11-4-00

Hail,

Another triplet, although you'll have to wait till tomorrow for the season wrap-up commentary.

I rather enjoyed "It Happened One Nut." The continued shipper fanservice was there, but the rest of the episode was pretty good, and even most of the Trent scenes were pretty good. Those were some odd aptitude tests, however; they usually have categories a little more broad than "mortician."
Helen's reaction to these tests is pretty much what one would expect from her, although the career counseling option seems like she's trying to meet Daria at least part way. Jake's reaction goes to show just how much he wants a chance to help out his kids, even if it doesn't really work in Daria's favor.
I have to ask, however, what's wrong with Tiffany? Okay, part of the slowness is probably because she's trying to sound out the words on the page, but she's pretty slow even when not trying to read aloud. Is the poor girl on some sort of medication? Daria's reaction was pretty good, "Useful, supportive, purple, what?" but the scene seems to be there just to highlight Tiffany's decelerating verbiage.
Daria's time on the job was pretty much as you'd expect. She can do a good job, but she isn't the smiley type. Kevin fits the stereotype of the illiterate high-school student, but he's wearing thin, as is Brittany. If they remain static while the rest of the characters develop, this is just going to get worse.
Helen's reaction to getting a call from Jane at work was great, although Jane's method of helping Daria was pretty underhanded. Considering Daria's reaction in "See Jane Run" it's slightly surprising she allows Helen to do this, but then again, it's something she was forced into by Helen.

"Just Add Water" seems familiar... how many mandatory-attendance weird events is Ms. Li going to throw? Requiring high-school students to visit a floating casino? And giving them all chips as well? This lady is going to get herself sued real soon now, and considering the animosity between her and Helen, it's amazing it hasn't happened yet. I don't get that bit about "adult volunteers," since the teachers all seem to be gambling, not helping out, and same for the parents.
Daria and Jane were used well, as much as they were in the episode, that is. Their scene with Mr. DeMartino was great, as was Daria's sleeping-on-the-couch bit.
More Fashion Club infighting, and Stacy actually has a good idea until she gets stomped on by Sandi. Quinn suddenly getting a date with Marcos was a bit out of line. Quinn's at least six years younger than he is, for starters.
Jake and Helen's marriage problems continue, as does Jake's marketing ideas problem. How does he stay in business with those kind of deals? Radioactive duck?
The teachers were used pretty well, especially Mr. DeMartino, but Ms. Barch is gunning to get arrested here. Which ties into another problem: Wow is that water shallow there. Amazing that cruise liner can sail in waters shallow enough for all those people to stand up in, eh?
This would have been an okay episode if not for the stupid little plot devices required to get things going.

"Jane's Addition" was another excellent Eichler creation. It made a fantastic finale, in more ways the one. We got the end of the season, of Daria's crush on Trent, and of the effortless period of Daria and Jane's friendship.
Mr. O'Neill's project is a bit much, even for a school with good computers and in an upper-middle class suburb. Still, this is Mr. O'Neill we're talking about.
Daria and Jane make a natural team for this sort of thing, and end up with a fairly interesting product, even if they did get the stages wrong (which may have been on purpose). Trent falls through, of course, and Daria finally realizes that she and Trent just wouldn't work together. Their last scene is full of double-entendres and is pretty much a long in-joke that comes off pretty well. Trent's excitement over the concept was pretty nice, although his digital period seems to have ended before the next season gets going. That's too bad, Mystik Spiral seems like a band that could use some Moog Cookbook styilings.
Jane's hooking up with Tom was rather abrupt, to say the least. Jane's sort of done this kind of thing before, as far back as "The Invitation" but this time it works out enough to last more than part of one night.
Even without knowing the end of fourth season, Tom seems like the kind of guy Daria would get along with, if she hadn't met him in such a way. Daria's pretty protective of her friendship with Jane, as we've seen in "See Jane Run," and she does get pretty nasty in this episode, but being blown off by your best friend for a couple weeks can do that to a person.
Definitely a strong end to the season, and a great setup for season four.

Wraith