Tom Sloane

Tom Sloane was a character in the show that was introduced in Season 3 and in recent seasons has played a very important role. Tom is intelligent, witty, handsome and well-connected, making him seemingly the ideal boyfriend. On closer examination, he seems fairly unromantic. When Daria questions him on this, he says that he's nit a fan of lovey-dovey romance and prefers companionship. Despite coming from an upper-class family, Tom enjoys grunge clubs, provocative literature and providing sarcastic commentary. He also drives a badly beaten car just to spite his parents.

Jane and Tom met at a Mystic Spiral gig, quickly hitting it off and seemingly abandoning Daria in the process. Jane and Tom spend the rest of the next series as a couple, though there are cracks here and there. As Tom gets closer to Daria, Jane senses a mutual attraction and becomes increasingly paranoid. When Jane and Tom break up, they agree that this relationship was going nowhere. Jane later warms up to the idea that Daria is a better match for Tom.

Daria initially felt threatened by Tom as he seemd to be taking away her only friend. After spending some time alone with him and realising that they had similar personalities, Daria began to warm up to Tom. Daria and Tom started hanging out behind Jane's back, causing friction between the two friends. When Daria and Tom confront each other regarding the potential love triangle, it ends with the two kissing. Jane is angry at both of them, spending the summer at an artists' retreat to avoid them. Daria and Tom then start dating, though its still fairly shaky at times. Most notably, when rumours start that the two have slept together, Daria is conflicted over whether or not she should sleep with Tom to keep the relationship going. At the end of the school year, Daria and Tom begin to drift apart due to going to different colleges. Daria tells Tom that they need to break up and Tom manages to salvage whats left of the relationship by asking if they could meet up a year later and be friends.