Stuck in a Slushy War

**"Stuck in a Slushy War"** is the fourth episode in Season 2 of '***Stuck in the Middle*** and the twenty-first overall. It aired on February 24, 2017 to 0.94 million viewers.

## Summary

Harley's Slushy Shack faces new competition which escalates into a full-scale slushy war.

## Plot

With Harley's Slushy Shack becoming more popular every day, Harley is looking to hire someone to help with the daily operations. One of the applicants is Phil - the driving instructor who failed Rachel in "Stuck without a Ride". Phil needs the job because he got fired from the BMV after one bad review. Harley hires him but feels uncomfortable being the boss of an adult. To avoid the awkwardness, Harley ends up doing most of the tasks that Phil should be doing.

After realizing how difficult it is for Harley to be his boss, Phil talks to Harley about it. Harley praises him for his hard work. She decides to help him start his own Slushy Shack in a different city. She even decides to write him a review/recommendation. While Harley is writing the review out loud, Phil realizes that she is using the exact same writing tone and sentence structure as the bad review that got him fired from the BMV. He confronts Harley about it and Harley admits that he gave him the bad review after failing Rachel before realizing that Suzy is the one who didn't want Rachel to pass.

Fueled with this anger, Phil opens a Slushy Truck right next to Harley's Slushy Shack to compete directly with Harley. He lowers his prices and even offers a lot of free slushies, making it difficult for Harley to compete without encountering losses. Harley gets Ethan, Lewie and Beast to help sabotage Phil's Slushy truck but it just ends up backfiring on them. In the end, she and Phil call a truce. Phil admits that selling slushies is not really his dream; he misses being in a car with a new driver. Harley then advises him to start his own driving school.

Meanwhile, when Daphne is invited to a doll-themed birthday party by Sasha Berringer, she wants to take her creepy doll, Deathnee. Since Rachel knows how judgmental little girls can be, she is afraid that Daphne will get teased by the other girls. So, she tries to help Daphne look more presentable, more girly and more sophisticated. She also forces Daphne to ditch Deathnee and take a cute doll instead. Daphne resists at first but after realizing that Rachel won't let it go, she plays along. Rachel is impressed by Daphne's change. Unfortunately, on the day of the party, Daphne sneaks Deathnee in and presents her to the rest of the girls. Rachel comes to defend her but realizes that the other girls are actually having fun with Deathnee and Daphne for just being herself.

## Cast

### Main cast

* Jenna Ortega as Harley Diaz
* Ronni Hawk as Rachel 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 (indirectly mentioned)
* Cerina Vincent as Suzy Diaz (indirectly mentioned)

## Continuity

* Phil Durning was fired because of a bad review that Harley posted about him for failing Rachel in "Stuck without a Ride."
* Daphne's tea party where some of her dolls end up getting bumped off and is seen multiple times throughout the series including Stuck in a Nice Relationship.
* The way Rachel goes through the mail saying "not my lip kit, not my lip kit" before finding her report card is the same as she does in Stuck with a New Friend when she says "not my report card, not my report card" before finding her traffic ticket.
* Lewie and Beast keep trying to work in Harley's Slushy Shack but she refuses to let them. This continues to be the case as seen in Stuck with Horrible Helpers.
* Daphne mentions how Rachel leaves home with a long skirt or pants but carries a short skirt to change it later after leaving home. This is seen several times including Stuck in the Middle, Stuck with a Bad Influence.
* Daphne gets nominated for a Diaz Award in Stuck in the Diaz Awards for her adorable little lady performance in this episode.

## Trivia

* In this episode, Harley looks for someone to work for her. She finally has a grown-up work for her but feels wired being the boss of a grownup. Once Phil finds out Harley wrote that bad review to get him fired he launches a slushy war against Harley. Harley soon looks for advice from Ethan about how to handle this.
* Red, White, and You dolls are a parody of American Girl dolls.

## Goofs

In the scene when Daphne and Rachel walk into Bait & Bite, when the camera angle changes each time, Daphne’s Red, White and You doll changes positions by turning towards the camera every time the angle changes.

## International Premieres

* May 2, 2017 (Israel)
* May 17, 2017 (Portugal)
* June 11, 2017 (Latin America, Brazil)
* June 22, 2017 (Hungary)
* June 29, 2017 (Poland)