I am a season one fan. I have no shame in admitting this. I miss the good old days when Daria thought that everyone--with the exception of Jane--was stupid and shallow. I enjoyed a Quinn who was utterly stupid with no redeeming qualities; a Helen who was too preoccupied with her work to notice either Daria or Quinn, and a Jake--who wasn't the second coming of Homer Simpson.
However, I am also a Daria and Tom shipper. I'm not opposed to shipperism with Daria providing that it's the right guy getting her. Let's be honest, love for love's sake isn't just unrealistic, it's outright stupid and potentially dangerous. If the two who "should fall in love" don't fit, then jamming them together will just create resentment between the twosome.
With that in mind, I say that Tom and Daria make a good couple. Tom is one of two male characters with the ability to hold his own against Daria in the sarcasm and intelligence departments (the other being Mack). He's also reasonably good-looking enough so that it wouldn't be unrealistic of Daria to be attracted to him. They're also in the same age groups, and therefore don't have to worry about the statutory rape problem that Daria/Trent shippers faced.
So you can imagine my reaction to "Dye! Dye! My Darling." To say that I was overjoyed was an understatement. I had been waiting a year to see Daria and Tom kiss, and it finally happened.
But does feeling this way toward the fourth season finale and still considering myself a fan of Season One make me a hypocrite? No. The reason is that in the abstract, DDMD sends the same message about relationships and personal interaction that Season One did, just with a different, more melodramatic method.
Let's add some context to this romantic paring between Daria and Tom. As anyone who has been following the series knows, Jane and Tom's relationship had been on the rocks since "Psycho Therapy." That, coupled with Tom and Daria's growing friendship, led Jane to make some suggestions about what might be going on with Daria and Tom. Suggestions turned to unfounded accusations, which quickly became founded in DDMD when Daria kissed Tom. Daria later confessed this to Jane, which led to a bitter breakup between her and Tom, and a bittersweet parting of the Partners in Crime. As Jane puts it, "We're the kind of friends who can't stand the sight of each other." Because of their love and pursuit of the same man, Daria and Jane's friendship may have been put in jeopardy.
Now, what does that have to do with Season One? Well, the Daria from Season One would never have gotten so close to a guy--particularly her best friend's boyfriend. For that matter, S1 Daria wouldn't have allowed herself to become as friendly as Tom as S4 Daria did. But over the course of the past two seasons, Daria has managed to let down many of her barriers and make herself vulnerable to life and love. And it was that vulnerability that hurt her, Tom, and Jane. In essence, DDMD says to the viewer what Season One Daria said to the residence of Lawndale: "If I take down my barriers, you will hurt me."
And Dye! Dye! My Darling proved her right.
Season One Daria fans and Daria/Tom shippers do not have to be mutually exclusive. From the standpoint of the Daria/Tom shippers, DDMD will standout because it was the episode where Daria and Tom share their first on-screen kiss. But it will also stand out to the Season One Daria fan because it adopts many of the themes of the original Daria season and original Daria character. It is for these reasons that DDMD will be considered one of the landmark episodes of Daria when the series has ended.