“Mom, there’s a new episode of ‘Bluey.’”
My 9-year-old daughter delivered the news with the same urgency Paul Revere employed when warning the colonists that the British were coming.
I don’t know how the underground kid communication network operates, but I know it works with remarkable speed. First thing yesterday morning, all three of my children knew there was a new episode of the beloved Australian cartoon about a family of Blue Heelers, and that the new episode was about Bluey moving. Within minutes, my kids were plopped on the couch watching the 28-minute special episode on Disney+.
I was in the kitchen a few feet away, attempting to get a few tasks accomplished for our Sunday dinner. But as is always the case when “Bluey” is on, I soon abandoned the food prep in favor of watching the gripping drama playing out on our screen.
The episode titled “The Sign” begins with a “For Sale” sign outside the Heeler home. Bluey’s parents, Bandit and Chili, plan to move the family to a new city where Bandit has secured a better-paying job. A real-estate agent appears at the home with two sheepdogs who ask if the house has a pool. “You won’t need one. Queensland summers aren’t that hot,” the agent says. Bluey’s younger sister, Bingo, waves at the potential buyers, and an angry Bluey chastises her, telling her not to wave at the people buying their house.
At school, Bluey tells her teacher, Calypso, and her fellow puppy classmates that her dad is moving her to another city and she’ll never see any of them ever again. The class howls in response.
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The family prepares their backyard for the wedding of Chili’s friend Frisky and Bandit’s brother, Uncle Rad. Frisky becomes frustrated upon learning Rad is making life plans without consulting her and declares the wedding is off. Chili, Bluey, Bandit and the wedding’s other flower girls — Muffin and Socks — search for Frisky around town, pausing only for a bathroom break and to let a butterfly out of the car.
They find Frisky at an overlook, where she explains that her frustration with Rad is only made worse by the fact that Chili and her family are moving. Chili admits that she, like Bluey, does not want to move, but there is no way of knowing if she and Bandit are making the right decision. Rad shows up and talks Frisky back into marrying him. Bluey, meanwhile, has found a coin-operated telescope, and attempts to use it but her coin jams in the slot.
Frisky and Rad are married in the Heeler backyard. At the reception, Rad announces he and Frisky will not be moving west, but instead staying put. Bandit and Chili look shocked.
The next day, the real-estate agent appears with a “sold” sticker to place on the “For Sale” sign. The sheepdogs have decided to buy the house. As movers begin carrying furniture and boxes out of the house, Bingo demands they put everything down. Chili reminds her they have sold the house. Bingo responds with “So?” and Chili tells her that when you sell a house you have to move out of it, something Bingo had not realized before. This is when my eyes started to get misty.
Bingo runs out the house crying, and is comforted by Bluey, who tells her the story her teacher shared with her at school with an ambiguous ending, different from the typical happy endings of most stories.
Back at the overlook, the sheepdogs use Bluey’s jammed coin to operate the telescope and try to find their new home. Instead, they spot a different house for sale, this one with a pool, which they had always wanted. “What do we do?” they asked.
Once the house is empty, Chili, Bluey and Bingo pile into their car, ready to depart for their new city. But instead of getting in the car, Bandit gives Chili a knowing look, removes the “For Sale” sign and throws it into the street.
The episode ends with the family eating a takeout dinner of burgers and fries on a cardboard box in the empty living room.
And I stood there, in the kitchen, wiping away tears as the credits rolled.
I, like my children, was relieved the Heelers would not be moving. But I wondered if the children watching might be better served by a different ending, one that better reflects reality.
The reality is that for most children, a “For Sale” sign in front of the home means they will move, regardless of how passionately they might feel that they shouldn’t. I worry that Bandit’s last-minute decision might instill false hope in kids facing a major life change like a move to a new city. The reality is that not many people are likely to rip out their sign and cancel the purchase of their home after the boxes are packed and the papers signed.
But I also understand that “Bluey” exists to give children a sense of constancy and happiness. Bluey and her family moving to a new city with new characters and a new school might add confusion in the minds of young children who already face enough confusion in their realities.
The writers of the show suggest that they’ve thought through this same conundrum with a scene early in the episode. In it, Bluey’s teacher Calypso reads the class a story and at its conclusion, Bluey asks, “Why do stories always have happy endings?”
Calypso responds with, “I guess because life will give us enough sad ones.”
I’m grateful the show’s creators have given my kids so many stories that end happily and I expect they will give them many more with its upcoming fourth season in 2025. I look forward to watching them all through tears in the kitchen.
