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'''“Cafe Disaffecto”''' was the fourth episode of the first season of <i>Daria</i>. 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.
'''“Cafe Disaffecto”''' was the fourth episode of the first season of <i>Daria</i>. 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.

In this episode, hilarity ensues when Daria, Jane, and Quinn are coerced into raising money for a new student coffee house, and Daria is asked to read a story on its opening night.


==Plot Summary==
==Plot Summary==
When Lawndale's cybercafé, alt.lawndale.com, is vandalized, Mr. O'Neill tries to use the incident as a catalyst for discussion about the Internet and its role in society. When Daria points out the fact that people in a cybercafé spend all their time staring at a computer screen -- a result that decreases human interaction, not enhances it -- Mr. O'Neill decides to start Café Lawndale, a coffeehouse for Lawndale youth to interact and perform. Naturally, he credits Daria for the idea, which is ironic since she doesn't want to have anything to do with it (and makes this known to Mr. O'Neill in no uncertain terms). However, Helen and Jake have been pressuring her to take part in extracurricular activities; as a result, Daria is "convinced" to take part in the project when Helen threatens to send her to music camp for the summer. Faced with the choice of fundraising or reading one of her stories at the café, Daria chooses the least painful option, and even manages to get Jane to join her. To say that things don't go well is an understatement, because while Quinn encounters guys that she can charm into buying things, Daria and Jane encounter people like Mrs. Johannsen, an overweight hypoglycemic who passes out in front of the two shocked girls. When Daria's ethics prevent her from selling chocolate bars to the woman, Ms. Li informs her that she won't get any credit for fundraising (though she can't condemn her for her ethics). In order to get the credit, Daria reluctantly decides to do a reading at the café's opening night. For the occasion, she picks a story with maximum shock value: a yarn about secret agent "Melody Powers," who fights Communism with equal amounts of brains and bullets. This gets the crowd wound up, particularly after the botched Shakespeare acting by Kevin and Brittany and the morbidly depressing poetry by Andrea, and the kids start an anti-Communism rally. Their destructive behavior forces the café to close indefinitely, but that doesn't bother Daria, who already received the extra credit she needed.
A computer is stolen from "alt.lawndale.com", the student cybercafe in [[Lawndale]]. English teacher [[Timothy O'Neill]] mentions this in class for discussion, as a break from ''Romeo and Juliet''. [[Kevin Thompson|Kevin]] fails at expressing his feelings on the theft and vandalism...after first denying having anything to do with it. [[Jodie Landon|Jodie]] feels angry about the robbery, though she admits the cafe served a limited clientele. [[Daria Morgendorffer|Daria]] mocks the teacher's statement 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 doesn't constitute a community. Misunderstanding Daria's comments, O'Neill decides to reopen the establishment as a more traditional coffeehouse.

At [[Schloss Morgendorffer]] Daria, [[Helen Morgendorffer|Helen]] and [[Jake Morgendorffer|Jake]] talk about extracurricular activities. Helen insists that Daria do something outside of school, so that Daria can include it in future college applications. She ends up convincing Daria to look for an activity by threatening to send her to Music Camp (an activity Daria detests). Daria argues that colleges care more about whether prospective students can afford tuition (and Jake proves no help to Helen's argument) but Helen is not to be dissuaded. Daria ends up volunteering for the coffeehouse, choosing to raise funds instead of performing on stage. She convinces [[Jane Lane|Jane]] to join her by finding a reason she would accept - namely, the chance to see inside houses and make fun of people's tastes.

Other students are also involved in fund-raising: Kevin and [[Brittany Taylor|Brittany]] try to sell wrapping paper, magazine subscriptions, CD's/cassettes, and flower seeds to [[Anthony DeMartino]], who refuses to buy anything on the general principle that he does not want to underwrite further student indolence. Quinn uses her feminine wiles to convince/ manipulate a guy named [[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 of breath and who faints while talking to them. When Mrs. Johansen insinuates that she is forbidden to eat chocolate by her doctor, Daria refuses to sell her any bars, despite the woman's pleas to buy their whole supply. Back at school, [[Angela Li|Principal Li]] reprimands the two students for not having sold anything and having refused to sell to a willing client, despite Daria's explanation of Mrs. Johansen's 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.

Unfortunately, Daria still has no credit for the coffee house opening, so she agrees to read at opening night. After considering and passing over several of her old stories, she decides to write a brand new one.

