User blog:Thomperfan/Stuck in the Garage Sale vs Come Sale Away

You know, I’ve been wanting to do this ever since these two episodes came out. And I’m finally getting my chance.

Now, I think Stuck in the Middle is WAY too overhated. In fact, I’d say it’s one of my favorite shows currently airing on Disney. Many people complain that this shows is a rip-off of The Loud House, and while I can see where they’re coming from, I still say, it’s no Miracle Star (Which IS a rip-off). Now for those of you who don’t know what Stuck in the Middle is about, I fill you in. It’s about a 13 year-old girl named Harley Diaz who is the middle child among her 6 other siblings, and the hijinks that they get into. Now this is why many people claim this a Loud House rip-off, because it’s about the adventures of a big family, but there are some differences that set them apart. First of all, it’s live-action. Second, Harley’s siblings are not all the same gender, so we actually get some variety (There are 3 boys and 4 girls, counting Harley.) And Third, the other episodes I’ve seen have their own unique charm to them that the Loud House doesn’t. The stories are interesting, the characters are nice and enjoyable, and they definitely have one bad-ass theme song.

But, I decided to choose this episode and compare it to an episode of the Loud House, Come Sale Away, to show how SITM can not only put it’s own spin on stuff TLH did, but also improve on it, and make it better.

Now both episodes have the same premise about the main families having an annual garage sale, but if you really look deep into it, the stories are actually very different.

In Come Sale Away, we learn that Loud Kids can be very competitive and turn everything into a competition, including garage sales, but in doing so, they accidentally sell Lily’s blanket and have to get it back.

In Stuck in the Garage Sale, Harley plans to foil the garage sale, and we see the crazy hijinks that ensue.

Right off the bat, the thing that sets these two episodes apart is the dynamic between the siblings. In The Loud House episode, Lincoln and his sisters are all competing against each other, there aren’t that many moments when the 11 kids are generally working together. In the Stuck in the Middle episode, the siblings are working to together to try and earn enough money for a pool they really want, so we get to see more of them interacting off of each other and cooperating. And while I don’t mind the Loud Siblings competing, because it can lead to some great moments, I think it’s more nice to see families working together.

Now onto the characters themselves, for the most part, both of our siblings groups are in character. None of them are too mean, or otherwise. But when we get down to it, it all comes down to our two middle leads: Lincoln and Harley. Both of whom are planning strategists, and it really shows in this episode.

Even though Lincoln’s the man with the plan, he hasn’t a single win. Weird, right? But that’s what makes him so determine to sell the most stuff, because he wants to finally beat his sisters at something for once. Then again, his sisters were just as competitive as he was so it’s not really that much of a comparison.

In Harley’s case, she’s the only one who takes the garage sale seriously, and her siblings know this and take advantage of it, making her do all the work. To make matters worse, even though the kids are trying to raise enough money for a pool, Harley’s siblings get greedy and spend it all on something else. So Harley comes up with a plan to make the garage sale fail, and I honestly can’t fault her for it. She’s tired of being pushed around and wants it to end.

And what about the other siblings? Well on the Loud House side, all 10 of Lincoln’s sisters are great. They’re not doing anything more bad then Lincoln, they each have at least one moment to themselves, and some of them even get the funniest moments, like Lily, Lisa, Lucy, Lana, and of course, Leni. (sigh) Sweet, sweet Leni. But what about the Diazes? Well, for those of you who aren’t familiar, we have the oldest, vain Rachel, the fun-loving, music enthusiast Ethan, the airhead athlete Georgie, the gross and obnoxious twins Lewie and Beast, and last but not least, the bratty princess Daphne. All characters who I don’t hate, and find entertaining, especially in this episode. The ones I found the most entertaining were Lewie and Beast, whose antics I found hilarious, Georgie, whose idea of wanting to get to know the neighbors more I found both funny and sweet, and Ethan, who I feel gave the best performance in the episode, he’s the only sibling who’s also fed up with how the others are acting and decides to team up with Harley to make the garage sale fail. In fact, Ethan seems to be Harley’s go-to sibling when she needs help with something, and I kinda admire that. Now, do I expect that Ethan is Harley’s guardian and can never do anything wrong to her like LH fans think Lincoln and Luna’s relationship works? No, of course not. But it’s nice to see some closer relationships between certain siblings.

What about the other characters? Well, Clyde is in this episode too, but he doesn’t really appear that much, and when he does, he pretty much fills in the same role as Ethan. Also Harley has best friend, who’s pretty much like Clyde, who they could’ve also used, but I digress. And the parents? Well, I have to say I prefer Rita and Lynn Sr. more. They have funny moments, and Rita properly punishes her kids when they go overboard. On the Diaz side, the kid’s mom, Suzy hardly appears in this, and their dad, Tom, only has a few scenes that basically revolve around him watching a sports game on TV.

Now we move onto the conflict/climax of each episode. In Come Sale Away, after LKs go super-overboard and sell almost everything in their house, they notice Lily crying because she doesn't have her blanket, like most babies will do. And they come to the conclusion that they might’ve sold it, and apologize to Lily. Before making a competition to see who can find Lily’s blanket first, and they all come back, revealing that they all bought Lily’s blanket from Flip, the local convenience store owner, and they sold all of their garage sale money for it. And it turns out that Lily’s blanket was actually at the house the whole time, and was in the wash. On the Diaz side, after the garage sale ends, Lewie and Beast reveal that they stole Harley’s invention bag, which she’s had ever since she was six. (Yep, apparently, Harley is also an inventor, how cool is that?) And this actually results in her siblings figuring out who they sold the bag to and getting it back. While I think it was nice that the Loud siblings to realize their mistake, and not pass blame onto each other, them getting back to competing comes literally right after that. And while them competing did provide some funny moments, you’d think the kids would try working together a try. Also, the Louds have known Flip for a while now, so I think it’s weird that they wouldn’t even suspect that he was up to something. As for the Diazes, I really admire what they did, they weren’t trying to see who could get Harley’s bag first, they were using teamwork to get it back, and the scene where they present it to her, was really sweet.

And what about the endings? In CSA, after Rita grounds the kids, the Louds state the lesson they learned, and then they start competing over who has the best victory dance, even the parents get in on the action. In SITGS, the Diazes don’t get enough money for the pool, but they don’t care, because they helped their sister out, and they we cut to the them in their own little pool, saying they need a new one, and Harley suggesting another garage sale, which the rest of the family agrees to. Now on the LH side, I don’t find it that bad, I didn’t mind the Louds twerking (especially certain characters), and Flip even got his comeuppance for scamming the Louds, but my best buddy, BigFanofEntertainment made up a good point. The Loud House literally has no stuff in it, and all the Louds are doing are dancing, they’re not even coming up with a plan to get their stuff back. On the SITM side, aside from a luxury pool, the Diazes didn’t really have that much to lose, and the ending gag they ended on wasn’t as infuriating as it could’ve been.

Now given the choice between the two, I would probably pick “Stuck in the Garage Sale”. Don’t get me wrong, Come Sale Away is not a bad episode, in fact, it’s a really good episode, the characters are fun to watch, and there are many funny moments. But Stuck in the Garage Sale just has more heart to it, we get to see the characters bonding, them interacting off of one another, and I would definitely reccomend you check it out. It’s not just a great episode, it’s an episode that shows off just how great Stuck in the Middle can be.

What are your guys’ thoughts? Which episode do you like better? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.