Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Road Worrier

toonsday
***½

Daria and Jane go on a road trip to Alternapalooza with Trent and his band Mystik Spiral, though minor complications risk stranding the group on the side of the road.

The review for "the Big House" can be read here.

Where her sister Quinn (Wendy Hoopes) is a social butterfly, Daria (Tracy Grandstaff) has never been big on crowds, maintaining a steady friendship only with Jane (Hoopes) and having no need for anyone beyond that. While concerts may not typically be her thing, Daria has something of an interest in Jane's brother Trent (Alvaro J. Gonzalez) and occasionally finds herself channeling something of her sister in her interactions with him.

So rarely is Daria's behavior determined by overwhelming emotion, so it's interesting to see her here unable to reel in her feelings and act as herself. Initially as irritated by the loud strumming as Jane is, Daria quickly changes her tune when she realizes that it's Trent who is making the noise, suddenly claiming to have no problem with it because "[she has] sturdy eardrums." Seeing through her ruse, Jane makes numerous efforts to push Daria and Trent into situations where they'll be left alone together, including abandoning them at the side of the highway as she goes in search of a mechanic. Daria dreamily listens to Trent's guitar playing as they wait, clearly not enjoying the quality of his music, but instead enjoying the opportunity to be alone with her crush, trying as hard as she can to encourage him without spilling the truth that he's somewhat lacking in talent. "It takes a lot of gust to go after a dream," she tells him, "at least [Trent's] doing exactly what [he] want[s] to, a lot of people never even get that far." Through their time together, Daria's able to overcome her inability to speak in his presence, opening up to him in a way she might never have otherwise dared, and learning more about him in the process. Where she maintained a certain level of nervousness during their initial road trip, their ride back home was far more relaxed, both of them happy to ride together in each other's silence with Trent having told Daria that "[she's] pretty cool."

Quite often she is judgemental of the the typical teenage fare, but Daria is so nervous about being with Trent that she not only changes her outfit to better suit what she thinks he might appreciate, but even goes as far as wearing lipstick. Daria is made very human in this story, giving the audience a chance to relate to a side of her that has never appeared before, and showing that, among the people she considers worthwhile, she has a genuine concern that she might be mocked and judged, lending a credible voice to the teenage girl she's meant to portray. When she finally lets her guard down, making a sarcastic comment about something, she immediately covers her mouth, worried that Trent won't like who she really is, and it's a note that feels very authentic to the teenage state of mind. Providing a positive lesson for anyone going through similar social-struggles, Trent laughs at Daria's comment, making her feel accepted for who she is, and showing that being fake or hiding who you really are is detrimental to lasting friendships.

Quinn and the Fashion Club state their intention to go to Alternapalooza in order to keep up with the current trends in fashion and music. In theory, this is a solid plan for a group of girls as fashion-conscious as they are, but it feels as though it's simply an easy way to have them included in the story, as they're all unlikely to enjoy the musical taste of this festival or the people involved. The only thing their plot really drives home is the fact that this series sometimes has too many characters to focus on, and it might be worthwhile noting that not every character needs to appear in every episode.

It's never made clear whether Jane's attempts to push Daria and Trent together are done under the assumption that the two will develop a romance or whether it's an effort to show Daria how poor a boyfriend Trent would make. Her constantly forcing Daria to sit up front with Trent, leaving them together at the side of the road, is almost cruel in practice, and sometimes it seems as though she's trying to embarrass her friend when she should be supporting her. Were it as simple as Jane feeling uncomfortable with Daria dating her brother, then she, so far, has been written as the type of person who would be very straight-forward with that information, so either she wants Daria to see, first hand, how poorly matched she and Trent would be, or she wants to enjoy the awkwardness likely to ensue from Daria's inability to speak to him, neither of which seem like the kind of thing a friend would do to another friend. Alternatively, Jane might be aware that, had Daria been acting as herself the entire time, that Trent would warm to her more quickly, as she knows that Daria's making cutting remarks about the situation in her head and constantly tries to get her to say them aloud.

It's made somewhat clear throughout this story that Daria's monotone is something of an affectation created in order to protect herself from giving away too much and getting hurt, and Grandstaff does a great job of getting this across in her dialogue. Gonzalez, too, is given the chance to expand on his character, and manages to add a bit of depth to an otherwise rarely used personage.

Director Eric Fogel takes this episode as an opportunity to show not only a different side to Daria, but to Helen and Jake (Julián Rebolledo) as well. While most everything that happens between Helen and Jake over the weekend is off-screen and merely implied, it's made clear that, with the house to themselves, the Morgendorffer parents had a chance to go wild and rekindle their romance. Where they most often are portrayed as straight-laced and uptight, having had a twenty-four hour period to themselves they are completely relaxed and nonchalant about what their daughters had gotten up to when otherwise they might have been somewhat more concerned.

One of the best things about Anne D. Bernstein's script is the conflict between Daria's inner monologue and her verbal dialogue. In her head she's thinking a constant stream of cutting remarks, but, for the first time, she forces herself to translate them into something more socially acceptable in order to avoid offending Trent and his friend. Where she's thinking that Trent's music "has a beat and you can dance to it...if you have no shame," in actuality all she says is that it's "cool," and while it's strange to see her censoring herself in this manner, it's also incredibly interesting.

Having been somewhat validated by Trent, Daria's crush on him is only likely to grow from here, despite the fact that he seems to have no interest in her romantically. Another hint is made here toward Helen and Jake having had a wild past, though it remains to be seen whether that information will be made public or merely continue on as a series of untold stories.

The review for "the Teachings of Don Jake" can be read here.

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