Road Worrier is the eleventh episode of Season 1 of Daria and the eleventh episode of the series overall. It originally aired on MTV on July 7, 1997.
Synopsis[]
Daria and Jane hitch a ride with Trent to go to Alternapalooza.
Plot[]
Daria is at Casa Lane, watching Jane built a sculpture with her new glue gun, the Stickmata 5000. They are interrupted by a very loud accord that destroys the sculpture. Jane uses the opportunity to drag Daria to the basement, presenting her to Mystik Spiral, Trent's band, who is playing a new song called "Icebox Woman". Upon meeting him, Daria is suddenly mute, muttering only a 'Hi' and failing to provide sarcastic answers to his questions. Trent invites the girls to join him and Jesse in a trip to musical festival Alternapalooza.
More teenagers in Lawndale are going to the music festival: The Fashion Club are shopping in preparation, and Quinn even gets a fake tattoo. She is nervous when Daria tells her she's also going, but quiets down when Daria notes they won't have much contact in the crowd, and even offers her sister some fashion advice. Jakes tells them of his experiences in Altamont and provides some money and advice.
Daria and Jane are picked in The Tank, Max Tyler's old van. This has little comfort, as the girls are forced to sit on a big flightcase in the rear with no seat belts while Trent and Jesse ride in the only two seats up front. The trip is a burden to Daria, as holes in the road cause her to fall and break her glasses, a bee stings her and she later finds she'd been sitting on an old sandwich. To top it all, she has to endure Jane's non-stop teasing.
Quinn is picked up by Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie, who drive with her and the rest of the Fashion Club in Sandi's convertible. Brittany, Jodie and Mack are also going, being driven to the festival in Kevin's Jeep.
All groups stop in a roadside diner, where they are greeted and served by Sue, a smart mouthed waitress. While there, Jodie, Brittany, Kevin and Mack discuss the spartan conditions of Alternapalooza concert.
Later during the trip, after some heavy traffic and Daria having had to relieve herself between the roadside trees, the Tank suffers a malfunction and the foursome is left stranded. Jane enlists Jess to go look for help after a nearby field, an obvious plan to leave Daria and Trent together. These two share some bonding moments while talking about life. Daria tells Trent he is brave to go after his dream and that he is doing what he wants. Trent is grateful and compliments Daria.
Jane and Jesse return later, having discovered no help, and Jane eventually uses her glue gun to fix the Tank's engine. However, by this time the concert is over. On the way back, Jess and Jane sleep on the back of the van while Trent and Daria share the front seat, both enjoying the silence and company.
Meanwhile, The Fashion Club has a sudden change of plans when they see and roadside add for outlet shopping, with Kevin's jeep following them when Brittany correctly interprets Stacy's signal. They end up not going to the concert either.
When the Morgendorffer sisters arrive home, the next morning, they find Helen and Jake in a very relaxed mood, clearly having taken full advantage of their daughters' absence.
Characters[]
- Daria Morgendorffer
- Quinn Morgendorffer
- Jake Morgendorffer
- Helen Morgendorffer
- Jane Lane
- Trent Lane
- Jesse Moreno
- Sandi Griffin
- Stacy Rowe
- Tiffany Blum-Deckler
- Joey
- Jeffy
- Jamie White
- Kevin Thompson
- Brittany Taylor
- Mack Mackenzie
- Jodie Landon
- Curtis Stalano
- Sue
Trivia[]
General[]
- First appearance of Mystik Spiral, though Max Tyler and Nicholas Campbell are not present, but the former is mentioned in passing.
- First appearance of Daria's crush on Trent.
- First appearance of The Tank.
- The episode's title is a parody of the title of the film The Road Warrior, the second film in the Mad Max franchise.
- Alternapalooza is an obvious reference to the real-life alternative music festival Lollapalooza.
- Sandi is shown to be much more willing to indulge in other fashion styles in this episode, in later episodes she was shown to have a very strict style of fashion.
- Jake and Helen disapprove of tattoos and piercings, the latter would be brought up again in Pierce Me.
- Jake attended the infamous Altamont music concert.
- Jake and Helen's marriage in this episode was shown to be much more stable than in later seasons, as the two manage to fool around while their daughters are out of town and are shown to clearly be in love.
- Due to no part of this episode taking place at Lawndale High, this is the first episode that features no Backgrounders.
- This is the last episode where Delon Ferdinand voices Mack.
- The scene where the gang are stuck in traffic parodies the music video for Everybody Hurts, by REM which Trent himself then references. The actual song was included in this scene originally, but was replaced by stock music in subsequent versions.
- The theory of Jane interested in Jesse Moreno is more accepted with some facts from this episode: it looks like Jane's interest in being near Jesse is cover by her trying to put Daria together with Trent. But in the end: Jane is who proposes to go downstairs to see the band, Jane got the money to go to the concert, Jane wanted Daria to sit on front so she could travel with Jesse in the backside as they did in the end, Jane planning to go "for help" with Jesse.
Errors[]
- Daria didn't know Trent had a band before now, despite knowing him since at least the events of "The Invitation".
- When Daria was asking if one of the windows could be opened to which Trent replied that it wasn't possible because of the handles being missing. However, in the scene where they are stuck in the traffic jam, Jesse is seen with his arm leaning out of the window.
- When Jane and Daria stand before Trent and Jesse, Jane's legs are bare instead of having her usual black stockings but when the focus turns to the girls her stockings are back.
- According to The Daria Diaries, Alternapalooza takes place in August, while school is not in session. All other first-season episodes (except perhaps "The Teachings of Don Jake", which also seems to occur during summer) take place during the school year. Unless that year's Alternapalooza was held months early, his puts "Road Worrier" out of chronological order with the rest of Season 1 - and also with Season 2, as both are commonly viewed as being in the same school year, even though Season 2 has Daria familiar with Jesse and Mystik Spiral and builds on the shipping hints from that episode.
- Alternatively, "The Misery Chick" and Season 2 can be taken as part of the same year as Seasons 3 and 4. This strains credibility as "Depth Takes a Holiday" sets itself in late October. It is possible that Alternapalooza was held a few months early that year.