Which episodes form the Daria-Tom story arc (up till Dye Dye)?
Dgates
Which episodes form the Daria-Tom story arc (up till Dye Dye)?
By my reckoning, it's:
1. I Loathe a Parade
(Sure, some would say it's "just a glance," but then there's the song
"I Know There's Something Going On" too)
2. Fire
3. Dye Dye My Darling.
Am I missing any?
If not... I notice that when you buy the "Is It Fall Yet" DVD, you
get episodes #2 and #3, so if you're willing to dismiss the "glance,"
then you can get the whole bundle in one place.
But... Am I missing any?
Is it worth counting whichever episode Jane first meets Tom as part of
the arc? And wasn't there a separate episode where Daria accepts
Jane's new boyfriend and concedes that Tom isn't such a bad guy?
Can anyone tell me the titles of those episodes?
Thanks in advance.
--
dga...@spamfreelinkline.com
BA
is (as she was in See Jane Run) very upset that Jane wants to spend time with
someone other than Daria.
401 - Partners Complaint: Daria is still fuming over Jane wanting to spend time
with someone other than her but gradually starts to accept that its her own
behavior that might be whats driving Jane away.
406 - I Loathe A Parade: Tom and Jane have the first of what will be several
disagreements brought on by not communicating well; Daria and Tom spend time
together at the parade, leading Daria to warm to him; Tom shows the first signs
of desiring Daria's company.
412 - Fire!: Jane and Tom's relationship continues to deteriorate; It becomes
very clear that Tom is starting to prefer Daria's company to Jane's; Jane's
behavior begins becoming erratic; Daria, unable to honestly deal with her own
feelings, completely denies whats going on, even though things are so freaking
obvious that even *Trent* can pick up on it.
413 - Dye! Dye! My Darling: Jane, in a fit of passive aggressiveness, has a
huge fight with Daria; Daria, in a fit of refusing to deal with anything that
makes her uncomfortable, continues to deny her attraction to Tom until it blows
up in her face; Tom, in a fit of bad sense, gives into his attraction to Daria
and kisses her; Daria, in a fit of unrestrained emotion which years of
repression have left her unable to deal with, kisses Tom back; Daria, in a fit
of guilt, confesses to Jane; Jane, in a fit of rage, confronts Tom; Tom, in a
fit of guilt, takes all the blame for what happened; Jane, in yet another fit
of passive aggresiveness, gives Tom the greenlight to date Daria; Tom, in yet
another fit of bad sense, falls for it.
"Functionless art is simply tolerated vandalism."
Ace Trax
> Which episodes form the Daria-Tom story arc (up till Dye Dye)?
I think this will answer all your questions:
http://www.outpost-daria.com/essay/kw_the_other_side_of_the_kiss.html
The Other Side of The Kiss
An Examination of the Infamous "Love Triangle"
by Kara Wild
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daria has been gone for nearly a year, and still we get wound up over
the Tom Sloane Controversy. His merits as a character, the way he and
Daria got together, or whether his mere presence harmed key dynamics
on the show.
One of the most recent discussions on alt.tv.daria concerned the
infamous kiss in "Dye! Dye! My Darling." I have always believed that
Daria and Tom's attraction to each developed too quickly between "I
Loathe a Parade" (406) and "Dye! Dye! My Darling" (413), making it
seem as if they had barely begun liking each other before they were
sticking their tongues down each others' throats. As a result, I could
never fully accept that the attraction was natural, that it had grown
organically instead of being pushed along by writers who wanted us to
accept Tom Sloane as Daria's boyfriend.
Still, I had never wondered until that discussion whether the true
reason I did not accept the pairing was because there was no
attraction between Daria and Tom. You read right: there was no mutual
attraction between Daria and Tom.
To clarify, let me say I believe Tom was attracted to Daria as early
as "I Loathe a Parade," if not sooner. Also, that the show's writers
and producers wanted us to believe things were heating up between
them. During the "Behind the Scenes" special that accompanied the
Season Four premiere, one of the producers admitted that Daria would
be in a "relationship." Then when ILAP came along weeks later, the
song they played at the end was "I Know There's Something Going On."
Nevertheless, Daria was not attracted to Tom, at least not until
"Fire!" if even then. She did not think of him as a potential
boyfriend until after The Kiss.
