Stuck in Harley's Comet

**"Stuck in Harley's Comet"** is the eighth episode in Season 1 of ***Stuck in the Middle***. It aired on May 13, 2016 to 1.3 million viewers.

## Summary

Harley decides to host an outside slumber party to watch a passing comet with her friends.

## Plot

With Suzy and the little kids out of town, Tom is left in charge of the bigger kids. He just wants to show the kids that he's a cool dad by letting them do whatever they want while he is watching the game. Harley takes this rare opportunity to invite her friends over for a sleepover and to watch a comet. She convinces Ethan to go with Georgie on her behalf to help Georgie get the special limited-edition Mikaela Mendoza basketball shoes Georgie wanted from her.

Rachel wants to go out by lying to Tom that she's going to the library. Tom is disappointed that Rachel put so little effort lying to him. Rachel tries to convince her dad to let her go by telling her that their mom is the one who lays the law. This only gets Tom to want to prove he's tough by grounding Rachel.

Harley's best friend, Ellie Peters arrives hours early for the sleepover. Harley takes her to her shared bedroom but finds Rachel inside, grounded. She tries to convince Rachel to let her have her sleepover but Rachel throws a shoe at them. So, Harley is left with nowhere to have her sleepover. She tries to get Tom to unground Rachel but Tom refuses. To get Rachel out of their room, Harley convinces Tom to ask Rachel to sit in the living room and do homework so that he can watch over her as part of the punishment.

Meanwhile, Georgie and Ethan are standing in line waiting to buy the Mikaela Mendoza limited-edition shoes when a little girl comes crying to them, asking them to give up their spot for her. After listening to her sad story, they agree and return home. Harley doesn't want them home yet. So, she tells them that the little girl tricked them with a sob story because they're too soft. Georgie and Ethan return to the line and try to use their own sob story but it doesn't work out. Georgie feels so guilty that she ends up giving her money to the person she was lying to. Stuck at the back of the line, they end up returning home with no shoes.

Back at the Diaz's living room, Rachel convinces her dad to let her watch her favorite show "*Dancing With My Dad*" during commercials. She ends up explaining the difference between "*Dance Dads*" and "*Dancing With My Dad*" to Tom. Before they know it, she starts teaching Tom how to dance.

Upstairs, Harley and Ellie get to the roof through the window to watch a passing comet. Unfortunately, the window latches behind. It becomes more of a nightmare because Ellie is afraid of heights. They have no way to let Tom and Rachel know that they're stuck there. When they see Georgie and Ethan returning, they throw shoes at them to get attention, but it only makes Georgie madder at the universe for mocking her with shoes falling from the sky. Harley ends up sock-footed and Ellie is barefoot. Harley tries to use the objects on the roof to invent something that would get them down. But in the process, she interferes with the satellite wires, causing the TV downstairs to lose signal.

Tom is forced to come upstairs to check on the satellite dish. He finds Harley and Ellie trapped. He helps them out and threatens to ground them. Harley blackmails her way out of the grounding by asking Tom what Suzy would say if she found out that two kids got trapped on the roof for hours while Tom was busy dancing downstairs.

After managing to get out of grounding, Harley and Tom then head downstairs but quickly return to the roof after hearing Ellie shout for help. The three then get to see the comet fly by over the house while Tom’s shirt and Ellie’s bare foot and right hand get pooped on by the bird flying around the house.

Finally, the family along with Ellie begin to watch the television downstairs happily.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Jenna Ortega as Harley Diaz
* Ronni Hawk as Rachel Diaz
* Isaak Presley as Ethan Diaz
* Kayla Maisonet as Georgie Diaz
* Joe Nieves as Tom Diaz

### Absent Cast

* Ariana Greenblatt as Daphne Diaz (mentioned)
* Nicolas Bechtel as Lewie Diaz (mentioned)
* Malachi Barton as Beast Diaz (mentioned)
* Cerina Vincent as Suzy Diaz (mentioned)

## Continuity

* Rachel's favorite reality show, "*Dancing with My Dad*" is introduced in this episode. It gets brought up again in other episodes including Stuck with My Sister's Boyfriend. The entire family gets to be part of the show in the episode, Stuck Dancing with My Dad.
* Harley mentions that her friends get driven away by the younger kids or sucked in by the older ones or get attracted to Ethan. This is fully explored with Sophie Adams in "Stuck with a New Friend."
* Harley experimenting on Georgie is seen in multiple times including "Stuck at the Movies."
* Ethan being into comic books is explored further in Season 3 starting with "Stuck in a Nice Relationship" where he starts bonding with Harley's enemy, Aidan Peters over comic books.
* Harley eventually helps Ellie conquer most of her fears in "Stuck with a Bad Influence."
* Georgie being too soft and easily duped by a sob story becomes a key plotline in "Stuck with Horrible Helpers".
* Tom being the soft parent and Suzy being the one who brings the punishment is explored again in "Stuck with Horrible Helpers" and "Stuck with a New Squad."
* The gross mess under Lewie and Beast's bedroom is shown again in Stuck with a Bad Influence and in Stuck with No Escape.

## Trivia

* This episode was released early on the Watch Disney Channel app.
* *Dancing With My Dad* a parody of the hit **ABC** show *Dancing with the Stars*; and *Dance Dads* is a parody of Dance Moms.
* This is the first time Tom appears without Suzy.
* The 3 youngest kids and Suzy does not make an appearance in this episode.
* She, the twins, and Daphne have no speaking lines.
* Georgie and Ethan helped a little sweet girl with a wild, but true story.
* Harley and Ellie accidentally get locked out while having a sleepover to try to see a comet.
* In this episode, the three youngest kids and Suzy were visiting their other grandmother, not Tom's whom they always identify as "Abuela.".
* Starting with this episode cast members start to not appear in every episode.
* A bird constantly flies over the roof Harley and Ellie we’re stuck on and keeps pooping around them, the bird eventually poops on Tom’s shirt and Ellie’s right foot and hand when the comet arrives.

## International premieres

* May 23, 2016 (Australia)
* July 29, 2016 (Spain, Portugal)
* August 22, 2016 (Israel)
* August 28, 2016 (Latin America, Brazil)
* September 25, 2016 (Hungary)