Summary: Daria and Jodie visit the exclusive Grove Hills school for academically gifted students, which proves to be disillusioning on many levels. Quinn, meanwhile, is forced to stay at Jane's house when she overstays her welcome with her Fashion Club friends.

Full Synopsis: Jodie and Daria are chosen to visit Grove Hills, a school for academically gifted students. Daria isn't impressed, but is bribed into it by Helen, who informs Quinn that she'll be staying behind for the weekend. Visions of staying home alone (and partying) are shattered when Helen works out a deal with Sandi's mother, Linda, to allow Quinn to stay with them while they're gone. While Daria and her parents give Jodie a ride to Grove Hills (her parents will meet them there and drive her home), Quinn slowly and methodically wears out her welcome with all three Fashion Club members: Sandi, when her younger brothers fawn all over Quinn; Tiffany, when Quinn blows up at her for constantly asking if she's "too fat"; and Stacy, where Quinn actually runs off after getting creeped out by Stacy's way-too-needy overtures of friendship. She ends up at the Lane house and pleads with Jane to let her stay the night. Jane lets her stay when she realizes that Quinn is terrified to be home alone, but almost immediately regrets it when her shallow and self-centered attitude starts driving her crazy. At Grove Hills, Helen and Jake meet Jodie's parents, Andrew and Michele, but their association is strained and awkward as the Morgendorffers' liberal attitudes clash with the conservative views of the Landons. After initially hitting it off with some of the Grove Hills students, Daria and Jodie come to find out that they're even more stuck-up and obnoxious than the students at Lawndale High. Jodie valiantly tries to make nice, but she eventually reaches her limit, tells off the other students, and storms out, with Daria right on her heels (after getting off a parting shot of her own). She finds Jodie sitting outside on a bench and stewing over the whole experience, and both girls have a heart-to-heart talk, with each admitting that they sometimes wish they could be more like each other... and both agreeing that they're better off at Lawndale High. When they finally get home, an emotionally frazzled Jane escorts Quinn home, making Daria extremely curious about what happened over the weekend.

Character Development?? There appears to be some character development in this episode. Jodie seems to have become more of a best friend to Daria now. Daria and Jodie seemed to have found some common ground or at least some mutual understanding of how each other operates. It seems that Grove Hills can bring out the best in some people. Quinn also is growing, too, which is more surprising. She seems to be fed up with the whole fashion club scene and is smart enough to go to someone smart (Jane, in this case) when she needs help.

Marital Trouble: Helen drops some not too subtle hints that she doesn't really like Jake. As some have noted, maybe Helen's embarrassment and frustration over how they handled the Landons in this episode could have contributed to her disposition. It was funny to see her react the way she did to the Landons (she couldn't say anything right, she knew it and couldn't do a thing about it). Jake doesn't seem to like being a "team" player anymore -- at least under Helen's definition of their team. Maybe it's because he's sick of Helen taking control of everything. On the plus side, he did get his bribe.

Hit the Mute Button: Kevin and Brittany are much more interesting when they don't say all that much. Her face after being told to "rent a brain" is hilarious. Kevin's (and Mack's) homage to Bart Simpson was amusing -- "I will write until my hand is numb."

Grove Hills: At first, Daria was somewhat seduced by the Grove Hills environment of no stupid people. The novelty wore off after talking to some of the people whom have taken advantage of it. They all but admitted to being a bunch of jerks through their behavior. They wouldn't talk to someone because they had slightly lower test scores -- that's ridiculous.

This episode may become infamous for one thing: the introduction of Linda and some of the rest of Sandi's family (more below). All kidding aside, "Gifted" is a good transitional episode that helps to bridge the gap between the beginning and end of the second season. Daria starts to realize that there are people out there that can understand how she is without trying to change her. I'm also glad that Daria and Jodie didn't switch books at the end. The goods outweigh the bads, for me.

Grade: B+

Daria as a Whole: In the original "Initial Reaction Review" of this episode (which was the first one ever written), I made a comment that I hoped that Helen's competitive streak would be "downplayed more in the future" episodes. It seems that the opposite happened in "Fair Enough" and "Pierce Me." We all know she is competitive; we don't need Linda or anyone else to jam it down our throat.

Copyright © 1998 Mike Quinn [All Rights Reserved]. Used with permission. The views presented here are those of the author, and may or may not necessarily be those of Outpost Daria Reborn.