The WORST episodes of Daria
Every episode of Daria ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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 - Camp Fear
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/12/2001
Daria and Quinn attend a reunion at Camp Grizzly, the summer camp that is the source of nothing but bad memories for Daria. There, Quinn finds that the crowd she hung out with is a little too much like the Fashion Club, and Daria finds that she's too antisocial for her own good--especially after she starts pushing away a fellow misfit, Amelia, who really looks up to her. However, by refusing to follow a crowd, Daria inspires Amelia to stand up to Skip, the obnoxious "big guy at camp" whose self-imposed authority everyone is afraid to question. Trent starts getting fed up with Mystik Spiral, and Jane suggests that he give Daria and Quinn a ride to camp, then stay in the woods for a while to think things through. Trent and Jane meet an elderly storekeeper and his wife, whom Trent first thinks are full of country wisdom, but who turn out to be lamebrained purveyors of inedible snack foods. The experience is not a total loss, though, as it provides Trent with inspiration for a new song.
#2 - Art Burn
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 4/2/2001
A gazebo at the Lane residence collapses, and Jane and Trent decide to have it rebuilt because of its sentimental value to their brother, Wind. Jane tries to sell her paintings at an art fair to pay for the repairs, and winds up getting hired to re-create famous paintings for a gallery. Though this becomes financially lucrative for Jane, she gets no creative stimulation from it and contemplates quitting. Meanwhile, Trent hires three slackers to fix the gazebo, and is unsuccessful in getting them to actually do any work. At the art fair, the Fashion Club let a caricaturist draw them, and are so insulted by the drawing that they plan to sue him, a mission that they are persistent at despite Helen's advice against it. Ironically, when Jane and Trent's parents come home, they say that they plan to get rid of the gazebo; and Stacy keeps the caricature drawing because, unbeknownst to anyone else, she liked the way it turned out.
#3 - This Year's Model
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/7/1997
Talent scouts from the Amazon Modeling Agency come to Lawndale High to teach a class on modeling, promising a modeling scholarship to one lucky student. Many of the girls in school are more than eager to get that scholarship. Daria is not one of those girls.
#4 - The Teachings of Don Jake
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 7/14/1997
Jake and Helen take the kids on a camping trip, which doesn't go well after Jake starts obsessing over his rocky relationship with his late father. Then it goes straight to hell when Jake, Helen and Quinn eat psychotropic berries and go insane. Meanwhile, Jane and Trent attend their dysfunctional family reunion.
#5 - Legends of the Mall
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 7/12/2000
When Jake's car doesn't start when he's supposed to pick up Quinn and the Fashion Club from the mall, the girls reluctantly take the bus, winding up in a creepy neighborhood and having to walk the rest of the way. Meanwhile, a worried Jake has Trent pick him up in his barely-operating vehicle, and they (along with Daria and Jane) search for Quinn and her friends. This storyline frames three ghost stories set during different decades, with the cast playing roles accordingly. "The Rattling Girl of Lawndale", told by Stacy, is about a girl in the 1960s (Sandi) that, in an attempt to become the most popular girl at Lawndale High by getting rid of the fat in her eyelids, became anorexic. At the school dance, she showed up so bony that when she danced, she made an annoying rattling sound and everyone laughed at her. Humiliated, she ran off, disappeared, and took her revenge by making the eyelids of all the girls at school puffy, causing the girls to become unpopular.
#6 - The Old and the Beautiful
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/3/1999
Ms. Li asks (read: orders) everyone to volunteer during Volunteer Week. Daria, Brittany and Kevin volunteer to read for senior citizens, but the seniors only like the perky Brittany and Kevin and are put off by Daria's unenthusiastic voice. The Fashion Club, meanwhile, volunteer to donate clothes for the homeless, but accomplishes nothing by being too picky about what to donate.
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#7 - I Loathe a Parade
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/7/2000
Daria goes to the drugstore to buy toilet paper, not knowing that the Lawndale High Homecoming Parade is going on that day. By the time she gets out of the store, the street is crowded and she has a hard time getting home. She runs into Tad Gupty (the boy she babysat in Pinch Sitter), who has lost his parents. Reluctantly, she decides to help Tad out, and while they search for his parents, they run into Tom, who has been waiting for Jane at the wrong drugstore. Daria still resents Tom for all the time Jane has been spending with him, but she heads with him to the other drugstore to find Jane. During the course of the day, as Daria and Tom spend some time together, they find that they actually sort of like each other.
#8 - Depth Takes a Holiday
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/10/1999
A quasi-fantasy episode in which 2 guys approach Daria dressed as a leprechaun and Cupid. They claim to be the spirits of St. Patrick's and Valentine's Days, and they ask her to help them find Halloween, Christmas and Guy Fawkes Day (a British holiday), who have escaped from Holiday Island. Daria at first doubts them (who wouldn't?) but then becomes convinced after Cupid puts a love spell on Helen and Jake. The 3 runaway holidays, as it turns out, have formed a band with Trent.
