The Kiss

Part of Tomgate

The Kiss is the climactic scene of the season 4 finale "Dye! Dye! My Darling" when Daria Morgendorffer and Tom Sloane first kiss in Tom's car. This event has generated considerable fan discussion since it originally aired.

Tom and Daria kiss for the first time.

The kiss was the culmination of Tomgate, which was the nickname given by the Daria fandom to describe the love triangle between Daria, Tom, and Jane. The kiss itself represented Daria's betrayal of Jane. It began the ultimate test of Daria and Jane's friendship and would set the stage for the tension between Daria and Jane seen in "Is It Fall Yet?".

In Caira's contemporary essay "Has It Fallen Yet?", it's reported that after it happened: "we've got a comparably huge influx of new [message board] posters, almost all of the old ones are there, and unlike before, almost *nobody* is sitting on the fence. Roughly fifty percent are loving the new episodes and anxiously awaiting for Is It Fall Yet? for further development of the relationships (I'll call them category one), about 40% are aghast at the romance in what was once a show above all that and dreading the assumed further horrors of IIFY (category two), and most of the remaining ten have the same issues with the romance but look forward to IIFY to get the whole unpleasant business over with -- having faith in Glenn to deliver some genuinely new goods in Season Five (category three). ... and one or two disappointed -- but quiet -- D/Trent 'shippers."

Most of the Majors and Indie-Fans on the boards alike seem to approve the direction of Daria's last two eps, or at least condone them, nevermind the emasculation of Our Heroine and her partner-in-crime, nevermind the overexposure of Kevin and Brittany earlier in the season, nevermind the lowest common denominator panning with this love-triangulation. Few have openly spoken against them. Those who do I feel have something of an unspoken judgment passed on them, that they are churlish, retro-minded, unrealistic folks and less than well-bred. Fans living a Season One pipe dream, and why-can't-they-just-leave-us-char-devvers-the-hell-alone-and-take-up-chess-or-something

While it is most often noted that the attraction between Daria and Tom started during "I Loathe a Parade," that is not universally accepted. Complicating the discussion is how little Tom appeared in the intervening episodes. He is mentioned as "bowling with friends" in "Of Human Bonding," has only a brief appearance on JaneCam in "Psycho Therapy," and after eating Jane's gummy bears is seen only with Trent and Jesse in "Mart of Darkness." He doesn't appear at all in "Legends of the Mall" and "Groped by an Angel." After "I Loathe A Parade," Daria and Tom do not appear together on-screen until "Fire!," when the mutual attraction is obvious.

The Kiss in fanfiction

The events of this, alternate universe versions of it, and aversions of it have been rife in Daria fanfiction since 2000. Examples include:

• Iron Chef: Lying about The Kiss: A collection of short stories where Daria lied to Jane about it