This Daria Episode Is Why I Started Reviewing the Show 

Daria is a legendary sitcom because it did a very good job focusing on tough subjects but through the character’s perspective. What I love about the show is that Daria is very smart and has a gift for relying on logic and reasoning to understand what’s right and what’s wrong. Watching her blossom from a shy, pessimistic girl into a bright, intelligent woman is what made this show so great.

"Have you considered homeopathy?" "No thanks. I'll stick with boys for now." 🤣 I have the PERFECT person to use that on.

Trent is an adult... Daria isnt 18 and Trent likely knows she likes him... explanation for the awkwardness of Trent there...

When you added music after hinting that Daria and Tom would be better together I laughed so hard 😭🤣🙃 waiting for your review on this betrayal patiently

"I don't believe in deadlines, they stifle creativity." Words to live by.

Yeah this is when you really see the great character work kick in. The Daria/Trent interactions are excellent to have in the show, precisely because they're all at close enough ages that attraction isn't unexpected, and it ultimately shows them handling it in appropriate ways that fit the characters. Trent outright saying "if you were older" is a good healthy boundary to communicate. "I like you, but it wouldn't be right" is good to see... instead of "people 4 years older should never interact with minors ever at all" crap you see. It's GOOD for people of varying ages to end up social, and it's good to learn how to set healthy boundaries and spot what is and isn't appropriate.

Can't wait for you to cover the season 4 finale. That was definitely the ultimate, and arguably, final test of Daria and Jane's friendship. And I can't help but love the scene where Daria confesses to Jane about kissing Tom, it felt so natural and well done, other shows would try to overdramatize the reaction to confessions like that... but Jane's reaction looked and felt natural: she becomes completely shocked, and in disbelief asks: "What?!!" But doesn't raise her voice or yell, combined with the look on her face until she turns and runs away.

Personally, I always saw Tom as the more “social” version of Daria (with Jane being a middle ground between the two of that front). He’s just as clever as Daria and Jane, but also has a tendency towards charisma to others and rarely is antagonistic towards others/those of different mindsets/tendencies unless intentionally provoked (as opposed to unintentionally with a lot of other characters). As a hot button character as he is to the fandom, I’m firmly in the “pro-Tom” camp and felt that he added a bit of balance to the dynamic of the core characters that was starting to feel needed, without being so different that he just felt less like a core character than an important side character like say Brittany or even Quinn.

I really hope this is foreshadowing a (preferably a little extra long) "Is It Fall Yet?" episode

I both look forward to and dread Shady getting to Dye, Dye, My Darling.

I kind of want to add something here. I was Daria's age when Daria came out, watched it as it aired, and was told by more than one person that I basically *was* Daria. In a really weird way, I still kind of am. Everything you said about this, about Daria, her responses, how she feels about Jane and how painful it is when you think you might have to make a new friend because the one you have maybe just won't care about you anymore.. it all hits like a truck, especially if, when you get down to brass tacks, you aren't even sure how you managed *this* friendship. Maybe you've never known what to make of it or how long it can last considering how insufferable you know you can be... but some of that insufferable attitude is really only to compensate for the self-fulfilling prophecy that this person *will* get tired of you. It was a tough episode, and I remember at the time that I was frustrated for everyone involved. At the same time, I was in high school in the late 90's. The idea of letting my also-underage friend leave a club with a stranger in a shitty car was almost *viscerally* terrifying to me, no matter what her brother thought or how cool Jane was. It was a lot to grapple with while watching this as it aired, because on one hand, yes, Daria was being shitty and it's her defense-mechanism calling card, but on the other she had a *real* legitimate concern about Jane just up and getting in the car with someone neither of them knew anything about. Getting in touch with someone if your date goes bad is hard; it was a *lot* harder then. So on one hand, yes, everything about Daria definitely stands. On the other hand, I could not figure out why the concern of Jane's actual, literal, physical safety was so casually brushed off by everyone they knew, and it distracted a bit from "this is clearly Daria's problem" by adding in a touch of "why on earth does it feel right now like no one else gives a shit about Jane."