#10 - Of Human Bonding
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 4/14/2000
Daria accompanies Jake to a businessmen's convention, while Quinn invites the Fashion Club for a sleepover party. At the convention, Daria and Jake have trouble finding much common ground, and Jake tries to suck up to an egotistical restaurant tycoon who wants to take him ballooning--something that, given Jake's fear of heights, could prove very dangerous. At the sleepover party, the girls give Helen a makeover while she asks them advice about dealing with Jake. During the course of the night, Quinn and Sandi can barely hide the intense dislike they feel towards each other.
#11 - Life in the Past Lane
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/28/2001
Jane starts dating Nathan, a guy whose clothing and lifestyle are extreme vintage retro, mixing elements from the 20s, 30s and 40s. She is charmed at first by his ways, and even starts dressing in retro outfits, though Daria and Tom don't quite share her enthusiasm. However, it soon becomes obvious that Nathan takes his lifestyle way too seriously, and the relationship ends. Meanwhile, Upchuck begins performing magic acts in yet another attempt to attract women. Surprisingly, he is successful this time--he wins Stacy's heart, as well as her participation in a Houdini act he performs for the entire school.
#12 - Mart of Darkness
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 7/5/2000
A labyrinthine discount-bulk-warehouse superstore serves as the destination for several characters. Jane goes there to buy Gummi Bears (for art supply purposes) after Tom ate hers. Daria accompanies her to buy new shoelaces, because Quinn stole the ones from her boot to repair a bag. Trent and Jesse go there to buy a headlamp and scented candles, respectively, and Tom accompanies them so he can find Jane and make up with her after their argument. (Walking with the two musicians, their half-brained purchase ideas drive him nearly up the wall.) The Fashion Club goes to the warehouse store to buy sunscreen and various other beauty needs, and, of course, their incredibly high standards prevent them from making any actual purchases. The free-sample cheese logs at the store become quite popular-an obsession, in fact, for hungry Mr. DeMartino, whose food budget is incredibly tight, and for Mrs. Johansen (a 300-pound hypoglycemic woman who is a recurring character). Kevin's dad, Doug, is holdi
#13 - The Lost Girls
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/24/1999
Val, the editor of a self-titled teen magazine along the lines of "seventeen", comes to Lawndale High to hang out with Daria, after reading Daria's paper that Mr. O'Neill submitted. Val turns out to be an egomaniacal thirty something airhead who's trying way too hard to look and act like a teenager. How long before Daria tells her off?
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#14 - Fizz Ed
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/19/2001
Facing a lack of funds, Principal Li accepts a generous sum of money from a soda company, in exchange for letting them promote and advertise their product on campus. Daria has a problem with the fact that the school is being used in this manner, however, everybody--the school superintendent included-feels she has no right to complain since the arrangement is bringing the school the money it needs. Unfortunately, Ms. Li fails to meet the profit quota the soda company requires, and is forced to increase promotion of the product, to the point of including it in athletic uniforms and lesson plans. Ultimately the effort to amend the situation proves too much for her, and the soda company is forced to pull out of the deal (though it still leaves its logo in several strategically placed areas).
#15 - The Story of D
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/19/2001
Daria writes a story that she plans to submit to publication, but is reluctant to let anyone read it. She gives it to Jane and Tom to read--Jane thinks it needs a little work, but Tom likes it and encourages her to submit it. She submits it to a magazine, but it gets rejected. This discourages her, but she decides to give it another go after learning Jake went through a similar situation with a song he wrote when he was her age. The Fashion Club seeks to win a humanitarian award by donating a mirror for the school bathroom, but they first have to get the money to buy the mirror. They decide to start a newsletter and sell it, but get discouraged when all of the fashion predictions they publish turn out wrong. Meanwhile, after learning of the reasons behind her niece Erin's failed marriage, Helen starts to keep a close eye on Daria, making sure she isn't rushing into sex with Tom.
#16 - Jake of Hearts
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 7/21/1999
Jake suffers a mild heart attack, which makes Daria aware of his mortality for the first time. She then has to deal with his judgmental mom coming to stay with them while he recuperates, and Jake confronts his mom about the way she views his military-freak father. Meanwhile, a pair of obnoxious radio DJs broadcast from Lawndale High for the entire week, and Daria finds that the only way to make them go away is to shame them into leaving.
