Young Justice S01E24 Review: Robin's Past

Young Justice, Season 1, Episode 24: Performance

It's a bit jarring where the episode between the relatively intense series of members of the Team having focus episodes and possibly being compromised, and the final two episodes that ends the first season, is this relatively filler episode where the Team infiltrates Robin's old circus in the guise of performers to investigate a particular string of robberies. It feels particularly convoluted, and considering how the Team has gone to far more dangerous missions with far less personnel. Once you get past that, though, and accept this as a simple breather mission, it's a pretty well-done one. It's a mission that gives Robin some much-needed focus -- Robin's always been in the forefront of the Team, but the show tends to work on the assumption that (correctly) everyone knows about Robin, which is why more obscure characters like Artemis, Miss Martian and Superboy get the spotlight shone on them. Of course, Robin does get some character moment over the season, although this is the first that really gives him some spotlight. We also have Red Arrow's investigations into Artemis continue as he's adamant to follow up on the last episode's suspicion train, but ends up concluding that Artemis is a-okay at the end of this one.

The main story is Robin desperately trying to clear the name of Haly's Circus before Interpol Agent King Faraday shuts it down for good, but he just doesn't want to let the other members of the team (other than Kid Flash, who already knows, a fact established from previous episodes and acts as Robin's little support crew here). There's the whole thing going on as they try to figure out which of these nameless circus performers are actually the thief, which wasn't too exciting.

We do get the moment of Superboy using Luthor's patches in order to use X-Ray vision and later save M'gann from an exploding warehouse, which was okay. Considering there isn't much more time until the end of the season, we kind of need them to at least show Superboy falling into temptation at least once. Meanwhile, Superboy's anger issues isn't helped by Roy basically suspecting every single person on that mission that isn't Robin, while Robin vehemently denies any evidence that points out that Haly might be masterminding the robberies, refusing to believe that his old benefactor is responsible for crimes -- perhaps a bit too obvious a parallel to the other members of the team refusing to believe that M'gann or Artemis is the mole.

The enemy is apparently Parasite, who ends up accidentally drawing the powers of M'gann and Superboy (also his patches!) and that has been the reason why so many members of the circus crew ends up falling sick. Apparently, for whatever reason, Parasite wants to steal a bunch of scientific doohickeys to create a black hole generator, and the locations of these plot devices just happen to coincide with Haly Circus's tours. It's... hard to swallow. The actual battle against the Parasite is honestly mostly perfunctory, with main focus given onto Superboy's shield-usage.

The episode ends with a pretty heartwarming moment with Haly revealing that he knew that it was Dick Grayson all along, and hints that he knows of his real identity, which is well done. Less well-done is Roy's conviction that there isn't actually a mole, something he ends up concluding when Artemis saves him from Parasite during the battle. Gee, I dunno, Roy, couldn't you have looked up records of whether Artemis, Superboy and M'gann have saved other members of the team before? Roy's dead-set suspicion felt to be brushed off way too quickly for my liking, and while Roy being super-suspicious all the time isn't particularly fun to watch, this sudden change feels quite oddly done in my opinion. Overall, while not a bad episode, and it certainly has its moments, I'm not the biggest fan of this episode.


Roll Call:

• Heroes: Robin, Miss Martian, Red Arrow, Superboy, Artemis, Kid Flash 
• Villains: Parasite
• Others: Jack Haly, Agent King Faraday

DC Easter Eggs Corner: 

• Haly's Circus, is, of course, the travelling circus that the Flying Graysons performed in. Thanks to a fateful crime-caused murder caused by the gangster Boss Zucco, young performer Dick Grayson is orphaned and eventually adopted by Bruce Wayne... which would lead young Dick Grayson to eventually discover his adopted father's secret and become his sidekick, Robin. 
• Parasite is an iconic Superman villain, a loser who is exposed to chemicals that turn him into a purple-skinned monster that is able to drain the life energy, powers and memories of whoever he touches. There has been various Parasites over the years, but this one is identified by the creators as Raymond Jensen, the original Golden Age Parasite that's replaced by Rudy Jones -- the more iconic Parasite often seen in adaptations.
• Agent King Faraday is a member of various government organizations and is most times allied with the good guys. Over the years, Faraday has been part of the FBI, Task Force X and Checkmate, and famously had iconic scenes with J'onn J'onzz in Justice League: New Frontier.
• The name 'Titano' is referenced on one of the circus posters, a reference to the giant ape that Superman fights in the Golden Age.