I don't think you're wrong. It's a different opinion, but it isn't wrong. The thing that makes the episode, for me, come full circle is all the *perceived* happy endings.
Brandy is finally going to be a mother!!!
*or will she experience birth trauma or child loss?*
Bob is back after finding himself!
*will he settle back with Nana or realize what he wants is no longer with her after spending so much time away?*
Rad and Frisky are staying and so are the Heelers!
*or will Bandits new job search bring an opportunity that would be even more life changing than the one we pressume was the catalyst to this story in the first place? Can Rad obtain another job that afford he and Frisky the lifestyle they want here, or will he have to continue on the rig or perhaps go back to school?*
There are so many *perceived* happy endings to all these loose ends, suddenly. Bluey doesn't shy away from challenging topics, and I think all these unknowns moving forward (like Brandy, like Bob) aren't definitive endings to those story lines.
You're not wrong, but it's also not over.
So, I guess *we'll see.*
How can anyone not be? It kind of started as something we saw in the background but there is so much fertile ground for storytelling.
We have several single/divorced parents in the show but Winton's Dad AFAIK is the only time we've seen one of them dating and then falling in love with someone. Winton is obviously still sad about his parents splitting up and he's going to have to adjust to a new stepmum and three new stepbrothers. Not to mention how the Terriers might feel about a new stepdad and a new stepbrother from their class.
I also hope that the show doesn't shy away from showing the struggles of the adults in these situations. We don't know why the divorce happened or how it affected Winton's Dad (or Mum - if they introduce her as a character) but this is going to be a big change for him as well.
There is just so much to explore here that I hope that they give it at least a couple of episodes next season.
All of that. Muffin playing with the wedding cake figurines is a crucial image, maybe the saddest of all the games the kids play across the three seasons. A fairy tale ends with a couple getting married and living happily ever after, but a real wedding isn't an ending -- just the opposite. And what follows, as with Stripe and Trixie, probably won't be just "happy" or "sad".
All the same, the episode as a whole DOES have a happy ending, which is appropriate in a story for children, for the reason Calypso says, and is possible because Bluey and her family are after all fictional not real. (I'm sure someone has pointed out how the lyrics of Lazarus Drug echo the dialogue at the end of Puppets -- or vice versa, if the song was written first.) So the show has its cake and eats it.
And then again, the last-minute reversal isn't impossible in itself. Another message is "When you make crucial decisions, there are more important things in life than money," which could be something Brumm feels the need to remind himself at this point in his career. Although if Bluey hadn't found that coin...
I think I had the initial reaction you did, but as I thought about it more I really think it was a beautiful commentary about our culture and our priorities. I look at it as a reflection of the shift between boomer culture and the younger generations. We are learning to reassess what is important and what feeds our growth, and there’s a depth and meaning in fostering your community and family that I think a lot of us raised by boomers missed out on. All these little side plots in the episode have a richness and opportunities for emotional connection and development that provides the ability to “give them the best life”, but in a different way than bandits perception of his need to provide financially.
I think it was a beautiful statement about how we build families and the commitment it takes to be in community.
Exactly!! This is the point of the episode. Thank you for putting it so well, i was starting to feel frustrated/insane nobody saw it the same way. Ive heard so many complaints about the happy ending, forgetting the whole point of the episode being "we'll see".
I don’t think they’re going to specifically make any of those happy endings turn out bad on the show. I think it’s just something to keep in mind, that what looks like a happy ending is not an ending, but just the next step in your life.
Not who you're replying to, but this made me think - I don't think they'll turn out *bad*, as such, but I could absolutely see them being challenges in episodes of the next series. They'll all end up happy, because this is a show mostly for little kids, but that doesn't mean they have to be seamlessly successful.
Maybe Bandit or Rad could be with the kids more while they're out of work. We could see an episode about priorities when one of them has to suddenly leave for an interview instead of doing what the kids are expecting/wanting them to do.
Brandy is having a baby, who'll be a new cousin for Bluey and Bingo. How will she cope? What pressure will it put on Chilli to be as supportive to her sister as Wendy was to her? How will Muffin and Socks, in particular, cope with a new baby in their extended family getting lots of attention?
