Daria

10 Worst Episodes of Daria

After moving to a new town with her stressed-out parents and relentlessly popular little sister, Daria uses her acerbic wit and keen powers of observation to contend with the mind-numbingly ridiculous world of Lawndale High.

Written by Sophie and last updated on feb 04, 2023.

PS: The following content contains spoilers!

PPS: I will admit that parts of this page was written with the help of AI - it makes my work so much easier to not start from a blank page!

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Daria - S1E10

#10 - The Big House (Season 1 - Episode 10)

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.

The episode was rated 7.54 from 112 votes.

Daria - S3E6

#9 - The Lost Girls (Season 3 - Episode 6)

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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?

The episode was rated 7.54 from 67 votes.

Daria - S4E7

#8 - Of Human Bonding (Season 4 - Episode 7)

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.

The episode was rated 7.51 from 65 votes.

Daria - S5E1

#7 - Fizz Ed (Season 5 - Episode 1)

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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).

The episode was rated 7.49 from 59 votes.

Daria - S5E9

#6 - Life in the Past Lane (Season 5 - Episode 9)

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.

The episode was rated 7.36 from 61 votes.

Daria - S4E10

#5 - Legends of the Mall (Season 4 - Episode 10)

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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.

The episode was rated 7.32 from 62 votes.

Daria - S3E1

#4 - Daria! (Season 3 - Episode 1)

A musical episode in which seven song-and-dance numbers frame a story about an impending hurricane.

The episode was rated 7.23 from 80 votes.

Daria - S5E4

#3 - Camp Fear (Season 5 - Episode 4)

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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.

The episode was rated 7.11 from 56 votes.

Daria - S3E4

#2 - Depth Takes a Holiday (Season 3 - Episode 4)

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.

The episode was rated 7.03 from 71 votes.

Daria - S4E4

#1 - Murder, She Snored (Season 4 - Episode 4)

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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!).

The episode was rated 6.74 from 69 votes.

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