Ranking Every Bluey Episode (Now With Season 3!)
If I were a betting man (well, if I were more of a betting man than I am), I would say we’ve seen the last of Bluey, at least as we know it. There are some shorts coming in June, but I think that’s just burning stuff off. Maybe there will be something like quasi-annual specials where we get an hour’s worth of, like, six stories that track the Heelers as they age (that would rule, actually). Maybe we get a movie. But with the conclusion of Season 3 a few weeks ago, I feel like we’re done with the show as a traditional, “hey there’s a new season and a bunch of episodes” coming entity.
(Feel free to prove me wrong, Bluey makers.)
The show’s creator and studio have said they’re taking a break. They’ve said the stories are drawn from the childhoods of the creator’s kids, and as they grow up, that gets more difficult. The child actors are growing up, and so it’s harder to make them sound like the age they’re supposed to be. And so on. Better to go out as a great show than hang on as a mediocrity.
I’ll watch it as long as it exists, but I feel like going out now (or at least transitioning into a new reality of the show) makes the most sense.
If I thought the show was going to go on forever, I might scrap my “rank every episode” gambit, if only because … there are a lot of these dang things. But if I’m right that this is where it ends, and I ranked all the episodes of the first two seasons but left the third, that would feel too incomplete. So today, I’m ranking all 50 Season 3 episodes of Bluey, and I’m telling you where they fall in the ranking across the whole series.
It's dumb, and I know that, but hey, I’m nothing if not a completist.
(If you want to see my break down Seasons 1 and 2, here: Eps. 104-77 | Eps. 76-49 | Eps. 48-21 | Eps. 20-1)
#154: Fairies, Ep. 1.30
#153: Trains, Ep. 2.15
#152: Hide and Seek, Ep. 1.42
#151: Driving, Ep. 3.20
I can never guess what Disney is going to choose to censor or not. Dad-as-a-walrus threatening to pee (or poop?) on the floor? Fine. Dad making a pot plant reference? Cool, knock yourself out. Imaginary cat might pee on the curtains, a very normal-if-frustrating cat thing? Nope! We have to make it “scratch” the curtains for the American audience. No idea.
#150: Mum School, Ep. 2.14
#149: Pirates, Ep. 1.27
#148: Horsey Ride, Ep. 1.09
#147: Tina, Ep. 3.21
This is one of those episodes where I liked the lesson being told just fine, but I didn’t fall in love with the execution. Asking too much go-along from the parents just to make a relatively benign point, kid having “toilet hands,” etc. But I liked the message fine enough … except then they did the same message, only better, in “Show and Tell,” so I couldn’t even keep the excitement of the message at that point.
#146: Butterflies, Ep. 1.15
#145: Blue Mountains, Ep. 1.21
#144: The Show, Ep. 2.19
#143: Magic, Ep. 3.10
Again with Pat being the absolute best sport of all time. I imagine in bed at night with Janelle just venting about “Why can’t our kids being crazy people like the Heeler girls?” I mean, not really, he seems like a good dad, but I feel like he wants to get in on the wackiness more.
#142: Shaun, Ep. 1.50
#141: Zoo, Ep. 1.35
#140: Taxi, Ep. 1.25
#139: Rug Island, Ep. 2.10
#138: Work, Ep. 1.31
#137: Tickle Crabs, Ep. 2.20
#136: Chest, Ep. 3.11
So part of my exercise in writing these is visiting the Bluey wiki just to refresh my memory on stuff. There’s a comment section at the bottom (and while yes, I’m crazy, I absolutely cannot imagine being an active commenter on the wiki of a kids show), and for this episode, there’s some commenter who (a) posted their own comment and (b) replied to all the other comments about how chess is stupid, they hate chess, there’s no reason to teach kids chess, chess is for losers, and teaching kids chess is a waste of time. Imagine hating a game — let alone one of the oldest and most popular games in the world — that much.
Anyway, I love the queen-vs.-king, mom-vs.-dad conversation. Classic.
#135: The Adventure, Ep. 1.37
#134: Neighbours, Ep. 1.47
#133: Hairdressers, Ep. 2.05
#132: The Doctor, Ep. 1.18
#131: Wild Girls, Ep. 3.44
So there are two avenues here: Either Coco was so influenced by Bluey’s lessons in “Shadowlands” that she now cannot tolerate games deviating from their plan at all, or this episode would have made more sense if Indy had been the one stuck on the idea of playing Wild Girls and Coco had been the one to venture afield. I tend to the latter. I feel like Indy (knowing her mom’s free-spirited ways) would have wanted to be the wild girl out in the wilderness like a commune.
