| “ | Nothing I do for you guys as a dad is ever a sacrifice. | ” |
—Tom
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"Stuck in Dad's Birthday" is the eighteenth episode in Season 3 of Stuck in the Middle and the fifty-fifth overall. It first aired on July 17, 2018, to 0.64 million viewers.
Overview[]
It's Tom's birthday and the family is determined to give him the ultimate gift: a relaxing day to himself. The family convinces him to take the day off while they split his chores.
Plot[]
It is Tom's birthday and Harley has rallied the rest of the family to make it a special one this year. Since his birthday is the last in a month filled with Diaz birthdays, he is often forgotten. This year, they have made a special "Happy Birthday Dad" banner. Suzy and Ethan are going to close Tom's Bait & Bite so that Tom can spend all day relaxing. Harley volunteers them into making a special dinner for Tom.
As a gift to their dad, Georgie, Harley, and Daphne present a "Wheel of Mañana" which contains a list of chores that Tom has been procrastinating. The plan is for Tom to spin the wheel and whichever task it lands on, the girls would do it for him. Harley has rigged the wheel by making harder chores smaller and less likely to be selected. Unfortunately, it lands on the hardest chore - cleaning the garage. The girls are disappointed because the garage is a huge mess. While moving things around, they find an old answer machine and Tom shows them how it works. He plays the last voicemail he listened to. It was a call from Suzy fifteen years ago telling Tom that she's gone into labor to give birth to number 4 (Harley) a week earlier than anticipated.
They notice another voicemail that was never listened to. It turns out to be a call from the radio host, Chaz the Mic Man telling Tom that he had won the "Crimson Coupe" talking car from Crimson Justice - Tom's favorite TV show. Tom is excited that he won the car but disappointed that he never knew about it because he was too distracted with Harley's birth. He takes the Crimson Justice DVD and goes to watch the show in the living room. Harley starts blaming herself for being the reason why her dad never got the Crimson Coupe. To make things right, she devises a plan for the girls to track down the car for Tom to drive as a birthday gift. She turns on the Robo-Roper and leaves it running in the garage to make Tom think the girls are still working. She also asks Daphne to distract Tom from going to the garage.
At first, Daphne hates watching Crimson Justice with her dad. But it turns out to be fun when they turn it into a drinking game where they drink chocolate milk whenever someone says "bro" in the show. As they notice more repeated tropes in the show like explosions, moral lessons, Daphne and Tom expand the drinking game to include more drinks and snacks for each one.
While the girls are working on tracking down the Crimson Coupe, Ethan and his mom go to close down Bait & Bite so that they can make a special dinner for Tom. They complain about Harley for being an overachiever, who volunteered them into making a special dinner. They try to leave early but customers keep coming in despite seeing the "CLOSED" sign at the door. Suzy and Ethan try to kick the customers out, but more and more customers keep coming in. By the time they get rid of the customers, it's too late to make dinner.
Harley and Georgie go to the radio station where Tom won the car. They find that Chaz the Mic Man still works there. While standing outside the radio booth, they call the radio station multiple times to ask about the Crimson Coupe, but Chaz keeps hanging up on them since he's only accepting song requests. Chaz steps outside and Harley asks him who won the car 15 years ago but he can't remember. While Chaz is out for a snack, Harley, and Georgie break into the radio booth. Harley hijacks the broadcast and asks listeners to provide any information they have about the Crimson Coupe. However, she is interrupted when Chaz returns. They fight him off as they wait for a caller.
A woman calls claiming to have the car. They go to the woman's house. She tells them that her son won the car but never uses it anymore. She offers to sell it to them for $300. So, Harley uses money from her Slushy Fund to pay for the car. The girls are forced to clean the woman's garage in order to reach the car. They are so excited to finally get the car for her dad. However, when Georgie turns on the ignition, the car fails and starts smoking. They open it up but don't know how to fix it. So, they have no choice but call their dad to tow the car.
