User Reviews

This episode features Jane and Daria at their snippiest. The episode is filled with tension and resentment and is among the least comedic of any of the "Daria" shows. This is not to say it's bad--it has its charms.

Daria and Jane have a multimedia report to do. However, when Jane meets Tom, she blows off the assignment and leaves Daria in the lurch. As for Daria, she also is pretty obnoxious. She IMMEDIATELY hates Tom and makes no bones about it. Obviously there is a lot that is unsaid between Daria and Jane--and this episode is probably more responsible than any other for sparking a long dialog on the internet about gay vibes between the girls. Perhaps this is why Logo now carries this show. All I know is that the writers clearly intended Daria to be struggling with jealousy--what's behind all that is sure up to individual interpretations. There could be the gay subtext, Daria could just feel panic at the notion of losing her only friend or they are just being insane hormonal teens!

While this is not a funny episode, it is important as it ushers in a major change in the plots for season four and five. It also makes the two leads seem more real--with many hangups and foibles that you've previously not see on their usually seemingly secure exteriors.

When their English class is given a multimedia project for their homework Daria and Jane decide to work together; they also decide to ask Trent to write a thirty second piece of music to accompany it. They go to one of his gigs to see him but before they can ask him Jane is off again… with Tom; a boy she just met! Daria goes ahead and asks Trent to help them but she is not amused about how Jane ditched her. It becomes clear tat Jane really likes Tom as she spends a fair amount of time with him; this leads Daria to dislike him and resent how he is interfering with her friendship. Of course the way she reacts upsets Jane in a way that could damage their friendship far more than Tom's arrival.

This episode is nicely grounded in reality as the idea that a new relationship can damage an old friendship is perfectly believable… I'm sure many, if not most people have been jealous of a friend's new partner at some point. It isn't done in an excessively soapy way here thankfully; there are the laughs one expects from the series. Unusually it is very much a 'Daria and Jane' episode with no side stories involving Quinn and the fashion club or Helen and Jake or any of the other secondary characters. At the end of the episode Tom is still there so it could be that he will become a regular character… I'm glad I won't have to wait long for the new season to start to find out!