Daria (TV Series) The Lab Brat (1997) User Reviews

Hurrah for Ms. Barch!!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 6 March 2011]

This episode of "Daria" is super-important, in that it is the debut episode for Ms. Barch--the insanely bitter amazonian science teacher. She was always one of my favorites--though she was used sparingly on the show. I just loved her man-hating tirades--and here she is in typical form. During a class about behavioral reinforcement, she assigns a group project--and the students are paired up in hilarious groups of two. Daria gets the village idiot, Kevin. Brittany is unhappy, though as she is paired with Upchuck AND she is worried about Kevin spending all that time in the same house as Quinn. Well, it turns out she has some reason to worry, as Quinn sees idiot-boy as a potential conquest and sets out to win his heart. Unfortunately, she doesn't realize just how stupid Kevin is--and it soon becomes apparent that even Quinn is too smart for him! Clever writing and Miss Barch--this is not one of the funniest episodes but is clearly wonderful for giving us the Barch-meister!

Introducing the misandrist Ms Barch

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 30 January 2013]

This episode sees the introduction of Ms Barch; the misandrist science teacher; after ranting about her hatred of men she starts teaching about positive and negative reinforcement. To go with the lesson the class is given a project; they are divided into pairs and must build a maze for a mouse to run through. Then must then explain how they used either positive or negative reinforcement to train it. Daria is paired with Kevin; much to Brittany's chagrin; to make matters worse she ends up working with Upchuck. Daria ends up keeping Kevin out of the way by distracting him with football on television; Quinn takes his presence in the house as an opportunity to make her moves on him nut he is only interested in the game. Brittany meanwhile is blackmailed into acting as Upchuck's servant and frets about what Kevin might be up to with Daria and/or Quinn.

This was a pretty funny episode; Ms Barch is a great addition to the cast although I feel sorry for the boys in her class! It was amusing to see just how jealous Brittany got even though it was clear that Daria never had any interest in Kevin. Equally amusing were Quinn's vain efforts to attract Kevin. As funny as these moments were the highlight was Jakes's rant about his time at military school which culminated in him saying he was happy because his tormentors were probably dear in a rice paddy!

Classic Episode

[injury-65447 · 10/10 · 21 June 2020]

This is a really memorable one.

We get great moments from a bunch of established characters as well as the insane man hating teacher.