Cafe Disaffecto

“Cafe Disaffecto” was the fourth episode of the first season of Daria. The title is sometimes written as "Café Disaffecto," but the accent mark over the e was not present in the episode title on the show.

Plot Summary
When Lawndale's cybercafé, alt.lawndale.com, is vandalized, Mr. O'Neill tries to use the incident as a catalyst for discussion about the Internet and its role in society. When Daria points out the fact that people in a cybercafé spend all their time staring at a computer screen -- a result that decreases human interaction, not enhances it -- Mr. O'Neill decides to start Café Lawndale, a coffeehouse for Lawndale youth to interact and perform. Naturally, he credits Daria for the idea, which is ironic since she doesn't want to have anything to do with it (and makes this known to Mr. O'Neill in no uncertain terms). However, Helen and Jake have been pressuring her to take part in extracurricular activities; as a result, Daria is "convinced" to take part in the project when Helen threatens to send her to music camp for the summer. Faced with the choice of fundraising or reading one of her stories at the café, Daria chooses the least painful option, and even manages to get Jane to join her. To say that things don't go well is an understatement, because while Quinn encounters guys that she can charm into buying things, Daria and Jane encounter people like Mrs. Johannsen, an overweight hypoglycemic who passes out in front of the two shocked girls. When Daria's ethics prevent her from selling chocolate bars to the woman, Ms. Li informs her that she won't get any credit for fundraising (though she can't condemn her for her ethics). In order to get the credit, Daria reluctantly decides to do a reading at the café's opening night. For the occasion, she picks a story with maximum shock value: a yarn about secret agent "Melody Powers," who fights Communism with equal amounts of brains and bullets. This gets the crowd wound up, particularly after the botched Shakespeare acting by Kevin and Brittany and the morbidly depressing poetry by Andrea, and the kids start an anti-Communism rally. Their destructive behavior forces the café to close indefinitely, but that doesn't bother Daria, who already received the extra credit she needed.