Summary: Daria assists Trent in shopping for Jane's birthday, but ends up getting talked into having her navel pierced. Meanwhile, Helen and Quinn prepare for a mother-daughter fashion show being held at the school.

Full Synopsis: It's Jane's birthday, and while she doesn't want any fuss made over her, she's not above receiving presents from her friends and family. Being an artist, Jane's pretty easy to shop for -- just get her some art supplies -- but Trent wants to do something different. Unfortunately, he's lacking in ideas, so he calls Daria to ask her to help him out. What follows is a phone conversation of classic proportions, as Trent trips all over himself in his attempt to keep Jane from finding out what he's up to, while Daria's crush on Trent makes her completely misunderstand his intentions. When Trent finally explains why he called, Daria is somewhat disappointed, but nonetheless accompanies him to Dega Street in search of the Perfect Gift. Their search ultimately leads them to Axl's Piercing Parlor, where Trent manages to charm Daria into getting her navel pierced (a development that Jane uses as fodder for endless teasing). Meanwhile, Quinn and Helen are getting made over in preparation for a mother-daughter fashion show at school, a show in which Quinn desperately wants to excel since Sandi and her mother are also participating. This proves useful to Daria when Quinn finds out about her navel ring, as Daria reminds Quinn that she shouldn't be getting Helen upset on the day before the big show. This buys Quinn's silence but it doesn't buy any relief for Daria, whose newly pierced navel is itching like mad. Unable to stand it any longer, Daria removes the ring before going to bed, which proves to be a huge mistake when, the next morning, she finds that the hole has closed up. Now, not only does she feel foolish for doing something stupid for a guy, she feels like a geek for being the fastest healer on the planet! However, Jane and Trent reassure her that it doesn't make her a geek, which makes her feel better... until Trent suggests a tattoo! Later that evening, Trent gives Jane her birthday gift: a song he wrote in her honor. (Daria, of course, gave Jane art supplies.) At the fashion show, Quinn and Helen are the epitome of cool confidence as they take the runway... then they become the poster children for humiliation when Quinn loses her balance and sends them both tumbling to the stage. To ease her humiliation, Quinn breaks her promise to Daria and tells Helen and Jake about the navel ring. Her scheme backfires, though, when they demand to see Daria's navel, which now shows absolutely no sign that it was ever pierced.

Loveline: The scenes with Daria and Trent on the phone were priceless. Heck, the entire phone interaction was great. First, Jake thinks it's for Quinn, then Quinn thinks it's a telemarketer and gives it to Helen to "tell him off" and realizes it was for Daria. Daria got so flushed when she realized that Trent wanted to talk to her that she didn't realize that she took the cordless phone with her. Trent's actions and facial expression when Jane walked by were some of the most laugh out loud moments of the season (even if they were drawn out a bit too long). It was almost surprising that Jane took so long to question Trent.

Trent Watch: Boy, was Daria happy that Trent called to talk to her. But wait a second, he was more interested in her help buying Jane a birthday present. This sort of disappointed Daria at first, but she was elated to find out that Trent thinks of her as the "coolest high school kid" he knows.

Pierced: The whole piercing thing was a bit contrived, but it worked on some levels. Its relatively quick closing (from what I hear, I don't really know how long the ring would have to stay out for it to close) upset Daria at first but then worked to her advantage. Jodie's comment summed it up nicely: "it's cool, unless you did it for a guy." Of course she did do it for a guy but she did try to rationalize it quickly by thinking she did it as part of the discount.

Fashion Emergency: I had the same reaction to the fashion show subplot as Helen, it made me want to go to sleep. Quinn changes from trying to cancel the event to having a "we'll win" attitude when she finds out Sandi will be participating. The whole rivalry between Helen and Linda and Sandi and Quinn is being beaten to death. Even the introduction of Linda by itself is a bit redundant. Like mother, like daughter I guess.

Metahumor of the Week: Did everyone else notice what Trent was pointing at when he told Daria that she would "look good in that?" It looked like the go-go outfit from the alter-ego credit pictures. I guess that one is the Daria staff's favorite.

The best word I can use to describe "Pierce Me" is surreal. From the fantasy sequence on to the "shopping spree" everything seemed to be happening in a different plane of existence. This episode did suffer from "split story syndrome" since the A/B plots basically had no interaction until the last minute of the show except for Daria's comment about torturing oneself for beauty's sake that cut to the extreme blow dry scenes. Daria is really starting to explore her dark side, back in the first season she probably wouldn't have even gone into that store with anyone let alone get talked into getting a "hole in her body." She really will do anything for Trent but she isn't sure that he knows how much he "appreciates" her. The fashion show subplot was tired and didn't do anything for me (except when they fell, a little predictable but still amusing). An above average performance.

Grade: B+

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.