Daria (TV Series) Cafe Disaffecto (1997) User Reviews

There is no Russian Embassy in Lawndale

[injury-65447 · 9/10 · 9 June 2020]

This is a great episode.

Highlights are:

• the door to door candy selling to the hypoglycaemic woman (I totally remember that moment of the show from my childhood)
• Daria's Reading at the Coffee house that inspires a spontaneous wave of anti-communism amongst the students

A really clever episode that has a good story and lots of laughs. My favourite since episode 1.

Daria gets involved in an extracurricular activity

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 29 January 2013]

When the local cyber café is burgled Mr. O'Neill is somewhat disturbed and thinks the school should do something about it. A discussion in class leads him to decide that instead of reopening as an internet café it should become a coffee shop where people can get together and talk to each other. Some fundraising is required and Daria is blackmailed into helping; she and Jane are given the task of selling chocolate bars; it looks like they could do well as their first potential customer wants to buy the entire stock... although when she collapses in front of them due to hypoglycaemia they decide not to sell her any as they don't want her death on their consciences. A complaint follows and Ms Li is not impressed; if Daria wants to get the credits for the activity she will have to perform at the opening night... she reads a story which simultaneously horrifies the timid Mr O'Neill and causes the football club to riot; a result she finds most satisfactory!.

This was a really enjoyable episode; it had a good plot and some really funny moments; the highlight being Daria's story about a female assassin who killed numerous communists in order to make the world safe for democracy... who wouldn't want to see that made into a film?! While that showed a delightfully twisted side to her character her refusal to sell chocolate to the very fat lady showed that she still has morals; unlike Ms Li. It wasn't just Daria providing the laughs; Brittany and Kevin's attempts to sell stuff to Mr DeMartino and Quinn's high pressure sales techniques provided some good laughs as did Jane's responses when Daria suggested various things she could read. Overall this was a great episode; certainly not one to skip.

Contrived and odd...and seldom seen on TV.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 6 March 2011]

I've seen most of the episodes of Daria many times. However, I think today was only the second time I saw this one. For some reason, they don't seem to show this one during re-runs on various channels (such as Noggin, where they ripped the shows apart, and Logo, which is an odd place for the episodes). I am not sure why Noggin in particular didn't seem to show it--perhaps they thought the fat lady joke was just too much (but it IS hilarious). Thank goodness I have the complete DVD set for the series!

Mr. O'Neill wants to re-open a high school café--an odd and somewhat contrived idea for the show. It just so happens that the Morgendorffers want Daria and Quinn to do extracurricular activities so they can pad their upcoming applications to college, so they are forced to help Mr. O'Neill with fund-raising. Quinn has an easy time of it, but Jane and Daria have a tough time selling chocolates to a morbidly obese woman who literally passes out during their sales pitch! Oddly, this got the girls in hot water with Ms. Li, so Daria instead volunteers to recite poetry at the coffee house. And, in the process, she ends up shutting down the café once and for all!! DeMartino at his best