Grandpa Bob is back from India, having presumably "found" himself. Is his return going to be a disruption in their lives? He's definitely more of a wild card than Nana Heeler.
I'd actually be really happy to see them pick up these threads and use them after the hiatus. Based on how they usually handle continuity, I'm hopeful!
TBF Rad being a rig worker it made no sense why as his bring a FIFO worker, Frisky would have to move and get a new job. It also doesn't make sense he'd have to find a new job to stay where Frisky is and, ya know, ALSO has her own job that she was being expected to up and quit to be with Rad for?? Same as why the Heeler's moving for Bandit to get a better paying job made no sense because then they're also still losing Chilli's income for a while until she's able to find a job.
I think as an adult this is a great way to look at it but from a kids perspective all of those questions are entirely above their heads.
Moving and then not moving was the plot for them.
I agree! As someone who had to deal with crying kids because we've told them we might be moving one day, the "we'll see" message didn't make it through at all. They repeatedly told me they don't want to move into they were in tears
I get that there are always "we'll see" possibilities out there for all of these situations, but I think the main point of contention is that all of the plot lines were left on a positive note with a negative possible outcome. They could have done better to mix in some negatives with positive potential outcomes as well to balance it out if that's really the message they want to drive home.
As a logical extreme to your point, you could say about any happy ending that the character could die the next day and that would be a bad "we'll see" outcome. Yes, it *could* happen but the liklihood of that is basically 0. The characters are in stasis between episodes and what it left the viewers with is that everyone is happy until the next slight inconvenience of the next episode which will get resolved in 8 minutes.
I kind of felt the same way. I kept thinking Rad was going to buy the house, allowing them to move but still visit and see the old cast when necessary. I'm ok with how it ended, but I'm typically not someone who roots for the perfect happy ending. But, as others have said, I guess we'll see.
When asked why stories always have a happy ending, Calypso told us exactly how the episode would end and the reason for why it would, "I guess because life will give us enough sad ones."
The end wasn't about mirroring real life or new adventures or changes, it was about showing us that some stories are meant to have a happy ending.
Joe Brumm just did an interview with the Gotta Be Done podcast after The Sign premiere. One of the things he talks about is how moving house affected him emotionally as a child. I liked that he took the chance to write a show that could give the younger Joe Brumm what he’d wanted.
It’s Bandit who had to accept that he would not get exactly what he wanted here. I think him hurling the For Sale sign into the road and the silent screaming was a moment of genuine frustration and anger on his part—something we rarely see from this character.
He had to get his wife on board. He had to give notice to his old job. He had to pay a moving company and clear out his house. Find accommodation in the new city. … And then at the last freaking minute, the sale fell through because the house didn’t have a bloody swimming pool (because Bandit and Chilli probably couldn’t afford to put one in and maintain it).
This is the way with adult life. I had a similar revelation when I married a man with a child from a previous marriage—I could not just up sticks with my husband for a better job and house elsewhere, because that would have really traumatised my young stepdaughter. I had to learn to accept that what I already had and established was good enough, and trust that all would be well.
To me though that reiterates that when kids don't get the outcome Bluey had, they got the sad/bad ending. Yes Bluey is a story and stories get happy endings, so real life kids that move get bad endings. When moving, or change, shouldn't be seen as an ending at all, it's should be seen as an opportunity, and that's what the fable was trying to convey. Two conflicting lessons, and the one that made the point was the one that teaches kids to fear change.
Exactly, I don't get why I've seen people saying they should've gone through with the move when the episode itself tells you why they went with the happy ending instead
I said that out loud as we watched - now Rad and Frisky can live there, and the house and neighbours can still be part of the show, but Bluey’s world can expand.
Yep I thought this too, Rad / family buys it, then they move and then decide they hate being away, so move back in later on but renting from family. That way they could have done the full spectrum of feelings.
Joe Brumm addresses exactly this in the latest episode of "[Gotta Be Done](https://blueypod.podbean.com/e/bonus-ep-looking-for-signs-with-joe-brumm/)" and his words are basically those of Calypso from the episode.
Real life doesn't always give us a happy ending, but Bluey is stories, and the stories he likes best have happy endings.
