The teachers at Lawndale High go on strike following the latest impasse between Mr. [=DeMartino=] and Ms. Li over a proposed 10% raise in salary for the new teachers' union contract, prompting Ms. Li to hire scabs as substitutes—-including Daria, who becomes Quinn's teacher after the first one is fired for lewd conduct with students. Meanwhile, Jane and Trent help the striking teachers use art and music to gain support from others.

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!!Tropes present in this episode:

* AdultsAreUseless: Averted. If it wasn't for Helen, who knows how far Mr. Edwards could have gone with Tiffany.
* AllMenArePerverts:
** Straight example with Mr. Edwards hitting on Tiffany at school.
** PlayedForLaughs. Tom is a bit of this after Daria snarkily states to Quinn that she'll go easy on the class after she puts on her fur bikini, he smiles at this, thinking she actually owns one.
* ApatheticTeacher:
** Mr [=DeMartino=] went back to this at the end of the episode. More in YankTheDogsChain.
** Subverted with [[DeadpanSnarker Daria]]. She clearly didn't want to be involved as a ''scab'' when Ms. Li made her English substitute, but she made efforts to make her students get ''Romeo and Juliet'' and succeeds with most of them, most notably the J's and Quinn.
* ArmorPiercingResponse: Daria when Quinn begs her to give everyone a break on the English test and Daria refuses.
-->'''Quinn''': Daria do you want everyone to hate you?
-->'''Daria''': Hey, why should you defend the stupid? You're not one of them.
* ArtisticLicenseEducation: Ms. Li shouldn't be able to put Daria as a substitute teacher, since subs need a minimum of a Bachelors degree. Then again, she couldn't find a good enough replacement given the circumstances around Mr. Edwards and the only way Helen wouldn't sue her was likely put Daria in that position.
* BadBoss: Ms. Li refuses to give a 10% raise to the teachers and even taunts Mr. [=DeMartino=] about the last time they tried to get a Dental Plan. Then she hired as substitutes people evidently underqualified (one of them was hitting on a student) and only put Daria as substitute to avoid a lawsuit.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: After Jane finds out that Daria is a substitute, Jane tells Daria that if any teacher asked for her help, she would have told them to shove off. It is at that moment that Ms. Defoe, the only teacher Jane respects, asks for help on their protest signs.
* BlackmailBackfire: Sandi's threat to out Quinn and Daria as sisters unless the class is graded kindly falls flat when Quinn reveals Sandi's brothers placed [[BracesOfOrthodonticOVerkill somewhat more embarrassing material]] in her own possession. And for bonus points, when Quinn declares their sisterhood anyway, it turns out Stacy and Tiffany were only playing along with Quinn's delusional attempts to downplay her relation to Daria to begin with.
* BrickJoke: Daria says sarcastically that they could consider copy from each other, but with all the considerations... Then Stacy says that they shouldn't have copied from each other after getting low grades.
* BuffySpeak: When Quinn defended Daria from Sandi, she mentioned that she was a far better teacher than Mr. Edwards, referring to him as “the guy who tried to fertilize Tiffany.”
* CharacterDevelopment: This is the episode where Quinn finally stops being embarrassed by displaying intelligence and openly admits that Daria is her sister.
** Daria, too, also acknowledges Quinn as being better than she first thought and even softens up to the class she teaches after her initial reluctance.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Despite Season 1 having the recurring gag of Mr. O'Neill failing to remember his students' names, he recognized Trent and asked him to help with their protest songs.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Mr. [=DeMartino=] calls out Mrs. Bennet (the Economics teacher) for wanting to settle down with Ms. Li's offer of just a 0.08% pay hike, free non-dairy creamer for the coffee and "[[StealthInsult Mr. [=DeMartino=] could put away his sewing kit]]"
* ContinuityNod: Ms. Stoller thinks that "Daria" sounds like a HippieName. Helen and Jake are former hippies.
* CoolBigSis: One of the rare moments where Daria shows she understands and cares about Quinn's well being, when she demands to know why Quinn is so determined to protect the stupid when she's not one of them.
* CoolTeacher: The class admits that Daria was a pretty good teacher that actually made them learn.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: After Quinn tells Helen about Mr. Edwards flirting with Tiffany, she only says that "Tiffany would never date a guy that wears tweed jackets".
* DamnedByFaintPraise: Daria chose to give the rest of the Fashion Club extra credit on the essay test for being capable of realizing ''Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet'' was connected to ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''.
** Daria tells one of the 3 Js that "Creator/LaurenceOlivier, in his current state,[[note]]Olivier had died 12 years before this episode aired[[/note]] couldn't have done it better."
* TheDeterminator: Mr. [=DeMartino=] refused to back down until Ms. Li signed the contract for the pay increase, and held out even after being forced to spend the night in her office.
