Daria

Lawndale High's teachers go on strike after Ms. Li refuses to meet their demands for higher wages. Determined to keep the school running, she hires substitutes to replace the striking teachers. One of them, Mrs. Stoller, is an old woman who doesn't seem to be connecting very well: she treats the students like they were first graders (because that's what she thinks they are), and calls Kevin "Cubie" (for "Q.B.") and continually chides him for his bad posture. The replacement for Mr. O'Neill, a budding author, seems to have read Lolita once too often, and starts paying way too much attention to Tiffany. When Helen hears about it, she puts the legal gears into motion and gets him fired; incensed, Ms. Li demands that Daria take his place, and, after a brief internal debate, she accepts (which, naturally, doesn't sit well with Quinn). On the picket line, the teachers don't seem to be getting their message across very well, until Ms. Defoe asks Jane to help with some strike posters and Mr. O'Neill convinces Trent to help him write a stirring strike song. Mr. DeMartino, however, is livid over Ms. Li's latest offer, and decides to brave the lion's den and not come back until she accepts the teachers' offer. In English class, Daria discovers that the students were studying Romeo and Juliet, and after a few classes, prepares to give them a test on the material. Sandi urges Quinn to convince Daria to go easy on them, but Daria is not swayed; she's determined to do the best she can in a thankless position. Quinn is smarter than they are, she reminds her, and they deserve to fail if all they're interested in doing is figuring out how to pass the test with little to no effort. Dejected, Quinn hunkers down to study, but when Jake tries (and fails) to help her, she finds that she already knows the material. The next day, in History class, Mrs. Stoller gives the students an ultra-simple test, which almost everyone aces (Brittany gets a "C," and Kevin gets an "F" for not knowing the colors on the U.S. flag... which is right in front of him!). In English class, Daria's test consists of one question: say what you thought Romeo and Juliet was about and back up your opinion. Most of the students do well, since Daria was more interested in having them expand their thinking instead of simply reciting facts, but Sandi, Stacy, and Tiffany -- who copied off each other -- all get a "D-" for talking about the Leonardo DiCaprio movie. Quinn, however, gets a "B+," and when Sandi accuses Quinn of sucking up to Daria "like she's a relative or something," Quinn turns around and puts Sandi in her place by defending Daria... before revealing, in public, that they're sisters. Sandi tries to use this revelation for one last shot at humiliating Quinn, but it backfires when Stacy and Tiffany tell her that they (and almost everyone else in the whole school) already knew about it (they didn't say anything because they were being polite). At home, Daria reassures Quinn that she earned her grade solely on her own merit; after all, she says, would she ever do anything nice for Quinn? And the strike? It finally ends with the teachers prevailing, thanks to Mr. DeMartino's perseverance. His elation at his victory is short-lived, however, as he once again faces the one obstacle that's nearly impossible for any teacher to overcome: teaching Kevin.