History TearJerker / Daria

* "The Misery Chick", arguably the GrowingTheBeard moment for the show. Everyone has to reconcile with the sudden death of Tommy Sherman, [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead especially since he wasn't a nice person in life]]. Daria and Jane even have a schism form between them because [[WhatTheHellHero Jane feels Daria isn't taking it seriously enough]], and Daria starts to take umbrage when everyone comes to ''her'' because [[TheEeyore they assume she's just miserable in general]] so she'll understand how they feel. In the end, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped there's no easy answer for anybody]].

* "The Misery Chick", arguably the GrowingTheBeard moment for the show. Everyone has to reconcile with the sudden death of Tommy Sherman, [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead especially since he wasn't a nice person in life]]. Daria and Jane even have a schism form between them because [[WhatTheHellHero Jane feels Daria isn't taking it seriously enough]], and Daria starts to take umbrage with everyone comes to ''her'' because [[TheEeyore they assume she's just miserable in general]] so she'll understand how they feel. In the end, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped there's no easy answer for anybody]].

* There's Quinn's co-worker and friend, Lindsey, who is a case of TheAlcoholic. Quinn tries to confront Lindsey about her drinking problem, but since Lindsey had attempted to throw Quinn under the bus when their boss found her screwdriver at the front counter, Lindsey simply deflected by countering that Quinn was just trying to make a "nasty accusation" to get back at her. Later on, Lindsey makes a gift for Quinn as a peace offering, and tries to downplay her drinking, saying that she quits "all the time" to prove that she can, and doesn't acknowledge her problem. The "Where are they now" segment at the end suggests that she ends up with Allison of "Is It Fall Yet?" but the canonicity of this moment is in question, and even if it's taken as canon, it isn't given much to show if it's a healthy or happy relationship, especially given Allison's use of alcohol to attempt to ply Jane in the previous movie.

* In "Life In The Past Lane", Jane starts dating a guy who's extremely into 1940's fashion and music. Because it's her first date since breaking up with Tom (and the infamous kiss), Daria and Tom both admit they feel responsible for Jane's social life. It's clear the circumstances of Tom and Daria's relationship isn't lost on either of them.

* In the episode where Quinn becomes obsessed with what she believes is her guardian angel, she has a crisis of faith and asks Daria for advice. Daria takes the blunt tactic of simply stating that until proven otherwise, she doesn't believe in any afterlife. Something about the way Quinn says "But... that's so sad..." is just heartbreaking.
* When Quinn's tutor rejected her and she began to cry in Daria's room. It was the first time she actually really ''liked'' someone, and for more than superficial reasons. For the first time in her life of guys blindly worshiping her, she gets rejected. It was one of her rare moments of genuine vulnerability to a guy.
* "Boxing Daria", the entire episode. The sight of an over-sized refrigerator box causes Daria to [[RepressedMemories recall parts of a childhood memory]] of her in bed, overhearing an argument between her parents and her dad storming out. This memory keeps nagging at Daria and leaves a real strain on her, until she finally remembers what the argument was about: Jake and Helen were fighting about her, due to the collective stress of working aggravating jobs ''and'' being called in by the school because Daria wouldn't socialize with the other kids. The box was important [[SecurityBlanket because Daria had one just like it when she was younger that was a sort-of haven.]] The entire episode has Daria on the defensive and very insecure, and even the normally flighty Quinn is rather unnerved. Seeing her be that emotionally vulnerable without bursting into tears and thinking that she's a cause of constant and unwarranted stress on her parents and family because she chooses not to socialize and "be herself" is almost painful. This is something that just about everyone has gone through in their life, and it's hard not to sympathize with Daria and be a little awed by her when you realize she began to reconsider the decisions she's made and wonder if she may have been wrong in making them the way she did.
** It also hits ParentsAsPeople hard at home too. Turns out that while they did have a fight about Daria's problems in school; Jake and Helen were struggling working bad jobs they had to work and all the petty stresses just exploded with Daria being the final straw. Daria takes it all as her fault (and given the fight at the time, it's perfectly understandable). Jake and Helen were completely over-stressed and took it out over their child. While not right to do; its not uncommon for people to well up and explode.
* In "I Loathe a Parade", Tom and Jane head off together, leaving a paint-splashed Daria behind. Tom steals a longing glance back at Daria, who fades into the distance looking utterly lost.

