The Invitation

“The Invitation” was the second episode of the first season of Daria. In this episode, Daria and Jane are invited to a cheerleader's party. Hilarity ensues.

Plot Summary
During the art class they have together at Lawndale High School, Daria helps Brittany understand one-point perspective. Brittany wishes to repay Daria for her help and invites her to a party at her house. Daria talks about it with Jane and even though Daria is reluctant they both decide to go.

Quinn is horrified that Daria is going to a party she will be attending, and tries to convince their parents to forbid Daria from going. However, Helen and Jake are thrilled Daria is going and that both sisters have an opportunity to bond. Helen asks Daria to keep an eye on Quinn.

Daria and Jane are dropped off at Brittany's house by Trent. Jane bribes her way in by leaving her sketch book (containing "life studies") with the gate guard, and then convinces Brittany to invite her in by promising to help her in geometry ("Lots of circles, squares and triangles"). There they meet Charles "Upchuck" Ruttheimer III, who offers to lead them on a tour of the house. Meanwhile, Quinn is waited on by The Three Js (to varying degrees of success), popular-obsessed students (including Sandi, Tiffany and the Popular Girl) discuss the assumed popularity of nearby students, and Brittany shows the house to Mack and Jodie.

Later that evening, two young men try to interact with Daria and Jane using some corny pick-up lines, which do not impress Daria. Jane is receptive to the boys (if not their pickup lines) and disappears with one (whom she refers to as Bobby Bighead) for a while. Left to her own devices, Daria embarrasses Quinn by associating with her and telling the Three J's some embarrassing (and possibly false) stories about Quinn's childhood. Quinn, fed up with her, bribes Daria to leave her alone and go home.

Despite Daria's stories and Quinn's decision not to choose a boyfriend right then, the Three J's continue to fawn over Quinn, even going so far as start a fight over her, to Quinn's delight.

Meanwhile, the guard at the front gate is so enthralled with Jane's sketch book that he leaves his post to find her, allowing some gatecrashers to enter unabated. Eventually, an angry neighbor appears with the police and ends the party. Around that time, Daria and Jane, having already decided to leave, take advantage of the guard's absence to pretend to be the new community gatekeepers, and ask personal questions, along with trivia, to the residents as proof of identity.

Daria and Jane are later joined are joined by Quinn, who no longer has a ride home as all three J's have knocked each other out and the police have ended the party. Otherwise stranded at Brittany's, they accept Upchuck's offer to drive them home.

First appearances
This episode is the first to show many of the number of supporting characters: Ms. Defoe, Trent, Mack, Jodie, Upchuck, Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie.

It also debuts characteristics, attitudes or catch phrases that would later become recurring traits. These include:


 * The Three Js and their slaving and competing over Quinn, and nobody remembering Jamie's real name
 * Mack having to put up with being called "Mack Daddy" by Kevin Thompson
 * Trent's lazy attitude and rock star aspirations
 * Upchuck's "feisty" persona
 * Jane revealing that she is not shy around boys
 * Daria doing Quinn's homework for money
 * The first inklings of Daria's crush on Trent Lane
 * Sandi and Tiffany being interested in popularity (more than other students) and left bemused by Daria's lack of fashion

The script
Bernstein uploaded the shooting script (see Links) and in that:


 * The acts come in different places - originally meant to go after the dinner scene and after the party crashers arrive.


 * Daria is deliberately speeding up at the start when behind Quinn, to intentionally freak her out.


 * Ms. Defoe and the Three J's get descriptions ("three nearly identical jockboys"), which the main characters do not. Upchuck, who Bernstein has said she created, gets a description just like them ("the least popular person at the party, besides Daria and Jane... due to his large ears, bad haircut, and the fact that he is really quite annoying") - this indicates Bernstein created the J's and Defoe too.


 * When Jane describes Trent practicising the opening to Come As You Are, a cut line has her say "he's almost got it".


 * There are two gags cut from the dinner scene. After Quinn and Daria jointly rebel at their parents picking them up from parties, a cut gag: "Daria and Quinn look at each other, and are terribly embarrassed by their identical reaction. They pull away from each other in disgust." After Helen steers Daria into going: "Daria and Helen smile (daggers) at each other. Jake looks from one to the other, then nervously goes back to his meal. They keep smiling. Head down, his eyes shift between them one more time."


 * "People are milling about in limited animation."


 * Tiffany goes unnamed: she's simply called "Popular Girl Two".

Errors
Sandi is told about Quinn's popularity status, which she would already know because Quinn joined the Fashion Club last episode.

Trivia
The theme of popularity marks its first entrance here, which becomes a key element in later episodes and a huge quantity of Fanfiction. Daria's social status is confirmed by both Brittany and Tori Jericho as not popular, while "not so unpopular that you couldn't come to my party". Tori says Quinn "was new and cute, so she became, like, popular overnight".

Daria has actually been to parties in the Beavis and Butt-head comics on two occassions and one was held at her house. She didn't seem happy in either case - her dislike of parties comes from experience.

Jane's plan to claim she's Tiffany ("there's bound to be one") is undone when there's three Tiffany's invited. "Cafe Disaffecto" reveals there are, indeed, three Tiff's in one of Quinn's classes!

The background character nicknamed Shaggy appears herein and in one startling sequence is shown to be in two different places at the same time, leading to speculation that he has paranormal powers.

This is one of several early episodes where Tiffany talks at a normal rate, as opposed to the slow rate of speech which would become characteristic of the character.

In this early episode, Stacy is not part of Sandi's group but seems to be hanging out with other people. Was she not fully in Sandi's sphere of influence yet?

Sandi can be seen dancing up a storm on her own, without a care in the world.

Upchuck says the family den "was inspired by the novels of Isak Dinesen", which (considering her most famous book was Out of Africa) is him being snarky about those fake tigers.

Upchuck is a lot less pervy in this episode than he'll become.

An episode of Family Guy has a shoutout to this episode, as Joe Swanson replicates the first part of Daria's interaction with Bobby Bighead (before running off crying "You're mean!")

Trent is curiously seen amongst the gatecrashers.

Fanfiction Stories
This episode has been covered multiple times in fanfic, almost as often as Esteemsters, due to the appearance of all the above characters. First off, there are ficlets featuring plots such as everyone smoking pot and getting busted by police and other random happenings. Secondly, more and more AU fanfics have started with serious canon divergences before "Esteemsters", and have gone on to tell alternate-universe versions of this episode.

Other stories that use the episode plot are:
 * "Beyond Between," by Medea42 (AU)
 * "Daria's Lane: Party Me Hardly," by Ace Trax (AU)
 * "The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants," by Medea42
 * John by Richard Lobinske, giving Daria and John their first taste of the temptations they face.
 * Esteem Roller, by legendeld: Daria, Jane and Quinn all attend the party
 * The Invitation revised by Wouter which shows what happened in the make out room with Jane and Bobby Bighead
 * Invite of the Geek by cfardell Brenorenz29

Transcript
Transcript originally from Outpost Daria