The Night the Clown Cried

The Night the Clown Cried is the first episode of the second season of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and the twenty-seventh episode overall in the series.

Premise
With the gang split up, Crystal Cove is being tormented by an evil man-baby called Crybaby Clown!

Synopsis
Crybaby Clown chases Sheriff Bronson Stone in his wagon throwing an exploding bottle at his car. The sheriff jumps out in time. As the new mayor, Janet Nettles watches Crybaby Clown drive past City Hall she wonders aloud what she has gotten herself into. A mysterious masked figure shows up and comments (with a muffled voice) that it was more like a mystery. The figure tosses a folder on the desk and states that she needs to find the second incarnation of Mystery incorporated, otherwise her time as mayor would be short-lived. The figure then jumps out the window.

Scooby was put in solitary confinement at the farm for trying to escape. Scooby explains to a cow that he had to try and escape. He states that his friends are counting on him other wise Professor Pericles wins. Scooby then attempts and succeds in escaping. Scooby is picked up by Mayor Nettles.

Shaggy is in line with the rest of his bunker mates when Scooby bust through the wall driving a tank. The commanding officer tries to do something about it be just manages to be dropped under the tank.

Shaggy and Scooby find Fred going door to door trying to find Brad Chiles or Judy Reeves. In the time the gang has been spilt up Fred had grown a scraggly beard. Scooby and Shaggy convince Fred to come back. Fred agrees and then once the mystery was solved he will be going back to look for his parents.

Once the three arrive in town Crybaby Clown goes after them. As Fred runs away he is snagged up by one of his own traps. When he comments that he recognizes the net, the mysterious figure shows up and tells him that he should, because he was one that built it. The figure cuts Fred loose and the comments on Freds beard. Fred realizes that it was Velma and gives her a hug. Just as Scooby and Shaggy pull up in the Mystery Machine, Velma pulls up the colth over her mouth. Shaggy and Scooby try to pounce on her but she easily side-steps them. When she pulls off the hat and colth over her mouth Scooby and Shaggy immdiately hug her in joy of seeing her. She makes the comment "Oi where was this affection when we were dating?"

Velma joins them and together they go to bring Daphne back, but she refuses their offer, since she is putting mystery-solving behind her and dating Baylor Hotner. Fred comes up with a doughnut shop-themed trap in order to trap out Crybaby Clown. The trap doesn't work (because Fred counted on Daphne's return) and Crybaby Clown escapes using one of his bottle bombs to blow up Chen's Fireworks. Fred is depressed that the villian escaped and states that Mystery Incorporated won't be the same since Daphne is never coming back.

Villains

 * Crybaby Clown

Locations

 * Crystal Cove
 * Spook Museum
 * Fruitmeir's
 * City Hall
 * Bloody Stake
 * Blake Mansion
 * Dawn of the Doughnuts
 * Chen's Fireworks
 * Vegan-O
 * Z'Patos
 * Farm
 * Barnstow Military Academy

Continuity

 * From the recap:
 * The Freak of Crystal Cove stood on where a window used to be at the Old Spanish Church and laughed. (Pawn Of Shadows)
 * The Freak of Crystal Cove was unmasked and unveiled to be Fred Jones, Sr.. (All Fear The Freak)
 * After Fred was distraught over the parents that he'd never even known about, he called off the engagement between him and Daphne and decided to leave Crystal Cove in search of his real parents. (All Fear The Freak)
 * Daphne scolded Velma for not telling the gang about Angel's secret earlier. (All Fear The Freak)
 * Shaggy's parents told him that he would be going to millitary school while Scooby-Doo would be sent to a farm. (All Fear The Freak)

Notes/trivia

 * This episode was originally set to air May 2012, but instead was released online and the televised premiere was pushed back to July 10 and then finally July 30 of the same year.
 * This episode was aired in the UK on June 2, 2012.
 * This episode was aired in Latin America on September 1, 2012.
 * The title seems to be based on the notoriously bad unreleased Jerry Lewis movie, The Day the Clown Cried.
 * The Clown mentioned Redbeard's Ghost and Mano Tiki Tia as cases Mystery Inc. solved. In the regular continuity, the latter case was set in Hawaii. This case must have been closer to home, since Daphne said she had never been further than Gatorsburg.
 * The drill sergeant calls Shaggy "Private Hippy".
 * This is the only two-parter episode in the series, and also the second episode in which the monster gets away.
 * This is the very first episode that features a 'previously' segment. This trend will continue until Come Undone.
 * The 'previously' segment is announced by Fred.

Home media

 * Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Season Two, Part 1 - Danger in the Deep DVD set released November 13, 2012.
 * Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: The Complete Season 2 DVD set to be released October 7, 2014.