The Daria Hunter

"The Daria Hunter" was the second episode of the second season of Daria (episode number 202). It first aired on MTV on February 23, 1998.

"The Daria Hunter" was written by Peggy Nicoll.

Summary
Lawndale High is organizing a paintball trip joining the History, Language and Sciences classes, so Anthony DeMartino rails about warfare in class, taking pleasure in his student’s answers. That evening, Daria and Quinn agree not to tell their parents about the trip but Quinn cannot help blabbing at the dinner table. Helen is interested and wants to go but her offer is refused by both her daughters.

The next day, the classes travel to Jim's Paintballing Jungle on buses. In the first bus, O'Neill tries to have everybody singing until DeMartino takes over and starts a lecture on guerilla warfare; Jane tries to convince Daria to ditch the game and go see the “Great White Shark” exposition; Brittany, Kevin, Jodie and Mack pass the time trying to play games. In the other bus, the Fashion Club members swear not shoot each other, while the 3 J's vow to protect Quinn during the game, to Sandi’s displeasure. Upon arriving, Daria and Quinn have a surprise: Helen and Jake are present, having volunteered for the game.

The party arrives and, after a presentation of the field by Jim, students and adults combine in two teams: in the blue team, DeMartino addresses his team members about warfare and pain before stating they should all just shoot their adversaries. In the red team, O'Neill gives a sensitive speech before being scared off by some air shots fired by Barch. The situation is then taken in hand by Brittany, who surprises everybody when she presents a detailed strategy to win the game.

The game starts and the members disperse: Jane is quickly shot; Daria wanders around, wangsting, is ambushed by her mother (who loses interest when taking a phone call from Eric) and is later shot by Jane; elsewhere on the field, Quinn, Stacy and Tiffany are discussing boys and girlfriends when they spot and attack a lonely figure, who shots back. That person is revealed to be Sandi, who had been looking for a bathroom and scolds at the FC for breaking their oath.

Meanwhile, DeMartino and Kevin approach the enemy0s flag but are surprised by Brittany, who shoots Kevin and then bare-handedly disarms the teacher (in an incredible display of martial arts). Barch also appears at the scene and starts shooting the history teacher while ranting about her ex-husband.

As this happens, Daria and Jane decide to ditch the paintball and go visit the “Great White Shark”. It starts to rain as they walk there so they reach it soaked. The woman who runs the museum proceeds to tell them about the shark in a tell tale very similar to “Jaws”. The two students listen for a while, get bored and leave when the rain stops.

At the paintball field, the rain has abridged the game. In a tent, Barch raves about her ex-husband to a sympathetic O'Neill. She is so touched by his sensibility that she starts making out with him. In another tent, DeMartino and Jake reminisce about childhood and discover they both had gone to military school. Helen and Angela Li share another tent and quickly antagonize each other when they talk about age and education.

The students relax in a dilapidated building: Jodie, Mack and others dance, Kevin and Brittany make out in a couch and Quinn is courted by the 3 J's. Sandi, observing this group, seeks and gets reassurance by Tiffany that she is still the cutest of the Fashion Club. However, when she leaves the building to go to a bathroom, her resentment is still showing and she plays with the idea of shooting an unprotected Quinn with a paintball gun. As this happens, Tiffany makes a face-turn and reassures Quinn she is the cutest of the fashion club.

When the rain stops, adults and students meet by the buses to return: all are present except for the Morgendorffers, who ended up inside the maze tunnels, and Sandi, who is still in her bathroom break and misses the buses.

“The Daria Hunter” and Fanfic
The episode has been used in some fanfiction stories. One example is Good Art Hunting, by Richard Lobinske, of the John Lane series. The knowledge Brittany displays regarding guerrilla combat tactics has also been used in several fanfiction stories.

Animation and technical errors
On DeMartino's blackboard, South Africa is spelt "South Afrka".

Background character Jennifer mysteriously appears in the seat behind Quinn on the bus.

There's a full group shot at the start of Act 2, and it's pretty obvious that there aren't enough students there to fill two whole buses. Teams Red and Blue are also around ten people per team! Where did all the other kids go?

Daria's Reading Material
While Daria doesn't get a chance to read in this episode, Ms Barch is reading Susan Faludi's Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women.

Trivia
Li is extremely well equipped and armed!

This is where the idea of Quinn deposing Sandi as Club President first comes up in the show. Quinn had previously raised the idea in "The Daria Diaries".

Helen pretends she's out of town whenever Mr O'Neill calls about student review meetings because "that man is just so creepy."

DeMartino's blackboard lists topics for his Guerilla Warfare lesson: the Boer War, Che Guevera, Ho Chi Minh, John Wayne's The Green Berets, Hit and Run, and Insurgency. He's written Wayne's real name ("Marion") down with three exclamation marks...

Kevin says that his dad is "a contractor".

Quinn has told Stacy that Jake is her uncle.

Jordana's retelling of her struggle with the Great White Shark is a direct retelling of the movie Jaws.

Vietnam nods
The episode contains several references to the Vietnam War and popular films of it (which was listed on an MTV flipbook feature):


 * The title of this episode refers to the movie The Deer Hunter.
 * Jim's comments on Hanoi Hilton refers to an infamous Vietnamese prison used to hold American POW.
 * Daria's scene in the forest and her heavy-handed monologue is a homage to Private Chris Taylor's monologue in Platoon. The last scene, with Sandi being left behind while the other students leave, refers to a scene with Elias in the same film, including the same sound effects (music Adagio for Strings, by Barber, and the sound of helicopter blades).
 * A POV shot from DeMartino of everyone standing over him is taken from Full Metal Jacket.
 * Jake crawling through underground tunnels is a nod to Casualties of War.
 * Jake's comments on "...the horror..." is a reference to Apocalypse Now, where Kurtz cries "the horror, the horror!" DeMartino looming out of the darkness is another reference to Kurtz.

On “The Daria Hunter” the Episode

 * Episode Guide at Outpost Daria
 * Transcript at Outpost Daria