I've finished Daria so I feel like I can talk about this now. It feels like he ruined their whole relationship and the cool atmosphere that was going on in season 1. We did get some of that but I feel like the whole fifth season was full of drama. We never would've gotten any of that bullshit if Tom wasn't around. Maybe some but not a lot. Or maybe the directors, developers, or whatever just lost their edge. All I'm saying is Daria would be so much better if Tom never existed.
Like why does shitty "romances" have to ruin really good shows about friends. Like, I get it, people need relationships in tv show but not when they ruin something perfectly good like was Daria and Jane had. Daria is ok imo but not as good as the Pre-Tom days. The Pre-Tom days were badass and fun as hell. I absolutely loved Jane then. Once she fell for that "retro" guy I honestly just lost faith in her. Only bad season was the fifth one imo.