Also, it wouldn’t have made sense here necessarily, but I would like to see the kids have to come to terms with what to do if Calypso is wrong about something. Teachers (and parents, and everyone) aren’t infallible, and that would be an interesting lesson for 6- and 7-year-olds to learn.
#130: Daddy Robot, Ep. 1.04
#129: Postman, Ep. 2.36
#128: Bus, Ep. 2.22
#127: Typewriter, Ep. 2.49
#126: Fruitbat, Ep. 1.08
#125: Wagon Ride, Ep. 1.24
#124: Mr. Monkeyjocks, Ep. 2.38
#123: Mount Mumandad, Ep. 1.44
#122: Pizza Girls, Ep. 3.19
It’s worth wondering how much of Season 3 they planned ahead of time. I think “Stickbird” for sure was foreshadowing “The Sign.” I think “Bedroom” might have been as well. (I’ll get to those later.) But I didn’t think of “Pizza Girls” in this realm until I started writing this. The girls run a pizza shop using an old Cozy Coupe that is near the end of its run. They have the opportunity to upgrade to this much fancier car, but do they want to? There’s, you know, a lot of parallels to that and the family’s debate over whether to move. I think the Bluey folks have done a lot of planning since the beginning, but I feel like S3 went to a different level in that regard.
#121: Library, Ep. 2.30
#120: Backpackers, Ep. 1.36
#119: Slide, Ep. 3.46
Like Bingo, I believe the Flappy in this episode is the Flappy who pops up in “The Sign.” Unlike Bingo, I am aware I’m probably wrong but it’s more fun to believe that.
My wife takes one big issue with this episode. When Bandit dives down the slide, and Bingo and Lila pull it aside to save the caterpillar, Bandit flies off the slide and into the hedges. So … what exactly was going to happen if they hadn’t moved the slide? Bandit was going into the hedge regardless. It wasn’t the kids’ fault. Big deal? No. But my wife comments on it every time, and it’s the most “exactly like me” she has ever been.
#118: Trampoline, Ep. 133
#117: Fancy Restaurant, Ep. 2.17
#116: Promises, Ep. 3.04
Our daughter had a big dinosaur phase when she was younger. She still likes them, but for a while that was her only thing. She was reading a dinosaur book one day and telling us about the “stegoceras.” In my brain, she was a silly little 8-year-old who was reading “stegosaurus” and pronouncing it wrong. I told her as much (in nicer terminology), she argued, I was like “Come on, kid, listen to the grown-up.” Then she showed me the book. There actually is a dinosaur called the stegoceras! Whole different thing from the stegosaurus! I take great issue with he people in charge of dinosaur naming, but the upshot is I was straight-up wrong, I had to apologize to the child, and I have been reminded of that event about 400 times since.
In “Promises,” Chilli quotes Bingo as saying “I am not interesting in that,” a phrase that pops up again in “Curry Quest.” I misheard it the first few times we watched as just “interested,” which is funny in a “kid using formal wording” way but not as funny as the way it’s actually said. Abigale quoted it once, and I “corrected” her to my incorrect interpretation. It was offhand and I don’t think she remembers it, but also I’ve dreaded watch this or “Curry Quest” ever since, lest I have to experience more stegoceras-esque mockery.
#115: Teasing, Ep. 1.48
#114: Hotel, Ep. 1.10
#113: Daddy Dropoff, Ep. 2.08
#112: Burger Shop, Ep. 2.32
#111: Kids, Ep. 1.45
#110: Surprise, Ep. 3.50
I liked the “this is what having kids is like” part of the story. I liked the flash forward part of the story. I didn’t think the two together really worked as a cohesive story. Part of me expected the episode to end with Bandit and Chilli having had another child who was in the hospital, a la Indy in “Early Baby,” and Bingo’s playing was her way of coping with a sick sibling. Or the episode would end with Chilli, charmed at Bingo “raising” children and Bluey asking what being a parent is like, telling Bandit she wants another kid. Instead, we get the 15- to 20-year flash forward that (intentionally) raised other questions — That Bluey’s kid, right? Is it Mackenzie’s or Jean Luc’s, or does a young girl meet any other people between age 7 and childbearing? Does Bingo still live at home, and if so, why? Does the flash forward signal the end?