Still, you might ask: if the writers believed there was a
relationship, who are we to question them? They were the ones who
guided the show. That may be, but that doesn't mean everything they
sought to convey came across on screen. Otherwise, there would have
been no debate over Tom's merits as a boyfriend, and we would have
seen Kevin and Brittany as worthy of the attention shoveled at them in
Season Four. Since what we see on screen is often so different, we can
argue that a character displayed behavior that flies in the face of
what the writers wanted. In this case, I will argue that Daria never
saw Tom as a love interest before "Is It Fall Yet?", and that themes
from Season Four designed to help Daria instead made the situation
worse.
Past "Romances"
By now, to say that Daria did not like sharing her feelings would be
cliche. No "I love you"'s passed this cynic's lips during the show's
five-year run. Even so, Daria left plenty of clues that showed her
true feelings. For instance, in "Too Cute," she put aside her
animosity with Quinn and told her she looked "perfect" even without
cosmetic treatment. In "See Jane Run," she assured a remorseful Jane,
"You came out of kindergarten knowing more than Kevin." In "Daria!",
she feared that her parents were worried about her, and in "Ill," she
mumbled to them, "Thanks for being there for me," before leaving
quickly.
Yet during the crucial episodes leading to DDMD, when Daria was
supposedly feeling her first tingles of attraction to Tom Sloane, we
saw nothing. Nothing beyond friendship and good-natured camaraderie,
that is. One could argue that this time Daria had something to lose by
showing she cared: her friendship with Jane. She was so aware of the
moral ramifications, she could not admit her crush to Jane or herself.
That explanation would make sense, had she not been in similar
situations where her feelings posed a threat to her self-image and
worldview, and was rather lesssuccessful at hiding her true feelings.
Liking Trent Lane, for instance, may not have jeopardized a
friendship, but it was hardly a risk-free venture. As Daria's first
recorded crush, it put her in a position of vulnerability at a time
when everything she said and did showed a need to maintain total
control. Outright rejection by the older, cooler Trent could have been
as tough a blow for Season One Daria as losing Jane in Season Four;
therefore, Daria did not seem especially keen to confess her feelings.
Jane and the audience still knew, though, because Daria could not help
blushing around Trent, or losing track of her words around him, or
secretly fantasizing about him, or doing stupid things in his
presence.
In "The New Kid," Daria may not have had anything to lose from a
relationship with Ted DeWitt-Clinton, but she still told anyone who
would listen that she and Ted were not going out. Even so, she
betrayed her interest in Ted by reading up on Goya after learning he
was a fan, and speaking of Ted in soft, sweet tones that by Episode
207, we had rarely heard from her. "He's just very honest and ethical
and I shouldn't have been so mean," Daria lamented at one point.
Yet with Tom, there was nothing. No behavior before "Dye! Dye! My
Darling" to indicate that Daria's feelings toward him were not what
she said they were: "Okay, I don't hate him so much anymore, but
that's not exactly an affair to remember." If The Kiss was supposed to
show that Daria's true feelings could not be denied, why was there
absolutely nothing beforehand? Even if Daria denied everything to
Jane, to herself, would she really have been able to suppress a blush?
A stray thought about Tom? A slip of the tongue to a member of her
family about "just something Tom said," prompting "Oh? Who's Tom?"
"Just some guy." Even if Daria tried to fight against it, could she
have concealed everything when she was so unsuccessful in the past?
"I Loathe a Parade" and the Episodes Pre-"Fire!"
When people point to signs of Daria and Tom's growing attraction,
almost all of it seems either one-sided (Tom's attraction to Daria) or
so ambiguous it borders on wistful thinking. Take "I Loathe a Parade."
Daria at first showed overt hostility toward Tom, narrowing her eyes
as she said his name. Then little by little she lightened up, trading
wisecracks with him as they dodged the parade goers. But it was Tom
who seemed to draw heavier, more innuendo-laced conclusions from their
time together. Watching a parade float go up in flames, Tom told
Daria, "Thanks for getting lost in the moment with me." Daria
responded, "Um, you're welcome?", which was pretty much her reaction
whenever Tom made any such statements. In "Dye! Dye! My Darling," when
Tom tried to draw some deeper meaning from their time at the parade,
Dari cut him off and returned the conversation to Jane. Given that
their adventure at the parade took place mostly in real time, and that
much of it was spent dodging people, looking for Tad Gupty, and
getting stuck on parade floats, it's hard to think what meaningful
things Daria and Tom could have talked about. Tom tried to get Daria
to "embrace the horror" and talked of Jane getting too caught up in
her artwork, but otherwise nothing stood out.
