Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The Invitation

toonsday
***

As thanks for her help on a project, Daria is invited to a party and finds her reluctance to go waning when she learns that her sister Quinn will also be in attendance.

The review for "Esteemers" can be read here.

This episode displays the disparate nature of establishing oneself in high school based on popularity; while Daria (Tracy Grandstaff) has settled into her role quite quickly, making friends with Jane (Wendy Hoopes) and leaving it at that. Quinn (also portrayed by Hoopes) has not yet found her niche, was invited to Brittany's (Janie Mertz) but interacts only with those who directly invited her. While Quinn is pursued by a trio of boys asking her out, she's fairly dismissive of them, seemingly using them only to boost her own status, which, at this point, is slightly lacking.

The interplay between Daria and her mother Helen (Hoopes) is very telling here; Helen speaks ambiguously enough that she never has to admit that she considers Daria to be the more responsible and trustworthy of her children, and while her wording is vague enough that Quinn might be unable to pick up on it, it's obvious enough that Daria understands what's being said. Helen ability to avoid speaking ill of anyone here is tested by Daria's continued attempts for clarification, not due to her inability to follow her mother's meaning, but because Daria wants the satisfaction of hearing the specific words.

Daria appears to have a certain balance of power that she likes to maintain between herself and her sister; while she's never initially hostile toward Quinn, she often resorts to revenge as a tactic to teach her younger sibling a lesson in how to treat people. Daria is perfectly pleasant (or, rather, not outwardly unpleasant) to Quinn until Quinn has something rude to say, at which point Daria punishes her, first by attending the party, which evens the score, and later, when Quinn once more has a disparaging remark, Daria punishes her by telling embarrassing stories to Quinn's friends. Once Daria's exacted her vengeance, she returns to her state of disinterest in regards to her sister, showcasing the fact that she's only antagonistic when provoked.

Helen appears to only pick up on whatever she wants to in regards to her children, ignoring the nasty comments that Quinn throws Daria's way, and choosing not to follow up on the comments that Quinn pays Daria to do her homework, focusing instead on the fact that Daria was invited to a party. While I can understand the need Helen has to encourage Daria to be more social, I also feel as though she would be aware that, by not punishing Quinn for outsourcing her work to Daria (and, by extension, not punishing Daria for extorting Quinn) she is cultivating a sense of resentment in her children in regards to her style of infrequent parenting, and it seems as though Helen would be aware of that fact.

It's believable that the security guard might have a passion for art, but for him to completely abandon his post due to the drawings in a high school sketch book is a little ridiculous. It's unlikely that he would be able to keep his job after appearing inside the house during the high school party, and it's a small piece of the episode that should just be excised from the story.

Everyone here seems to have found the voices for their characters and are spot on in their deliveries. While there are likely to be a few adjustments to their tones in the coming episodes, it's fairly certain that these are the people we will come to know in the future.

Karen Disher directs this episode somewhat sloppily, trying to give everyone a bit of the spotlight but failing to give anyone much focus, and it's just too busy. Each of the characters seems to have something to do here, but they're all so scattered that no one really gets to do much of anything on-screen. The episode should have focused on Daria's story when Jane disappears, Jane's story when she abandons Daria to pursue the boy that's attracted to her, and Quinn's story as she avoids her suitors. The addition of Brittany's story was somewhat fruitless as it was, at it's most basic, about her worry that she might be criticized for her parent's decor.

There's a fine line to be walked between vapid and stupid, and Anne D. Bernstein writes Quinn here as somewhat more dumb than vain. Another issue here is Jane abandoning her sketchbook with the security guard in an effort to get into the party; her art is her life, and for her to just leave it like that doesn't ring true for who she's been shown to be, especially when the goal is to get into a party she's not all that interested in getting into. On the positive side, Daria's inability to talk to guys she's interested in, such as Jane's brother, is done very well here, and to contrast that against her ease in speaking with boys in an effort to punish her sister is done very well. The popular girls discussing popularity, and the degrees thereof, was very well done.

Set up in this episode is a possibly one-sided crush between Daria and Jane's brother Trent, as well as Quinn's desire to attract men and her reluctance to actually be pursued by them.

The review for "College Bored" can be read here.

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