Unfortunately though, like Ghostbasket (more on that shortly), I think this episode works as part fo the overall Bluey arc, but as a standalone, it’s only OK.
#109: The Weekend, Ep. 1.06
3108: Pavlova, Ep. 3.17
There’s this sushi restaurant we go to near the house. The boys like sushi, but really their treat in going there is the appetizers: Crab Rangoon and … edamame. They love those little beans. So watching an episode where it’s presented as a kid-unfriendly alternative to the tasty dessert is funny. Yes, I know it’s not universal, and that’s not an issue with the episode, but it’s fun for me.
#107: The Sleepover, Ep. 1.39
#106: Ghostbasket, Ep. 3.48
This episode exists almost entirely for the last two seconds, setting up the drama of “The Sign” with the revelation that the Heelers actually did have their house up for sale. Absent that moment — which, admittedly, was a big event and worth talking about — the episode was a below-average entry. Yeah, we got a (final?) appearance of the Grannies, but it was in service that wasn’t up to the show’s standards.
#105: Show and Tell, Ep. 3.42
I mentioned this above about “Tina,” but this episode would rank better if they hadn’t just told the same story earlier in the season (even acknowledging as much). The good news for this one is I liked the way they went about it more than I did in “Tina.” The downside? We don’t use different barbecue sauces for our kids like Bandit and Chilli do, but we do have kids pancake syrup (the overly processed Log Cabin stuff) and the nice, real-maple stuff for us, and they’ve started asking to use our syrup, and I’m running low on reasons to say no.
#104: Bad Mood, Ep. 2.40
#103: Perfect, Ep. 3.01
This episode was apparently first in production for the third season, but it aired 14th. Unlike “The Weekend” in Season 1, when it was a slightly subpar episode and so got shuffled off, there’s nothing wrong with “Perfect” that tells me it couldn’t go first. So I think there’s another reason for the change, which I’ll get into later.
As for “Perfect,” I could not possibly empathize more with a parent dealing with (a) kids who do four bajillion drawings and (b) kids who want you to treasure every last one of them. Shit’s adorable, but shit’s exhausting, y’all.
#102: Daddy Putdown, Ep. 1.51
#101: Family Meeting, Ep. 3.23
I swear that Disney sometimes sets out to deliberately Streisand Effect itself. This episode was originally not released on Disney+ because of the toilet humor, and … I mean, it’s really benign, guys. But after it wasn’t released when we all expected it, when it did come out we were that much more excited. Our family, we’d have watched it at the first opportunity regardless, but I imagine someone jumped in sooner than they otherwise might have to see what the fuss was about?
Also, props to the show for having Mom’s hair in curlers to resemble a powdered wig. Inspired.
#100: Helicopter, Ep. 2.25
#99: Dirt, Ep. 3.36
The makers of Bluey really didn’t want any unlikable characters. Yes, there can be discord, there can be disagreement. Someone can do something wrong. But there’s no one in this world who is just a bad person. When Judo was first introduced, she was an annoying kid who was mean to Bingo and later mean to Pom-Pom. Wendy was a too-proper mom who was offended by all things Heeler. But over time, they eased off these characterizations. Wendy wasn’t a bad person, she was just used to a standard of propriety and surprised by change. Judo wasn’t a snotty kid, she just had some standards that she understood. Slowly but surely, they went from antagonists to just different kinds of protagonists.
Also “Ah! Bald Judo!” was a laugh-out-loud moment in our house.
#98: The Beach, Ep. 1.26
#97: Mums and Dads, Ep. 1.41
#96: Stories, Ep. 3.28
When the promos for Part 2 of Season 3 dropped, we saw super-muscly Winton floating above the class, and I will admit it, my hopes dropped a bit. It’s not that the show hasn’t done fantastic elements when the time is right (Bluey flew through the air as a dang fruit bat), but it just seemed so … for lack of a better word, weird, that I was afraid the show was getting too crazy for it to last. Well, now I’m writing about the show again, and while I didn’t bump “Stories” that high, it cracked the top 100, so I will have to admit I was wrong.
(You censor an episode about farts, but Winton pretends to poop clay and that’s fine, Disney? Y’all weird.)
#95: Piggyback, Ep. 2.18
#94: Hospital, Ep. 1.02
#93: Born Yesterday, Ep. 3.06
Imagine you’re walking down the street, and this strange man, accompanied by only a couple of very young children, runs up to you and says “The sun is supposed to be there!” I feel like that person had a very intense internal conversation with themselves about whether to call someone, and then who that person would be, before just shrugging it off and hoping for the best.