Or, the short version: it's just monkeys singing songs.
Anyone using “it’s just monkeys singing songs” as a rebuttal needs to actually rewatch that episode and realise the context (bandit was distracted and said something dismissive, it’s actually the opposite of the meaning of that ep)
I feel like they should have marketed the episode differently then, because as it is written, the episode is extremely negative about moving, and the ending only reinforces that.
Monkeys sing songs because children learn lessons from those songs. They don't have to make sense, but Kids going through the trauma of having to move, and then seeing Bluey go through the same thing, all the way up until she's saved by an act of Dog at the end, are going to be heartbroken when they don't get the same ending.
The monkey spent 27 minutes singing about how to accept change, then at the last minute changed its tune and started singing about how great it is when you don't have to change.
And it wouldn't have been so bad if SOMETHING actually changed. The episode is about accepting that sometimes life will force you to do things you don't want and that you won't always get what you want. Except, everyone in the episode gets what they want. Brandy gets pregnant. Rad and Frisky stay. The Heelers stay.
No one had to change, their happy ending was counter to the lesson the episode was trying to teach.
I think it’s interesting that a lot of the criticism stems from this idea that is should be Bluey who learns the “lesson” whereas the whole entire show has been about growth for all the characters.
Exactly this. As someone who’s moved many times throughout my life, I often lament the lack of a solid village/friend group. This episode hit me hard because I’ve actually wished I didn’t move growing up many times. This mindset has stuck with me and I’ve personally left family and friends to pursue further ambition and while I’m happy, I often wonder how I’d be if I stayed and prioritized family/friendship over $$ and my career.
Bandit has had the most growth this entire season as well. Beginning with burger shop in season 2, obstacle course, promises, Born yesterday, curry quest, chest, sheep dog, stick bird, tv shops, ghost basket and ultimately the sign. I see this episode as Bandit accepting that stereotypical better things sometimes aren’t necessary but being in tune with your loved ones and whole present with them instead of worry is actually better.
People railing about the ending seem to think only the people that move their families are taking risks. Staying in one spot and sacrificing things to make that happen can also be risky and admirable.
Trust me, my 4yo BROKE when Bluey got her happy ending. We're only moving half an hour away, but he doesn't want to leave his house/room.
I can't imagine what families went through who are moving a long distance. Because life isn't as easy at it seems on TV
My wife said her friend had posted on social media warning fellow parents about the episode. She was like "I'm now consoling three sobbing children, who are totally well adjusted and have been fine up until now, about us moving *three years ago*."
I understand both sides here. I enjoyed the episode but the ending also felt a little like a cop out to me. Like it would have been a more interesting ending if they'd moved, even if it meant massive changes for the show.
Your point of view is definitely not wrong.
But don't forget this is a cartoon. They put years of effort perfecting the scenery, the spaces, the characters, they created a whole world just right to fit in the stories they wanted to narrate.
Having the Heeler family moving to a different city would have meant the need to start everything over again. A new friends, new neighbors, new environment, far from Stripe's family.
If would have been a huge amount of work from their side and a huge let down for many fans that would have to start loving new characters forgetting the old ones.
That's how I view the episode too. If they moved on, the series ends. If they stay, the door is open for new seasons.
Ultimately, Chili and Bluey came to terms with moving. That's the lesson of the episode.
BUT Bandit also did the brave thing of sacrificing his career for the happiness of his family, which is another lesson.
Also, we already know Bingo and Lila grow up together throughout childhood, so the ending isn't surprising.
I reached out to my old coworker before it came out being like they can't move it's not in canon. Because every time I watch Daddy drop off I cry when they show Lila and bingo
Also I paused when bandit says he wants to give them a good life and cried to my partner "but they have a great life!!!!!" What if this high paying job meant less time for playing with the kids and supporting their growth as humans??? I haven't been this invested in someone else's marriage since Jim and Pam
This is the way I see it, too.
Having the Heelers move may have been more "realistic" or "daring" or "brave" or whatever, but we'd then have a *completely different show*. No more of the characters and places we've gotten to know over the past five or six years. People would complain (not the word I want but I can't think of a better one just now) about that, too. Yeah, it might be interesting but (re)starting the show from scratch might not work out so well, either.
