The next day her eyes hurt too much to wear the contacts, but she decides to go to school without her glasses anyway, and eventually succumbs to depression when she realizes how much she cares about her appearance. Some words of wisdom from Brittany, of all people, help perk her up, though she decides to wear her glasses from now on, saying that they make a better statement of who she is.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Cameo: Daria calls Aunt Amy for a brief scene.
- Catapult Nightmare: Daria has a nightmare about her appearance with and without her glasses.
- Clark Kenting: Unintentional. Mr. O'Neill almost doesn't recognize Daria when she starts wearing contacts.
- Continuity Nod: "Talking toilet." Daria's sensitivity to pain featured in the same episode.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Brittany tells Daria that knowing she cares about her appearance with how deep she is, makes Brittany feel a little less shallow and better about herself. She's the only one who gets through to Daria and makes her feel better.
- Eye Scream: Based on her screaming, one can only imagine that Daria's first attempt at putting in her contacts didn't go over very well.
- Glasses Are Sexy: Brittany apparently likes Kevin's Purely Aesthetic Glasses.
- The Glasses Gotta Go: Daria initially started to use her contacts for driving, but after receiving a lot of compliments, she tries to use them more frequently. Even after the contacts were irritating her eyes, she didn't wear her glasses either.
- I Have This Friend: Quinn invokes this trope when Daria comes to her for advice and denies it's about her outfit.
- Literary Allusion Title: To Through a Glass Darkly, itself an allusion to The Bible (1 Corinthians 13:12).
- My God, What Have I Done?: What kicks off the plot is when Daria almost runs over a dog who was walking from the side. Daria is relieved that she didn't hurt the dog, but also wants to tell Quinn that she did.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Jane is pleasantly surprised when Daria sheepishly admits to not wearing her glasses because of "sheer vanity." Jane thinks it's a joke until Daria blushes from embarrassment.
- Nerd Glasses: Everyone associates Daria's glasses with her intelligence and social status in school. They even contrast with the ones in the episode "Write Where It Hurts" where in an Imagine Spot of Daria's story, a grown-up Daria wears more fashionable frames to symbolize how her perception of her family has matured as well.
- Not So Above It All: As noted by some people, Daria does care about her image after all. She gets so flustered about this fact that she locks herself in the bathroom.
- Oh, Wait!: With Daria's lenses stinging her eyes, Jane guides her home, describing various obstacles to avoid. Then Trent drives by, complimenting Daria on her new look.Jane: Now look out for the girl with the red face who's forgotten how to walk. Oh, never mind, that's you.
- Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Both Kevin and Brittany get a pair.
- The Scream: Daria (believe it or not) lets one out after putting a contact lens against her eye for the first time.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Kevin and Brittany try to invoke this trope, believing that glasses will literally make them smarter.
- Spoof Aesop: Daria ultimately decides not to let society's expectations determine how she presents herself. Jane approvingly paraphrases the lesson as "Why settle for vanity when you can have sheer egotism?"
- Stealth Insult: Daria tells Kevin it's not possible for him to get any smarter with glasses.
- Troll: Aunt Amy, as always. She comes into the episode by mailing Helen a passive-aggressive postcard, and later teases Daria by saying that she's her favorite niece...and then asking which niece she's talking to.
