11-3-00

Hail,

Another triple-shot of Daria, but first, I finally got the 11-1 Rambling, so go give it a look-see.

Jake has a heart-attack; it's something we all knew was going to happen (unless he ended up dead in a car wreck first), and was long ago mentioned on my Future Plots page (which will be making its return eventually). This was certainly going to be an episode, and it was handled fairly well.
Jake's childishness was done great... at first. His constant chanting of "Mom's gonna miss the guacamole" even after his collapse was just pure Jakey. (On a side note, wow was that a lot of guacamole for four people or what?) Unfortunately this childishness got a bit out of hand as the episode went on. Some of it, at least during the hospital scenes, can be put down to the medication, but his hiding his head beneath the blankets was a touch much.
Ms. Li falls back to her usual role of money-grubbing publicity hound, and we get some other characters thrown in just because. Kevin, Brittany and Jodie really served no purpose this episode, so they really shouldn't have been there.
One exception on Jodie's part, though: watch her reaction, and compare it to Mack's, during the scene where the DJs announce their list of 101 words for sex. Their relationship might not be as close as it could be.
Charles was used pretty well this episode (he seems to be getting a lot more airtime this season), and the Fashion Club was just great. Tiffany, dense as she is, is turning out some great lines, thanks to some wonderfully done voice acting.
We got to see some similarities between Helen and Quinn, although their return-to-normal switch was rather rapid. It was nice to finally meet some of Jake's family, although from his talk with Ruth he's got at least one sibling we haven't even got a name for yet.
Daria in this episode functions pretty much as expected; in a major family crisis, she's the one who keeps her cool and her head. Even Jake realizes this. Her on-air attack of the DJs was a bit weak for her, but it did get the job done. Over all, a pretty solid episode.

"Speedtrapped." What can I say? They're at it again. These are the same guys who wrote "Depth Takes a Holiday", and while this is certainly above that level, that isn't saying much. Their first two episodes were obviously a fluke. The first third of this show is comprised of nothing but lame plot devices to set things up for later. Shall we count the ways?
Daria gets her driver's license. Okay so far, had to happen eventually. Mystik Spiral gets a gig in another town. Okay. They hire Jane to drive them. Why? They don't exactly have money to waste, they can drive, none of them were sleeping on the trip for a change. The only reason for it was to get Jane to go along with them so she could call Daria.
Jake and Helen go to marriage counseling. Okay. They ask Daria to keep an eye on the house so Quinn doesn't throw parties. Fine. Daria has to go bail Jane out. Wait a sec, since when do you get put in jail, in or out of state, for not being able to pay a fine on the spot? It's called the Post Office. Oh, wait, Trent forgot his songbook, now Daria can read some of his work. And Quinn goes along. Why? Since when does anything Quinn defines as interesting happen to Daria? Especially when she's got a chance to throw a parents-out-of-town party. This one doesn't wash either. Daria's still nervous about driving, okay, could be. Quinn isn't. Huh? Guys, tell me, when you went on dates in high-school, how often did they consist of teaching your under age girlfriend to drive? Exactly.
Then we get to the end, and Quinn keeps calling Daria timid. Where did this come from? The only place Daria acts timid is around Trent. Helen gets a call from school about her, and assumes she's insulted someone to their face. All of Quinn's friends live in fear of Daria. Daria tells off people like Val and Tommy Sherman, not to mention Bing and The Spatula Man (on-air, no less).
Okay, the only real reason to watch this episode is for Jane and the band. Max has had way too many espressos, Nick is sort of there, and Jesse simply must have been based off of Zoot from the Muppet Show. Other than that, give it a miss.

Which leaves "The Lawndale File." I have to agree with Daria, please stop with the voices. That was a bit overdone, as was most of the conspiracy theory stuff. Jane may have been just getting into it for fun, which I could certainly see, but they both took it a little too seriously for most of the show.
Artie definitely fit well for this episode, and we see more Charles (more Jodie and Mack as well, but again, not much or for any apparent reason). Having the two agents at the start be from the INS instead of some other agency was a nice touch, although Ms. Barch is going to find herself in court if she keeps this up.
Those rumors, my gods... even Lawndale shouldn't be that bad. Atomic communists from Mars? Give me a break. Oh, and who thought that Quinn had a hickey the first time they saw her in the turtleneck? Makes just as much sense, and I'm surprised we haven't seen it happen yet.
I don't know, this episode just never really worked for me. Other than Trent working on a jingle it didn't really feel right. It wasn't exactly bad, but it's not an episode I'm going to be rewatching much either.

Wraith