Many have pointed to the end scene, when Tom looked back at a
miserable Daria covered with paint, as a sign that Daria was falling
in love with him and sad to see him go. But then again, maybe it's
because Daria was all covered in paint and feeling icky. At my high
school senior breakfast, I got beaned in the head with a quiche,
tossed by some careless peer like the ones having the paint fight in
ILAP. Even though I knew it was an accident, I still felt rotten.
Daria also could have been sad to see Tom go... because she had had a
nice time, and was sorry for the afternoon to end on this sour note.
In any case, this was not the moment where Daria's attraction to Tom
was as plain as day.
One could argue that it started with ILAP, though, had we been given
some sign that Daria was affected by the outing. "Of Human Bonding"
onward provided many occasions for Daria, alone in her room, to have a
sudden thought about Young Thomas, or to finger some paint-covered
piece of clothing that she had salvaged from the special day as a
reminder. Or, against her better judgement, to look up information on
Fielding Prep the same way she consumed Goya in "The New Kid." One of
my fellow fans believes that Daria showed her attraction to Tom when
she watched him wiggle his ass on the computer screen in "Psycho
Therapy," but to me, that moment was too ambiguous to count. In fact,
it revealed nothing. Daria watched Tom with the same voyeuristic
pleasure/pain as she watched Jane floss her teeth and Trent scratch
his butt. "A little wider. We can't see all your fillings," she told
Jane. For Trent: "Don't pick your nose, don't pick your nose." For
Tom: "Oh God, this is too painful." When Daria watched Tom, there was
no half smile or twinkle in her eye; she seemed genuinely embarrassed
for him.
In "Mart of Darkness" and "Groped By an Angel," an unexpected blush on
Daria's cheeks at the mention of Tom's name might have revealed that
Jane's relationship was in far worse shape than she realized. Still...
nothing.
What is clear is that the events in "I Loathe a Parade" had an effect
on Tom. Next time they met on screen, in "Fire!," he acted almost
ecstatic to see her. "Hi, Daria!" he said, like a puppy happy to see
its master. Later, he sought Daria out to talk with her. Then in "Dye!
Dye! My Darling," after a worried Daria called up Tom to ask about
Jane, Tom complained about Jane and made the afore-mentioned
references to the parade. Whether or not Daria and Tom had shared
anything, Tom believed they did. If Tom were always so obvious in his
attraction to Daria, it's no surprise that Jane would pick up on it.
A final argument could be made that Daria did blush and show signs of
attraction to Tom, but all off screen because showing it would have
taken too much time or have robbed the story arc of needed suspense.
Nonsense. If we're supposed to accept that, then the writers did not
do their jobs. It's one thing to hint at Stacy or Helen's background
without going into much depth, since they were supporting characters
whose lives did not carry the show. But Daria's supposed growing
attraction to Tom presented major challenges to the current dynamics
and to the future of the show itself. It should have been front and
center, not hidden away in some contrived attempt at "suspense." I
would prefer to think that the writers were clumsy, that they thought
they had left enough hints in ILAP, than that they showed such poor
judgement.
So what do we have? Up until "Fire!", we know that Daria did not hate
Tom. She may have even liked him. But anything more is based entirely
on speculation.
"Fire!" and "Dye! Dye! My Darling"
Now let's look at "Fire!" Jane learned that Daria had had off screen
contact with Tom, leaving a message on his answering machine about an
arthouse film which was to her and Tom's taste, but not Jane's ("Best
nap I ever had."). Jane became jealous, and displayed it by first
acting edgy when Daria came over to her house, then by pulling Tom out
of Penny's room after settling Daria in for the night. In a later
scene, Tom came into Penny's/Daria's room where Daria was reading and
they had a long, enjoyable, intellectual discussion that caused both
to lose track of time until Jane popped in on them. Daria turned to
watch them go with a thoughtful expression, perhaps showing interest
in or fondness for Tom, or perhaps pleasure that she finally found an
intellectual match.
Why couldn't it be a sign of budding friendship as much as attraction?
Daria at some point must have thought about having another friend, and
knowing that someone close to her (friend's boyfriend) was an
intellectual equal could have filled her with pleasure and relief. Tom
already had his "place," so she could talk with him without worrying
about unpredictable results. She did talk and laugh with him and have
a good time, but she also did with Jodie in "Gifted." Jodie and Daria
even had their own ILAP-like adventures at Grove Hills Academy, and
came away with a good laugh and renewed respect for one another. Given
that Jane was so possessive of Tom in the final episodes of Season
Four, it is almost surprising that she was never more threatened by
the idea of Daria having another friend.
