Season Five


Fizz Ed

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Budget cuts at Lawndale High cause Ms. Li to make a shady, exclusive promotion deal with Ultra Cola. Daria objects but is resistant to the idea of getting involved. After a little gentle prodding from Tom, she decides to appeal to the Superintendent, but he is less than helpful. He only agrees to maybe visit LHS sometime in the future to see what's going on there. Meanwhile, the "tasteful" marketting of Ultra Cola has turned into an all-out advertising frenzy. Ms. Li, pushed by the soda company to meet a quota, starts drinking massive amounts of Ultra Cola, promises higher grades to students who drink a certain number of cans, and practically forces the product upon the students. The pressure, coupled with an overdose of caffeine and sugar, leads her dangerously close to a major break-down. Things get way out of hand, just in time for a surprise visit from the Superintendent. The ads and machines are promptly removed from the halls, but it is only a minor victory, especially if the large Ultra Cola ads on the roof of the school are taken into account. But, at least Lawndale High has become almost tolerable once again.


Sappy Anniversary

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
When Quinn reminds Daria that her and Tom's 6 month anniversary is coming up, Daria begins to wonder about Tom. She fears that he has forgotten the anniversary and that he is taking her for granted. She starts becoming distant and testy around him, but she refuses to tell him why. This eventually leads to a fight between the two. Finally, Daria consults her mother for advice, and after she realizes that she's being childish, she decides to talk to Tom about what's been bothering her. In the end, they work everything out and they celebrate by eating the chocolates that one of Quinn's admirers had given her. Meanwhile, Jake starts a new marketting job for a high-tech, dot com business. As the oldest member of the company, he feels a bit out of place, but is just starting to fit in when disaster strikes. He fails to save the work he's done, so when the computer locks up, he loses everything. But, instead of firing him completely, the President of the company decides to have Jake work as a consultant for them instead, putting Jake more or less back where he started: at Jake Morgendorffer Consulting.


Fat Like Me

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Sandi imposes stiffer weight requirements on the Fashion Club to keep out the visually unacceptable. After falling down the stairs and breaking her leg, she gains a lot of weight, and is thus forced to resign from the Fashion Club. Somehow, she tricks Quinn into resigning as well, leaving Tiffany as the new FC President. Because Tiffany won't do anything, Stacy is doing all the work and is getting fed up with the whole thing. She tries to get Quinn back but with no luck. She even tries to recruit new members, including Joey, Jeffy and Jamie, but again, no luck. During this whole time, Daria and Jane have been placing bets on various things, causing Jane to lose a large amount of money...clams...dinero. When they place a bet on the fate of the Fashion Club, they find themselves actually meddling in the affairs of the club to ensure that they will win the bet. Eventually, Daria has a discussion with Quinn and, through a little reverse psychology, she convinces Quinn to help Sandi lose the weight so they can both rejoin the Fashion Club. Quinn follows through, and Sandi is back to her thin self in no time. Jane loses the bet, and Tiffany and Stacy get their beloved President and Vice President back.


Camp Fear

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Camp Grizzly, where Quinn and Daria went to camp, is having a reunion. Quinn meets up with three old friends there who are exactly like her current friends. Daria meets up with Amelia, a girl who's very clingy and looks up to Daria. Daria wants to be alone, but she can't ditch Amelia. When Daria finally tells Amelia that she doesn't want her following her around anymore, Amelia gets up in front of the whole camp and calls her out on it, then proceeds to tell everyone that she is going to start thinking for herself and that they should all do the same. Daria is impressed by the speech, and she and Amelia make up. Meanwhile, Mystik Spiral is having troubles, so Trent and Jane head into the country for some inspiration. They meet an older couple who Trent feels may have "country wisdom" but they turn out to be complete idiots. Trent doesn't get any words of wisdom from them, but he does get his passion for music back when he writes a song about them on the way home.


The Story of D

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Daria writes a short story and considers submitting it to a magazine. Tom reads it and encourages her to submit it. She does so, and O'Neill finds out about it and blabs to her class that she's going to be published. When her story is rejected by the mag, she gets mad at Tom for making her submit it in the first place. After giving her father a pep talk about aiming high in his own endeavors, she realizes she was wrong to blame Tom. She apologizes to him, and Tom discovers that the rejection letter actually encouraged her to submit to them again in the future. He explains to Daria that this is not their typical rejection letter, so this is a very good sign that they may publish her work eventually if she keeps trying. Meanwhile, the Fashion Club decides to become humanitarians in order to get a plaque. They write a newsletter as a public service, but the new issue of Waif contradicts everything they printed in the newsletter. They recall the newsletter and give refunds in order to save face, then decide to simply buy a plaque rather than trying to earn one.


