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u/ThenTheresMaude 9d ago
Jake saying "bye, girlfriend!" to Val is my absolute favorite Jake moment in the whole show.
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u/AJL1983 9d ago
I like how he occasionally used “edgy” in sales pitches later in the series.
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u/Panda-Equivalent 9d ago
Didn't he use the word edgy when he got that job and was trying to be cool?
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u/TheBelle_30 9d ago
Her having more wrinkles than Jake still sends me till this day 💀
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u/bitwize 9d ago edited 9d ago
Especially when you consider that Helen and Jake are supposed to be in their forties, and Val claims to be in her thirties. I imagine Val as having one of those faces that's suspiciously taut in some places, and saggy and crepey in others, consistent with extensive Botox usage. You can't use Botox everywhere willy-nilly, so heavy users of it tend to be wrinkly around the eyes and mouth where it's risky to inject it. At least if their doctor is any good and they haven't had additional work done (fillers, facelift, etc.).
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u/SeaFaringMatador 9d ago
It’s clear that Daria has her mom’s intelligence, but her defining trait, her skepticism, comes from Jakey
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u/bitwize 9d ago edited 9d ago
Recently I saw a bit of that podcast done by the two girls from Step By Step. One of them, I believe it was Staci Kenan, was complaining about a hit piece on Step By Step in Sassy magazine, specifically mentioning that the show was headlined by "former blonde bimbo" Suzanne Somers, and how tacky that was. I thought to myself, "it was the style at the time." Edgy female writers were trying so hard to be Daria Morgendorffer, but couldn't stick the landing and just came off as mean-spirited. Then I looked it up and realized, Sassy magazine, that was edited by Jane Pratt, whom Val (as in Val) was based off of! The only thing I really knew about Sassy magazine was that skit with Phil Hartman where he goes "Sprechen sie Sassy?" and "I feel like I'm in a Sassy sandwich" and that sort of thing. Daria really was two steps ahead...
If we're being charitable, "edgy" roughly means "willing to push boundaries; putting honesty and authentic self-expression above conventional norms of decorum". If we're not being charitable, Daria's definition is appropriate. Val is drawn to Daria because she really is edgy according to the charitable definition. But Val wants to bottle that up and market it, slap it on a lunchbox as Ian Malcolm says. And that would kill the very thing that makes Daria interesting to someone like Val. The whole dynamic makes the Val episode one of the more interesting ones of the series. I don't know why Mr. O'Neill is so taken with Val, however, aside from that she achieved some measure of fame and fortune through writing.
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u/anima____mundi 9d ago
i just introduced my wife to daria and this exchange has been in heavy rotation in my house lately
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u/PoutyBabyOneEleven The truth and a lie are not sort of the same thing. 9d ago
Had a good 12 months or so my ex really enjoyed this line. He wasnt good for much but he adored Jake and made me appreciate him more.
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u/Faeyas 9d ago
Answering the question that probably didn't need answering.
What the crazy lady is trying to say is that, according to her, being "Edgy" is performative apathy/disregard for ones own well being. See, despite what my fear of heights would like me to think, being near the edge of a cliff isn't unsafe. There has to be an additional unsafe element with being near a cliff to make it unsafe, and dancing isn't one of those, since you are still in full control while just dancing.
Instead the point of being near a cliff is to demonstrate proximity to danger, and the dancing is both to draw attention to their proximity to danger, and how little the dancer is concerned about that fact. They appear in great risk of danger, when in reality, they are safe the entire time, but taking advantage of other peoples concern to gain attention.
When you apply that to the rest of the scene, Jake is being advised by Val to take great risks, which in reality are actually planned and controlled actions.
She suggests this because that's what she's doing. She's pretending to be a teenager for a publicity stunt (which seems extreme and risky) when she is really just performing because the effect she wants (attention )comes from the stunt with no actual risk.
Daria, naturally, calls her out on this "as far as I can make it, 'edgy' occurs when middlebrow, middle aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy, not to mention the spending money, out of youth culture. So they come up with this big concept of seeming to be dangerous, when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan."
So the fact that Jake didn't get it speaks to both: 1. he isn't really for sales because 2. He's too honest/pure
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u/bitwize 9d ago
What the crazy lady is trying to say is that, according to her, being "Edgy" is performative apathy/disregard for ones own well being.
It means being willing to take risks—risking embarrassment or ostracism for saying and doing the wrong thing, but saying/doing it anyway because it's authentic self-expression. Her problem is it is all a performance: Val is "safe edgy". She doesn't platform anything challenging with her stupid magazine, only inane shit like whether to wear pea-green nail polish. She wants to seem challenging to the status quo to attract the dollar of certain demographics, but that's it.
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u/NoAbbreviations5837 7d ago
This was one of our favorite episodes in the 90s and still is! I love the energy Val brought and the fashion club was priceless in this episode! I mean they always are priceless.
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u/foxontherox 9d ago
Jake is too real.