Quinn the Brain: Difference between revisions

The grade has unintended consequences: at the Morgendorffer’s, Quinn manipulates her parents into giving her money for the grade, a system Daria is quick to point the faults of by noting ''she'' had consistently maintained high grades for long. (Jake throws his wallet at the girls in a panic, declaring to Helen "I told you I was no good as this parenting crap!") And, at school, the consequences are deeper: Quinn’s published essay makes her appear smart and intellectual. She panics at the thought that she'll be considered a "brain" and lose popularity, while her sister is filled with sadistic glee for that very same reason.

To both their suprises, Quinn's cuteness means she transforms being smart into a fad. Soon, Quinn is being asked by Mr O'Neill to tutor [[Kevin]], gets to leave English class early, and finds everyone gushing over her half-assed poems. She even starts to think about becoming a writer because "it's not like it's real work". Daria goes from annoyed that both classmates and teachers assume Quinn to be smart when she's still being dumb, to despairing when O'Neill asks Quinn to tutor ''her'' in English.

In an unguarded moment, a shaken Daria tries to talk with her father about it - admitting that she doesn't ''like'' the "brain" identity she's saddled with, but if it's 'stolen' then she's "got nothing". Unfortunately, Jake's response devolves into a panicked rant about his own failed life, ending with a plea to Daria that "You're still a young man! You don't have to live with your mistakes! ''Get out while you can!''" She retreats, dryly commenting that "talking to you has made me feel better about myself" (he doesn't get it).

Meanwhile, Quinn has her share of problems: with so many girls following Quinn’s example and wearing black (imitating Quinn’s intellectual poseur), a furious [[Sandi Griffin|Sandi]] suspends Quinn from the [[Fashion Club]]. Sandi then sets out to draft Daria into helping convince Quinn to give up on braindom; unfortunately, the very idea of talking to the girl is too scary for Sandi to handle, and she retreats after two seconds.

Quinn confides in [[Jane Lane|Jane]] that while she loves how much her sister is being messed up by this, she thinks everybody’s making a big deal of her essay and doesn't understand why. ''She'' knows she's not as smart as everyone thinks. Jane explains how the girl has trained everyone to expect nothing from her and thus overreact to the slightest bit of effort, but it doesn't get through.

Daria continues to despair that nobody notices Quinn's writing is rubbish and that she's losing the "brain" role to Quinn - and since Quinn's "a brain with bouncy hair", "I can't compete" because of the different standards ("''no'' standards") the cute get. Unwilling to end up as an even ''less'' popular brain, when the [[Three Js]] approach her to get things back to normal, she has a plan of attack - one she knew would work all along but couldn't "bring myself" to do before.

* Daria gives a lament of "isn't there ever a time when how you look doesn't affect how you're judged?", and trying to make herself up like Quinn is something she is loathe to do. This will come up again in "[[Through a Lens Darkly]]", where she again complains about being judged on appearance - and becomes upset with herself when she shows some vanity over her looks.

* The Three J's know Daria and Quinn are sisters,and Jeffy knows Daria's name.