Stuck in the Dark

**"Stuck in the Dark"** is the thirteenth episode in Season 3 of ***Stuck in the Middle*** and the fiftieth overall. It first aired on June 28, 2018, to 0.78 million viewers.

## Overview

When Harley volunteers to oversee Daphne's first sleepover, she uncovers a truth about Daphne that she never expected.

## Plot

Harley is stargazing in the dark when Ethan comes over to ask her to become the band manager of the band he's trying to start. She refuses because she thinks Ethan's dream is ridiculous and also because she's focused on her upcoming trip to see her science idol, Neil deGrasse Tyson. She can't let anything go wrong.

Later, Daphne interrupts Harley's stargazing and asks her to convince her mom to let her have a sleepover. She refuses, reminding Daphne that the Diaz kids are not allowed to have sleepovers until they are ten. Daphne threatens to fake being sick on the night that her mom is supposed to be taking Harley to see Neil deGrasse Tyson. Harley gives in to Daphne's blackmail and starts persuading Suzy to let Daphne hold a sleepover. Suzy finally agrees on the condition that if anything goes wrong, Harley will get a lockdown and won't get the chance to see Neil deGrasse Tyson.

During Daphne's sleepover, Harley makes sure it's flawless using her four **F**s - food, fort, fun and finished. She gives the kids high energy food which causes them to get tired quickly. She builds them a fort where they tell fun stories. She tells them a "fun" ghost story which really scares Daphne. As the other kids fall asleep, Daphne comes to Harley and admits that thanks to her ghost story, she's now afraid of the dark. Harley thinks Daphne is messing with her because Daphne is the toughest of the Diazes. But then, she realizes that Daphne is actually crying, scared of the dark. She lets Daphne sleep next to her. The next day, Daphne puts a ghost trap on her doghouse. When Daphne mentions "ghost trap," in front of Suzy, Harley says it's "ghost rap" and starts rapping to confuse her mom.

Harley can't let Suzy know that she traumatized Daphne. Otherwise, she would have to forget about seeing Neil deGrasse Tyson. So, she tries to hide any evidence that Daphne is scared. She also starts working on eliminating Daphne's fear of the dark but nothing seems to work. Daphne forces Harley to sleep with her and Deathnee in the doghouse. Harley sleeps there for two days and it's torture. But she has to put up with it for a chance to see her scientific idol.

On the night of Harley's trip, Daphne tells Harley that she is not scared of the dark anymore. So, Harley can go. However, when Harley goes back to her room to get her bag, she finds it brightly lit, with Daphne sitting in her doghouse, scared. Daphne tries to pretend that she's okay but eventually admits that she's still scared but didn't want Harley to miss out on her big night. She says that since Harley held her end of the bargain to help Daphne get a sleepover, then she deserves to go to her thing too. Harley throws her things away and sits next to Daphne. She chooses to stay with Daphne all night and give up her chance to see Neil deGrasse Tyson. Harley tells Daphne that she only told her the ghost story in the dark because her best moments have always been in the dark. She likes the dark.

At that point, Harley comes up with an idea to show Daphne how much fun it can be in the dark. Later that night, she invites Daphne to join her in her late night "Harley After Dark" session where she dances in the living room and eats ice cream. This time she even calls it "Harley and Daphne After Dark." Daphne loves it so much that she wants to do it the next day. This helps Daphne stop being afraid of the dark. She eventually tells Harley that she can sleep alone once again.

Meanwhile, Ethan has been trying to start a rock band. He holds an audition for the top three candidates, but they all turn out to be little kids. However, he makes an exception after realizing that they are all so good. When he goes to ask his dad to let his rock band practice in his store, Tom assumes that Ethan is inviting him to join the band. Ethan plays along. When Bethany comes to check on how Suzy is doing in cooking chowder for the upcoming Marshport Seafood Festival, Ethan asks Bethany to let his rock band play at the festival. But Bethany invites herself to join the band. Ethan lets her in since it would give the band a chance to play.

During their first practice, the little kids start complaining to Ethan for inviting weird, old people. They ask Bethany and Tom to audition. Bethany is perfect but Tom is so terrible. Ethan doesn't know how to fire his own dad. He asks Suzy for advice and Suzy reveals that his dad was kicked out of three bands back in school. Tom is so excited to play with his son when Ethan starts telling him that he's out of the band. Tom says that he knows where this is going and sadly starts taking off his band outfit. He sadly tells Ethan that he just wanted to spend time with his son. At that point, Ethan feels guilty and asks his dad to remain. They decide to do their own father-son duo.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Jenna Ortega  as Harley Diaz
* Isaak Presley as Ethan Diaz
* Ariana Greenblatt as Daphne Diaz
* Cerina Vincent as Suzy Diaz
* Joe Nieves as Tom Diaz

### Absent Cast

* Kayla Maisonet as Georgie Diaz
* Nicolas Bechtel as Lewie Diaz
* Malachi Barton as Beast Diaz

## Continuity

* Harley invites Daphne to join her in her secret night dance session, "Harley After Dark" which was introduced in "Stuck at the Movies."
* Suzy threatens to send Harley in lockdown which is the Diaz's highest level of punishment as seen in "Stuck in Lockdown."
* The rooftop being forbidden was a key plot point in "Stuck in Harley's Comet."
* Harley being great at scaring the rest of the Diazes was explored in "Stuck in a Merry Scary."

## Trivia

* This episode aired as part of Disney Channel's **GO!** Summer promotion.
* Harley discovers that her little sister Daphne is scared of the dark.
* Callan Farris plays "Jeremy" on *Gabby Duran and the Unsittables.*

## References

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ [2]