Everyone here seems to think that Tom's "not that bad" but I'm totally in the dissent. At the beginnig of the episode he was making out with Jane in her bedroom. If he really thought that their relationship was already dead, doesn't it seem slightly shady to kiss her like everything is A-ok ? And he didn't even tell her that he kissed Daria, Daria was the honest one. Are we even sure he would've told Jane? I think he would've 'neglected' to tell her just like he 'neglected' to tell her that he thought their relationship was over. Just my two cents :).
I think you're being a little tough on him. You're not totally wrong, but you are going on a bunch of what if's. What if daria hadn't run into Jane, what if he had, etc... There's a million different ways this could play out in real life. Honestly, this way just makes a better plotline.
This ties into my "Bad Tom, no cookie!" comment. Of course, I have seen in my own life (happening to friends, not myself, thankfully) a situation like this where it was "Bad guy, no cookie!" and everything seems hunky dory. However, Daria seems a bit more confused and upset about the situation than my friend was, so....
Bad Tom, no cookie! -J The Leopard Lady "People shouldn't be judged by the color of their skin. They should be judged on important things like their taste in music!"-Murphy Brown "She's too short to play me."-Joey Potter Too short to play herself in a movie
Chocolate chip. And he can take the cookie, and stick it up his.... -J The Leopard Lady "People shouldn't be judged by the color of their skin. They should be judged on important things like their taste in music!"-Murphy Brown "She's too short to play me."-Joey Potter Too short to play herself in a movie
*smirk* Anytime! -J The Leopard Lady "People shouldn't be judged by the color of their skin. They should be judged on important things like their taste in music!"-Murphy Brown "She's too short to play me."-Joey Potter Too short to play herself in a movie
Wait a sec. I think you're being a little harsh on him here.
We know more-or-less what Daria's been thinking through the last couple of eps, since the show follows her exploits. But we only see Tom when he's in the middle of things. Have you considered the possability that he was just as surprised by what happened as Daria was?
Think about it. During the car scene he sounded like he was trying the same kind of false denials as Daria was. After the first kiss his "I liked it too" comment seemed subdued, almost stunned. Same after the second kiss. And when Jane confronted him, he was trying to take responsability just as Daria was. The fact that he handled the whole mess more calmly can be attributed to greater maturity and experience.
Personally I think he's been riding the same emotional roller-coaster as Daria since the parade. Which would make him no worse than Daria herself. And *definitely* better than Jane. I feel sorry for her and I hope she comes to her senses and works it out, but let's face it - with all the abuse she was dishing out on both Tom and Daria she definitely had *something* coming to her. If anyone deserved to have her cookie taken away, it's her.
I really don't think he expected that to happen, I really don't. Although he wasn't displeased by it the way Daria was (note the smile).
He's probably been through the break up thing before. Also Jane was a little hysterical.
I don't know. His "we got tired of each other, it happens all the time" doesn't strike me as being in being in the same turmoil as Daria. Someone said here that they think he's not good at confrontations. He's been putting off breaking off with Jane for a while, I think. If Daria didn't bring it out he'd probably still keep quiet.
Hey, it's no fun when you realize the guy you care about is slowly drifting away towards your best friend- especially if you've never been in love before. She's in as much turmoil as Daria was. And probably still is.
No one deserved it, but then again it was all unavoidable. My only hope is that she and Daria can heal the rift that's growing between them.
I thought his "denials" were more a form of teasing Daria because he saw right through her denials.
kiss.
Well, it's been mentioned in this ng that Daria seemed surprised by her own passion at kissing. Probably Tom was too; after all, their had up to now been interacting on a very intellectual basis - long discussions of Fellini films, Machiavelli's politics, etc.
Although he
Daria was.
attributed to
I think he was surprised by Jane's vehemence for two reasons - first, Jane had been treating him like crap, so why would she care?; second, in his own mind they had already broken up.
a little
coaster as
Hmmm. I don't know about an emotional roller-coaster. Though I think the attraction between the two was obvious to us viewers long before it was to either of them. He had thought of Daria as "Jane's friend" and it took him a while to decide she was more than that to him.
time"
That was me. It's not so much that he's not good at them; he doesn't like them and tries to "make nice" in all situations.
Keep in mind though that intelligence is a major turn-on (we're hard-wired that way; intelligence is of _major_ survival value). This is especially true for those of exceptional intelligence, who have problems finding someone of equivalent intelligence to love.
Humor is an expression of intelligence; so is scholarship; humor _about scholarship_ is doubly so. The attraction between Tom and Daria was building during that conversation about Machiavelli and dictators, the more so because each had finally found another who could understand _all_ his or her jokes.
Jane didn't know how to treat him differently; and he hadn't told Jane that they'd broken up. But I do understand his point of view, and agree with you.
All you said is absolutely true. But neither of them really understood this as it was happening. Daria's always experienced her intelligence as something that keeps people away from her, especially romantically. We don't know much if anything about Tom's history, but it goes against stereotypes, especially for high schoolers, to expect a quiet intellectual to be passionate. Even though it turns out the other way 'round more often than not.
Which is why she was so drawn to Tom when she saw that it was something that attracted him.
Tom's smarter than most high schoolers.
Incidentally, there's more than one sort of intelligence and more than one way to demonstrate it. Quinn is highly intelligent; she's just choosing to demonstrate her intelligence in different ways than does Daria. _Worse_ ways, in my opinion, but then my opinion isn't that of the three J's or the Fashion Club.
Ok, I feel really stupid. I'm surprised that no one called me on this error. I misremembered "The Daria Hunter", since it has been a while since I saw the episode. It wasn't Quinn who showed the tactical skills, it was Brittany. I'm so ashamed. I will now leave to perform painful acts of penance.
He wasn't betraying his best friend by doing this, only a girl he intended to break up with anyway.
hysterical.
I don't think Jane was all that "hysterical", assuming that she had real feelings for Tom. She'd just lost her lover, apparently to her best friend. That's a horrible situation to be in, especially since this meant that she could not gain emotional support from Daria.
It in fact strikes me as a serious underestimation of the emotional importance of the situation. Overly calm.
_And_ never had a "best friend" before, either.
I was in Jane's exact situation once. Except that I had more than one friend.
It was still extremely rough, and it hurt for years afterward.
That was a joke, hon. I think blame is passed all around, and the only reason Daria has any less of it is because well, she was the kisseE, not the kisseR. The cookie thing was a joke.
As to "Bad Tom, no cookie," well, he _did_ kiss Daria before he broke up with Jane. A friend of mine did the same thing, knowing he was going to break up with his GF, but I was still mad at him for doing it. (It was a situation in many ways indentical to Our Heroine's. Only imagine a fourth friend who's just as in the middle of it, but watching it all, and that's me. Maybe I'm Trent....)
-J The Leopard Lady AIM: JillCat42 "Why settle for vanity when you can have pure egotism?"-Jane Lane "The heart has its reasons that reason cannot know."-Pascal "We're practicing for the millenium, making love at the Chelsea Hotel"-Dan Bern
If he really thought that their relationship was already dead, doesn't
I think that whoever initiated the kiss (Tom said it was him, but I'm not too sure -- it sounds like a desperate Jane attempt to hang onto the relationship in a way) WAS trying to pretend that nothing had gone wrong between them. As Tom admitted in the car, his attraction for Daria makes him . . . well, kind of a jerk. The sudden kiss ("I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the painting") may have been his way of getting his mind off of Daria. Or, of course, he may have been pretending that Jane WAS Daria . . .