#17 - Daria Dance Party
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/17/1999
The Fashion Club president, Sandi, talks Quinn into organizing the school dance, but Quinn doesn't do a very good job at it, since Sandi turns the entire Fashion Club against her. Quinn unloads the job on Jane, who turns the dance into a tribute to Jackson Pollock that becomes a huge success. At the dance, Quinn gets most of the credit for what Jane did, and Daria and Jane meet 2 guys whom they hit it off with--until the subject of who they're related to comes up.
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#18 - 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!).
#19 - The 'F' Word
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/31/2000
Mr. O'Neill has his students each try something they are sure to fail at, so that they can achieve personal growth. Daria attempts to have her parents ground Quinn so that she can't attend a fashion expo; Jane tries to dress fashionably conformist in an attempt to fit in; Kevin tries to be a bad athlete; Brittany tries to be unpopular by constantly talking about social issues; Jodie tries to talk her parents into letting her kick back during the summer; and Mack tries to teach Kevin about the 3 branches of government. Though Daria, Jodie and Mack fail in their tasks (and therefore succeed in the assignment), the other three unexpectedly succeed in their attempts. Kevin gets kicked off the football team after losing a game, and Brittany alienates the cheerleading squad, who try to replace her with Jane. Since nobody's life changed for the better thanks to their attempts, Mr. O'Neill feels he has failed as a teacher--until Daria and Jane convince him that by doing so, he has succeeded in
#20 - Prize Fighters
Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/11/2001
As graduation looms over the horizon, Helen encourages Daria to apply for a scholarship. Due to her lack of extracurricular activities, the only scholarship Daria has a good chance at is one sponsored by the Wizard Corporation, which only requires that its applicants enter an essay contest. Daria's essay makes her a finalist, but she finds herself competing for the scholarship with Jodie and Upchuck, both of whom appear to have a greater chance at winning. Additionally, Daria finds that the corporation has extremely racist and sexist business practices, and as the interviews approach, she questions whether she really wants to pander to their level in order to win. Meanwhile, academic underachiever Jane starts to feel left out. This season has had a running joke involving Jake's failed attempts at cooking. Here, he receives a huge bulk order of hot dogs by mistake and tries to make the best of it.
#21 - The Big House
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/30/1997
After Daria and Quinn both come home past curfew, Helen and Jake begin Family Court, a mock trial that ends with the 2 girls being sentenced to a month's grounding. The parents later regret their decision after Daria uses this as an opportunity to drive them insane.
#22 - Aunt Nauseam
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/4/2001
Helen's sister Rita asks her to handle her daughter Erin's divorce, and Helen reluctantly agrees despite the fact that she and Rita never get along. Rita ends up coming without Erin to the Morgendorffers', and as they hammer out the details of the divorce, their usual rivalries start to spring up, mainly revolving around their mother's favoritism toward Rita. Jake is unable to handle all the fighting, and decides to leave the house until Rita goes away. Daria calls Aunt Amy (who is like an older version of herself) to come and help mediate, but Amy only ends up joining in the argument herself. Ultimately, it is Daria and Quinn who help patch things up between the three sisters. The whole ordeal affects Daria and Quinn's outlooks: the talk of divorce makes Daria uneasy about spending time with Tom, while the rivalry between the sisters makes Quinn fear that she and Daria might someday wind up the same way. Meanwhile, Stacy and Tiffany find themselves inadvertently breaking a Fashion
#23 - See Jane Run
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 7/20/1998
In order to prove her P.E. teacher wrong (and to be around a guy she likes), Jane signs up for the track team, where she does very well and becomes a popular track star. However, she starts to find her friendship with Daria fading as a result of her new popularity.
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#24 - Lucky Strike
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/26/2001
When Principal Li fails to honor the raise promised in the teachers' contracts, the teachers go on strike. Substitutes are hired to take their place, including a spaced-out elderly woman to take over for Mr. DeMartino; and a sleazebag for Mr. O'Neill's class who is soon fired for hitting on Tiffany. That substitute's replacement is none other than Daria. Quinn starts to fear that the truth about her sibling relationship to Daria will come out, especially when she keeps having to defend Daria in front of her friends. Daria tries to teach the class Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", and when she assigns a test, Quinn finds that she knows the play well enough to ace it. When Quinn gets a much better grade than the rest of the Fashion Club, Sandi brings up the question of Quinn's relationship to Daria. Quinn finally admits, with no shame, that she and Daria are sisters. While the strike is going on, the Lane siblings end up helping the teachers.
#25 - It Happened One Nut
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 7/7/1999
Daria and Quinn get jobs at the mall, neither of which goes over well for them. Daria works at a nut stand, where she gets salary deducted because she doesn't smile; what's worse, her co-worker, Kevin, is completely incompetent. Quinn works at the pet store, where she finds she has to work with "un-cute" animals as well as cute ones, and ends up causing havoc.
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