In any case, Love Triangle convention demanded that Jane see Daria and
Tom's rapport as an obvious sign that they had designs on one another.
Shortly after finding them in conversation, Jane began acting jealous
of Daria for Tom's attention toward her and her supposed reciprocation
(via the call on the answering machine). I presume this was the only
time Jane had heard of Daria initiating something with Tom, since this
was the only example she brought up. Daria tried to assure Jane that
his visit to Penny's room could have been for innocent reasons (Jane
too busy with a whirring drill), but Jane seemed less concerned by
what Daria and Tom had done than by what they could do. She told Jodie
(paraphrasing), "Then he and Daria spend all this time talking about
all the stuff they've read," indicating that what really bothered her
was that they were intellectual equals and therefore could be better
suited for each other than she and Tom. No sooner did Jane start
acting jealous than Trent got involved, telling Daria (paraphrasing),
"Guys can always tell when another guy is into someone." Daria
retorted, "I think I would know if Tom were into me, and he's not."
Trent: "Even so, nobody ever said you meant for it to happen." Daria
may have been mistaken about Tom's feelings toward her, but bottom
line: it was Tom's feelings for Daria Trent picked up on, not hers for
Tom. Between Jane's assumptions and Trent's fatalism, the Tom
situation came across as out of Daria's control, putting her in a
position that she never wanted to be in. That Daria could ever steer
her own fate seemed irrelevant.
That brings us to The Kiss episode, "Dye! Dye! My Darling." By the
beginning, Jane's paranoia was such that she had gone from fuming over
Daria's message on Tom's answering machine to thinking that Daria and
Tom were making out behind her back! "Come on!" Daria responded
appropriately. In spite of Daria's reasonable assertion in "Fire!"
that she shouldn't be blamed for Jane's relationship woes, Jane seemed
determined to force a confession out of Daria. What followed was one
of the chilliest conversations ever between the Partners in Crime:
JANE: I thought, you know, maybe you were a little jealous of me and
Tom and you felt like you had to...
DARIA: What?!
JANE: Just a teensy little bit, and it's okay. Believe me, I'm sure if
I were in your position...
DARIA: What position? What are you talking about? How can you accuse
me of being jealous of you and Tom?
JANE: Hey, are we doing the hair here or not? I just mean the way
you're always... "accidentally" barging in on us and just "happening"
to find yourself alone with him. I know you don't mean anything by it,
so don't worry about it.
DARIA: Don't worry about it?! You accuse me of having some kind of
designs on your boyfriend and you tell me don't worry about it?
JANE: Hair! (Daria yanks on her hair.) Ow!
DARIA: Sorry.
JANE: Maybe we'd better talk about this later.
DARIA: There's nothing to talk about. You're delusional.
A fan once pointed out that in "Partner's Complaint," Daria and Jane
talked as if they'd known each other for a month. To me, that's how
this conversation reads. Jane ought to have realized that while Daria
had been jealous of her before, her way of coping was to mope and act
passive-aggressive, as in "See Jane Run" and "Jane's Addition." Why
would Jane suddenly think that Daria would put any attraction to Tom
ahead of their friendship, when Daria had done nothing of the kind
before? What teenage soap operas was Jane watching? It's as if Jane
thought Daria had become someone else.
As for Daria's response to Jane's accusation, it was very strong.
While fans might sift through ambiguous moments to find examples of
Daria's attraction to Tom, there was nothing ambiguous here. Daria was
surprised, shocked, and angry. She was completely up front with her
feelings about Jane's accusation. If anything, Jane seemed to be the
one who avoided her feelings in the past two episodes -- dodging Daria
in the school hallway in "Fire!", then coming up with the hair dyeing
scheme instead of just telling her friend how she felt.
That brings us to The Kiss scene. Parked out in front of the
Morgendorffer house, Tom invited Daria into his car to discuss their
"situation." Shortly after Daria told him that he screwed up the one
good friendship she'd ever had, Tom leaned over and kissed her.
Immediately after, Daria did the: "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
Tom: "I liked it, too." Daria: "That's not funny!" A pause, and then
this time, Daria and Tom leaned over at the same time to kiss each
other for several more seconds. Tom: "That was definitely not funny."
Daria: "I gotta go!" And she left immediately, while Tom watched after
her with a look that could have been fondness, but definitely wasn't
shock or regret.
Yet Daria did kiss Tom voluntarily. Could this have been certifiable
proof that Jane wasn't wrong and Daria really was attracted to Tom all
along, only she was in complete denial of it. Or...