* There's something incredibly tear jerking about Kevin and Brittany's implied separation in "Is It College Yet?", probably due to the fact that out of all the relationships in the show, theirs was always the closest and the happiest.

* In "See Jane Run", Jane joins the track team and becomes a big athletic star. Daria talking to herself is funny until it hits you that she's doing it to compensate for Jane being busy with practice all the time. Jane is her only real friend in the world, and not seeing her really takes its toll on Daria.
* In "Is It Fall Yet?", Daria has finally made a bond with the outcast boy at the summer camp she is volunteering at. He starts to open up to her, so that she can help him... and O'Neil comes waltzing up and interrupts, making Daria's attempts at friendship sound more like manipulation. Incensed, Link storms off, followed by Daria, both looking like they want to cry at how everything went wrong in a matter of seconds.
* In "Write Where it Hurts", Daria is frustrated about her inability to complete a writing assignment. Helen, after initially upsetting Daria due to her own stress problems, helps Daria to come up with a writing premise. Just hearing Helen speak so knowingly about Daria, which indicates that she cares far more than Daria realized, is touching. But the real kicker is the story itself: [[spoiler:She writes about her family, years in the future, happy and well-adjusted. Her sister is raising a family, Daria's a professional writer, her father is much more relaxed and her mother is content. Underneath all the layers of cynicism and sarcasm, she loves her family and wants what's best for them all]]. Helen wasn't the only one tearing up after she read that.
* In "Lane Miserables", Trent says he once lived in a tent in the yard for six months, waiting for someone to invite him back inside. What makes this even sadder is that his mother relates this fact, earlier, but under the oblivious impression it was a childhood quirk or Trent expressing his artistic sensitivities.
* The outcome of Mr. O'Neill's effort to teach success through failure in "The F Word" was nothing but pure despair for almost everybody, especially for Brittany and Kevin. They may be idiots, but that doesn't mean you can help feeling bad for them.
* There's a small and easy to miss moment in "The Lost Girls." When the Morgendorffers are having dinner with egotistical and deluded magazine editor Val, Daria delivers a small and somewhat scathing explanation on the concept of "Edgy," that is, the idea of marketing executives engineering "This fake concept of seeming to be dangerous" when everything they do is mass produced, planned in advanced, and meant to suck the spending money out of society's younger generation. When Daria finishes speaking, Quinn suddenly looks very depressed, as if she was actually listening to what Daria was saying and understood it. And by understanding it, it's one of those moments when Quinn is forced to face that all the things which make her popular, the clothes she wears, the music she likes, the movies she sees, also make her part of the same bland, faceless crowd that is being willfully exploited for their money. The moment doesn't last long, but it's one of a few times in the first half of the series when Quinn is legitimately saddened by something.
* "Of Human Bonding" has Jake and Daria on a plane en route to a seminar. Earlier in the episode, Helen suggested to Jake that they could bond during that time. Jake thought to himself that maybe he should resolve his DaddyIssues and try to be a better father for Daria, while Daria ponders if she should let her guard down and let her father know that she loves him. Only small talk about peanuts and goldfish escape their lips.
* In "Life In The Past Lane", Jane starts dating a guy who's extremely into 1940's fashion and music. Because it's her first date since breaking up with Tom (and the infamous kiss), Daria and Tom both admit they feel responsible for Jane's social life. It's clear the circumstances of Tom and Daria's relationship isn't lost on either of them.
* In "Is It College Yet?", Trent encourages Jane not to pursue art school as it could potentially stifle her creativity, and she seems to agree. Later on, Daria convinces Jane to apply anyway and when she asks Trent to drive her to the post-office to mail her application, he shows his disappointment by silently handing her the keys, and only saying "later" after she leaves. It marks what is perhaps the only time in the series Trent is noticeably upset with his sister. It turns out Trent was scared of the possibility of losing Jane, who in all fairness has been his closest companion in life (though Jane is quick to assure him that won't be the case).

