Mike's Delayed Reaction Review-#101 (1-01), "Esteemsters"

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review-#101 (1-01), "Esteemsters"

MDRR #101 (1-01)

Advice Avoidance - Quinn and Daria know that their father well enough not to take(or even listen to) his advice in the car on the way to the first day of school. Of course, Jake means well but most of the stuff he was saying was painfully obvious or of no use to either of them. Actually, at first I thought Daria and Quinn just wanted to hear the song, I kind of liked it.

Misadventures in Parenting - When Helen wants to try to help Daria's self esteem she decides to take her out to "do something you want to do." Well, helping Helen try on identical business suits(except for color) is hardly something Daria would want to do(or anyone else, for that matter). The way Helen handles the news or Daria's low self esteem(can my assistant handle it) leaves a lot to be desired. She also means well but just doesn't know how to get through.

And the Bitter Teacher of the Year Award goes to... - Daria's new history teacher has a sadistic streak to him. Teaching Kevin and Brittany types for any length of time can do that to you. He doesn't seem to mind making life miserable for his students despite the fact that most of them are oblivious.

And the Flaky Teacher of the Year Award goes to... - the self-esteem teacher. Speaking of oblivious, he really didn't even remember Jane, who had gone through to course six times. He had no idea what he was talking about('realizing your actuality,' come on) in teaching. It's almost like he's low man on the totem pole and got stuck teaching self-esteem. C'mon, he thought brake fluid is involved in shifting gears!!!

This episode is a promising start on what looks to be a good series. Daria was witty and perceptive about some of the real-life situations many high school kids go through (especially after a big move). All of the characters are introduced nicely and the plot really relates to how Daria may fell while being thrust into a new environment.

Grade: B+

Daria as a Whole - With all of the recent talk about out of character behavior, I thought I should point one thing out. If some one saw every other episode of Daria except this one, after seeing this one, they might thing that Jane's action of running off stage was a little bit out of character.