I love the Morgendorffers

I watched Daria when it aired on MTV when I was in my teens and now that I'm in my 30s, I decided to rewatch the entire series and two tv movies. I always liked Daria, Quinn, Helen, and Jake, but when I rewatched the series again with an older perspective, I was surprised at how much I loved them, especially when they were together. I thought I could make a thread with fellow Morgendorffer fans and share what our favorite scenes are.

I think at the time, I took for granted that they always had family dinners together despite how busy Helen is (as a female lawyer in her 30s I find myself much more sympathetic to Helen than ever before). I also love how excitable and good-natured Jake was with his family when he didn't go down into his dark moods reminiscing about his bad childhood. Despite everything and how annoying or unnoteworthy it is for a family to have dinner together, I couldn't help but think how nice that was, especially when we saw glimpses to some of Daria's other classmates' interaction with their families and parents.

I also liked that the show did not shy away from some of the negative traits each character had but I also loved the sheer growth of each character.

Daria's perspective of her family is interesting. It's cynical, even with character growth, but at the same time when push comes to shove she loves them. The most telling, I felt, was in the season 2 closer "Write Where it Hurts" where Daria writes what she wishes life was like, and what we get is true-to-character portrayals of each of her family members. However, we see those traits portrayed in a really positive light and the easy and loving interaction between all the members of the family. One of my favorite parts was when Quinn tells her kids to go watch something "educational" and then they hear the beginning of "Sick, Sad World" and both Aunt Daria and mama Quinn scream out "not that!" It was great to see Daria also assuming the role of being a responsible as a care taker of her nieces and nephews. I also think because the characters are still written true-to-form, it wasn't really a fantasy so much as Daria's desired evolution of her family and of herself.

I also loved the scene in the season 4 closer "Dye Dye My Darling" where Daria has no where to go to talk about her problems with Jane and Tom and seeks out Helen. We see Helen yelling at her poor assistant screaming that she told her that she couldn't be interrupted and we also see Helen under a lot of stress. Then she sees Daria, who never paid her a visit. The following heart-to-hearts is not unlike a lot of the previous and future heart-to-hearts Helen and Daria have, but in the end of this one, we see Daria putting up her wall again and asking Helen if she had to go back since she had a giant case she needed to work on (Daria knows about it because Helen makes sure everyone in the family knows when she's impossibly busy) and Helen says it can wait and that the case would be ok without her. Then we see Daria smile. To me, that was so revealing of what Daria really seeks out in Helen and what Helen really wants to provide for her family.

Similarly, I liked at the end of that crazy episode where the family has to go on a retreat so Helen can be evaluated for her fitness to be partner. In the end Helen shows she's a control freak who can't help but put work over everything else and of course the firm loves that and extends her an offer to become a junior partner. Despite Helen getting everything she wanted, you see how sad she is about her evaluation. Of course, she probably took the partnership because she worked too damn hard for it.

As for Jake, in "Boxing Daria" we really see how much Jake worried about Daria. As a kid he seriously worried about her inability to socialize with other children (or people in general) and he got Daria before Helen did. He said she doesn't want to, which Helen was still in denial about at the time. Then he stormed off, which planted a seed of abandonment in Daria. However, Jake, not being a perfect parent, just left to blow off some steam because there were more stress triggers in their life than just Daria. He also tells a teenaged Daria who worried about how her parents saw her a child that it was fine that they had to visit schools and see counselors more often than other parents because that was just the price they had to pay for having such an intelligent and perceptive child. Jake's delivery of the line wasn't just a line. He said it in the most sincere and happy way possible. That showed Daria that Jake and Helen did not see Daria as a failure but that she is what she was and the parents knew they had to embrace it and just be there for her when she needed their support. I also like he always greets Daria as "kiddo" with a tinge of excitement.