Daria

I love how Daria's mother hardly pays attention to anyone but suddnely becomes this powerful protective mother once in a while that shows her love for her kids. It's so funny to see her actually doing something beneficial for her kids even though she cards more about them then their father does. It was also funny to see her stand up to the principal.

This was so cool. Daria is helping Jane by writing a brief poem for Jane's entry in the school poster contest "Student Life at the Dawn of the New Millenium". They picture an attractive girl, then make it clear she suffers from an eating disorder. With the growing number of young people who suffer from eating disorders, that two teen girls can clearly spot and promote that the demands of image perfection places on young people is encouraging. But my favorite part is when Daria's mom Helen, a self-absorbed workaholic, comes to her daughter's defense, making it very clear that she will NOT tolerate any attempts to stifle her daughter's right to be, well, Daria. Helen may not always be there, but here you see she loves and is proud of her daughter.

The plot of this episode is fairly typical of a Daria episode. Daria and Jane enter a poster for an art contest at school. Ms. Li dosen't like it so she changes it and then displays it against the girl's wishes. The girls, who have run out of options, decide to vandilize the poster in an effort to keep people form seeing it. Ms. Li gets angry but when she trys to punish the girls, Helen steps in to save them.



Out of all the Daria episodes, this one has to be my favorite. It focuses on deep and intresting characters like Daria and Jane, instead of simple characters like Kevin, Britteny, or the Fashion Club. The episode had a very common "fight the system" plot but did it in such a good way that I didn't even mind. It also had some great quotes including my favorite, the "big fat lawsuit" quote by Helen.



All in all, it didn't do much in the way of character or plot devlopment, but it kept me entartained for thrity miunts, which is the whole reason I watch this series.