The BEST episodes of Daria
Every episode of Daria ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Daria!
The people of Lawndale just don't get Daria Morgendorffer. She's cool with that. See, Daria was born alienated, and now she's just trying to make it through high school with as little human contact as possible. Popularity, friends, activities... whatever. Daria lacks enthusiasm, but she makes up for it with sarcasm. Daria is the spin-off of MTV's most sucessful cartoon, Beavis and Butt-Head.
#1 - Ill
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 7/6/1998
Attending Trent's band's concert, Daria develops a mysterious rash, which comes and goes, and winds up in the hospital.
#2 - I Don't
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/9/1998
The Morgendorffers are invited to the wedding of Helen's niece, and Helen insists that her daughters be bridesmaids. At the wedding, Helen keeps getting angry over issues she has with her sister, Rita, whom she despises. Daria, meanwhile, meets her other aunt, the cynical Amy, with whom she has quite a few things in common.
#3 - My Night at Daria's
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/18/2001
After a rumor goes around that Daria and Tom slept together, Daria starts to wonder if it is time to take the relationship "to the next level."
#4 - Fire!
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 7/26/2000
After Jake accidentally causes a kitchen fire, the family goes to stay in a hotel for a couple of weeks while the damaged areas are repainted. At the hotel, Helen and Jake find themselves relaxing to the point of being oblivious to what's around them. Quinn is courted by Bobby, a handsome bellhop who offers her various luxuries for free, claiming that his uncle owns the hotel. After he asks her out, Sandi (ever the eager backstabber) tries to convince Quinn that Bobby is a stalker. Quinn dismisses Sandi's suspicions as paranoia, but it is later revealed that Bobby lied about his uncle being the hotel manager. He had planned to pay for the luxuries by hacking into the hotel's computer and deleting the charges, and Quinn is horrified that she almost went out with a... "computer geek." Meanwhile, Daria goes to stay with Jane for the duration. While there, she and Tom start bonding over intellectual topics that go right over Jane's head, and Jane becomes jealous.
#5 - Gifted
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/29/1998
Helen and Jake take Daria and Jodie to visit Grove Hills, a private school for A-students. Helen and Jake don't get along too well with Jodie's ultra-conservative black parents, while Daria and Jodie find out the students at Grove Hills are extremely stuck-up. Jodie tells them off, much to Daria's delight. Back in Lawndale, Quinn loses favor with all 3 Fashion Club members, and, afraid to be alone, comes to Jane's house and drives her nuts.
#6 - Monster
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/23/1998
Mr. O'Neill assigns his class to make short films. Daria and Jane decide to do theirs on a day in the life of Quinn, the purpose being to show everyone how shallow Quinn is. They get some great footage after Quinn freaks out over her pores, but Daria starts having second thoughts after noticing Quinn actually has some depth.
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#7 - Boxing Daria
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 6/25/2001
Daria becomes upset by memories of an argument her parents had when she was a child, which may have been caused by one too many parent/teacher conferences over her refusal to socialize. She later learns that her problems as a kid were just something that comes with being smart.
#8 - Road Worrier
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 7/7/1997
Daria and Jane head off to Alternapalooza with Jane's brother Trent and his friend Jesse. Daria finds this to be an awkward experience due to her strong attraction to Trent. The Fashion Club, meanwhile, dress "alternative" and head off to the festival, but on the way, they decide to go outlet shopping instead. Back home, Helen and Jake use their kids' absence as a chance to "spice up their marriage".
#9 - Partner's Complaint
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/25/2000
Mrs. Bennett has the class get into pairs for a budgeting project. Daria, angry at Jane for spending so much time with Tom, pairs up with Jodie instead; meanwhile Jane pairs up with Brittany. Daria and Jodie try to start their own business, but have trouble getting a loan from a bank because of their age and possibly Jodie's race. Jodie gets mad at Daria when she is criticized for using her father's clout in order to succeed. Meanwhile, Jane and Brittany try to purchase a car, but the car salesman seems much more interested in getting a date with Brittany.
#10 - Murder, She Snored
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/17/2000
When members of the football team get suspiciously perfect scores on Mr. DeMartino's history test, he suspects that one of them stole the answers--specifically Kevin, who was on academic probation at the time. Mr. DeMartino threatens to fail the whole class unless the guilty party confesses, and Daria later makes sarcastic jokes about killing Kevin for ruining her otherwise perfect academic record. At home, Daria has a dream that Kevin was killed, and although numerous people have a motive, Daria is considered the chief suspect. She enlists the relatively useless help of "Upchuck's Angels"--seen here as the Fashion Club with voluminous hair--to prove her own innocence. This episode manages to poke fun at numerous '70s action shows, including Hawaii Five-0, The Fugitive, and, of course, Charlie's Angels (duh!).
#11 - That Was Then, This is Dumb
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/16/1998
Their old hippie friends, the Yeagers, who haven't changed a bit, visit Helen and Jake. An issue is raised over which family is living the better life now: the laid-back, old-fashioned Yeagers, or the modern, upwardly mobile Morgendorffers. Quinn takes an interest in the Yeagers' aloof, cynical son Ethan, who ends up telling her about their parents' former problems with the law. Daria, meanwhile, heads off to a flea market with Jane, Jesse and her continuing crush, Trent, where they attempt to sell Trent's old records.
#12 - The Invitation
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/10/1997
After Daria helps dimwitted cheerleader Brittany in art class, Brittany invites her to her party. Daria doesn't want to go at first, but then decides to after seeing it as a good chance to embarrass Quinn, who is also attending.