#92: The Dump, Ep. 1.34
#91: Favourite Thing, Ep. 2.07
#90: Café, Ep. 2.35
#89: Musical Statues, Ep. 3.27
I ding the show sometimes when it repeats itself. I know when you’re making 150-ish episodes about just a family living together it gets hard to always have new ideas, but … that’s the job, you know? But this one, where they copy themselves but only the opening credits, was inspired. We didn’t have story in the opening credits, just an act. Taking that act and building a story around it makes it seem more like it’s something the family does a lot and we’re just seeing one of it in the credits. That’s fun. Well played.
#88: Asparagus, Ep. 1.49
#87: Markets, Ep. 1.20
#86: Bingo, Ep. 2.09
#85: Early Baby, Ep. 1.40
#84: Relax, Ep. 3.40
One thing Bluey does better than anything I’ve ever seen is the wonder of children. Bingo being engrossed by a walking leaf. Bluey being over the moon for felt pens. Sure, sometimes the family might move, or grandpa might be visiting, but the wonder of the show is any given thing can be the inspiration for a whole world of fun. This episode does both. There’s the drama of a family vacation (especially, given what we learn in “Stickbird,” an emotional one). Except for kids, the wonder is … bunk beds. Coat hangers. A recliner. I’ve run into that so many times, and it’s just so very, very well done.
#83: Smoochy Kiss, Ep. 3.35
I’m not one to play into gender roles that much, but this is one episode where the Heeler kids really had to be girls, or at least more traditionally feminine-acting. Because I have two little boys, and they are the boyest of boys, and let me just tell you, they want me to smoochy kiss their mom all the time, and if they see me fart or spill food or whatever … they want it all the more. There’s no gross thing I could do to scare these boys off.
(I will say, though — I do a lot of the gross things Bandit does. But I ain’t never peed on my foot, man. Come on.)
#82: BBQ, Ep. 1.07
#81: Unicorse, Ep. 3.08
Whenever they came up with the character of Unicorse, they were very excited. That character is a perfect extension of Bandit’s personality, his id on full display. But I absolutely do not understand how Unicorse helped in the specific instance of “Bluey can’t sleep.” Was it just “I’ll be exhausting so she’ll get exhausted?” It was weird, even if the character was a home run.
Also, the kids book they read in there is the worst kids book ever.
#80: Puppets, Ep. 3.29
Apparently, in the Australian edit, Unicorse offers Chilli a taste of his sauce stain by saying “Care for a lick?” That was changed to “Do ya want a bit?” for the U.S. audience. And while I do understand that edit … man, “Care for a lick?” is a good line.
#79: Easter, No. 2.52
#78: Swim School, Ep. 2.34
#77: Mini Bluey, Ep. 3.08
This episode is cute as hell, if wildly implausible. I do think it’s hilarious that the timeline of the episode required Bluey to think of the idea of a Mini Bluey, convince Bingo to do it, and completely color her head-to-toe like Bluey all in the time it took Bandit to make a piece of toast.
And Bkuey, as Big Bingo, being sad in Bingo’s bed and saying “I wasn’t sure which bed to sit on” might be the best joke in the show’s history.
#76: Dad Baby, Ep. 2.13
#75: Queens, Ep. 2.23
#74: Sheepdog, Ep. 3.12
I work from home. I had twin 6-year-olds. They are extremely active and talkative. I need “I just need 10 minutes where no one is talking to me” tattooed on my damn forehead, and Wendy figuring out how to make that happen when Bandit was struggling was the biggest redemption of that character ever.
#73: Copycat, Ep. 1.38
#72: Spy Game, Ep. 1.13
#71: Hammerbarn, Ep. 2.02
#70: Muffin Cone, Ep. 2.43
#69: Omelette, Ep. 3.05
We watch Kids Baking Championship. Every once in a while, the boys join us. Every time they do, they then want to learn to bake with us, to go on the show someday. And then we try to have them help. And … y’all, I try to be patient, I try to indulge them, and it is so damn hard to be patient when a kid puts a quarter of a teaspoon of sugar in a one-cup measure that you said needs to be full, and says “Is that enough?”, and then when you say no it obviously isn’t, to have the kid ask if that’s enough after Every. Tiny. Scoopful. Anyone who can teach a child Bingo’s age how to cook warrants sainthood.
