Lawndale High goes on a paintballing trip, where Daria and Jane sneak off to see a tourist trap centered on a great white shark run by a crazy woman, Helen and Ms. Li fight over Daria's attitude, Quinn threatens Sandi's place as head of the Fashion Club, Ms. Barch falls in love with a man for the first time in 20-odd years, and Mr. DeMartino shares a drink and stories of his messed-up childhood with Jake.
This episode provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Mr. DeMartino and Jake bond over having them.
- Action Girl: Brittany's acrobatic skills.
- And Another Thing...: After an argument with Helen, Ms. Li turns to her and says to Helen (who states she's worried if she looks younger than her age) "You look fifty."
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Brittany turns out to be an amazing tactician.
- Everyone Has Standards: Brittany enjoys the paintball, but even she is bothered by Ms. Barch's excessive use on Mr. Dimartino, knowing how much those paintball thingies hurt.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: On the bus one the way to the paintball grounds, Ms. Barch is reading "Backlash" by Susan Faludi.
It is a book analyzing the anti-feminist movement in the eighties that arose as a counter-reaction to the feminist movement of the seventies. - No One Gets Left Behind: Averted. Quinn and Tiffany seem to be aware that Sandi is looking for a toilet, therefore missing the bus.
- Paintball Episode: The whole school goes paintballing.
- Running Gag: "Those paintball thingies hurt!"
- Shout-Out:
- The end is deliberately done like Platoon.
- Ms. Barch is seen reading the Feminist tome Backlash.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: As soon as Ms. Barch discovers that Mr. O'Neill is sensitive, she starts smooching him.
- Unfriendly Fire: Inverted. Despite the fashion club's agreement not to shoot each other, Sandi, who's placed on the enemy team, gets pelted by her pals... when they mistake her for Daria. Sandi and Quinn each make an attempt to play it straight later, but circumstances thwart their efforts.
- War Is Hell: Parodied throughout the episode.
- With Friends Like These...: Quinn and Sandi get a mock war in which to play out their perennial duel of alpha-bitchery. Quinn ends up winning.
