I've been thinking of adding another question to the FAQ... "What's the deal with Daria and Trent?" But I can't answer this one alone. It has become almost a religious question around here, and generated a lot of comments and conflict. Everyone's got an opinion on it, and they're all different. So at the risk of starting a huge war, what would >you< like to see as the answer to this question?
I don't pretend to be able to definitively answer this in the FAQ, of course. There's just too much disagreement in the ranks. So I guess a better question is this: What would bring a complete "Daria" newbie up-to-speed with the current conventional wisdom, so they can post more intelligently about the subject? I, for one, am tired of reading the "Daria and Trent should hook up" posts that continually pop up around here... Looking forward to your replies on this one!
IMHO, you covered it quite well in your description of Trent: Daria, who is normally articulate and self-assured, has a crush on him that usually leaves her at a loss for words. Nothing more really needs to be said about it, because a crush is not anything out of the ordinary. (Unless, of course, someone insists that it's "out of character" for Daria to act like a human being.) It's others who are reading more into this than is really there.
Of course, that's just *my* opinion, yadda yadda yadda. :-)
So am I, but I don't really expect a FAQ question to satisfy The Fixated Ones...
Martin (To send E-mail, remove the "nospam" from my E-mail address.) ---- Quinn: You kids know where Grandma's TV is. Go watch something educational. TV: "Breast implants for chickens???" Quinn & Daria: Not that!!
Might be a good idea to mention that Trent may or may not be aware of how Daria feels about him. There's been a lot of discussion over whether he was just pretending to sleep in "That Was Then, This Is Dumb".
OK, I deliberately wrote this before reading any of the other responses to your question.
Q. What's the deal with Daria and Trent? A. Daria and Trent have an (unnecessarily) complicated relationship. It's hard to explain exactly how Daria feels, because on the show Daria isn't sure exactly how she feels. The only thing that's certain is that when she's around Trent she becomes inarticulate and gets "funny feelings" of various sorts.
On the one hand, Daria is smart and self aware enough to know that. 1. Trent is too old and too experienced for her. 2. Despite his likabillity, Trent is basically aimless and a bit of a loser - he'd definitely be more trouble than he's worth in a relationship. 3. Her hormonal reaction is strictly a psycho/physiological symptom of her age, and should on no account be allowed to dictate her behavior.
On the other, it's also true that: 1. Trent really is attractive, in a scrawny, lost-puppy kind of way. 2. He actually likes Daria. More importantly, he seems to respect her, and even understand her more than almost anyone else on the show (he's also, incidentally, the only male on the show who's completely immune to Quinn). He gets her jokes - even when he's the target, and he supports her artistic aspirations. 3. He seems to be really dedicated to his music, enough so that (despite his apparent lack of talent) he might actually make something of himself some day.
In the end, Daria's a person with few delusions about herself. She's probably praying for the day when she can get over her distracting and humiliating hormonal "crush" and get on with the business of becoming (non-romantic) friends with Trent.
On Trent's side, he seems genuinely fond of Daria, but in a platonic, "little sister" sort of way. He seems to understand her feelings of being an outsider, and he wants to introduce her to the rock 'n' roll subculture that he considers more honest and emotionally healthy than the whole high-school thing. There's no evidence that Trent has any romantic or physical interest in Daria. He doesn't seem to even notice her intense crush on him (on the other hand, Trent is already established as somebody who notices more than he lets on.)
Some romantically-inclined fans find the "star-crossed lovers" aspect of a Daria - Trent relationship irresistable, but many others agree that a romance between the two would be a Really Bad Thing (if for no other reason, then because it would destroy the delicious tension that exists between them right now).
Commenting on the attractiveness of a cartoon character may be a symptom of my continuing status of involuntary celibacy, but...Trent looks much cuter when he smiles. I noticed that today while watching "Pierce Me."
The answer you wrote is pretty much on the mark, though perhaps a bit long considering that many of the other chapters of the FAQ are much shorter.
This topic should start a section of the FAQ along the lines of "Topics That Go Nowhere"(a la the Simpsons FAQ which has thing like "Is Smithers Gay?" and "Where is Springfield?" in a section like this). Any newbee(or troll) that wants to post something on that topic, whether they've read the FAQ or not, is going to do to it anyway and all of us old-timers will just get riled up by it.