#68: The Clay, Ep. 1.19
#67: Magic Xylophone, Ep. 1.01
#66: Yoga Ball, Ep. 1.16
#65: Bedroom, Ep. 3.02
I mentioned above that “Perfect” was first in production order of Season 3 but wasn’t the first one aired. And I think it’s because of the story of the season. In this episode, the girls are excited about a new room, more space, separating themselves from the space they’ve known for a long time, only to get to the point of moving and realizing all they’d be missing and ultimately click undo on the whole move. If you’ve seen “The Sign” at the end of the season, you might notice some parallels. And I think they realized that somewhere along the line and insisted on the move of “Bedroom” to the front of the line.
#64: Dunny, Ep. 2.48
#63: Exercise, Ep. 3.39
This episode famously got cut down after some complaints upon its first release, losing a first scene of the family in the bathroom where first Bandit and then Chilli bemoan their increased weight. It sets up the plot of the episode — getting exercise, trying to be happy, trying not to make your boss mad, figuring out what a boss would value from the employees, etc. But then we in America never saw that segment, and the episode works fine without it. Sure, maybe we didn’t realize there was a reason Bluey and Bingo were so obsessed with the work side of things, but then they’re kids, and kids just come up with stuff.
Now, why the segment was censored. People didn’t like the message of adults not only being upset at increased weight but doing so in front of their children. And I get it. It’s not an unfair complaint. But it’s also real. I guess the show couldn’t realistically go back in and add a scene where Bandit is like “It’s not a big deal, Bluey, but I’m worried about gaining a little weight as I get older. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s important to be health-conscious as you get older. So I want to get some exercise in for my overall health, not my weight.” Way easier to just cut an ultimately unnecessary segment than to add in some clunky dialogue or try to punch that up. On the other hand, the show tries to be reasonably real, and a grown-up noticing they’ve gained a few pounds and being a little unhappy about it, even in front of their kids, is very real. I understand why they cut it, but part of me wishes they had found a way to include it and just elaborate.
#62: Ice Cream, Ep. 2.47
#61: Cubby, Ep. 3.38
I hate this episode. Obviously, I don’t, it’s above the mid-range overall and there is no such thing as a bad Bluey episode. But I hate this episode. Because every time we watch it (and, since it was the first of its group, we watched it a lot), the boys want to make their own cushion fort. And that’s cute once. It’s cute a couple times. By time 467, y’all gotta just leave my cushions on the couch, because I know you aren’t going to put them back when you’re done.
#60: Featherwand, Ep. 2.03
#59: Bob Bilby, Ep. 1.12
#58: Explorers, Ep. 3.15
Underrated favorite part of this episode: Jack is all in on pretending to be lost at sea. Watching it, we know he’s being silly. But Calypso isn’t part of the audience and, as the teacher, she has to make sure. The quick cut to “You all right, Jack?” “Yes, Calypso!” is so funny in the middle of his “I’m gonna die here.”
Also, feel free to make fun of me (my brother would, but there is zero chance he’ll read this), but I have asked about, heard about and read about the difference between four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive four bajillion times, and I don’t get it. Or rather, I don’t understand how four-wheel drive is superior. It seems to me that AWD would be preferential to 4WD in basically any instance. I am well aware that car guys disagree strongly, and I’m sure they are in fact right, but I don’t understand why. Good job ignoring the 4WD sign, Jack’s Dad.
#57: Shops, Ep. 1.23
#56: Sleepytime, Ep. 2.26
#55: Ragdoll, Ep. 3.25
I learned a thing researching this! Wendy cites her 10 years of Pilates for her ability to lift Bandit into the car. Pilates was a dude! Joseph Pilates! I had no idea!
So our kids go to a Montessori school. And my daughter (stepdaughter) was going there when I married my wife. So I didn’t get the intro. I was at a school function, and they mentioned the teachings of Maria Montessori, and I was amazed it was a real person. Had never even occurred to me. My wife was like “How could you not know?!”, and … I mean, there’s nobody named Kevin Kindergarten. I stand by my incorrect interpretation. If you’re gonna name your stuff after a person, you gotta make that person more obvious.
Anyway, Wendy absolutely not tolerating Bandit welching on his ice cream promise tickles me to no end. She’s very proper, and she will not brook that sort of shenanigans.