When Tom kissed Daria the first time, it happened very fast. No sooner
did Daria realize what was happening than she was gripped with horror.
"I liked it to," Tom said, but in Daria's case, did she even have time
to like it? Tom knew he was going to kiss her, but for Daria it was
completely unexpected. It could be that the second time around, Daria
kissed Tom because 1) she had never really been kissed by a guy before
(Trent's peck included) and wanted to feel what it was like, and 2)
she knew that having sinned with Tom once, there was no going back. A
third reason, a bit shakier, but possible, is that Daria was so
stunned by the whole thing, she didn't even realize what she was doing
when she went back for seconds.
Still, Daria going to kiss Tom did put her in the "blame" and
"betrayal" category. Jane now had a concrete reason to be upset with
her. At the same time, it still was not a positive indication that
Daria was satisfying emotions repressed since ILAP. For one thing,
while Tom may have been pleased by the kiss, Daria did not express one
bit of happiness. Never at any time did she appear to savor the memory
of her first real kiss, only to realize: "Oh my God, he was my best
friend's boyfriend!" Nope, from the time Daria left the car, through
the rest of the episode, it was misery and more misery. She was so
acutely aware of her sin that she blurted it out to Jane almost at
first opportunity. From there, Daria continued to disavow wanting
anything to do with Tom, even in a conversation with Helen when she
made a rare confession of vulnerability. A talk with her mother, a
neutral party, would have been the perfect time for Daria to admit
that maybe she kinda-sorta was interested in dating Tom, and had been
since the parade, but oh, what a horrible thing to do to Jane. But
still, nothing. Deep denial on Daria's part, or could this be how she
genuinely felt?
The notion of Daria dating Tom did not even come up until Jane
mentioned it. Jane, as if trying to dictate the course of events the
way Tom did when he told her they were about to break up, practically
insisted that Daria and Tom go out, because "Tom and you makes more
sense than Tom and me." Quite odd: throughout their last scene
together in DDMD, Daria just reacted to whatever Jane said, like
someone experiencing a car crash. Jane told Daria she could go ahead
and date Tom. Jane told Daria that she and Tom were well-suited for
one another. Jane told Daria that she was the lady and the tiger, as
though Daria had secretly schemed for all this. When Daria asked about
the status of their friendship, Jane informed her "We're the kind of
friends who can't stand the sight of each other." Jane dictated the
terms. Jane wouldn't listen to Daria. Jane wouldn't acknowledge that
Daria might have been sincere when she said there would be no The
Kiss, Part Two. Have I mentioned that I don't like Jane very much in
this episode?
Because of the way Jane laid it all on Daria, I have trouble believing
that she was somehow granting Daria's secret wish to date Tom. If
anything, this came across as Jane's attempt to avoid any more
terrible shock or pain. She undoubtedly viewed The Kiss as a
confirmation of the fears she'd had all along, whereas Daria might
have viewed it quite differently. The Kiss may very well have been...
a kiss. A fit of hormones and no more. Except now, Jane had announced
that her friendship with Daria hung by a thread, that she not only
"hated" Daria, but that she "[couldn't] stand the sight" of her. So
Daria found herself without the comfort of her Partner in Crime for
the first time in three years. As a poster on alt.tv.daria pointed
out, once deprived of friendship, Daria could not do "alone" very
well. "See Jane Run" revealed her to be constantly moping and talking
to herself, and Jane wasn't even upset with her for most of that time.
Jane's anger here, partially justified, sent Daria into an
unprecedented dark place.
The final scene of DDMD showed Daria lying on her bed, staring at the
ceiling in contemplation. Only the ringing phone could snap her out of
it, and the last lines of the episode were "Daria? It's Tom."
Duh-duh-duhhhhhh.
Now the thing is, we don't have a clue what transpired in that
conversation. Only two things are clear -- that several weeks later,
Tom was Daria's "guy I'm dating" and that Tom initiated the
conversation. This might have been a simple consolation phone call,
followed by a tough-luck get-together, and the real dating might not
have begun until a few weeks later. Jane, herself, might have called
up Tom and pushed him to talk to Daria, much as she did in reverse
when she and Daria last got together. What definitely is not clear is
whether Tom simply said, "Hey Daria, now that it's okay to date, do
you want to?" followed by Daria's "Sure!" Had Tom not initiated
contact, Daria might have never spoken to him again.