Lucky Strike

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
The teachers of Lawndale High go on strike, so scabs are brought in to teach the classes. Quinn's class is being taught by a pervert who hits on Tiffany. After Helen reports him and gets him fired, Ms. Li seeks a bit of revenge by forcing Daria to teach Quinn's class instead. As Daria teaches, Quinn takes notes and catches flack from her friends for standing up for their new teacher. After Quinn fails to get Daria to go easy on them, she realizes she doesn't need Daria to cut her any slack because she actually knows the material. Quinn does well on their test, but the rest of the Fashion Club does poorly. When pushed by Sandi, Quinn stands up for Daria again and finally admits that she's not her cousin...she's her sister. Sandi acts surprised, but Stacy and Tiffany admit that they knew that all along and just played along with it to be polite. Finally, Mr. DeMartino gets Ms. Li to sign the teachers' contract, and the regular teachers take back their classes.


Art Burn

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
The gazebo in the Lane's backyard collapses. Jane tries to sell her artwork at an art fair to pay for the repairs. Gary, owner of an art gallery, hires Jane to paint recreations of the masters for his gallery. She accepts, but after awhile she starts to get burned out and loses her inspiration. Trent has hired workers to rebuild the gazebo, but they're not doing much actual work. Jane yells at them and forces Trent to help them finish it. Jane decides to quit Gary's gallery after she has enough money to pay for the work, and the gazebo finally gets finished. However, after their parents come home, Trent and Jane find out that they were going to tear the gazebo down anyway. Meanwhile, the Fashion Club get a caricature of themselves at the art fair. Sandi, Tiffany, and Quinn are appalled at how unflattering it is, and they try to take legal action against the artist. After Helen explains that they can't do that, they decide to simply destroy the picture, but they can't find it. Stacy has taken it and hung it in her closet, since she's the only one of the three that was portrayed in a positive light in the drawing.


One J at a Time

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Helen pushes Daria to invite Tom over for dinner. Quinn is jealous and wants to bring a boyfriend too...but which one? She randomly picks Jaime, but after Daria gives her some unrealistic advice on how a girlfriend is supposed to act, the two break up quickly. She tries Joey next, but this doesn't work out either. Meanwhile, Jake has waged war on a squirrel in his neighborhood. Helen begs him to call off the hunt while Tom's there, so as not to embarass Daria in front of her boyfriend. The night of the big dinner arrives. Quinn has invited Jeffy over. When the dinner conversation turns to squirrels, all three guys bond over this, and Tom and Jeffy agree to help Jake catch the squirrel. The men leave the table, and Quinn is upset because she feels like she's a failure at relationships. Helen has a talk with her and says that she should do whatever makes her happy, rather than trying to be in an exclusive relationship just to prove her maturity.


Life in the Past Lane

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Jane starts dating Nathan, a 40s throw back. Jane starts dressing like him and going to his swanky swing clubs. Daria gives Jane a hard time about this new guy, but after Jane gets upset with her for being so judgemental, Daria decides to give him a chance. Nathan invites Daria and Tom to what they think is a drive-in movie, but it turns out to be an abandoned drive-in where his hip friends come to swing dance. Daria and Tom don't get along with Nathan at all, but because they've been feeling like they're in a rut, they come to see the value of allowing themselves to have fun. Nathan is very serious about his retro lifestyle and is obsessed with authenticity. This causes a rift between him and Jane, and they eventually break up. Meanwhile, Upchuck puts on a magic show in front of the school, and Stacy is his assistant. She locks him inside a trunk for an escape trick, but something goes horribly wrong. Stacy is sobbing as Mr. DeMartino breaks open the trunk with a crowbar. However, the audience is stunned when the trunk is empty. Upchuck is now at the back of the auditorium, and Sandi is put in her place when it is revealed that Stacy was in on the trick the whole time.


Aunt Nauseam

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Rita's daughter Erin is getting a divorce, and Helen gets talked into representing her. Rita comes to the Morgendorffer house to stay for awhile as she and Helen work out the details of the divorce. The two fight constantly, driving everyone crazy. Jake leaves the house, Quinn starts acting weird and clingy with Daria, and Daria keeps brushing Tom off. Erin calls to tell everyone that she and Brian made up, but this does nothing to stop the bickering. Daria calls Aunt Amy to come help stop the fighting, but when she arrives, it's not long before she too is fighting with her sisters. Daria and Quinn finally help the three sisters realize how ridiculous their fighting is, and the three make up. Daria also apologizes to Tom for avoiding him during the ordeal, and Quinn reveals that she was trying to spend more time with Daria because she was afraid they would end up having a stormy relationship like Helen and her sisters.