The opening night comes, and the coffee house (called Café Lawndale) has several performers: 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 originally disinterested 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 (despite the lack of one in Lawndale), forcing the closing of the Café Lawndale. Daria calmly notes that she's already got her extra-curricular credit and they can't take it away - now she just needs to keep an eye out for the ''next'' time her parents try to make her do one...

The episode concludes with the robbery of Café Lawndale that night.

=="Cafe Disaffecto" and background character names==
This episode had a major effect on fanfiction when it was discovered that a seating chart for [[Mr. O'Neill]]'s class, shown in closeup, revealed the first names of every student in the class, including nameless "backgrounders". From this, it was deciphered:

* "[[Shaggy]]" is really called Devan (though his more famous nickname tends to be used instead), which before the DVD release had been misread as "Dewey"
* There are ''three'' Jennifers in the same class. They are "[[Burnout Girl]]" (her nickname is also still commonly used), a [[Jennifer (black girl)|bun-headed black girl]] and [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/022.html a caucasian brunette]
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/034.html recurring blonde] with a three-button shirt is called [[Tania]]
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/029.html bespeckled, frizzy-haired brunette] is called [[Jenna]] (previously misread as "Jessica")
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/037.html tall black guy with a button-up jacket] is called [[Adam]]
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/024.html spiked-blue haired punk] with the nose piercing is called [[Bob]]
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/030.html cropped-haired Asian lad] is called [[Rob]]
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/036.html ginger-haired girl with a distinctive hat] is called [[Kelly]]
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/045.html short-brown-haired guy] is called [[Les]].
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/015.html short, spike-fronted blond guy] is called [[Josh]]
* The [http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/027.html wavy-haired blond guy] is called [[Zack (student)|Zack]]

Also, O'Neill has called [[Andrea]] ''Hayley'' and misspelt Brittany's name.

[[Image:SeatingChart_thirdperiod.jpg|thumb|300px|The freshmen seating chart]]

Kelly and Tania are seen sitting together later in the same episode. Les and the black Jennifer later resurface as part of the [[Lawndale High Track Team]].

The seating chart for a freshman class is also shown. As well as the [[Three Js]], [[Tiffany]], and [[Skyler Feldman|Skyler]], we learn there's:

* Two other Tiffany's
* Three Marks
* Anna
* Glen
* Paul
* [[Cindy (backgrounder)|Cindy]]
* [[Shane]]
* Ruby
* Micky
* Charles
* Emma
* Roger (under O'Neill's thumb in at one point)

The class must have changed at some point, as we later see Quinn, Stacy, Sandi, and [[Corey]] are in the same class as Tiffany and the Js. Shane and Cindy are named after ''Daria'' staff that they've been modelled on; Ruby may be the background character "[http://www.theangstguy.com/backgrounders/062.html Sour Red]" (cos she's a redhead innit).

==“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 (character)|John Lane]] egging on the near-rioting football players.

In "[[Esteem Roller]]", by [[Legendeld]], Quinn recites a [[poem]] accompanied by her fellow skaters, and Daria reads a story she had written (with some spy themes, as in the canon version). Both get a good response from the audience.

"[[Grove Hell 2: All the Lawndale People]]" has Li repeatedly re-opening the cafe in the hope of making a profit from it. Daria was not in Lawndale for the original opening but performs for its fifth, again doing something deliberately designed to get at the teachers.

In "[[Blood Oath of Patriots]]", Daria had written Melody Powers to try and ''help'' O'Neill, tailoring her writing for the audience. She was secretly hurt by his reaction.

In "[[It Slipped Through My Hands, Like a Shadow, Like a Dream]]", ''Quinn'' is delivering chocolate and sells a large amount to Mrs Johansen. As a result, the woman dies.

In [[Quinn's Code]], There is a discussion/debate at the Coffee House between Sandi and Quinn about whether geeks should be accepted as popular people, which Quinn wins. (Daria presents the Melody Powers story as a Metal song.) The Coffee House remains open.

==Daria's writing==

As well as the [[Melody Powers]] story "Where the Future Takes Us", Daria has written:

* The Bleakness That Lies Ahead
* No Life, No Hope, No Future
* Mommy's Little Hypocrite

Whether they're short stories or essays are unknown.

==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.

This is the first (and only?) episode with no [[Sick, Sad World]] clip.

O'Neill states he identifies with Daria's essay about being a "misfit whom everyone hates"; in "[[The Daria Diaries]]", he would say Daria reminds him of himself as a child...

