Stuck Without the Perfect Gift

**"Stuck Without the Perfect Gift"** is the sixteenth episode in Season 3 of ***Stuck in the Middle*** and the fifty-third overall. It first aired on July 10, 2018 to 0.70 million viewers.

## Full Plot

Harley has invited Aidan over to watch **TV**. She is surprised when Aidan brings her a gift. It's a special wrench that he went through a lot of trouble to get for Harley so that she can use it for her inventions. Since she doesn't have anything for Aidan, Harley talks to Ethan about it but Ethan is terrible at gifts. So, Harley can't use any of his ideas. She decides to build Aidan a model of the school announcement booth with figurines of them. It has an audio recording of the time that Harley yelled at Aidan in front of the whole school on live radio Stuck with Harley's Bethany. Harley thinks the gift is emotional because it shows how far she and Aidan have come. But Aidan doesn't like it because that's an embarrassing moment he would love to forget.

On realizing that she doesn't really know Aidan, Harley works with Ethan to create a fake "Who Knows Who Best" game show where she and Aidan answer questions about each other. She makes Aidan's questions about her very easy but makes her questions about Aidan more difficult so that she can get to know Aidan better. She fails all the questions about Aidan but uses Aidan's answers and explanations to know him better. She notices that Aidan keeps bringing up his dad, Charles Peters. So, she realizes that Aidan misses his dad. She tracks his father down and convinces him to come visit Aidan as her gift for him. She asks Aidan to come over and surprises him by reuniting him with his father. To her disappointment, Aidan angrily storms out. She follows him and asks what she did wrong. Aidan explains that he is angry because his dad never comes when he wants him to visit. Harley then explains that Aidan's father only failed to come because neither Aidan nor him were good at expressing their feelings. So, they never really knew what the other wanted. But she helped bridge that gap. Aidan understands and thanks Harley for that perfect gift.

Afterwards, Harley asks Aidan to be her escort for her upcoming quinceañera. Unfortunately, Aidan declines, revealing that he had made plans to go back with his dad to Tokyo. Harley realizes that the best thing to do is to let Aidan go. She is heartbroken as she says goodbye to Aidan. Luckily, her family is there to cheer her up by bringing her everything she needs and sitting next to her on the couch.

Meanwhile, since Harley had refused to take the little kids to laser tag so that she can hang out with Aidan, they ask their dad to take them instead. Tom refuses because he just wants all he wants to do is place Suzy's Decoupage plate with photos of family memories on the wall; and then watch **TV** all day while Suzy is out of town for Georgie's dance competition. He tells them that laser tag cost ninety bucks the previous week. He challenges them to get him his $90 back and then they can talk. So, Lewie, Beast and Daphne set out to make and sell brownies. Tom laughs because he thinks it will take months for them to make the money.

Surprisingly, the little kids return a few minutes later with 100 dollars. They reveal that an old lady bought all the brownies and gave them the money after making them promise to do the same when they grow old. Tom agrees to take them to the laser tag after putting up Suzy's plate. Unfortunately, the plate is missing. It turns out that the kids took it with them and sold it with the brownies. To avoid Suzy finding out, Tom and the kids come up with a plan to retake all those family memories photos by recreating the scenes. They're forced to use costumes to take photos that have other members of the family. After that, they glue up the photos on a new plate. It looks almost convincing enough - if you don't look closely.

Later, Lewie and Beast find Suzy's original plate thrown in the trash with all the brownies. Apparently, the woman took only one bite and throw them away. The twins take the plate back to Tom. They also force him to take them to the laser tag the next day since they held their end of the bargain.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Jenna Ortega  as Harley Diaz
* Isaak Presley as Ethan Diaz
* Ariana Greenblatt as Daphne Diaz
* Nicolas Bechtel as Lewie Diaz
* Malachi Barton as Beast Diaz
* Joe Nieves as Tom Diaz

### Absent Cast

* Kayla Maisonet as Georgie Diaz (mentioned)
* Cerina Vincent as Suzy Diaz (mentioned)

## Continuity

* This episode continues with the new Harley and Aidan relationship that started in Stuck Wrestling Feelings.
* Aidan is finally reunited with his dad after saying he misses him in Stuck in a Besties Battle and Stuck with a Non-Diaz.
* Harley plays an audio recording of when she was yelling at Aidan on air during school announcements in Stuck with Harley's Bethany.
* Aidan has been living with Bethany since Stuck with a Diaz Down. He leaves in this episode.
* Ethan says that Harley is the one who gives the best Mother's Day gift and reminds Harley of the time she lost her mom's car in Stuck in the Mother's Day Gift.
* Harley mentioned that they watched *Shouty Housewives of New England* which was introduced in Stuck with a Winner as one of Rachel's favorite reality shows.
* Daphne puts on the Officer Sasha Phluff costume from Stuck in a Mysterious Robbery.
* Tom and the little kids try to recreate photos by recreating scenes from several other episodes.
* Harley invites Aidan to escort her to her upcoming quinceañera which will take place in Stuck in Harley's Quinceañera.
* Georgie is out for a dance competition. She joined the dance squad in Stuck with a New Squad.
* Ethan being bad at giving gifts to his girlfriends was a major plot point in Stuck with a New Friend when Harley had to come up with gifts for Sophie Adams on Ethan's behalf.
* In Stuck in Dad's Birthday, Harley mentions that she was inspired to give her dad a special birthday after seeing Aidan bond with his father. She also uses the wrench that Aidan gave her in this episode.

## Trivia

* Aidan's father, Charles Peters appeared for the first time.
* Suzy is said to be taking Georgie to a dancing competition.
* Chloe is mentioned again.
* A casting call was made for a "Pizza Guy," who appeared but was not credited, his one line would have been a reference to Rachel.
* This episode premiered as part of the 2018 Disney Channel GO! Summer promotion.

## References

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