Prize Fighters

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Helen pushes Daria to apply for an academic scholarship. She applies for the Wizard Pursuit of Excellence Award, but she needs to write an essay for it. After submitting her essay, she discovers she's one of the 100 finalists and will need to be interviewed. She also finds out that Jodie and Upchuck are finalists. Tom reveals to Daria that Wizard's hiring practices are racist and sexist. Daria alerts Jodie to this and is surprised when Jodie decides to go for the award anyway. To be more competative, Daria visits an interview coach. Jane is acting very distant during the whole thing, and she accuses Daria of "buying into the system." In the end, Daria decides to be herself in the interview rather than sucking up or giving pat answers to try and impress the interviewer. None of the three get the prize, and Daria finds out that the reason behind Jane's resistance to the whole process was that the fight between "the brains" was making her feel stupid.


My Night at Daria's

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Tom accidentally falls asleep in Daria's room and is caught by her parents as he's sneaking out. Quinn overhears what happened and tells the Fashion Club. The rumor spreads throughout the school that Daria and Tom slept together when they really didn't. The attention she gets from the whole situation makes Daria question the state of their relationship. She starts to believe that if they're not having sex, there must be something wrong with their relationship. Daria and Tom make plans to get together the following Saturday to finally go all the way, but Daria gets scared and she stands him up. She writes him a letter apologizing. She assumes that he'll want to break up with her after this, but he doesn't. He tells her that he's fine with waiting until she's ready, and they make up, achieving a new level of emotional intimacy in the process.


Boxing Daria

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
The Morgendorffers get a new refrigerator and discard the box in the backyard. When Daria sees the box, she experiences a little bit of a break-down. She becomes obsessed with the box. She's not sure why, but she refuses to throw out the box until she figures it out. Over time, memories eventually come back to her. She recalls having a box like that when she was a kid. She remembers her parents fighting about her because she wouldn't play with the other children at school. As a child, Daria found comfort in the box, and would hide in it whenever her parents would have a fight. Daria is so upset by these memories that she takes the car and drives up to the Cove to visit Tom. However, she never makes it there. She skids off the road in the rain. She calls Jane, who meets her at a diner. Daria explains to Jane that she now believes she was torturing her parents when all she was really trying to do was be herself. Daria returns home and talks to her parents about it. They explain that they were unhappy because they thought she was unhappy, but they were never unhappy with her. Daria thanks them for being good parents to her, despite how difficult she was as a child.


MOVIE:
Is It College Yet?

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Episode Summary:
Graduation is coming up, and the seniors at Lawndale High are busy preparing for college. Daria and Tom apply to Bromwell, which Tom is sure to get into since his wealthy family are alumni and his uncle even donated a wing to the school. Daria also applies to Raft, which is in Boston. Jane applies to several state universities, but her real goal is to get into Boston Fine Arts College. While putting together a portfolio for her BFAC application, Jane gets rejected by the other schools. So she decides she's going to give up and not go to college at all. After a trip to Bromwell, Daria gets wait listed there. She does get accepted at Raft, but Tom is less than supportive of her going to a different school at first. Daria convinces Jane to apply to BFAC after all, and Tom gets his family to write a letter of recommendation for Daria to send to Bromwell. After that, Daria still doesn't get into Bromwell, but by then she's over wanting to go to Bromwell and is perfectly happy with Raft. She also breaks up with Tom, telling him that they're getting bored and that they're from two totally different worlds. They decide to stay in touch and remain friends. Meanwhile, Quinn is forced to get a part time job. She gets a job as a hostess at a restaurant. There she befriends Lindy, a college girl who is sweet but loves to party. Quinn soon finds out that Lindy is an alcoholic. After Lindy's caught drinking at work, she gets fired. Quinn confronts Lindy about her drinking problem, but it just makes Lindy angry. She eventually makes up with Quinn but never really admits that she has a problem. In the end, Jane gets accepted to BFAC, so she and Daria will be going to college in the same city. The Fashion Club disbands, and Daria and the rest of her classmates (except Kevin) get through graduation and are looking forward to college.