The Story of D

"The Story of D" was the fifth episode of the fifth season of Daria (episode number 505). It first aired on MTV on March 19, 2001.

"The Story of D" was written by Jacquelyn Reingold.

Summary
Daria writes a short story, and after some encouragement from Tom Sloane, submits it to Musings, a prestigious literary magazine with a large circulation known for publishing serious fiction. Daria's submission of the story becomes far more widely known at Lawndale High than she wanted it to be.

In a bizarre subplot, Jake expresses upset over a teacher from military school's disparaging of a song he "wrote" (it's "Yankee Doodle Dandy" with bizarrely altered lyrics) for the class musical.

At the same time, the Fashion Club seeks to make a difference in the world (or at least earn the recognition for doing so). After rejecting joining the Adopt-A-Highway program, they hit upon the idea to create a fashion newsletter to raise money for a new mirror in the girl's room. They face a tough decision when their fashion predictions don't pan out.

Trivia
The title is a play on The Story of O, an erotic novel by Anne Desclos, a French translator and critic who wrote under the name Pauline R&eacute;age. The name of the episode may also draw an ironic parallel between Tom encouraging Daria to submit the story to Musings and the genesis of Desclos' novel: Desclos' lover (and employer) Jean Paulhan, held that no woman could write a successful erotic novel, and Desclos' wrote The Story of O to prove him wrong; her novel won the Prix de Deux Magots. Vice versa, in "The Story of D," Daria is unsure of the worth of her story, but allows Tom to persuade her to submit it to Musings, which rejects it.

Unlike Daria's Melody Powers story in Cafe Disaffecto, no exerpts of the story are presented to the viewer. Dialogue indicates it is about a flesh-eating virus and changes style and tone often.

When Daria and Jake are discussing Jake's song, Jake sings "Gutsy Jakey went to town, riding in a Lexus, missed his star but did aim far... um...", and for the next line Daria suggests "who cares what jerk rejects us" as a rhyme. This mirrors their singing at one point in the musical Daria! In the reprise of Morning in the 'Burbs, Jake also sang a line ending in Lexus, and Daria's next line again ends in a rhyme for the word: solar plexus.

"The Story of D" and Fanfic
The story Heartbeat in Iambic is set during and after this episode.