Speedtrapped

"Speedtrapped" was the tenth episode of the third season of Daria (episode number 310). It first aired on MTV on July 28, 1999. This episode was written by Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil.

Summary
Daria Morgendorffer finally gets her drivers license and must drive to Fremont to bail Jane Lane and Mystik Spiral out of jail, with Quinn tagging along "in case something cool happens."

Trivia

 * Judging from Mike the driving instructor's reaction and Jane having an aging cake waiting for her, Daria's failed the driving test a whole bunch of times (apparently due to parallel parking).


 * This episode is one of only two, "Lucky Strike" being the other, where someone else is reciting Trent's lyrics.


 * Quinn is capable of driving, even though she hasn't taken lessons yet (Daria is surprised that Quinn can drive at all).


 * Quinn says that she learnt how to drive and visited bars during dates. Her blase reaction to Mad Dawg's indicates she's been to some very grotty, blue-collar bars.


 * Travis' song is by real-life country singer Conway Twitty.


 * Jane's temporary tattoo is a homage to Jasper John's "Moratorium", a piece created for a 1969 anti-Vietnam War rally. Jane doesn't mention the politics of the original piece but would logically be aware of it.


 * Quinn is a fan of Buffy.


 * As noted by The Angst Guy, Daria would have killed Travis if he hadn't dodged the car in time.


 * While the episode shows a "Fremont Town Limits" sign in the episode, Quinn mentions stopping at a "little town" between the sign and the Sheriff's Office; on top of that, Travis the hitchhiker is picked up near the sign and sings for a long time (Daria claims two hours but was probably exaggerating) during a ride through blank desert. Fremont may have been intended as a county and the sign was an error.


 * Near the end of Act 2, after Daria assumes that Travis had stolen the money Daria was going to use to bail out Mystik Spiral, a traditional commercial bumper begins. However, the bumper is interrupted by the sound of a needle scratching a record, and the plot resumes with the revelation that Quinn gave the money to Travis.

"Speedtrapped" and the Location of Lawndale
Lawndale's actual location has long been an open question in Daria fandom. Glenn Eichler, the definitive source on matters Daria, could only give this equivocal reply:

I thought the Morgendorffers lived in a mid-Atlantic suburb, outside somewhere like Baltimore. They could have lived in Pennsylvania near the Main Line, though. (Source: Interview at DVDaria.info)

This interview with Eichler dates from 2005-2006, however, and some prominent fanwork had already situated Lawndale in other parts of the United States. Michelle Klein-Hass, for example, wrote a series where Lawndale was in Connecticut, and took its title from that.

Compounding this problem for fans is the landscape of the area surrounding Lawndale shown in "Speedtrapped." Fremont is only one hundred miles from Lawndale, but much of the terrain Daria and Quinn cover on their drive there resembles the arid southwest. What little community there is the landscape is appropriate to it: there is the hitchhiker Travis, a singing cowboy, and Mad Dawg's, a western saloon complete with swinging doors, and finally, the regional accents of the Fremont sheriff's staff and jailhouse regulars (including Stan and Sally).

On “Speedtrapped” the Episode

 * “Speedtrapped” summary at Outpost Daria
 * “Speedtrapped” transcript at Outpost Daria

Alternate-Universe Versions of “Speedtrapped”

 * The Quiet Ones by Smileyfax starts at the end of this fic, when Daria deliberately runs over Travis.

Alternate Canon Versions of “Speedtrapped”
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