The Misery Chick

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Daria confronts a Lawndale alum who belittles her peers on his visit to the school, making an enemy of him moments before he's tragically killed. The bulk of the student body is confused about their feelings, questioning whether they should mourn someone so outwardly horrible to them, and come to Daria for advice on dealing with depression.

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

Outside of Jane (Wendy Hoopes,) the bond that Daria (Tracy Grandstaff) has with the rest of her class is tenuous at best, choosing to remain on the fringe in order to maintain some level of anonymity. Here she is made the center of attention, having the other students drawn to her based on their own preconceived notions about who she is, and she realizes that, even in trying to appear invisible to them, she has, in fact, made much more of an impression than she had ever intended to.

Daria proves herself as someone that her peers can come to in times of contemplation, being one of the few students in the school that puts thought into her actions. While Kevin (Marc Thompson) and Brittany (Janie Mertz) claim that she's the type to think about depressing subject matter, making her the perfect person to talk to in this situation, Jodie (Jessica Cydney Jackson) proves that that's not the case, having come to Daria early in the episode for advice on her speech. Jodie tells Daria that she doesn't believe in what she's made to say in her speech, but that it's her responsibility to fulfill her duties regardless of her feelings on the matter, and Daria is one of the few people that can truly understand that, much like how she deals with the death of Tommy (Ken Schatz) in noting that "the guy Ms. Li was talking about [in her speech] didn't bear any resemblance to the guy [she] met," observing that the majority of the mourning student body were confused over their mixed feelings regarding the situation. Daria shows a great deal of maturity here, understanding the divide between respecting someone's loss and respecting someone's memory, eventually noting that "[Tommy] shouldn't have died, but he wasn't a nice guy," and refusing to apologize for her lack of time spent in mourning.

Jane has a great deal of difficulty in dealing with her feelings over Tommy's death, not because she had known him, or because she would miss him in his absence, but because she felt partially responsible for what had happened to him. Moments before getting crushed by the goal post, Jane and Daria had been cracking jokes about him, with Jane stating that "maybe he won't live that long" in the seconds before he had died. Jane is aware that his death is not her fault, and she knows that there was nothing she could have done to prevent it, but there's still a great deal of remorse that she needs to work through in having casually wished an end to someone and seeing that followed through on immediately. Things grow tense between she and Daria because of Daria's nonchalance toward the situation, with Jane finally saying that she needs some time alone to sort out her thoughts, but that things will be back to normal soon enough. Jane's story here is very realistic and well handled, and the way in which these characters deal with tragedy is incredibly mature.

At one point Tommy propositions Brittany, asking her back to his hotel room for sex, and it's worth noting that Brittany is a tenth grade student, sixteen years old at the most, while Tommy had graduated from high school three years prior and is likely pushing twenty-two. It's understandable that Brittany might not be aware of the laws in this situation, and, admittedly, I myself am somewhat fuzzy on the details here, but it would have been wise for Brittany to seek council with a teacher or authority figure here. Granted, there was very little time narratively speaking wherein she could have pursued this course of action, and it would have detracted from the plot at hand, but this scene is very upsetting and could have been replaced with other examples of what made Tommy such an arrogant and terrible person.

As the episode closes, Quinn's (Hoopes) friend Sandi (Mertz) comes to Daria for advice on how to deal with her feelings surrounding the recent death of her cat. Daria charges Sandi ten dollars for her coaching, only to tell Sandi to "find another way to feel" while offering nothing of much value. Daria's frustration is understandable, but the way she treats Sandi here is so beyond insensitive that it's hard to believe we're meant to empathize with her as a person.

Mertz does a good job in distinguishing the tone between Brittany's voice and Sandi's, but Brittany is often beyond grating in this episode, going so far passed shrill that it's difficult to listen to her speaking. Hoopes, too, does a phenomenal job of separating her characters, creating very distinct voices that really speak to who she's playing at the time.

The quality of animation for this episode seems a step above the previous entries, though the production company was the same as the rest of the first run of stories, so it's questionable as to what the difference here is. Directed by Karen Hyden, Paul Sparagano and Machi Tantillo, this story gives great insights into these characters that normally the audience never gets to see, and it's interesting to watch these people deal so directly with death, many for the first time. The story here has moments that are very superficial, such as the contrast between Quinn's school photos with Daria's, but it plays well against the discussions of more serious topics, like Daria pointing out to Jane the difference between people talking to her and her talking to people, and the need she has just to talk things through from her perspective.

Written by Glenn Eichler, this is a story that has every character considering their own lot in life with a very accurate portrayal of how teenagers might be confused in regards to their feelings over the death of someone they generally did not like. Kevin, for one, is excited to meet Tommy, seeing his path in life as a vision of his own future, and for him Tommy's death hits especially hard as it's a confirmation that even the popular jock can die tragically young, showing Kevin for the first time that he's nowhere near as invulnerable as he'd like to imagine. Trent (Alvaro J. Gonzalez) also proves capable of grasping delicate situations, encouraging Daria to go up to Jane's room under the excuse that she might have come back from her run without his knowledge, and that yelling up to her will be useless as she often listens to loud music. While Trent is well aware that Jane wants nothing more than to be left alone, he also recognizes that both she and Daria need to speak to one another for a myriad of reasons, and takes it upon himself to mend fences for the benefit of both of them.

The students of Lawndale High were forced to grow up a little in the wake of Tommy's death, and while they certainly have gained a better understanding of how Daria relates to them, it's likely to be short-lived and things will be returning to normal very soon; however, it would be interesting to see Daria being treated as someone that her peers could come to in their times of need and confusion.

The overview for Season 1 can be read here, and the review for "Arts 'N Crass" can be read here.