AllMovie

Daria (voice of Tracy Grandstaff) becomes obsessed with half-remembered childhood traumas in the final episode of the animated MTV series Daria. The empty box from the Morgendorffer family's new refrigerator is the unlikely trigger of murky memories about a terrible fight Daria caused between her parents when she was young. Unfortunately, Daria dredges up this phantom recollection right after her father, Jake (voice of Julian Rebolledo), has left town suddenly on a supposed business trip. A parade of additional memories, in which Daria is always the catalyst of family discord, soon overwhelms her. She becomes convinced that her parents are splitting up and that it's all her fault. It doesn't help that Mr. O'Neill (voice of Marc Thompson) won't stop bugging her about volunteering as a tour guide for incoming students at Lawndale High. He attacks her typical, principled apathy, further convincing her that her misfit persona is the cause of all the world's grief. Ultimately, though, after a stint holed up in the empty refrigerator box and a tearful heart-to-heart with best friend Jane (voice of Wendy Hoopes), Daria sits down with Helen (voice of Wendy Hoopes) and the newly returned Jake for a reassuring and warm parent/child chat. Delighted finally to know that her folks are proud of her intelligence and convictions, she agrees to work with Jane on hosting a student tour -- although not, of course, without a Daria twist. Although "Boxing Daria" was the final episode of the regular series, the disaffected teen and her friends would return for one last outing in the movie-length special Is It College Yet?