Daria (TV Series) Fire! (2000) User Reviews

Daria's friendship with Tom causes problems with Jane

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 16 January 2013]

After Jake accidentally starts a kitchen fire the family has to decamp to a hotel for a couple of weeks while the house is repainted. Having been upgraded to a luxury hotel Quinn is having a great time as one of the bellboys, who says his uncle owns the hotel, pays her rather a lot of attention; giving her freebies and even upgrading her to the exclusive presidential suite. Before this upgrade she was meant to be sharing a room with Daria... until Daria decided she couldn't stand it any longer and went to stay with Jane. This move leads to tensions between Jane and Daria as Tom seems to spend far more time with Daria than with Jane causing her to get jealous. Jane isn't the only one getting jealous; Sandy is clearly jealous of the attention Quinn is receiving and suggests her suitor may be a stalker.

This episode contained a good mix of comedy and drama as well as advancing the plot arc involving Jane, her boyfriend Tom and his increasing closeness to Daria. As is often the case Jake is the source of much of the humour as he rants about being served regular rather than decaf coffee just then starting the fire and Quinn's friendship with the bellboy had a funny and unexpected twist. The goings on between Jane, Tom and Jane may not have been as funny but they provided believable drama as Jane got jealous of Daria and Tom's increasing friendship; this nicely mirrored Daria's jealousy when Tom first started dating Jane... I look forward to seeing how things progress there.

More isolated than usual

[rgxdzrybr · 9/10 · 5 April 2024]

Jake accidentally sets the house on fire . The damage is fixable but the family has to spend two weeks at a hotel.

It's this episode though that Tom and Daria started to make sense. Daria ditched the hotel to stay at Jane's and it takes her parents days to notice she's not around. Quinn is once again disowning Daria several times in just a short period of time and Jane is less than enthusiastic about Daria's presence. The only person who seems to care is Tom . Jane is sensing Daria and Tom are more on the same wavelength at the same time their relationship is not working out so well.

To be honest in this context the Tom and Daria thing makes more sense not handled in the best way when it happens but this situation building up to it I think I think an ignored, disowned, overlooked and lonely Daria needed someone.

The humor in this one comes mostly from Jake's aggravation and Quinn's gullibility stemming from her vanity.

Hearts on fire

[Rectangular_businessman · 10/10 · 20 March 2013]

This was a pretty interesting episode, serving perfectly well as the prelude for the events that take place in the following chapter "Dye! Dye! My Darling" and the movie "Is It Fall Yet?" being the starting point of a serious conflict between Daria and her best friend Jane. While it was hinted on some previous episodes that perhaps Tom had some sort of attraction for Daria (Like for example, at the end of "I Loathe a Parade") and that Tom and Jane relationship wasn't going very well ("Mart of Darkness") here is pretty clear that Tom had deeper feelings for her.

The contrast of the comical tone of the subplot dealing with the Morgendorffer family having to stay in a hotel (After Jake burns accidentally the house) with the seriousness of the main plot of this chapter is quite well done and effective.

I liked a lot the last scene of this episode, with Daria silently mulling over her feelings about Tom while her family argues. It is one of the most fascinating and beautiful scenes in the entire series, and yet very little has been said about it.

I guess that the more dramatic events from the following episodes somewhat overshadowed "Fire!"…And that's a shame, considering how good this chapter was.

9.5/10

Daria, Jane and Tom too

[safenoe · 10/10 · 14 October 2016]

"The Dutchman Inn, the place with the giant clog???" exclaims Quinn upon learning of the hotel they may have to stay at because her father accidentally caused the house to suffer a fire mishap in the kitchen ('It was an accident!").

Anyway, the Morgendorffers stay at Le Grand Hotel, which is a bit grander, and Quinn attracts the interest of one of the hotel bellboys, Bobby (whose uncle owns the hotel). Quinn hosts several meetings of the Fashion Club, and upgrades the Fashion Club to the presidential suite. Not bad.

There's palpable tension between Daria and Jane relating to Tom. Oh dear. Kind of like Rita, Sue and Bob too. So it's a triangle, with Daria kind of developing feelings and an emotional and intellectual connection with Tom, all under Jane's roof, in her house!! That's because Jane allows Daria to stay there whilst the rest of the Morgendorffers are in the hotel (Quinn didn't want Daria to stay with her). Anyway, it turns up Bobby is a con artist, charging the expenses to the Morgendorffers' account!

Will Jane's relationship with Tom survive? Or will Tom go to Daria? Or are we looking at territory never explored before in Daria...a menage a trois?

Where there's smoke....

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 11 July 2020]

When "Fire!" begins, Jake accidentally lights the house on fire. As a result, the family is forced to relocate to a hotel until the house is restored. The fire effects each one in the family in various ways. Jake and Helen are amazingly relaxed and seem almost like they're on a second honeymoon. Quinn brings her vacuous friends to the hotel with her and she thinks all the wonderful things one of the hotel staff is doing for her is swell. And, Daria goes to stay with Jane....and Jane is obviously jealous of the attention Tom is paying to Daria.

This episode is only fair. Two problems make it fair: it's less funny than most shows and the angst between Daria and Jane about Tom is annoying. In fact, many of the Tom episodes are subpar as the series seems to have peaked and instead of the usual witty dialog, it's bogged down with teen angst. Still, it is worth watching...just a bit weak.