When Sydney is grounded by Max for missing one too many curfews, she is unable to attend the one-night-only pop-up cake museum which all her friends will be attending, so she tries in vain to get him to change his mind.
Tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: Sydney decides to accept her punishment, meaning she misses the museum and it's likely she'll never see it again for the rest of her life. But on the sweet side, she's realized how worried Max felt over her missing her curfews, and promises to come home earlier.
- Book Ends: The episode begins with Sydney coming home late and Max grounding her. The ending is the same, but this time Sydney arrives five minutes early, having kept her word about coming home earlier and leaving her dad voicemails.
- The Chessmaster/Control Freak: Angela is this toward Max throughout the episode, whenever Sydney is trying to get him to change his mind. She tailors him into learning how to say no and draw the line, convince him that every girl's night is the best night of their life, and convinces him there's no "negotiation stage" and must stay focused. When Sydney finally accepts her punishment, Max doesn't even bring Angela up, which means she gets off scot-free.
- Extreme Doormat: It's implied Max was this some time before the episode. Angela teaches him he needs to learn to say no and "draw the line".
- Failure Is the Only Option: No matter what Sydney tries to get out of being grounded, Max remains true to his word and won't let her go to the pop-up cake museum.
- Five Stages of Grief: Sydney goes through the five stages when she misses one too many curfews and cannot go to the pop-up cake museum which is only that night. She denies the punishment and thinks Max will change his mind soon (denial), he listens to advice from Angela and refuses to let her go, making her upset (anger), tries in vain to get him to change his mind and soon resorts to sneaking out (bargaining), hears Max's voicemails and realizes how worried he felt (depression), and finally gives in and accepts her punishment, meaning she misses the museum and won't get to see it for a rather long time, but is on better terms with her father (acceptance).
- It's All About Me: Sydney is rather narcissistic in this episode, only caring about herself and not caring how late she stays out. She misses Max's voicemails because her phone battery dies, and doesn't even care about him or anything else and tries in vain to get out of her punishment so she doesn't miss out on a one-night-only event everyone's going to be talking about. It's not until she hears Max's voicemails and realizes how worried he was about her, does she finally snap out of it and accepts her punishment.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: To Night at the Museum. It's one of few punny titles that aren't references to 90s pop culture.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Sydney sees her unread voicemails from Max, Olive is absent for the rest of the episode.
- Worst. Whatever. Ever!: When Max refuses to unground Sydney for the night still, she lashes out, "You're the worst dad in the world!"
- You Are Grounded!: After missing one curfew too many, Sydney is grounded, and can't go to the pop-up cake museum which is for one night only, and happens to be on the same day she's grounded.