At home, Harley apologizes for making her dad sacrifice his day to come get them; and for sacrificing the car because of her birth. At that point, Tom explains that being there for his kids is part of being a parent; and he likes it. He starts fixing the car. Harley also offers to recreate the car's talking feature. Suzy and Ethan arrive with BunBurgers. They apologize for not being able to close the Bait & Bite in time to make an actual dinner. So, they just had to get BunBurgers the last minute like they do every year. Tom tells them that he loves having the BunBurgers for his birthday. He thanks the family for the wonderful birthday.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Jenna Ortega as Harley Diaz
- Isaak Presley as Ethan Diaz
- Ariana Greenblatt as Daphne Diaz
- Kayla Maisonet as Georgie Diaz
- Cerina Vincent as Suzy Diaz
- Joe Nieves as Tom Diaz/Mike Justice
Guest Cast[]
- Shane Hartline as Chaz
- Brenda Ballard as Ruby
- Paul Goetz as Customer
- Nick Youssef as Crimson Coupe (voice)
Absent Cast[]
- Nicolas Bechtel as Lewie Diaz (mentioned)
- Malachi Barton as Beast Diaz (mentioned)
Continuity[]
- Harley is using the wrench that Aidan gave her in Stuck Without the Perfect Gift.
- Harley uses her school announcements skills to take over the radio show. It's been long established that she's in charge of school announcements since Stuck in the School Photo.
- MegaMart is mentioned. It was first seen in Stuck in the Store.
- Rod's Reel & Deal was mentioned in Stuck in a Commercial and seen in Stuck in a Mysterious Robbery.
- The Robo-Roper Harley leaves running in the garage was introduced in Stuck without Devices.
- Harley says they were inspired seeing Aidan bond with his dad referring Stuck Without the Perfect Gift when she reunited Aidan with his dad.
Trivia[]
- This is the last episode to have a character absent.
- The twins are said to be at camp.
- This is the only episode where an actor plays a dual role.
- Running Gag: Tom stated how he looked like Mike Justice. In this show, they were both portrayed by Joe Nieves.
- Running Gag: People entering the Bait & Bite, despite it being closed.
- Chloe is mentioned.
- Tom's brother, Chick was mentioned.
- Bethany was mentioned as having moved in a short time before Harley was born.
- Haley claims her "Boi-Zendaya-berry" flavor slushy was a hot seller.
- She does not tell Georgie for what she was saving her slushy money.
- This episode airs as part of the 2018 Disney Channel GO! Summer promotion.
- Crimson Justice is clearly based on the popular NBC 80s series Knight Rider, with "Mike Justice" standing in for "Michael Knight" and "Crimson Coupe" for "K.I.T.T."
- Harley's wrench from Aidan is seen.
- Harley was born a week earlier than anticipated.
- Tom will be the fourth character to celebrate a birthday.
- This will be the third episode to revolve around someone's birthday.
- Harley celebrated hers in Stuck in the Sweet Seat and Stuck in Harley's Quinceañera.
- Georgie celebrated hers in Stuck in the Quinceañera.
- Rachel's Quinceañera was briefly seen in bits during Stuck in the Quinceañera; her birthday takes place in Stuck Wrestling Feelings.
- Harley mentions that Tom's birthday is the last in a month full of Diaz birthdays - They just celebrated Rachel's birthday less than 2 weeks ago in Stuck Wrestling Feelings.
- In the original script:
- The show was called "Chrome Justice" with the Chrome Coupe.
- A few brief fantasy sequences such as Tom driving the Coupe and the Coupe talking were deleted.
- A scene was cut of younger Tom and pregnant Suzy at the Bait N' Bite from 15 years before.
Quotes[]
| “ | You deserve more than hand-me-down coffee. Seeing Aidan bond with his dad made us realize how lucky we are. That's why today is all about appreciating you. | ” |
—Harley
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Gallery[]
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To view the Stuck in Dad's Birthday gallery, click here.
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