Daria and Jodie are invited to an open house at Grove Hills, a private school for exemplary students. Meanwhile, Quinn stays with her Fashion Club friends — but ends up getting thrown out of all three houses and stays with Jane.
This episode provides examples of:
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Sandi has two, and it doesn't help that they also fawn over Quinn.
- Call-Back: Helen recalls the time Daria and Kevin were assigned a science project together.
- Education Mama: All of the parents at Grove Hills.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Michelle and Andrew Landon push Jodie into being a good student and make her participate in a lot of extracurricular activities (a number of which is more for their sake than her's) but neither of them are willing to make her attend Grove Hills after being told there's a good chance the extra pressure to succeed will make her suffer a nervous breakdown.
- Daria was almost considering Grove Hills when she saw how snarky some of the other students are, but quickly changed her mind when she saw firsthand how elitist and condescending they were.
- Everything Is Racist: Michelle Landon has this reaction when Helen gently approaches her about how it must be difficult for Jodie to "fit in" at Lawndale High (the Landons are African American) and again when Helen defends people on welfare to the conservative Mr. Landon.
- Felony Misdemeanor:
- One Grove Hills student is now a social pariah because his PSAT score was "only" in the 90th percentile.
- Tiffany boots Quinn out of her house because Quinn got exasperated with her constantly asking if she looked fat in every single outfit, and Quinn yelled at her "You're not freakin' fat, OK?!".
- Head-Turning Beauty: Quinn gets this sort of reaction from Sandi's younger brothers. When Sandi has the TV tuned on to Fashion Vision and her brothers change it, ensuing a fight, as soon as Quinn comes back and asks what happened to Fashion Vision, the boys turn it back on to that channel.
- I Coulda Been a Contender!: Michelle Landon reacts angrily when Helen states it took a lot of guts to walk away from her position as CEO when Jodie's younger brother was born, causing Michelle to blurt out he wasn't planned and that she's definitely not bitter about it.
- I Just Want to Be You: Quinn gets kicked out of all her friends' houses, except for Stacy. Quinn flees when Stacy dresses exactly like her and suggests they dye their hair the same color.
- Innocently Insensitive: Helen immediately gets off on the wrong foot with Michelle by assuming at first glance she and Andrew are Jodie's parents, then feels the need to praise Jodie for doing so well at Lawndale despite the lack of diversity and despite how "Narrow minded people have trouble accepting someone from a different background."
- Insufferable Genius: One of the guys at Grove Hills feels entitled enough to dismiss everyone's opinions because he claims to have an IQ of 165. He is visibly bitter at Jodie and Daria for pointing out his inferiority complex.
- Insult Backfire: After Jodie tells off a smug Grove Hills student, he says he'll make sure she never sets foot in the school again. Daria responds "That's a relief. For a moment I thought you were going to threaten us."
- Jerkass Has a Point: Michelle Landon's got a right to be angry when Helen automatically assumed the first Black couple she saw were Jodie's parents.
- Kick the Dog: Invoked in a literal sense by Daria who tries to scare Quinn by mentioning all the mass murderers, serial killers, and puppy kickers out there. Quinn ends up feeling too scared to be home alone after she can't stay with anyone in the Fashion Club so she goes to Jane's house.
Quinn: Please? There's mass serial puppy killers and stuff!
- Mama Bear: Michelle really does not appreciate Helen's comments about Jodie's status at Lawndale, particularly when Helen indirectly states that Jodie's done well for herself despite not being white like most of the school and how condescending it sounds.
Helen: I mean if Jodie can make friends so easily why can't Daria?
Helen: Well, there's not a lot of... diversity at Lawndale. A few people can be narrow-minded and not always accept, right away, people from different backgrounds.
Michelle: How is Jodie's background any different from Daria's?
- Not Helping Your Case: Helen really doesn't endear herself to Michelle when she feels she has to bring up how well Jodie's done at making friends at Lawndale High despite the lack of diversity among the student body.
- Parental Favoritism: To quote Andrew Landon, "I love my girls but Evan is my son."
- Precocious Crush: Sandi's preteen brothers have a crush on the teenage Quinn.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: For once it's Jodie the one who delivers it to a pretentious Grove Hills guy. Daria smiles proudly at Jodie finally being Brutally Honest to someone for once.
- Shared Family Quirks: Sandi's mother Linda speaks in a slightly less pronounced version of her daughter's queer monotone.
- Stay in the Kitchen: It's implied that Andrew told Michelle to quit being a CEO and stay home after their son was born.
- Stepford Smiler: Discussed, where Jodie brings up how she has to hold up the mask of being the perfect African American student that sets an example for all the other African American kids at Lawndale High even though there aren't many besides Mack and herself.
- With Friends Like These...: Quinn, forced to spend time with each of her Fashion Club friends individually, finds herself frustrated with every one of them. She and Sandi quickly resort to out-sneering each other, Tiffany is witheringly self-conscious, and Stacy is so overbearing and clingy that Quinn elects to sleep over at Jane's instead.
