Picking up on the plots and mature subject matter of the previous season (and of the movie-style special Is It Fall Yet?), Daria's final 13 episodes chronicle the snarky teen's first real romance and the college pressures of her senior year. Amidst the extended plotlines, the fifth season also finds time to continue the show's long-running commentary on consumerism and pop-culture vapidity. Supporting characters Jane (voice of Wendy Hoopes), Quinn (also the voice of Wendy Hoopes), Jodie (voice of Jessica Cydnee Jackson), and Tom (voice of Russell Hankin) all experience conflicts and character development of their own. And the psychodramas of Daria's nuclear and extended families find some sort of resolution, even if they're only temporary. Movie parodies and other elaborate comic scenarios are jettisoned in favor of dense plots and recurring themes. Arguably the show's most consistent and definitely its most grownup outing, season five would leave a number of threads dangling to be sewn up with the series' swan song, Is It College Yet?
by Brian J. Dillard
synopsis
