The Lost Girls

"The Lost Girls" was the fifth episode of the third season of the Daria TV series (episode number 305). It first aired on MTV on March 24, 1999 and was written by Neena Beber.

Summary
Timothy O'Neill, unknown to Daria, enters her essay, "My So-Called Angst," into a contest to "Win a Day With Val," the vapid editor of the equally vapid Val Magazine. Daria is, shall we say, less than enthused, as she believes Val is essentially a narcissistic opportunist making money off the confusion of teenagers and foisting her own shallow beliefs on them (cos Val is); Jane, however, convinces her to go along with it, saying that the experience could be an opportunity to snag a trip to New York City.

Daria endures Val's incessant chatter and over-the-top efforts to fit in with the youth culture she supposedly represents. Finally, Daria can take no more, and essentially tells the grownup Fashion Club wannabe that she should "stop embracing the teen within and start embracing the 30-something without," grow up, and start doing more to help today's youth with their problems instead of adding to them. Enraged, Val leaves and, upon returning to New York, writes an article for Val about "today's underground bummer culture"... with Daria as the "anonymous" subject of the article.

Trivia

 * The episode is ripping the piss out of Jane Pratt and her self-titled magazine Jane Magazine.


 * The title of the episode is a play on the title of the 1987 film The Lost Boys.


 * The title of Daria's essay is a play on the title of the television series My So-Called Life.


 * The song that Jane sings while passing Daria and Val in the school hallway is "New York, New York" from the Broadway musical On The Town, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein.

"The Lost Girls" and Fanfic

 * The ghost story "Letting Go" (Part 1, Part 2, Epilogue by RX-87 starts with Val driven to suicide by the events of this episode.

On “The Lost Girls” the Episode

 * “The Lost Girls” summary at Outpost Daria (via Wayback Machine)
 * “The Lost Girls” transcript at Daria Transcripts

Alternate-Universe Versions of “The Lost Girls”
Kristen Bealer's fanfic "The Double-Crossed Girls" has Quinn winning the "Spend a Day with Val" contest with her essay instead of Daria.

Alternate Canon Versions of “The Lost Girls”
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