So what can we surmise? Daria and Tom did have an intellectual
chemistry. Daria seemed to enjoy kissing Tom that second time in the
car. Tom seemed to really like Daria, while Daria did not hate Tom.
Beyond that is nothing more than speculation. Certainly before The
Kiss, there was no hard evidence that Daria had a secret thing for
Tom. It is not even clear that Daria had a thing for him after The
Kiss, before "Is It Fall Yet?". All that is clear is that she enjoyed
it. But otherwise, kissing Tom might have been the equivalent of a
one-night stand.
That leads one to ask: if Daria did not have a thing for Tom before
The Kiss, why else would she have gone out with him? Perhaps it was
because she did not have Jane as her usual rock of support, whereas
Tom liked her and wanted to spend time with her. In her vulnerable
position, she might have found that a great source of comfort.
Furthermore, Daria might have realized that she had a rare opportunity
to experience a "normal life" through dating. It was not often that
guys sought her out, especially intelligent, funny guys like Tom. Even
if she and Jane made up, things between them might never be the same;
why stay in the past when the future looked brighter?
These are viable explanations, but looking closely at Season Four, and
taking into account Jane's, Tom's, and even Trent's behavior, another
possibility arises. Daria went out with Tom because she let herself be
persuaded into thinking she was attracted to him all along.
Season Four: Give People a Chance
The notion that Daria could be talked into believing anything seems
absurd. The girl with the iron-clad beliefs who could spy bullshit a
mile away? Yet during Season Three and especially Season Four, this
happened repeatedly. Season Four was Daria's season of
self-questioning and self-doubt, when she tried to see the world from
other people's perspectives.
It began with "Partner's Complaint," where Daria criticized Jodie's
hypocrisy for using her dad's name shortly after complaining that she
wanted to succeed on her own merits. Jodie fired back with, "Hey, our
assignment was to get a loan, not save the world.... And if I happened
to depart from your black-and-white world of ethics... and wandered
into a gray area, then too bad. Maybe the first guy was a racist,
maybe not. Maybe I was right. Maybe I overreacted. Hey, you wouldn't
be working with me if you weren't fighting with Jane. Does that make
you a racist?" Obviously not used to hearing an intelligent opposing
argument, Daria could not stay on offense, and instead reacted to
Jodie for the rest of the conversation. Jodie presented her behavior
as something which could be viewed in many different ways, none of
them necessarily The Right Way. She outright stated that Daria's point
of view was too narrow before finally leaving Daria alone to chew on
this in her room. Later, when Helen came to check on her, they had the
following exchange:
DARIA: Do you think I'm a rigid, unrealistic, unforgiving
self-righteous jerk who can't hold on to a friend?
HELEN: [Jodie] didn't say anything like that.
DARIA: But, do you?
HELEN: Daria, you have strong beliefs and you want to live by them.
That's not a fault or a character flaw. It's admirable; it's what
makes you who you are.
DARIA: Jodie didn't think so.
HELEN: Jodie is a little more pragmatic than you are. She didn't
appreciate being criticized for it.
DARIA: I don't blame her.
HELEN: And since she's pragmatic, she also knows that the fact that
someone's having a bad day doesn't make them a bad person.
DARIA: What about someone with a pattern of alienating people with her
self-righteous pronouncements?
HELEN: People aren't as easily alienated as you think, Daria. Ask
Jane. She'll tell you.
Many aspects of this conversation set the tone for Season Four. Daria
was tired of sticking to her moralistic point of view, and worried
that it would cost her any future friends. Helen complimented her
conviction, but rather than add that Daria was right to criticize
Jodie, she described Jodie as "more pragmatic." By doing so, she
followed Jodie's lead in painting people's points of view and behavior
in shades of grey. She also reminded Daria that even when people sin,
others are not so rigid that they will hold it against them forever.
Daria seemed to take this conversation to heart, as shown by her
failing to mention Jodie's namedropping in their economics
presentation, and during the later exchange after class. Jodie:
"Listen, I shouldn't have bitten your head off either. I'm sorry about
that." Daria : "Don't worry about it. I was tired of that head
anyway."
Thus began a whole new Daria approach to other people. While there
were still the traditional episodes like "Antisocial Climbers," where
Daria and Jane stood back and criticized everyone around them, the
majority of Season Four episodes consisted of Daria trying to see
other peoples' points of view and work with them on their terms.
"A Tree Grows in Lawndale" - Whereas Daria from Seasons One through
Three might have criticized the town's foolish fixation on high school
football, Season Four Daria tried to bolster Kevin's self-esteem, even
though the method would not have directly resulted in him playing
football again.
