Jane's new boyfriend, Tom, is putting a strain on Daria's friendship with her, and Daria's crush on Trent begins to fade when he can't deliver the goods needed for a class presentation.
This episode provides examples of:
- Boy Meets Girl: Jane and Tom's relationship starts in a very simple fashion. Jane glances at Tom, Tom goes to talk to her and they get into some charming banter, they immediately like each other and start dating.
- Broken Pedestal: Daria's crush on Trent is finally squashed for good after he fails to deliver music for their project, making her understand that he's unreliable.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Non-romantic case with Daria. She is visibly upset at Tom for taking Jane away from her, so Daria takes it out on him the most until Tom tells her to stop.
- Conflict Killer: A tense moment between Daria and Jane breaks when Trent shows up and the girls round on him for dragging his feet with his music.Jane: Hey wait, weren't we fighting about something?
- Feud Episode: Between Daria and Jane, when the former grows jealous of the latter's new relationship. They more or less patch things up at the end, but Daria's resentment over losing her monopoly on Jane's social life lingers on.
- Five Stages of Grief: After Trent fails to deliver a song for Daria and Jane's project, they have to put together a quick animation about this topic. "Anger" features a sound clip of Mr. DeMartino yelling at them for being recorded.
- Good Is Not Nice: Tom really tries hard to get along with Daria, but she is as rude and condescending to him to the point Tom is forced to confront her directly, call her out on her attitude, and tell her to try to be civil for Jane's sake. Daria is still closed off to him but starts finding him tolerable because of his dry humor.
- Not Even Bothering with an Excuse: Trent's "explanation" why he failed to deliver his music on time was that he just couldn't get it together. Apparently, he considers that an excuse.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Tom stays as a main character for the remainder of the show's run, and Daria's crush on Trent ends for good this time.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: When Daria phones Jane the morning after the latter went off with Tom.Jane: Do you have any idea what time it is?
Daria: It's almost noon. - Ship Sinking: Daria's crush on Trent comes to an end, though Trent still very clearly thinks of Daria as a friend.