#54: Sticky Gecko, Ep. 2.12
#53: Circus, Ep. 2.33
#52: Dragon, Ep. 3.43
I understand that Chilli bidding her horse an emotional farewell is, like, closure for her mother’s death, but that little plot point really came out of nowhere. Maybe if the start of the episode had hinted at it? I don’t know, it was a very weird, and I’d argue unearned, emotional beat. But other than that, I dig any and all drawing episodes.
#51: Road Trip, Ep. 2.46
#50: Stumpfest, Ep. 2.06
#49: Dance Mode, Ep. 2.01
#48: Granny Mobile, Ep. 3.33
Hypothesis: In the first draft of this episode, Muffin was just a granny and was naturally grouchy just because of her innate Muffin-ness, but in their effort to make the character more pleasant, they made it an adopted character trait based on playing Grannies. And … gangbusters. Muffin was comfortably my least favorite character in Seasons 1 and 2, but they super fixed her in S3.
#47: Phones, Ep. 3.16
The point of the episode is to show how Mort doesn’t really get the games the kids are playing until he makes it his own. And sure, that works. But man, if he hadn’t crocodiled the game up, how on earth were the girls having fun there? I can only assume this was their first time playing the game and they would never ever play that again.
#46: Charades, Ep. 2.11
#45: Verandah Santa, Ep. 1.52
#44: TV Shop, Ep. 3.45
Think about all we learn about Winton’s dad over the course of the show. He’s not with Winton’s mom. He has a house with a pool. He goes on multiple dates that don’t work out, then dates and moves forward with the Terriers’ mom. He sells toffee apples. He eats hot dogs a lot. We assume his divorce (or separation) wasn’t pleasant, based on his aggressively the mom’s decal is scraped off his car. And we have learned on that despite him speaking in exactly one episode, back in Season 1, and even then only selling his apples. The storytelling in this show is just great.
This episode has ruined taking my kids anywhere that has closed-circuit TV, by the way. They want to dance for them and run around and see each other and all sorts of stuff.
#43: Christmas Swim, Ep. 2.51
#42: Obstacle Course, Ep. 3.03
The laugh my wife let out the first time we watched this episode and Bandit grabbed Bluey so he could win their race. The laugh, man. I could bottle that laugh, it was so good.
#41: Calypso, Ep. 1.17
#40: Fairytale, Ep. 3.26
When the show established that Bandit and Chilli had met at a party in London but that wasn’t actually sure, I just assumed that was some silliness about drinking, or whatever. I never dreamed that it would be a plot point in a fairy tale later in the show’s run. Genius. (Also, I would love/have loved to see a flashback to that party someday.)
Also, props to the show for displaying how things change over time, and how Nana’s work as a mother would never fly today. That sort of stuff is so clever.
#39: Faceytalk, Ep. 3.24
The sheer audacity of trying to do 8 minutes of kids playing on cell phones and drawing pictures and telling the action in the background behind a 1-/2-year-old drawing pictures. Can’t even imagine trying to pull that off, let alone fairly nailing it.
#38: Chickenrat: Ep. 1.47
#37: Space, Ep. 3.34
We had a bit of a Bluey movie dinner night when this group of episodes dropped (seriously, my wife is amazing), and our daughter had a friend who was only sort of familiar with the show there to watch with us. They were fascinated by the show, but especially this one. I started calling this group of episodes the Trauma Dump primarily because of this episode, which is ostensibly about three little boys playing Spaceship and then ultimately about a child overcoming PTSD that had haunted him since he was a baby. And while yes, “Mackenzie’s mom was standing in a weird spot of the playground” is a bit of a stretch to qualify as the PTSD-inciting event, the way they told the story was fantastic.
#36: The Creek, Ep. 1.29
#35: Tradies, Ep. 3.32
In “Stumpfest,” Chilli wants to put in a fish pond. In this episode, Chilli puts in a fish pond. In absolutely no other episode ever does the existence or lack thereof of a fish pond come into play. They hold a wedding in that yard where at least Stripe gets so drunk he passes out in Wendy’s bushes, but we don’t even se ethe fish pond. It’s a small nitpick, but it’s a legitimate one.
Also, speaking as someone who had to chastise his son for saying “Where’s the damn vanilla?” today and then deal with “Why can you say that word but I can’t?”, I appreciate that Chilli struggles to censor herself as well.
#34: Octopus, Ep. 2.41
#33: Turtleboy, Ep. 3.30
It obviously makes extreme sense that there are different sign languages for different spoken languages, but at the same time it’s always weird to me to realize that. I do remember some criticism of the show early on that for all its virtues it didn’t feature much in the way of disabled or minority characters. And it’s easy to say that things like this, with a deaf boy who isn’t important to the plot, or in “The Sign,” where it turns out Pretzel has two moms, can be chalked up to pandering, but … whatever, man, it’s cool that they did that.