"The 'F' Word" - This episode was not strictly about Daria, but it
carried on the themeof other people's perspectives having more weight.
We got to see the trials of Kevin, Brittany, Jane, Jodie, and more.
"Of Human Bonding" - Here, Daria took pity on her father and
accompanied him on a business trip. We got to see more from Jake's
perspective and learned that Daria wished she could communicate with
him better. The episode climaxed with Daria giving in to Jake's pleas
to go balloon riding with him, even though she knew it would be a bad
idea.
"Psycho Therapy" - At the end of this episode, Helen got upset and ran
out of a therapy session. Daria found her on the brink of tears, then
reassured her that she was a good mother and human being. Whether
Daria believed her own words, we don't know. Certainly Daria from the
earlier seasons, in a different setting, would have found much to
criticize about Helen's uneven parenting methods. In this episode,
Daria seemed to acknowledge them, but act more accepting.
"Groped By An Angel" - In an episode with a similar outcome to
"Partner's Complaint" and "Psycho Therapy," Quinn started believing in
guardian angels, while Daria found the idea foolish and narcissistic.
Helen then reminded her that there was nothing wrong with Quinn for
believing differently, and that Daria ought to practice more
tolerance. When Daria found Quinn in tears after her angel "deserted"
her, Daria did a turn-around and assured Quinn that it was okay for
her to believe in guardian angels, that people should believe in
"whatever makes them feel best."
That brings us to "Fire!" and "Dye! Dye! My Darling." It is ironic
that Give People a Chance, a mantra that was supposed to help Daria by
expanding her horizons, may have led her to do something harmful to
her friendship. In the case of "Fire!" and DDMD, Daria gave Jane,
Trent, and Tom the chance to convince her she felt something for Tom
when she may not have.
We have already seen how Daria had trouble holding her own against
opponents like Jodie, who were well-spoken and believed strongly in
their own arguments. Jane in the final two episodes of Season Four
definitely fell into that category. She insisted repeatedly that Daria
had a thing for Tom, that Daria and Tom made sense together. This was
followed by Trent, who insisted that "guys can always tell" when there
is chemistry between two people. Daria told him it was all horsepucky,
but true to Season Four form, seemed to take his and Jane's comments
to heart, so much so that she looked disturbed in the final scene.
Then came Tom, who by The Kiss scene was already treating Jane like
someone from his past. He stated emphatically, that he and Jane "went
out for a while and got bored. It happens all the time," before moving
to kiss Daria. Right after the first kiss, he assumed by Daria's
reaction that she had enjoyed it as much as he.
Against three people confident of their own perspectives, two of whom
were good friends, anyone would have a hard time. Yet Daria in Season
Four seemed especially vulnerable. After questioning her beliefs in a
number of episodes, Daria was in no position to confidently brush off
their assumptions. Instead, after the initial round of denial, she did
the same as in other Season Four episodes: internalized other people's
arguments, questioned her own values, and wound up agreeing with or at
least appeasing those with whom she disagreed. That would explain why
Daria did not insist more strongly in the last scene of DDMD that she
had no interest dating Tom and would not do so no matter what Jane
thought. "I thought we were going to talk about you! At least I think
that's what I thought," she told Jane weakly. Yes, The Kiss alone was
enough to shake Daria up and make her doubt herself, but had no one
said anything about Daria liking Tom beforehand, she might have
recovered more quickly. Instead, we had the scene at the end of DDMD
where a confused and guilty Daria let Jane dictate what was what.
That does not mean Jane, Trent, and Tom were correct. Jane may have
been projecting her own impulsive tendencies when she accused Daria of
swooping down on Tom. After all, in "Jane's Addition," Jane and Tom
had talked for barely two minutes before Jane agreed to ride with Tom
in his car. Soon after, Tom was Jane's boyfriend. As for Tom, post
after post has pointed out his numerous blindspots in Seasons Four and
Five. Among them, his inability to see Daria's lingering guilt over
The Kiss and his presumption that Daria should turn down a scholarship
because of its impure moralistic origin ("Prize Fighters") when he,
himself, was unwilling to turn down a legacy ride into Bromwell ("Is
It College Yet?").
