Malled

Malled
Production Number	105
Original Airdate	March 31, 1997
Special Guest Voices
Written By	Neena Beber
Directed By	Ken Kimmelman Paul Sparagano

“Malled” was the fifth episode of the first season of Daria.

Plot

Quinn has discovered what amounts to the Holy Grail of shopping: the Mall of the Millennium, a super-mall that has every store you can think of (and some that you can't). Unfortunately for Quinn, it's over 100 miles away, which is reason enough for Helen and Jake to balk at driving her there (not to mention the fact that she's done more than enough shopping for the quarter). Daria's amusement at Quinn not being able to travel to her own personal Mecca is cancelled out by cosmic irony, however, as her Economics class makes a field trip to the mall to study supply and demand in action. The trip itself is no picnic -- Kevin and Brittany's antics, Upchuck's come-ons, and Brittany's cheap perfume all conspire to make Daria violently carsick -- but when they get to the mall and meet with its executives, Jane's curiosity reveals that the executives are secretly using them as a focus group. In exchange for their silence, the sleazy suits give each student a gift certificate; Daria is ready to refuse to accept it, but gives in when she sees that all of the other students (even Jodie) have "taken the money and run." After the meeting, Mrs. Bennett gives the kids their assignments. Among them are Kevin and Brittany's goal to study shrinkage, aka shoplifting -- which Kevin demonstrates handily by five-fingering a trinket for Brittany -- and Daria and Jane's observations of traffic patterns at the food court. When they arrive, they find Quinn and the Fashion Club, who skipped school to go to the mall (two offenses by Quinn, who still doesn't have permission from Helen and Jake). Daria strikes a deal with Quinn: in exchange for her silence, Quinn and her friends give them a ride home, and Quinn does the chores around the house for a month. Afterwards, Daria and Jane decide to see what their gift certificates will get them. They use Jane's certificate for the Scizzor Wizzard in a unique way: they drive the employees crazy until they give Jane the cash for the certificate in order to get rid of her. Daria doesn't fare as well at the Doo-Dad Shop, as she's unlucky enough to be their 10,000th customer, entitling her to a ton of free doo-dads (aka crap). That evening, after dinner, Quinn uncharacteristically clears the table and offers to bring their parents some coffee. That's when they spring their surprise: they offer to take Quinn and Daria to the Mall of the Millennium. Unsurprisingly, both girls are not enthused.

External Links

• Transcripts at Daria Transcripts

Preceded by Cafe Disaffecto (104)	"Malled," Season 1, Episode 5 (105)	Succeeded by This Year's Model