* TheDitz: Ms. Stoller, the History substitute, was an elderly woman who kept calling Kevin "QB", changed Daria's name because it sounded like "a HippieName" and thought she was teaching a ''Grade School History class''.
* TheDogBitesBack: After Sandi accused Quinn of getting a good grade because of Daria, Quinn subtly implies that she got from her brothers a photo of her with huge braces that she hasn't shown to people ''yet'', which prompts Sandi to shut up.
* DumbJock: Ms. Stoller thought the whole time that she was teaching History to ''First Graders'', which is the reason most of the class aced the test... Except for Kevin, who failed all the questions, especially ''the colors of the American Flag''. ''Which was right in front of him''.
* EmbarrassingOldPhoto: As Sandi continues to try and hold Quinn's relationship with Daria over her head, Quinn not-so-subtly mentions she has a photo of Sandi back when she wore huge braces, but hasn't shown them to anybody... at least not yet. [[ShuttingUpNow Sandi decides to back off.]]
* {{Ephebophile}}: The English substitute, Mr. Edwards, was flirting with Tiffany the whole class and reenacted a chapter of his book while he stroked her hair. As soon as Helen heard this from Quinn, she got him fired and threatened to sue Ms. Li.
* EpicFail: Kevin flunking a test intended for first graders. He just had to list the colors of the American flag. He wrote down "yellow".
* EveryoneHasStandards: Daria's made it clear on multiple occasions she cannot stand the Fashion Club, but the moment Quinn starts talking about her substitute teacher stroking Tiffany's hair she quietly gets the phone so Helen can have the guy thrown out of Lawndale High. Daria later blasts Ms. Li for this.
-->'''Ms. Li''': Besides we wouldn't be in this fix if it weren't for your mother.
-->'''Daria''': Yeah, hire one pedophile and she gets all bent out of shape.
** Later on, Daria firmly explains to Quinn that she didn't want to act as a sub, but as long as she's teaching Quinn's class she is going to do the best she can because the students deserve a teacher who actually gives a shit. Even if Daria doesn't have much faith in Quinn's classmates (which is admittedly justified with how the Fashion Club and the Three Js tend to act) she won't use that as an excuse to halfass it.
* EvilBrit: Daria is certain Satan has a British accent.
* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Played with. Quinn is talking about how Mr. Edwards was stroking Tiffany's hair in class but doesn't understand why that's really bad. Helen, who was halfheartedly listening to Quinn, snaps to attention the moment she's told what happened.
* FirstNameBasis: Mr. Edwards told his class to call him by his name, right before he started to get ''too comfortable'' around the students, especially Tiffany. Then when he is fired, he laments that he never got to listen to Tiffany call him "Ken".
* GettingHotInHere: Mr [=DeMartino=] says this verbatim to Ms. Li when he threatens to picket naked.
* GoodAngelBadAngel: Daria has them debating whether or not to betray her teachers by becoming a substitute. What settles the deal is the option of making Quinn miserable.
* HarmfulToMinors: Finding out your daughters are in proximity to a possible child molester who's already acted inappropriately with one of their friends, someone whom you know.
-->'''Quinn''': And then he started acting out his stupid book for us, stroking Tiffany's hair and telling her about his anguished soul.
-->'''Helen''': Mmhmm, mmhmm WHAT?! He was STROKING Tiffany's hair?!
* HiddenDepths: It's implied that most of Quinn's English class, with the exception of the Fashion Club sans Quinn, all got decent grades on their test. Daria even acknowledges that Jeffy argued his point rather well despite her not agreeing with it.
* HotForStudent: Mr. Edwards for Tiffany, not that [[BrainlessBeauty she]] seems to pick up on it. Word getting back to Helen gets him fired on his first day teaching.
* HypocriticalHumor: When Daria and Jane see that Mr. O'Neill roped Trent into helping them to compose a protest song, Jane claims that she would turn down a teacher. Cue to Ms. [=DeFoe=] asking her to design signs.
-->'''Daria''': Go on, Jane. [[SarcasmMode Offer that piece of "friendly advice" you just mentioned]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Ms. Li this whole episode. She refuses to give the teachers their 10 percent raise, openly mocked Mr. [=DeMartino=] about his last failed attempt to renegociate their contracts and, instead of being disgusted by the sleazy sub hitting on a student (and she did fire him but only because Helen threatened her with a lawsuit), she made Daria a substitute.
* LackOfEmpathy: Ms. Li's more concerned about finding a new substitute instead of how the previous one was lusting after a student.
* LiteralMinded: Despite the fact that the substitute was hitting on Tiffany, his metaphor about "the older man making bloom the young flower" goes completely lost on Tiffany.
-->'''Tiffany''': You're writing about gardening?