There's an important part of Daria's frustration you leave out - imagine you're trying to coordinate a school assignment with your friend and she leaves in the middle of it to go off with some guy she just met. Imagine you're hanging out with your friend and she just invites this guy you don't know to sit with you without even checking with you first. It's uncomfortable and annoying. Maybe you wanted to spend time with your friend and not have to deal with feeling like the third wheel to her new boyfriend, but she didn't give you the chance. Daria shouldn't have been so hostile to Tom, but it's gross that neither Tom nor Jane ever seemed to consider maybe Daria just didn't want to hang out with Tom.

Trent doesn’t like Daria the same way that Daria likes him. He’s an adult and he hints at that fact often, by bringing adult woman into his proximity in front of Daria. He lets her down low and slowly

Daria was greater than the character, she was the conscious of the community. I always admired Daria for standing out in spite of all the peer pressure that surrounded her. I will never forget the episode where Quinn and Daria had a Freaky Friday moment where Quinn tried to be deep like Daria, but realized it wasn’t for her and Daria got all made up and looked way better than Quinn. Like the saying goes “a smart person can act dumb, but a dumb person cannot act smart” 😂

So that quote "That's the kiss you give when it's over" was so familiar and was stuck in my head for days after first watching this video. I finally tracked down where it's from. Quality reference there

You should do the King of the Hill episode “Peggy Makes the Big Leagues.” It personally puts people on the side with Peggy because she has the moral high ground. Which is ironic because Peggy is often the least liked character in the show. Yet in that episode I was really sympathizing with her. You can also talk about how Hank really violated his own morals just because he had preferential treatment to a student athlete. Shady if you’re reading this…I hope you do this episode.

I somehow completely forgot that they had Daria officially get over her crush on Trent in the exact episode that introduced Tom. No wonder the fans pushed back so hard so fast on that plot point... the writers weren't exactly subtle with where they wanted to go.

So this is it: the episode we have to thank for Shady adding Daria to his schedule 😄😄😄 Thanks for the new Daria video Shady and hug your furbabies all 💙🐱💙 (14th!)

Ahh, I love this. I wish you had seen this in the 90s/early 00s bc the soundtrack used popular 90s/00s music and it really added to the scene, in a way the music in the series just doesn't now. Anyway, I'm subscribing now can't wait to watch your other vids

He roasted himself into Janes room and roasted Daria into her room

15:24 😂😂 oh the foreshadowing

I found your channel because of your Daria deep dives and i love it. I recently started a channel with my best friend and i currently edit and i now see exactly what you described about that balance between the creative wave and the deadline. One i had the hardest time with took me 8 months to come up with something i liked enough to post. I made myself get up loaded before the end of the year, and on 12/31 i finally posted. Anyway, looking forward to the rest of the series and checking out more of your videos.

Ahhh! The clip of "It's Hard to be the Bard" from "Something Rotten!" I love you!! I mean I love your channel and your videos anyway but it was a treat seeing Shakespeare here!

I love how every time a character named Tom appears on screen, Shady uses the exact same phrase. It always gets me. “Hi Tom!🙂”

14:25 this. this right here. I can relate with this so much...I just suck with words, but this describes my social awkwardness so well.

I'm a Shady man. I see a simple video, I click. A 90s style joke for a 90s show.

Your commentary about deadlines (specifically referring to youtube) really hit home for me. I've been trying to do youtube for about 7 years, and i have periods where i can produce content rather quickly sometimes with multiple videos in a week (though admittedly i could learn a thing or two about summarization and editing because.......well let's just say it's a weak point); but there are also times where i feel completely at a loss and what i would normally be recording for content sake i end up "not" doing that because i just need to do it for the fun of it. It's impressive to me when some creators like yourself hit their stride and just make it work, and honestly I'm always happy for those types because they prove that this media has a lot of viable formats. Personally I guess i've not found that groove just yet (probably because my brain wants to try a little of everything), but even so I've stuck it out almost like a hobby rather than profession since it gives me an outlet to not only express myself but try to entertain others by showing myself doing what I enjoy. Again though the editing thing bites me in the backside because most of the time my stuff is WAY too long... in part because i've not quite hit that balance of "early credits" and "post credits". Truthfully it's very fitting that it's a Daria review that brought this topic up. When i was younger I didn't quite "get" some of the conversations of the series but I watched it on occasion and somewhat related to Daria thanks to her being somewhat a loner. Looking back I see way more to her than i did previously... that also means i see some of my own shortcomings but perhaps that's a good thing. It was worth the wait to see you cover a Daria related review since it gave so much to analyze and discuss (and yes I know you did one before but i forgot to watch it when it came out due to an influx of other content that made my brain go "ooh shiny"). Great job Shady, not just on this review but all of the ones i've seen of yours so far; you really bring a fresh self-analytical perspective to the content as both a professional and as a fan that I greatly appreciate & dare say admire.