* In "Is It College Yet?", Tom and Daria's relationship becomes strained when they both apply for the same college, but it seems that Tom has a better chance (due to his family's connection to said college) while Daria can barely conceal her lack of confidence during her interview. Later Daria gets accepted into Raft, another college. And when Tom does get accepted into Bromwell and Daria gets waitlisted, he offhandedly remarks that perhaps she got into Raft because there was no interview to screw up, much to Daria's anger. Realizing that Tom's college path is diverging farther away from her's, Daria finally makes the decision to break up. Both take the break up hard, shown when Tom attempts to call Daria up, and when Daria answers, he can't bring himself to say anything. Eventually Tom realizes Daria might be right to end their relationship, and the two agree to remain friends.
** Then there's Trent's situation. Trent encourages Jane not to pursue art school as it could potentially stifle her creativity, and she seems to agree. Later on, Daria convinces Jane to apply anyway and when she asks Trent to drive her to the post-office to mail her application, he shows his disappointment by silently handing her the keys, and only saying "later" after she leaves. It marks what is perhaps the only time in the series Trent is noticeably upset with his sister. It turns out Trent was scared of the possibility of losing Jane, who in all fairness has been his closest companion in life (though Jane is quick to assure him that won't be the case).

* In "Is It College Yet?", Trent encourages Jane not to pursue art school as it could potentially stifle her creativity, and she seems to agree. Later on, Daria convinces Jane to apply anyway and when she asks Trent to drive her to the post-office to mail her application, he shows his disappointment by silently handing her the keys, and only saying "later" after she leaves. It marks what is perhaps the only time in the series Trent is noticeably upset with his sister. It turns out Trent was scared of the possibility of losing Jane, who in all fairness has been his closest companion in life (though Jane is quick to assure him that won't be the case).

* In "Is It College Yet?", Trent encourages Jane not to pursue art school as it could potentially stifle her creativity, and she seems to agree. Later on, Daria convinces Jane to apply anyway and when she asks Trent to drive her to the post-office to mail her application, he shows his disappointment by silently handing her the keys, and only saying "later" after she leaves. It marks what is perhaps the only time in the series Trent is noticeably upset with his sister. Later doubles as Heartwarming when it turns out Trent was scared of the possibility of losing Jane, who in all fairness has been his closest companion in life.

-->'''Daria:''' [[Jerkass But he wasn't a nice guy]].

* "The Misery Chick", arguably the GrowingTheBeard moment for the show. Everyone has to reconcile with the sudden death of Tommy Sherman, [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead especially since he wasn't a nice person in life]]. Daria and Jane even have a schism form between them because [[WhatTheHellHero Jane feels Daria isn't taking it seriously enough]], and Daria starts to take umbrage with everyone comes to ''her'' because [[TheEeyore they assume she's just miserable in general]]. In the end, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped there's no easy answer for anybody]].

-->'''Jane:''' ...[[BluntNo No]].

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px_boxeddaria1.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Poor Daria...]]

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px_boxeddaria1.gif]]

[[caption-width-right:250:Poor Daria...]]

** YMMV All I saw was a spoiled brat being told "no" for the first time in her pampered life.
* "Boxing Daria", the entire episode. The sight of an over-sized refrigerator box causes Daria to recall parts of a childhood memory of her in bed, overhearing an argument between her parents and her dad storming out. This memory keeps nagging at Daria and leaves a real strain on her, until she finally remembers what the argument was about. Jake and Helen were fighting about her, due to the collective stress of working aggravating jobs and being called in by the school because Daria wouldn't socialize with the other kids. The box was important because Daria had one just like it when she was younger that was a sort-of haven. The entire episode has Daria on the defensive and very insecure. Seeing her be that emotionally vulnerable without bursting into tears and thinking that she's a cause of constant and unwarranted stress on her parents and family because she chooses not to socialize and "be herself" is almost painful. This is something that just about everyone has gone through in their life, and it's hard not to sympathize with Daria and be a little awed by her when you realize she began to reconsider the decisions she's made and wonder if she may have been wrong in making them the way she did.

** YMMV on that, but one still feels sad for Kevin, who is left behind by his classmates in high school and then by his girlfriend.

* The end of "Dye! Dye! My Darling". After "The Kiss", Jane tells Daria that she and Tom broke up, and then they argue about the events leading up to that point. At the end, they break off their friendship (at least until "Is It Fall Yet?")