** He also talks about literature that explores the deep waters of life. Staci asks if he's talking about ''Literature/{{Jaws}}''. Points to Staci for knowing the very popular movie was based off an admittedly successful but not quite as well-known book.
** Additionally, Ms. Stoller. When Kevin introduced himself as the QB (Quarterback), she really thought it was his real name and refers to him as "Cubie" for the rest of the episode. She even thought Kevin was pranking her by signing a test with his actual name.
* MamaBear: Helen immediately requests Mr. Edwards to be fired after Quinn tells her about him flirting with Tiffany during class or she would sue the school.
* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: Ms. Stoller. She is so senile that she thought her high school classroom had ''very big first graders''.
* TheNicknamer: Ms. Stoller renamed Daria "Darleen" because, according to her, "Daria" was a "HippieName" and Darleen was "Prettier." Then subverted in Kevin's case, since she literally thought his name was "Cubie" and thought he was pranking her by writing down his real name on the test.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Yes, Tiffany may be slow and didn't realize the substitute was hitting on her, but she reveals that she (along with Stacy) always knew that Quinn and Daria are sisters.
* PeerAsTeacher: After Daria and her mother get Quinn's teacher fired for making a pass at one of Quinn's friends, Ms. Li dragoons Daria into becoming the new substitute teacher -- despite her having no teaching credentials and being only about a year older than her students.
* RunningGag: Whenever Daria speaks to one of the Three J's, she always refers to them as "Jamie, Jeffy or Joey" exactly.
* RunningGagged: This is the episode where Quinn finally (and proudly) admits that she and Daria are sisters.
* SeriousBusiness: After Mr. O'Neall makes a lame rhyme, ''[[LazyBum Trent]]'' threatens to leave if he wasn't going to try harder.
* StealthInsult: Daria shoots some of these over the course of the episode.
** After Jamie plainly reads the last paragraph of ''Romeo and Juliet''
--->'''Daria''': Thanks, "Joey, Jeffy or Jamie". [[SarcasmMode Lawrence Olivier in his present state couldn't have done better]]\\
'''Jamie''': [[SarcasmBlind Cool!]]
**
--->'''Daria''': Ok, you've read the play, tomorrow you take the test. [all the students whine] Sorry, orders from above. I'd suggest you cheat off your neighbours, but considering who most of you are sitting next to...
* {{Shipping}}: Discussed InUniverse when Jeffy gets his test back from Daria.
--->'''Jeffy''': A "B"! You mean, you think [[HomoeroticSubtext Mercutio had a thing for Romeo too]]? \\
'''Daria''': No, but you argued your point well, and I thought your ideas for "keeping him out of the locker room" were original, if a little close-minded.
* ShoutOut:
** When returning the tests, Daria explains why Sandi deserved her "D-"
--->'''Daria''': ''I'' should have failed you too. See, in Shakespeare's version [[Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet Romeo never goes by the name]] ''[[Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio "Leonardo"]]'', [[Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet or takes a swim in his clothes]]. But I gave you an extra credit for realizing that [[TheFilmOfTheBook the movie and the play were somehow connected]].
** After hearing about Mr Edwards and Tiffany, Daria fetches the phone several seconds before Helen asks for it, reminiscent of [[Series/{{MASH}} Radar O'Reilly]].
* SoreLoser: When Sandi got her ''D-'', she first blamed Daria until she pointed out why she should have had an ''F'' instead. When that didn't work, she accused Quinn of getting help from Daria. And when Quinn retaliated and admits they are sisters, Sandi tries to rally Stacy and Tiffany to humiliate Quinn, which didn't work as they both always knew.
* StrikeEpisode: The whole plot hinges on the fact that the teachers are on strike.
* ThrowTheDogABone: After going through a lot of stress teaching Quinn's class, Daria is genuinely complimented by Jeffy and Quinn openly accepts that they're sisters in public.
* {{Troll}}: Jokingly, Tom suggested Daria to make a trick question on the test so either way all of them will fail. [[DeadpanSnarker Then Daria wonders why he hasn't been asked to prepare a class before]].
** He later suggests Daria to go easy on the kids after she did a quip about doing so after she changed to her fur bikini.
-->'''Daria''': I lied about the bikini. \\
'''Tom''': Damn.
* TheUntwist: InUniverse. Sandi tries to stir up the drama when Quinn finally admits that Daria is her sister. Unfortunately for her, Stacy and Tiffany already knew all along and were okay with this.
* YankTheDogsChain: After successfully negotiating the new Teachers Unit contract, Mr. [=DeMartino=] felt his self confidence renewed... Only to be crushed by Kevin's ignorance once again.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Quinn tries to convince Daria to make them an easy test so her friends won't fail. Then Daria asks her "Why are you trying to defend the stupid. You're not one of them." Quinn's almost left speechless.