I was playing dead space while watching this and tom teleporting actually scared me.

Daria is an amazing show. I’m glad you’re talking about it man. Keep up the great work and take care!

15:40 backhanded compliment

As a teen and even as an adult, I related/relate a lot to Daria, but I also can and do relate to Jane, too.

Please make sure to watch the movies between seasons to see more of Jane and Daria’s ultimate reconciliation

I love your Daria reviews. I also love your King of the Hill reviews as well. Could you review De-Khanstructing Henry S3 E13?

Eeehhhh gotta say it jane was not a great friend here she just kept ditching daria for tom especially when they had a deadline for a school project that daria was perfectly fine doing by herself

I hate myself for this... Jane was right at 1:10 that is a contradiction and not an oxymoron, combining "Exciting" and "Assignment" does not create a new meaning. Here is a good breakdown from the content authority: "A contradiction is simply a statement or situation that is inconsistent or incompatible with another statement or situation. An oxymoron, on the other hand, is a figure of speech that combines two seemingly contradictory words or phrases to create a new meaning. For example, “jumbo shrimp” is an oxymoron because it combines two words that are seemingly opposite in meaning. However, “hot ice” is not an oxymoron, but rather a contradiction, because the two words are not being used together to create a new meaning." They get mixed up all the time, but in this instance the writers for Daria nailed it. He did sound very confident in his correction though and that goes a long way in convincing people that you are correct. Sorry for being that guy... Edit: What he is seeing at 5:33 is the animator's attempt at capturing the optical illusion called the "Wagon-wheel effect" where a spoked wheel can appear to be stationary or spinning in the opposite direction of what seems intuitive. A really good example of this effect happens when observing the propeller on an airplane starting and getting up to its idle RPM. I will start looking like it is going one way, then appear to not be spinning at all briefly but look blurry and then appear to spin the opposite direction from the start rotation. So again, Daria nailed it... I wish he wasn't doing these segments like he is calling out mistakes. He plenty funny and smart without having to try and highlight flaws. Sorry for being hypocritical.

God, I love this show! I love the subtle humor in shows like Daria, King of the Hill, Bojack Horseman, Mission Hill, Archer (kind of), etc.❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

you want me to believe daria can have a relationship with a guy ... ah now thats funny

I love how Daria and Trent's relationship ended. Both of them indirectly address the situation and solved it quickly. Trent is an adult and isn't into Daria that way because she's a teenager and Daria realized that she would never want to be with someone as irresponsible as Trent. They go their separate ways for different reasons and they aren't hung up on it. If only real relationships were that simple

Yeah tell you what. As an introvert the loss of a friend... is confusing as all hell. I keep my distance from EVERYONE. And the few people I let my guard down with I would die on whatever hill for. However, the second they cross me I banish them to the deepest pit and never look back. I've been stabbed in the back and used and abused so many times, I assume the worst of EVERYONE and the second i get even a hint of it, i am 100% done.

Never watched an episode of Daria in my life. After this analysis - good lord that must have been a hell of a show!

I feel someone spied on me and my best friend in the early 90s, studied out teen years for a long time and created Daria out of it😂😂😂. This was me and my best friend to a T.

I just finished watching the other videos about Daria before I got the notification for this video.

Why did I miss this? Shady reviewing Daria is my favorite thing to listen too

Fun fact in 1998 there was adobe premiere, avid media composer, iMovie, and Final Cut Studio 1 as movie editing software. Students were able to get premiere for $300 and there was rampant software piracy

The passive aggressive version of niceness is called "Texan" lol

So glad you are doing more, and it will be interesting to see which ones you choose to cover.

So happy to see another Daria review. Thanks.