#13 - Cafe Disaffecto
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/24/1997
The school starts a fundraiser to build a student coffeehouse, and after Daria and Jane fail at selling candy bars, Daria is asked to perform on stage opening night to earn the extra credit points. She ends up reciting an anti-communist story she wrote that starts a riot and has the place closed down.
#14 - The Misery Chick
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 7/21/1997
Tommy Sherman, former Lawndale High football star, visits the school when a goalpost is named after him. He turns out to be a complete jerk that insults or propositions everyone he meets, particularly Daria, whom he calls a "misery chick". Daria and Jane crack a few jokes about wishing he were dead, and seconds later he is killed when the goalpost falls on him. Suddenly everyone comes to Daria for advice on dealing with the traumatic incident, because they all think she's obsessed with death, and Jane starts avoiding her because she feels responsible.
#15 - Antisocial Climbers
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/3/2000
Mr. O'Neill arranges a wilderness survival camping trip for the class, in order to experience firsthand the man-against-nature element of "The Call of the Wild". And experience it they do, what with Quinn's admirers electing to carry her bags instead of the food and supplies; Ms. Li ignoring student safety in order to get publicity from the trip; and a nasty blizzard that traps everyone in a cabin. Meanwhile, Helen and Jake stay in another cabin in the woods, hoping that their time alone will increase their level of intimacy and communication. They have trouble communicating until an injured and near-frozen Mr. DeMartino intrudes on them.
#16 - Quinn the Brain
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/2/1998
Quinn writes a paper in Mr. O'Neill's English class that the teacher really likes and recites to the class. Quinn becomes scared that she will now become an outcast because people think she's a "brain", but just the opposite happens: she becomes a popular brain, and starts to work with it. Daria, meanwhile, finds herself losing her own identity since Quinn is the school brain now.
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#17 - The Lawndale File
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 8/4/1999
A series of strange events--government agents visiting the school looking for anyone who's "different"; Mr. DeMartino getting arrested; Trent writing cheerful music--lead Daria and Jane to suspect alien presence at Lawndale. Meanwhile, a misunderstanding of something Mr. O'Neill says leads people to believe Daria and Jane are "atomic communists".
#18 - The Daria Hunter
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/23/1998
Mr. DeMartino, Mr. O'Neill, and Mrs. Barch take their classes on a paintballing field trip. Daria and Jane ditch the group to go to a "great white shark" exhibit that turns out to be a tourist trap, and later new relationships are made (and broken) in tents after it starts to rain.
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#19 - College Bored
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/17/1997
Daria and Quinn get enrolled in a college-prep course, where they are given the assignment of visiting the college of their choice. Their parents decide to take them to their alma mater, Middleton College. Things start to go wrong after Daria goes into business writing term papers for cash, and Quinn gets elected "keg queen" at a frat party.
#20 - Fair Enough
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 7/13/1998
Meanwhile at the fair, Daria and Jane agree to a ferris wheel ride - with a sobby girl on board with them, too!
#21 - Speedtrapped
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 7/28/1999
Daria finally gets her driver's license, and soon thereafter has to drive to a nearby town to bail Jane and Mystik Spiral (Trent's band) out of a traffic violation. Unfortunately, she makes the mistake of taking along Quinn, who gives their money to a handsome hitchhiker. Daria and Quinn end up having to work together to get that money back.
#22 - Jane's Addition
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 8/18/1999
Daria and Jane are assigned a multimedia computer project, which is hindered by Trent's procrastination in coming up with music for it. Meanwhile, Jane starts dating a guy, Tom, whom Daria immediately sees as a threat to her friendship with Jane--until she and Tom have a talk about it.
#23 - Sappy Anniversary
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/26/2001
As the six-month anniversary of Daria and Tom's relationship approaches, Daria starts to feel like Tom is taking her for granted, since they never go out on dates or do anything romantic, like Tom did with Jane. She can't get herself to bring up the issue with Tom, but she talks to Helen about it, and Helen advises her not to expect too much or else she'll be disappointed. She realizes that though Tom didn't realize that the anniversary was approaching, neither did she at first (Quinn had to remind her). Additionally, Tom explains that he's not the romantic type--he did the romantic stuff with Jane only when he sensed their relationship was falling apart. The two of them decide to celebrate their anniversary even though they really don't have to. Meanwhile, Jake joins the staff of an internet start-up company. He is twice the age of the other employees, and never quite figures out what they're saying (they speak in buzz-words and techno-jargon) or what the company actually does. Though
#24 - Pinch Sitter
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/9/1997
Desperate to avoid a meeting with a family therapist, Daria substitutes for Quinn on a babysitting gig. The family she ends up sitting for are the sickeningly-sweet Lester and Lauren Gupty, who have raised their kids Tad and Tricia into brainwashed little angels that only watch The Weather Channel on television, and avoid any sugar and junk food. It will take an artist extrordinare(yes, Jane) to rescue Daria from this nauseous night, and the Gupty kids from the sheltered lifestyle they've become so accustomed to.
#25 - Too Cute
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/16/1997
Brooke, a Fashion Club hopeful, gets a nose job, and Quinn is deemed shallow for saying the new nose is merely "cute". The other Fashion Club members subsequently also get nose jobs, and so Quinn goes to get one too, but the doctor plays on Quinn's insecurities and talks her into getting about $6000 worth of surgery. Quinn doesn't have that kind of money, and becomes more determined to get it after Brooke has further surgery done and looks gorgeous. It's up to Daria to convince her she's perfect and doesn't need to change a thing.