Mike's Delayed Reaction Review

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review-#310 (3-36), " Speedtrapped"

MDRR #310 (3-36) - Hey, I'm not bald!

Driving's not that Hard - Daria finally has gotten her drivers' license after what seemed like many attempts (the real trick is to find places to park so you never need to parallel park). It is interesting to see how rattled Daria got by highway driving. Most people get nervous the first couple of times they're on the highway, anyway, but being nervous about something like this is relatively new territory for her (with the notable exception of the 'crush').

Your Mission, If You Choose to Accept It - I liked the way Jane gave Daria directions on getting the bail money. It shows real trust. Jane trusts Daria to get the dough and Trent's songbook and Daria trusts Jane enough to drive a hundred miles to get her out of the slammer.

Responsible Move of the Week - Not to say that Trent is always irresponsible (just most of the time), but I would think that he would at least remember to check if he had his songbook before leaving for a gig such a long distance away? I'm not that surprised that Daria didn't read more of it, considering the part that she did read.

Uh Oh #1 - Daria's first major obstacle to "completing her mission" was Quinn's tag-along. The last thing that Daria needs is for her sister to be around when she takes the car (and thus, making herself an accessory). Quinn got in the way from the beginning by commandeering the car's radio.

Driving Dates - How many of Quinn's dates have let her drive their cars around? It seems that she's driven enough to be comfortable with driving -- or at least enough to feign being comfortable. Daria doesn't have too much room (but enough) to call her reckless, when she took the car and then let Quinn drive it.

Uh Oh #2 - Never pick up hitchhikers, under any circumstances! If you do, you run the risk of having something unexpected happening. This is exactly why Daria didn't want Quinn along on the trip; she is prone to doing stupid things for charming guys. I liked the fake commercial bumper (I came this close to stopping my VCR early). It caught me by surprise and allowed for a better explanation of how the money was lost than just "the nice hitchhiker took it" (that would have been too easy). Quinn's "that's not exactly true" had me laughing out loud.

Jailbait - The Freemont police station had its share of odd detainees. There was the judge's wife with the tattoos and the guy who had a hand in the careers of many of the most influential people in music history. They were both useful to our heroes for a get out of jail (almost) free card. Good thing the sheriff needed entertainment for his daughter's birthday party.

Weenie of the Week - That would be Max of Mystik Spiral. He wasn't much of the tough "criminale" that he said he was. The rest of them weren't too bad; Trent was his usual cool, Jesse added a word or two to his already overflowing vocabulary (it was "cake," I think) and the other guy wasn't too annoying.

Teamwork - Daria and Quinn compliment each other more than they probably realize. It's almost as if you could get a nearly perfect person if you incorporated all of their traits. Quinn's plan to get the money back was a good idea but it ended up requiring Daria to make it work. Quinn charmed the cowboys and Daria made them realize that they were legit (or at least smart enough to remember the lyrics to a Twitty song that they just heard).

There's not much more to add except that if I were to pick one episode to show the uninitiated to try to sell them on Daria, it would be this one. I think that is the highest compliment I can pay.

The Bottom Line - Speedtrapped trapped me. Almost utterly flawless.

Grade: A

Next Week - Uh Oh #3.