Daria is the only tv series I've watched where it is mandatory to watch the specials/movies or you'll miss a huge chuck of dialog. The first time I bindged the series I was freaking lost when Tom and Daira were suddenly dating. After this episode the next couple of Jane and Tom interactions go from normal dating to luke warm. The movie special "Is It Summer Yet?" helps with the transition of Jane and Tom's break up, Daria and Jane spending necessarily time apart, and Daria taking a chance on dating Tom.

I come back to your channel and see an Avatar and a Daria discussion episode? It must be my lucky day! Please do more of both of those shows!

A Daria series during college would have been cool

I was in a high school multimedia/journalism class in 1992; we had video editing software available, most of it by companies that are long gone.

Damnit you have deconstructed and analyzed and Rosetta stoned one of my favorite episodes of Daria and ruined it for me and for some reason I am enjoying it more, thank you so much. Also I'm the same way as you are when it comes to creativity.

I wish you uploaded more often. But if you did I'm sure it'd mean sacrificing quality and/or that sense of humor I look forward to everyday

I'm an introvert with very few friends, but I never tried to get in the way of my buddy having a girlfriend, it's so openly selfish and wrong. For someone who loves calling out the flaws and missteps of others, Daria can be very lacking in introspection.

I do agree that deadlines are bad for creativity. I also believe outside forces are also toxic for creativity. For example, the Hobbit movies could have been fantastic if Warner Bros. left Peter Jackson alone. But they didn’t, and Jackson was forced to make three unnecessary movies with a stretched out story that was short to begin with and relying on CGI too much.

I was in middle school when this show was going on so I was more into Beavis & Butthead. Now that I'm a adult and have been binge watching this show for wks now, I love this show. I'm a blk male version of Daria so this show really have me looking at myself and things that should change.

Ok, Daria is overly antagonistic. But Tom really does keep inviting himself over and over into situations that are obviously not to include him.

i love your Daria wish to see more of them. In my country Daria is almost unknown.

"unfortunately for Daria, Twitter and Reddit echo chambers don't exist yet" 😭 you really hit the nail on the head, if this was modern days Daria would be writing an AITA post

I never watched daria but I'm really grateful I found this channel. Shaddy does a great job

Of course Daria is overprotective of her friendship...last time she had people to herself that she lost because of someone else...was her parents 😬

I always knew Daria is a great show but these videos are what made me even come close to watching the show I really should watch it on my own huh, before hollywood reminds itself of it and ruins it like Clone High

Hey Shady! I highly suggest you to see Pepper Ann, is a old and chill Disney cartoon, you could even make some video about it

(SPOILERS) despite Tom and Daria breaking up, I liked how they were as a couple and the breakup was sincere and on good terms.

Babe wake up, Shady Doorags is reviewing Daria😎

Ahh Shady, completely with you there. I miss eating whatever I want too. 😅

The initial dynamic of Daria, Jane and Tom here almost reminds me of an initial tension with a mutual friend of mine. Not sure how long they're been friends or how they became acquainted, but there was almost an initial jealousy, but we get along well enough now, partly because we both care about our mutual friend, who's very cool

I see both sides of the issue, especially since Daria’s understandable frustration comes from the fact that it’s 30 seconds of music and having 2 weeks to do it. It doesn’t sound like a lot. Maybe for other people it isn’t; I’m not entirely sure how a musician prioritizes their projects, but it does sound reasonable in theory. But I honestly identify more with Trey when it comes to getting the juices flowing. As a freelance writer, I totally understand the struggle with deadlines. I’m working on a screenplay for a pilot for a series, and the creative inspiration came from writers block on one of my WIP novels. I’d been stewing the idea for years but never got to writing it, so I thought I’d work on it trying to get creative about my novel. My struggle is that my novels are on my computer, whereas the screenplay is in a notebook right now, so in my mind the notebook takes priority. Messed up, sure, but that’s the problem with being creative. It sucks because there’s no greater feeling of satisfaction than having a great product, but at the same time the journey is exhausting. And that’s just me writing words! I haven’t written music before, so in my mind I’m thinking it’s even harder to write original music. At least with a story you have some limitations, ie what words mean and how to structure a sentence. But there’s so few rules regarding music it’s amazing anyone knows how to write it.

