my geeky enthusing over "Lucky Strike" (SPOILERS!)

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Ahhhhh! I loved this episode! I was hyperventilating all the way through! The creators now have my permission to end the series -- I am completely satisfied with my Daria Experience. I'm sure that's a load off their minds. ;)

Random favorite moments and quotes:

"... not to bring down a lawsuit that could make me lose my very pants!" - A. Li

The substitute with the Lolita jones -- oh my gosh, if he used the phrase "woman-child" one more time, I was gonna wet my pants. "It's a book about gaarrrdeniinnggg?" - Tiffany. "Oh sweet Tiffany, I never got to hear you call me Ken!" - Ken "He was STROKING Tiffany's HAIR?!!!" - Helen, just as Daria hands her the phone. That, too, was a classic moment -- Daria really is quite in tune with both of her parents.

Trent and Mr. O'Neill writing protest songs -- the development all the way through was really precise in it's progression from O'Neill's style to Trent's style. Hearing the final chef d'oeuvre, a Mystik Spyral "sound" in Timothy's voice, was just too surreal!

And, of course, the wonderful wonderful follow-up to the end of IIFY with the Fashion Club. The girls have been improving steadily since their "pecking order" rut was shaken up by Sandi's brief fall from status in FLM. Quinn's development started even earlier, in IIFY. Sandi has relaxed her iron fist, Stacy's been less fearful of speaking her mind, Tiffany's been a smidge more aware, and Quinn has not been so inclined to suppress her academic abilities in order be what Sandi thinks she should be. But everyone slips a bit on the road to self-improvement, and Sandi's insecurities had her needling Quinn once more in this episode -- making barbed remarks about "brainy" behavior and threating blackmail regarding "that girl."

Well! She didn't get off with pithy one-liners about pedagoguery this time buddy -- Quinn laid the smack down! An expansive, I-don't-care-what-you-think defense of Daria's tactics, a brilliant warning shot regarding awkward 5th-grade brace-face pictures of Sandi, and her proud -- PROUD, I tells ya! -- declaration of sisterhood. Booyah! And did Sandi back down? Yessirree, especially since Stacy and Tiffany kindly but matter-of-factly refused to back her up.

FLM showed (to my surprise) that Sandi really does appreciate Quinn, and deep down she craves her friendship. Now she's having to learn that she can't rule over her any more. If she continues to try, she'll lose that friendship and any status she ever had with Stacy and Tiffany. I think they're starting to recognize and value Quinn's "brainy" attributes (we're not just talking academics), and they won't admire any attempt by Sandi to tear Quinn down. Hopefully, Sandi will soon be able to accept that losing "top dog" status really is worth gaining better quality relationships with her friends. I do want her to be happy.

Daria and Quinn's exchange at the end... the tender smiles as they trade the comfortably familiar jabs... oh, I'm all verklempt! Talk amongst yourselves! Here's a topic: Jake and Helen are neither hippies nor yuppies... discuss...

-Ashley

Ashley D Ford said:

I hate that phrase ("woman-child"), by the way, and was laughing hysterically to see its use so well parodied. :)

I thought it was hilarious that the FC totally missed what he was really trying to do. They're more than a bit less sophisticated than they think ...

Ken, of course, was thinking about the Tiffany that existed only in his brain, since the _real_ Tiffany would have said something like ...

"Do ... _I_ ... look ... _good_ ... calling you ... Ken?"

What really made it work is that we all kind of saw it coming ... it was like "Hmm, how long will it take for Helen to notice that Quinn's basically telling her that the guy was trying to seduce them ..."

What I really wonder about is to what extent _Quinn_ realized what he'd been doing?

Yep. Quinn's making it plain to Sandi that Sandi has to let Quinn be Quinn.

Also, Staci and Tiffany appreciate that Quinn leads by example, instead of by trying to cut them down.

In article ,

*snort!* Good one...

I think she knew bang-on what he'd been doing and was taking a deliberate step to stop it. With her long indoctrination into the FC philosophy that "male attention is always a good thing," she couldn't bring herself to come right out and say, "Mom, this guy's a creepy pedophile, help!" However, she described what he'd said and done in graphic detail, and it seemed to me that her tone was a bit louder and more forceful than is usual for her rambling, after-school monologues. I'll have to watch again to see if that was true or if I was just imagining it.

And later on, unless I'm mis-remembering, she made some reference to him being dismissed because he "wanted to fertilize Tiffany." Although her friends may not have caught it, I think she knew darned well that Ken's book was not about gardening. *grin*

-Ashley

Ashley D. Ford said:

Quinn may have decided to stop it at least partially to protect Tiffany. It's possible that Quinn's clueful enough to realize that an older man might be able to _successfully_ seduce Tiffany, especially since she herself (Quinn) is sometimes attracted to older men.

LOL -- I loved that line :)

I think their mindset is geared toward people as status symbols, not as sex objects. So much so that they can't see a cow fly past.

Yep.

ROTLF!

M Man

MMan said:

Jordan S. Bassior wrote:

They're so focused on the wrong things that they miss what's going on in front of them -- or at least Sandi, Stacy, and Tiffany (ESPECIALLY Tiffany) do.

LOL, Jordan! :D I wonder how Ken Edwards would've reacted to THAT?

My guess is, she at least half-suspected as much. I mean, she's not stupid, as Daria obviously pointed out in the episode.

Who'd blame them for appreciating Quinn's leading by example? I wouldn't like a leader who led by cutting ME down!

Sandi learning that she can't rule over Quinn anymore is going to be a very hard lesson. I hope (for her sake) she learns it.

Belle Book

"Ashley D Ford" wrote in message news:99qanf$3nb4$[email]...

And just think, they actually did a "Daria gets forced to do something she doesn't really wanna do" episode, and it's not lame!

Of course, the premise of Daria being in that situation was pushing maximum weight limit on the suspension bridge of disbelief, but with character development like that, who gives a dang? Finally, Quinn Morgendorffer v2.0 makes an appearance in season 5....

The whole "YOU'RE NOT ONE OF THEM" scene was probably my favorite part.