#32: Takeaway, Ep. 1.14
#31: Grannies, Ep. 1.28
#30: Whale Watching, Ep. 3.22
Like how she laughed at Bandit cheating in “Obstacle Course,” my wife’s laughter at the hungover Chilli and Bandit in this episode will stick with me for a long time. Props to the show for handling “How do you parent when you were just hammered and can’t function?” so well.
#29: Baby Race, Ep. 2.50
#28: Double Babysitter, Ep. 2.39
#27: Housework, Ep. 3.13
When Chilli said that Bingo was walking normally, I said “Nope, hands and arms are aligned” right before Bandit did, and then when he said it it made me feel real smart. Daniel, being as smart as a child’s carton for years now.
#26: Movies, Ep. 2.29
#25: Army, Ep. 2.15
#24: Flat Pack, Ep. 2.24
#23: Barky Boats, Ep. 2.31
#22: Seesaw, Ep. 2.28
#21: Squash, Ep. 2.04
#20: Onesies, Ep. 3.31
When the Bluey live show went back on tour after the pandemic, we got tickets (front row, because I’m a dork). It’s a fine show overall, as good as “you can clearly see the adults operating the weird costumes” can realistically be. And for the most part, it was inconsequential in the overall plot. It mostly rehashed/slightly spruced up plotlines we had already seen. It was cute, but it wasn’t necessary. Except … it introduced Brandy. We didn’t actually see her in the show, but there’s an undercurrent of “Chilli reconnected with someone” in the show, and at the end we see her call her sister. I didn’t think anything of it — the show needed a plotline that could be low-stakes, and introducing a family member we’d never actually see int eh show worked for that. And then we met her. I never dreamed the live show would introduce a plot line we’d follow up on in the actual show, and it was done so well that you don’t actually have to have seen the live show to make it work.
#19: Keepy Uppy, Ep. 1.03
#18: Duck Cake, Ep. 2.44
#17: Camping, Ep. 1.43
#16: Rain, Ep. 3.18
My mom has never really cared about TV. And, since her youngest child is 40, she especially doesn’t really bother with kids shows. One day, she came over for dinner, and when she got to the house, we had this episode on. I mentioned to her that this was a delightful little show. She started idly watching. Partway through she asked if the show had dialogue, and I told her that it usually did, but not this one. About two-thirds of the way through, she said “This really is charming.” At the end, she laughed aloud and said she’d like to watch more of the show. It’s just delightful, y’all.
#15: Pass the Parcel, Ep. 3.14
Bluey definitely has a streak in it that can be described as nostalgic if you want it to, but also conservative if that’s what you want. A lot of plotlines seem to opt for “Things were better before,” and then build a plot around proving that. I’m not saying it’s not charming — this is No. 15, after all — but I have a rule against trying to learn out the politics of pop culture people I admire (I use Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown as my example here, because I love their music and absolutely do not want to know anything about his politics), and I believe in that stance when it come sot the fine folks of Bluey.
That said, this episode is charming, and Pat’s triumph at the end is great.
#14: Shadowlands, Ep. 1.05
#13: Handstand, Ep. 2.45
#12: The Pool, Ep. 1.22
#11: Bike, Ep. 1.11
#10: The Decider, Ep. 3.37
In “The Sign,” Blue asks Calypso why stories always have happy endings, and she muses that it’s because real life always gives so many sad ones. And it’s tempting — especially before you finish the episode — to see that as the show trying to pretend it is real life and could give a sad ending, but in reality it’s the show wink-nudging that there aren’t going to be super sad episodes. Grandpa Bob didn’t die, he just traveled to India for a long time. The Heelers didn’t sell their house.
So I imagine someone in the writers room proposed the idea of one of Bluey and Bingo’s friends dealing with divorce, and then someone being like “Love the idea, but we aren’t going to break up a family.” And then they found a whole different way to tell the same story, and y’all? So good. They nailed it.
#9: The Quiet Game, Ep. 2.37
#8: Grandad, Ep. 2.27
#7: Escape, Ep. 2.21
#6: Curry Quest, Ep. 3.09
“You know what this kids’ show needs? An extended metaphor relaying the comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell. Yeah, you know, the one where they say all heroes go through the same story? That’s something our children’s show certainly needs.”