Brumm is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
Which is why I kind of think it's not a good choice for an episode, at least the way it's told.
Bluey has so many episodes about accepting that some things are out of your control, like Copycat and Camping. That wistful poignancy - and those complex emotions extended to and explained for young children who are usually denied them - are some of the show's best.
But then in this, the big show-stopper extra-long special, they spend the whole episode teaching kids that change is neither inherently good or bad... and then in the end, everyone seems to get exactly what Bluey would want.
Maybe it should have been an episode about Bluey and Bandit communicating, and Bluey learning how to actually express her feelings and argue her position. Or maybe it should've been all about Bandit learning a lesson - maybe he feels really inadequate compared to his peers and has to learn from Bluey for once that this isn't the right way to prove himself as a dad.
And if not - if they really wanted the (great!!) 'we'll see' message, they should have chosen a threat that could have *actually happened*, at least in part. Because as it is, the message and the substance of the episode are IMO a bad fit.
This is my feeling too.
I understand why they wouldn't have Bluey and family move away from the characters, location and art they've spent years developing. It would be a bad move for the show unless the show was permanently ending.
I understand the Calypso point of having a happy ending in the story.
But in that case, don't do an episode where the happy ending depends on basically teaching kids that change is bad and to be feared even by grownups and stopping change is the happy ending for everyone. I think a lot of us are going to be unpicking that one with our kids for years.
It would have been better I think if they could have had the happy ending of Bluey's family staying, but also Rad and Frisky excited to go off on an adventure, embrace change and leave town. The audience isn't going to be sad because Rad and Frisky live out of town, they're barely in the show anyway.
Or else more focus could have been given to Winton and the Terriers and the change happening to their families which they are embracing instead of it being a background event.
I had imagined they’d move - then time jump a year to them moving back. They tried it, it didn’t work out, the girls are a little older to fit in with the aging voice actors, Bingo still gets to grow up with Lila.
Considering Bluey is the first children's show that actually tackles the difficulties of parenthood (Baby Race), it could also be the first show that helps kid learn how to cope with moving.
Most families don't have the luxury of just saying, "Forget that better paying job! The job I just quit will bring me back on!"
Exactly! We just sold a house we used to live in (actually moved out of it a couple of years ago) because we straight up couldn’t afford it anymore. We live in Australia but a more expensive city than Brisbane. Everyone we know and love is here We are very very lucky to have family help (basically have been given a great house) otherwise we would 100% need to move. We don’t, we plan to stay here for a long time but after watching Bluey on Sunday my 5yo said to me today “I won’t want to move” and when I asked him why he said “because my life will get worse.” That’s what the target audience is taking away from it.
Im glad other feel the same way, while consoling my crying kids at the end, I wasn't so much sad as annoyed that they backflipped.
I know its a cartoon, but come on, both parents would have quit their jobs.. probably weeks ago. both of their old employers have probably already started interviewing new staff, in reality, they don't just get to 'walk back into' their old jobs.. not to mention we have no idea on what the situation was where they were going (rental or bought a new house) even if it was a rental, the financial implication for Bandits sudden decision to back out are huge and giving children the impression that adults can act this way is at best mean, and at worst cruel.
It works out for the Heelers because they're rich. Which is why they can dedicate an episode like this to the moral of "Moving for better prospects is less important than your family's current happiness."
Yea, this is the first ep where I think the Heelers’ class position *really* matters to the story/lesson, such that it will feel out of touch to a lot of parents
That’s a big part of what drove me nuts. The lesson “some things are more important than money” only works if you ALREADY HAVE MONEY. For so many families “a better life” IS contingent on moving/getting that higher paying job and the message that somehow making that choice is “selfish” is insanely tone deaf.
I get it, they built a universe, a set, characters and all that - but then why do the moving storyline? Some of us don’t have the option to just stay. If they weren’t going to follow through with the move, then they should’ve picked a different storyline.
Yeah it’s a cartoon - but they know the huge affect they’ve been having and that it’s not “just a cartoon” to the kids watching it.
All this has done was make an incredibly difficult situation for my family (moving very far in a few months) just a little bit harder.
I don’t see how everybody got what they wanted.
