Stuck in a Fake Out

**"Stuck in a Fake Out"** is the nineteenth episode in Season 3 of ***Stuck in the Middle***and the fifty-sixth overall. It first premiered on July 19, 2018, to 0.73 million viewers.

## Overview

Ellie volunteers to be the videographer at Harley's upcoming quinceañera, except she does not have a good track record.

## Plot

Harley is working on a "Sweets-16" brackets board to decide the dessert for her upcoming Quinceañera when her best friend, Ellie Peters comes over. Ellie explains that she's struggling in her filmmaking class. So, she asked her teacher to let her come home for the weekend to do her big video project on something she knows really well. She wants to do her project on Harley Diaz: Genius Girl Inventor. If she fails the assignment, she would be forced to stay behind during break and miss Harley's Quinceañera.

In order to focus on helping Ellie, Harley delegates choosing a dessert to Suzy and Tom. Ellie starts filming as Harley demonstrates her inventions. Unfortunately, it turns out that Ellie's camera skills are so bad, she can't even focus to get a clear, steady image. She wishes that there was a way Harley could help her film. So, Harley asks Georgie to play the role of Harley Diaz in the film since Ellie's teacher doesn't know what Harley looks like. Georgie starts demonstrating Harley's inventions while Harley helps Ellie behind the scenes. Since Ellie is so clumsy, Harley spends most of her time trying to prevent her from falling or knocking things down. At the end of the project, Harley is exhausted from running around to help Ellie. Both Harley and Ellie are glad the project is over, and Ellie won't have to miss the quinceañera.

Thanks to the newfound confidence, Ellie offers to be the videographer during Harley's Quinceañera as her gift. Harley declines the offer because she knows how terrible Ellie is in videography, but Ellie insists. Harley tells Georgie that she has to figure out a way to make Ellie quit without hurting her feelings. When Georgie mentions that Harley is difficult to work with, it gives Harley an idea. She decides to discourage Ellie from being the videographer by showing her how difficult filming the Diazes can be. She and Georgie agree to stage a fake "practice" Quinceañera ("fake-ceañera") and make it so horrible that Ellie will want to quit. They just need a little help from the little kids.

The little kids have been asking Ethan for $10 to pay off their nemeses, Poopy and Goon. Ethan refuses to give them the money and asks them to stand up to the bullies. But Lewie, Beast and even Daphne are afraid of Poopy and Goon. A few minutes later, Ethan gets pranked with a mustard drone which also drops a note from Poopy and Goon asking for the money. After washing off the mustard, he decides to confront Poopy and Goon himself. He goes to the address that the little kids gave him but he gets attacked with a stink bomb, and his bike pedals are removed. He returns home and tells the little kids that he's going to fight fire with fire by setting up an epic prank on Poopy and Goon. The little kids beg him to just give them the money instead of spending so much time and resources but Ethan refuses. Luckily, Georgie comes over and offers to pay them $10 if they help throw a terrible "fake-ceañera" to make Ellie quit.

During the fake-ceañera, Georgie plays Harley and Daphne plays dad while the twins play annoying uncles. Ellie struggles to capture every moment, but the Diazes keep standing in front of the camera, blocking Georgie from the view. Harley keeps pointing out Elli's mistakes. Ellie can't take it anymore. She quits and goes home. Harley is glad and pays the little kids for their help. But then, Ellie comes back with the video she made and tells Harley that she has decided not to give up because Harley taught her not to be a quitter. She will do the video for Harley's quince. While Ellie is talking with Harley, Lewie loudly mentions to Ethan that Harley paid them $10 so that they can ruin the fake-ceañera and make Ellie quit. Ellie hears it and gets angry at Harley. She storms out. Harley angrily takes her money back from the little kids.

Ethan takes the little kids outside to show them the epic prank he's set up for Poopy and Goon - to teach bad people that they shouldn't take advantage of good people. He shows them the danger zone and the button he would press to trigger the prank. He then shocks them by revealing that while he was looking for weapons under Beast and Lewie's bed, he found his broken bike pedals, stink bombs and mustard bottles. He has figured out that it was actually them pranking him - and not Poopy and Goon. Lewie denies it but Ethan reveals that he also found the twins' yearbook in which Poopy and Goons are class pets. In short, the little kids made up Poopy and Goon.

The little kids admit that they made up Poopy and Goon to get what they want and get away with bad stuff. Ethan mentions that he played the kids to get to that point so that he can prank them instead. The little kids start laughing at him because they have the button and Ethan is standing at the danger zone. Lewie presses the button, but it doesn't work. Ethan laughs and reveals that that isn't the real button and he's not the danger zone. They are. He then pulls a remote control and points all the pranks towards where the little kids are standing. He pranks them by hitting them with foods, fruits, and liquids. He then starts making fun of them. When Georgie stops by and wonders about the mess, Ethan blames it on Poopy and Goon. The little kids thank him for helping protect their Poopy and Goon secret.

Meanwhile, Harley is still feeling guilty for breaking Ellie's heart. She convinces herself that what she did was right. She even starts watching the video Ellie made to remind herself why it was the right decision. In the video, Ellie introduces Harley by praising, saying that Harley is a real friend who is always there for her. This makes Harley guilty. She starts calling Ellie to apologize but Ellie refuses to answer. So, Harley puts on a disguise as a mail woman to go to Ellie's house. She apologizes for not being truthful.

Ellie forgives Harley and says that she doesn't want to be a videographer for Harley's quinceañera anymore. She explains that while filming the fake-ceañera, she realized that she wouldn't get to spend time with her bestie, in-front of the camera.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Jenna Ortega  as Harley Diaz
* Isaak Presley as Ethan Diaz
* Ariana Greenblatt as Daphne Diaz
* Kayla Maisonet as Georgie Diaz
* Nicolas Bechtel as Lewie Diaz
* Malachi Barton as Beast Diaz
* Cerina Vincent as Suzy Diaz
* Joe Nieves as Tom Diaz

## Continuity

* This episode begins the final preparations for Harley's Quinceañera which will take place in "Stuck in Harley's Quinceañera.
* It is finally revealed that Poopy and Goon don't actually exist. The little kids made them up in order to blame them for stuff as seen in Stuck in a Mysterious Robbery. Lewie and Beast even put them in the "Dead to Diaz" list as revealed in Stuck with Harley's Bethany.
* Ellie Peters returns from Radistone Academy in this episode. She joined the school in Stuck with a Bad Influence and came for a break in Stuck in Camp Chaos.
* The "Landro-mate" laundry folding machine that Harley was making in Stuck Wrestling Feelings is now complete and functional.
* The little kids started charging the bigger kids to help with their schemes in Stuck with a Bad Influence.
* Ellie makes a video about Harley's inventions, featuring inventions from other episodes including the H2 Whoa, the Robo-Roper, Pick Me Up, the Floor-Finder

## Trivia

* This was the final episode shot for Season 3, and the series itself.
* This episode airs as part of the 2018 Disney Channel GO! Summer promotion.
* Malachi Barton called "Action" and "Cut" on the final scene shot for the show.
* Final Series Wrap Scenes Shot For The Cast:
	+ Joe Nieves and Cerina Vincent- watching Ellie faked out.
	+ Isaak Presley, Nicolas Bechtel, Malachi Barton, and Ariana Greenblatt- last driveway scene.
	+ Jenna Ortega and Kayla Maisonet- drinking scene in the kitchen, also the final shot of the entire series.