I’m just saying, Paw Patrol is like “oh no, the mean mayor wants to be even meaner” as its plot points. These shows are not the same.
#5: Cricket, Ep. 3.47
Mackenzie was my favorite character for the majority of the run of the show, and he probably still is. But Rusty skyrocketed in this episode. He’s clearly the best athlete of all the kids around his age, but he isn’t a jerk about it. He waits his turn. He is humble with Stripe and Pat and Bandit. Like Bandit says, he just loves cricket. And even at that, it’s very clear he loves the game because it is his family’s game, and he associates playing the game with spending time with his family as a unit, something he can’t do as often as he’d like because his dad is away with the Army. He even intentionally ends the cricket exercise so he can give his sister a catch. And then he turns that into his adulthood! I love Rusty, guys.
#4: Bin Night, Ep. 2.42
#3: The Sign, Ep. 3.49
Honestly, my favorite part of this episode is a subtle one: Bingo. They had to make it make sense that Bingo was just going about her life and not realizing they had to move, and they found so many ways to do it. She fell asleep fast and couldn’t hear the conversation. She was pretending to jump cows with her fingers in the car. Every time Bingo was paying attention, they just discussed selling the house, and every time they discussed moving, Bingo was not paying attention or not there. It was a tough needle to thread, and they handled it.
That said, there is so much to love in this episode. Bullets!
This is comfortably the best Muffin episode, right up there with Granny Mobile. Her short temper still existed, but it didn’t manifest in her being bad, just in her being needy. Her juice spill was a real kid thing. She didn’t change her character, but the characterization worked into the plot.
Socks can talk! It helped advance the plot! Genius advancement.
Rad planning to make Frisky move away but not having talked about it is a pretty bad character move … and him just being like “Clearly I’m not good at this stuff” and fixing his mistake was a perfectly acceptable way to handle that.
Worst cop ever (you know, nonviolent division). You can’t tell people who you just gave a ticket to!
The day being saved because Winton’s dad is moving away from his house with a pool makes me wonder if they had this whole plotline in place way back in the middle of Season 2 when they established that Winton’s dad didn’t live with his mom and had a pool. Speaking as someone who has taken advantage of small character traits early in a story to flesh out a story later (buy my books!), I doubt that is what happened, but I kind of wish it.
Do you think Chilli and Frisky used to drink at the overlook point, or did they smoke? Or both?
When I first heard this was going to be a super-sized episode, I thought it was just a gimmick. But the reality is, the story they wanted to tell had to have that length. You couldn’t have realistically gotten all the good-news-bad-news-good-news twists and turns in 7 or 8 minutes. So I’m sure there was a gimmick factor there, but I congratulate them for not relying on just the gimmick.
I laugh at Nana thinking Radley and Frisky were having a baby every time.
Establishing Bucky as kind of a jerk in “Dragon” and then having him be the most annoying person in the world in this episode was clever as hell.
I feel like, if we get a future season, there’s going to have to be some sort of plotline about Stripe being too immature. He and Trixie were fighting in the background, and then he was unconscious in Wendy’s bushes and Trixie and the girls had left him (admittedly, “I’ll take the girls home, you have fun with your brothers” is reasonable).
It was such an easy callback, but I was still very charmed when Nana and Bob Flossed.
For my other thought on this, we need to go to our next episode:
#2: Stickbird, Ep. 3.41
When this episode came out, there were all sorts of “What’s the matter with Bandit Heeler?” stuff online. And all the show people really said was “Sometimes you’re in a bad mood” or whatever, totally vague stuff. And then “The Sign” came out, and … Bandit had gotten the job offer in “Stickbird.” He wanted the new job and the new salary and the new opportunities, but he didn’t want to uproot his family. He was preoccupied, he was uncomfortable no matter which way he went. And it manifested in him being unable to focus on his family trip. I am absolutely convinced that is what happened, and they just didn’t want to tell us why he was preoccupied before the later episode came out.
I struggle with depressed feelings sometimes (who am I kidding, more than sometimes). And I can’t say that “collect your upset and angry and then throw it out to sea” would be the fix the episode promises it to be, but … god I love it as a tool. I could stare at Bandit collecting his upset and angry and flinging it away a hundred times. I probably have, in fact. I didn’t cry watching this episode … I don’t think. I can’t swear it.
#1: Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound, Ep. 1.32
Still No. 1, but man, this was a tough call.