The Top 5 Daria Episodes

Just a hold over until my new shows are up and running. Now, I am a huge Daria fan, I always loved the show and I got the entire Daria collection on DVD for Christmas, so it's pretty hard to pick 5, so I've gone through and picked basically the essential Dari episodes in my eyes. Thefunniest, the saddest, the ones that capture the characters the best. So here it is:

The Top 5 Daria Episodes

1. Daria! (Ep7, S3)

Daria! is my favourite episode for a great many reason. It's by far and large the funniest, it has all myfavourite quotes, I can basically recite the episode word for word, it's a musical(!), and it's the best episode to show anyone if you want them to know anything about the show as it is quintessential Daria and includes just about every character ever in Daria.

2. Boxing Daria (Ep13, S5)

Boxing Daria is the last official episode of Daria and also the most serious the show has ever been. A deep character study of Daria, her relationship with her parents and sister, and her troubled childhood. This episode resonates with me on a deep personal level as I went through a lot of things Daria did, as oblivious as she was to it all.

3. Jane's Addition (Ep13, S3)

Ah, Jane's Addition, thank you for introducing my favourite character, Tom, who shook up the Daria world for another two seasons and two movies. This episode also once and for all ends Daria's crush on Trent and includes the best quote out of Daria, ever, so beautifully and astutely summing up Daria's home life:

Helen (offscreen) - Meeting!
Jake (offscreen) - Golf!
Quinn (offscreen) - Date!
Daria - Sarcasm!

4. Dye, Dye, My Darling (Ep14, S4)

This was a tough choice, I was really torn between I Loathe a Parade and Dye, Dye, My Darling. Both are fantastic episodes for roughly the same reason, although I have sentimental attachment to I Loathe A Parade as it was the first Daria episode I ever saw. In the end, I ha to choose this one, which revolves around the building tension between Daria and Jane over Tom, culminating in one fateful scene that all but destroys their friendship.

5. Esteemers (Ep1, S1)

Esteemers is the best way a show could have started. Well written and interesting characters, snappy dialogue, and Mr. O'Neil's somewhat suspicious "Esteem" class. Check Daria's "psyche test" for some of the funniest moments in Daria, later given a bittersweet treatment in Boxing Daria.

Honourable mentions go to both movies, especially Is It Fall Yet?, which sees the characters develop in startling ways over summer break. Jane goes to art camp where she goes through a major identity crisis, Daria is forced into 'supervising' Mr O'Neil's ill-guide "OK to Cry Corral" and is chalenged by a traumatised kid and Quinn gets a tutor and begins to develop well beyond her shallow persona.