It would actually have been [http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Hypoglycaemia/Pages/Introduction.aspx medically advisable] for Daria and Jane to give Johannsen some chocolate; this would have raised her blood sugar levels again. <strike>The writers</strike> Daria seems to have confuse hypoglycaemia with ''hyper''glycaeia.

Jane asks Daria is she knows CPR and Daria implies she doesn't. In "[[Water Safety]]" she ''was'' shown how to perform CPR, which is either because Glenn Eichler wasn't taking that ''Beavis and Butt-head'' episode as canon (real world answer) or because Daria panicked or was otherwise afraid/reluctant to try it on Mrs Johanssen (in-universe answer).

The provider of the coffeehouse equipment is shown to be [[AAAA Restaurant Rentals]], as their name is shown on the coffee machine stolen at the end of the episode.

In "[[Boxing Daria]]", she states she started writing violent revenge fantasies at age 15 "just to get a reaction": her Melody Powers story is not an isolated incident, but something she's been doing since [[Highland High]] (though her parents don't seem to find out about ''this'' one).

This was part of the [[Sarcastathon 3000]] marathon, and Jane got in a mean dig about the show being "buried... under the maggot-ridden piles of ''[[Road Rules]]'' reruns", one of several [[off-canon canon]] digs at ''Daria'''s [[MTV]] sister shows.

The original name of the student coffee house, '''alt.lawndale.com''', was later used as the name of [http://www.cws.gamerspage.com/alc/main.html a ''Daria'' fandom website] that claimed to be the third unofficial ''Daria'' site created. The site is no longer maintained or updated.

==Transcript==

[[Cafe Disaffecto/transcript|Transcript]] originally from [[Outpost Daria]]


==External Links==
==External Links==

* [https://sites.google.com/site/dariatranscripts/104-cafe-disaffecto Episode Transcript] at [[Daria Transcripts]]
* [https://sites.google.com/site/dariatranscripts/104-cafe-disaffecto Episode Transcript] at [[Daria Transcripts]]
* [http://dariablog2.blogspot.com/2009/10/another-look-at-mr-oneills-seating.html O'Neill's Seating Chart] at [[Daria Fandom Blog II]]
* [http://dariablog2.blogspot.com/2009/10/another-look-at-mr-oneills-seating.html O'Neill's Seating Chart] at [[Daria Fandom Blog II]]

Revision as of 22:01, 16 February 2018

Cafe Disaffecto
Production Number 104
Original Airdate March 24, 1997
Special Guest Voices
Written By Glenn Eichler
Directed By Eric Fogel

“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

When Lawndale's cybercafé, alt.lawndale.com, is vandalized, Mr. O'Neill tries to use the incident as a catalyst for discussion about the Internet and its role in society. When Daria points out the fact that people in a cybercafé spend all their time staring at a computer screen -- a result that decreases human interaction, not enhances it -- Mr. O'Neill decides to start Café Lawndale, a coffeehouse for Lawndale youth to interact and perform. Naturally, he credits Daria for the idea, which is ironic since she doesn't want to have anything to do with it (and makes this known to Mr. O'Neill in no uncertain terms). However, Helen and Jake have been pressuring her to take part in extracurricular activities; as a result, Daria is "convinced" to take part in the project when Helen threatens to send her to music camp for the summer. Faced with the choice of fundraising or reading one of her stories at the café, Daria chooses the least painful option, and even manages to get Jane to join her. To say that things don't go well is an understatement, because while Quinn encounters guys that she can charm into buying things, Daria and Jane encounter people like Mrs. Johannsen, an overweight hypoglycemic who passes out in front of the two shocked girls. When Daria's ethics prevent her from selling chocolate bars to the woman, Ms. Li informs her that she won't get any credit for fundraising (though she can't condemn her for her ethics). In order to get the credit, Daria reluctantly decides to do a reading at the café's opening night. For the occasion, she picks a story with maximum shock value: a yarn about secret agent "Melody Powers," who fights Communism with equal amounts of brains and bullets. This gets the crowd wound up, particularly after the botched Shakespeare acting by Kevin and Brittany and the morbidly depressing poetry by Andrea, and the kids start an anti-Communism rally. Their destructive behavior forces the café to close indefinitely, but that doesn't bother Daria, who already received the extra credit she needed.

External Links


Preceded by
College Bored (103)		 Daria Episodes
"Cafe Disaffecto," Season 1, Episode 4
(104)		 Succeeded by
Malled
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