It's fascinating to think how far computer abilities have come since I was a kid back during that decade 😊

That Episode is still Relevant even if it was made in the 90's. I'm Introverted and I can Relate, despite me haven't seen the Show.

Okay, hang on. 15:48 - That is very clearly a Zip Drive with Zip disks. But... Jane seemingly handed Daria a standard 3.5 floppy diskette. Now, some Macromedia Flash videos _can_ fit on a single floppy diskette… and Zip drives _could_ read standard 1.44 MB diskettes… but I'm pretty sure all those disks on the desk are Zip disks. So… what the heck?

the hi tom portion haha 😭

I enjoyed this commentary so much. Great work! I hope the next Daria vid comes out soon :)

I miss the background music

Wait…wait…wait…I haven’t (yet) watched Daria (these videos are slowly enticing me), but in ‘Boxing Daria’ (I’m going off the video Shady did prior to this) Tom is DARIA’S boyfriend…I’m missing something…. (Edit): It’s on Paramount plus. I need to watch it, but will someone still explain please???

17:49 I Love that musical one of my favorites

I truly hate that "the medium is the message" tripe Reading a book, listening to the radio, watching TV or a live stage performance... none of this conveys what the message of the work is. Tits simply a mode of access If I say "I watched a TV show earlier" you cannot tell me the information conveyed by that show with only that piece of information Marshal McLuhan needed a boot up his keister for coming up with such a demonsterably false meme

I’ve been unsure about if I wanted to watch Daria but this video has convinced me. If this is the type of comedy that’s the norm I’m so down.

Here a little late, but always love your content. Thanks dude

I always liked Tom. Thanks for helping me pinpoint why. It's because he doesn't let Daria walk all over him. I think that's why some fans give him so much hate (that and the thing being foreshadowed...) but for me it's a good thing.

Yea I was Daria when i was in 6th grade... I got told off by my best friend and....idk I was in my feelings so we didn't talk as much afterwards

Omfg how did I miss about this channel, love your vids Shady! 😊

Please do more videos on Daria episodes, even if you have finished watching the whole series, like maybe comment on the movies.

8:05 I think I can speak for all women and men with longer hair that needs styling... Yeah really hoping for an invention of that kind one day

Just found your channel. Really love the Daria and KotH stuff. Subbed!

me only just now realizing that i remember disliking tom immensely bc i was 19 and intensely like daria in many of the bad ways when i watched this and tom was actually just pretty chill lol

The title of this episode is 100% a reference to the 90s punk band Janes Addiction

This show literally had me get ready for my teenage years. I literally did a whole long cleanup after I seen Daria from adolescent to teenager overnight that and Degrassi lol

I have the problem with time management and project prioritization, which I'm trying to do better this year. Less reviews, but stuff I'm more invested in. Need to focus on a draft for next month, which I'll be lucky to get out by the middle of the month.

Huh, the names of Daria's love interests start with a T: Trent, Ted and Tom. IIRC Glenn Eichler mentioned that Luhrman, from the wedding episode, might have been another potential boyfriend. But the series stopped. And I may be misremembering things. Eichler was more into the satire of high school than the drama of the slice of life. Bet the other writers balanced things. Wonder what Lurhman's name could have been. Todd? Tim? Tiberius? 😅

I don't know who needs to hear this, but Daria is a Gen Xer. There is no disorder. They actively tried to be anti-team and antisocial and anti-establishment. And then they got into their 40s and 50s and became the very things they swore they hated about Yuppies and Boomers and they all voted stupid in 2016, but not before making everyone pay for their childhood. Daria makes active choices to be antisocial in almost every episode.

Creativity has to be a mix of inspiration and force more often than not, as something that is pure force will likely suck, and something made purely on inspiration will take ages, if it's finished at all

Daria was a wildest show ngl cuzz I kinda watch some of it now.

Darn it shady now I wanna watch Daria

I would wish for more videos on Superhero shows.

Hurray for Shady talking about Daria again!

Its crazy how into this show I was at 11 😂. I am a healthy balance between Daria and Jane.

10:27 qualifying to be a sumo wrestler is actually badass

13:09 Bro thats life with women in a nutshell 😂 lol Gotta love em, cant live with em, but cant live without em

If you want background music, I actually am a small time producer and wanna try and start working with RU-vidrs for Video Music