * When Megan comes out as a Martian to trick Marvin she looks like Marvin the Martian from Looney Tunes and her roar is identical to that of Godzilla.

Answered questions

 * What do the claw marks on Harm's face mean? (Answer)
 * If Miss Martian really came to Earth stowed away on Martian Manhunter's ship, then why did she tell a different story in Young Justice #6? (Answer)
 * Is there really a mole, and if so who is it? (Answer)