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
A computer has been stolen from "alt.lawndale.com", the student coffee house in Lawndale, an event that English teacher Timothy O'Neill introduces in his sophomore class for discussion, instead of Shakespeare, asking the students to express their feelings about it. Kevin doesn't know how to express them. Jodie feels angry about the robbery. Daria mocks the teacher's feelings about being cut off from the "virtual community", stating sitting in a room staring at a computer screen and not talking to anybody for hours isn't what a community should be like. Misunderstanding Daria's comments, O'Neill starts to organize the opening of a new coffeehouse.

Later that day, at Schloss Morgendorffer, Daria, Helen and Jake talk about extra-curriculum activities. Helen insists that Daria does something besides school, to be included in future college applications. She ends up convincing the later to look for something, or risk Helen do it for her or send her to Music Camp (an activity Daria detests). This despite both Daria's and Jake's opinion that colleges will be mainly looking for financial solvency instead of good CVs. Daria ends up volunteering for the coffeehouse work, choosing to do fundraising instead of performing on stage. She convinces Jane to join her with some difficulty.

Other students are also involved in fundraising: Kevin and Brittany] try to sell wrapping papers, magazine subscriptions or chocolate bars to [[Anthony DeMartino, who refuses to buy anything on the general principal that he does not want to contribute to another place for students to sloth. Quinn uses an excellent selling technique and her feminine knowledge in convincing (i.e. manipulating) a solitary guy (Danny) into buying long-distance phone cards.

Daria and Jane sell chocolate bars door-to-door. Their first client is Mrs. Johansen, an obese woman who is short breathed and faints when she talks to them. That, and the revelation she is hypoglycemic and forbidden to eat chocolate by her doctor, prompt Daria to refuse selling her any bars, despite the woman's pleas to buy their whole supply. Back at school, Mrs Li reprimands the two students for not having sold anything and having refused to sell to a willing client, despite Daria's explanation of her medical condition. Fortunately for them, the lack of money from the aborted chocolate sale is compensated by the huge success Quinn has in selling phone cards.

Daria, however, still has no credit for the coffee house opening, so agrees to present a story. After considering and passing over several of her old stories, she decides to write a new one.

The opening night comes, and the coffee has several performances: A male rock musician sings some lines before destroying his own guitar on stage; Brittany and Kevin attempt to do Romeo and Juliet's balcony scene; Andrea reads some lines of her poetry. Finally, Daria reads her new story, a spy thriller presenting the female secret agent Melody Powers. The first uninterested audience slowly warms up to Daria's story and bursts in applause and cheers at its concluding.

The following day, at breakfast, Jake reads in the newspaper the side effect to the success of Daria's story: some Lawndale Lions had formed an anti-communist rally and had attempted to stone the russian embassy (non-existing in Lawndale), causing the closing of the caffee.

The episode concludes with a robbery of the new coffee that same night.

“Cafe Disaffecto” and Fanfic
Throughout Kara Wild's Driven Wild Universe series, Cafe Lawndale undergoes several changes. In "The Tie That Chokes," it returns to being a student coffee house, with the added presence of armed security. In "Erin the Head," Cafe Lawndale has closed altogether and has been turned into a new "happening" venue called the Metreonopolis. Finally, in "Into the Fire," we learn that the Metreonopolis was shut down and turned into the more tasteful, sedate Café Brunoli, which caters to older clientèle. In each case, with the exception of the last one, disaster befell the café, just as it did in "Cafe Disaffecto."

In "Can I Just Have The Coffee?" Daria is convinced for different reasons to read a story at the coffee house, with John Lane egging on the near-rioting football players.

Trivia
This is the first canon appearance of Melody Powers. This fictional-character-within-the-series would get a strong backing and response by the fandom.

The original name of the student coffee house, alt.lawndale.com, was later used as the name of a Daria fandom website that claimed to be the third unofficial Daria site created. The site is no longer maintained or updated.