Ethan is immediately identified as "cute" by Quinn, but doesn't respond much to her charms. He seems to be somewhat sleepier and more oblivious than, say, Trent.

Most of the time, Ethan seems to be lost in his own thoughts - or simply lost, it's hard to tell which. He has no real relationship with his parents as far as can be determined, as he simply doesn't respond to much. They say he'll probably get into rock climbing when he's ready, but Ethan doesn’t seem to show enthusiasm for anything.

Ethan likes Daria's room and chooses to sleep there for the weekend (Daria stays at Jane's).

Eventually, he asks Quinn out for a slush cup - her response is "It's about time." Ethan admits Quinn is cute, in that shallow, superficial kind of way.

Ethan turns out to be a wealth of information on Helen and Jake's youthful indiscretions, which he shares with Quinn so that she and Daria can have some blackmail material. It is unknown how he feels about his parents embracing some of the modern commercial culture as a result of their weekend with Jake and Helen - actually, it's pretty hard to ascertain how he feels about anything.