Conclusion
To sum up: unlike with Trent and Ted, Daria displayed no overt signs
of romantic interest in Tom prior to The Kiss, or even after The Kiss
until "Is It Fall Yet?" Tom, however, displayed more overt signs of
interest in Daria from "I Loathe a Parade" onward. Tom and Jane's
relationship was in trouble, and when Tom mentioned Daria, Jane jumped
to the conclusion that something romantic was going on between them,
in spite of no strong evidence. Daria denied it, but since she was
learning to consider other people's perspectives, she was feeling less
certain of her own point of view, and thus of her own motives. She
eventually began dating Tom in "Is It Fall Yet?", possibly because she
did grow to like him, or because she needed companionship in Jane's
absence, or because her experiences in Season Four made her just
believe she liked Tom. The fact remains, though, that she exhibited
almost no interest in him as a romantic crush prior to The Kiss, which
seems very strange even if you accept the theory that she was in total
denial of her feelings. At most, Daria showed a liking for Tom... but
those few instances do not necessarily point to romance. If they were
supposed to, that risks the stereotype that men and women with common
interests can never be just friends.
Daria continued to go out with Tom through Season Five. She may have
done so because she enjoyed his company, but another reason seemed to
be self-blame. A subtle message laid on her in "Is It Fall Yet?" was
that if her relationship failed, it was her fault because she and Tom
were oh-so compatible and only Daria's closed-in nature could botch
things up. But that's for a Daria the Bad Puppy essay sometime off in
the future.
A part of Daria may have known, though, that she and Tom were not
meant to be, because in Season Five their relationship never seemed to
shift out of first gear. In fact, by Episode 9, Daria and Tom's
relationship seemed to be in as poor shape as Jane and Tom's was by
Episode 9 of Season Four.
1-5-2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special thanks to Roger E. Moore for beta-reading this essay, Martin
Pollard for the Daria episode transcripts, and especially the people
who frequent the message boards and alt.tv.daria. Without our
discussions, I doubt I would have had such rich material to work with.
Dgates
>313 - Jane's Addition: Tom's first appearance...
>401 - Partners Complaint: Daria is still fuming over Jane wanting to spend time
>with someone other than her...
>406 - I Loathe A Parade: Daria and Tom spend time together at the parade...
>412 - Fire!: Jane and Tom's relationship continues to deteriorate...
>413 - Dye! Dye! My Darling: Jane, in a fit of passive aggressiveness, has a
>huge fight with Daria...
Thank you very much! It's basically as I remembered it, but I needed
the episode titles of those first two.
Now... Where's that "Snipped by Noggin?" FAQ to help me figure out if
I can make a good 2-hour VHS tape from my TiVo recordings of these
five episodes? :-)
Thanks again.
--
dga...@spamfreelinkline.com
Logan
news:no2gtv086opqvpuph...@4ax.com:
I think I can see why a lot of people didnt like the whole Daria / Tom
thing.
Logan
BA
>thing.
You mean because Daria and Jane acted like real people who do dumb things
instead of the divine beings fans had been putting on pedestals for years? Yes,
I can see where that would put some poeple off.
Steven Galloway
> >I think I can see why a lot of people didnt like the whole Daria / Tom
> >thing.
>
> You mean because Daria and Jane acted like real people who do dumb things
> instead of the divine beings fans had been putting on pedestals for years? Yes,
> I can see where that would put some poeple off.
Ohhh, yeah, especially when those two (particularly Daria) should've
known better to allow themselves to behave like Quinn and Sandi would
over a guy, even Tom, and risk their powerful friendship over it. (I'm
being sarcastic, by the way, in case you didn't know)
I mean, we were treated to two characters who seemed as though they
were better than everyone else, or just different, and here they are,
falling into that trap, character-wise. D&J sat back, and watched
everyone else, smirking. Yeah, they should've known better. I don't
think I personally put them on a pedestal, myself.
Writer-wise, if Eichler & Co. really wanted Daria to have a boyfriend
so badly, to me, they should've just introduced her to Tom first, like
say in a bookstore or a library, or something, you know, like an
accidental meeting? Perhaps Tom takes the very (and last remaining)
book Daria wanted, and she resents him for it? Then they'd meet each
other later, and go at it, and Daria slowly (over several eps) loses
her resistance to Tom and his charms?
Look, to me, "The Triangle" did nothing to add or to strengthen Daria
and Jane's friendship. The writers didn't need to do this, I think.
It's been specualted that they did this to jazz up the show and
increase ratings because they knew the suits at Viacom didn't like the
direction the show was taking. I'm finding myself agreeing with this
speculation. They could've spent more time focusing on secondary
characters (definitely Mack, or Andrea, and yes, even Upchuck)...