Road Worrier

Road Worrier
Production Number	111
Original Airdate	July 7, 1997
Special Guest Voices
Written By	Anne D. Bernstein
Directed By	Eric Fogel

“Road Worrier” was the eleventh episode of the first season of Daria.

Plot

At the Lane house, Daria is watching television while Jane creates a sculpture out of a mannequin and various bits and pieces of scrap. When a loud guitar chord resonates through the house and causes the sculpture to shatter, Jane drags Daria downstairs to investigate. There, they find Trent and Jesse in mid-rehearsal, and as Jane complains about the noise, Daria finds herself uncharacteristically flustered around Trent. In an attempt to fix her brother up with her best friend, Jane volunteers gas money if Trent and Jesse will take them to the upcoming Alternapalooza concert. Daria reluctantly agrees to come along (after silently vowing revenge on Jane), and is amused to find that she's not the only Morgendorffer that will be in attendance: Quinn and the rest of the Fashion Club are going, too. Daria assures Quinn that they'll easily be able to avoid each other in a crowd of 10,000 people before she and Jane are picked up by Trent and Jesse in their drummer's van, "the Tank," and Quinn is picked up by her friends. During the trip, Daria is increasingly humiliated when she bumps her head, gets stung by a bee, sits on an ancient peanut butter sandwich, breaks her glasses, and becomes an unwanted focus of attention when she has to take a woodside bathroom break during a traffic jam... and all in front of Trent. On the flip side, however, she starts to loosen up a little when Trent and Jesse actually laugh at her sarcastic comments. The van ends up breaking down about halfway to the concert, and while Jane and Jesse go look for help (a barely hidden ploy to get Trent and Daria alone), Daria sits with the object of her crush and gets to know him a little better, and even helps him overcome a "crisis of faith" of sorts by encouraging him to follow his musical dream. Jane and Jesse return empty-handed from their little sojourn, leading Jane to resort to fixing the van with her glue gun... just as the Alternapalooza concert comes to an end. They aren't the only ones who never made it to the concert, however, as Quinn and her friends got sidetracked by an outlet shopping mall. Returning home, Daria and Quinn find Helen and Jake in a very relaxed mood, having taken full advantage of the girls' absence.

External Links

• Episode Transcript at Daria Transcripts

Preceded by The Big House (110)	"Road Worrier," Season 1, Episode 11 (111)	Succeeded by The Teachings of Don Jake