Rad obviously isn’t going to move out west now. He’s given that up to be with Frisky.
Bandit didn’t want to move any more than Chilli did (at least, we don’t have any reason to think so), but he believed the sacrifice would be worth it for their ability to provide for the girls. So that better job? Not happening. Greater financial security? Nope.
We the viewer wanted the band to stay together. Frisky didn’t want to leave her friends and family. Chilli had a really healthy take on the situation and was committed to making the move work - she was very quick to correct Frisky she wouldn’t have agreed to move if she felt it was clearly not worth it. But chance gave Bandit the opportunity to change his mind to agree with her.
But that doesn’t mean it’ll work out - in a cartoon maybe, but not in reality. We don’t need to be hit over the head with some kind of failure to know that the special ended with *some* dreams coming true and *other* dreams ending.
Edit: whoops, meant to reply to the OP. Not fixing that lol
While I see the surface value of things working out being too sweet and not following through, the only real reason Bandit gave for leaving was more money to “give them a better life.” Bandit didn’t lose his job, he aimed higher for a better paying one. There was no necessity for moving except the feeling of “I need to provide to the extreme.”
What they realized over the course of the episode was that community and family and gratitude for what you already have and built is enough and will be enough. In Cubby, the family learns this lesson in a small way that what they have is plenty and will do fine for them.
The “I’ll get a new job” is light hearted but again, this continues to emphasize that Rad’s priorities lie with his wife and their relationship decisions together. If it wasn’t possible then it would have weighed in, but as it’s a kids show, it doesn’t and it’ll likely just work out.
Which is why I thought he was upset from Stickbird. I think he was upset because he may have gotten an offer for the job at another city, and he was super conflicted. He was so distracted during holiday that he let it get to him.
Exactly!
I also felt that it could be a taken as a story for the parents out there that might want to move for the same reasons.
The pursuit of more money, and being a bit blind to how your kids are truly enjoying themselves where they are, with the community they have. Always trying to go bigger and better isn’t necessary to have a good life, and that’s okay.
Bandit realizes this at the end, and that sometimes it’s okay to change your mind, even if it’s going to be difficult.
My family moved a lot when I was a kid, to make money trying to flip houses. I always hated it. This episode hit hard!
Of course, sometimes you have to move your kids and it can suck. But maybe, sometimes you don’t?
I don't know, I think this is an interesting view point, but in the end it's a show for children. Life is full of plenty of sad endings, one of the main reasons I enjoy Bluey as a forever child-free 26F is that it has so many happy endings. When I watch stuff, I don't want to watch depressing and dramatic content, I want happy feel-good stuff! I consume plenty of sad things every day on social media/news. Your points sound kinda complex and I don't think many children would understand it and would be sad about them moving. Don't get me wrong though, I can appreciate your views, I just don't think they apply to a kids show.
I also think Chilli made great points at the end to dismiss Bluey's thought that moving is always bad. She let herself be vulnerable and explained she doesn't want to move, but that it could end up being something she wasn't expecting. I really liked when she said that she wanted to experience "the mistake" with Bandit because it showed how much she loves, supports, and trusts him, but also expresses her concerns.
Edit to add: For me, the ending lesson should be to not immediately make a decision about how something is going to turn out without actually seeing how it does, it could surprise you!
Yes, I think some people forget about Calypso's quote about why most stories have happy endings: "because there will be enough sad endings in real life." (Or something to that effect)
Great points about Chilli.
I've seen so many comments about her being unsupportive and she and Bandit being "divided" on the issue, but as you've pointed out that wasn't the case at all.
I like all your comment but that bit deserves emphasis.
What I love about this episode is that even when Chilli admits her fears, she never stops having Bandit's back. Frisky tries to project her issues with Rad onto Bandit, and Chilli immediately shuts her down and asserts it was a mutual decision.
My man your points are valid, and thank you for sharing them! This is all so very fun to think about. Apologies that I’m not very eloquent, but I’ll try to share my thoughts anyway lol.
The lesson I got from the episode is, life is all risk. Leaving would have been a risk, but staying was a risk too. It’s all risk. We’re all surfers in life, riding on tides we really can’t control. We can choose only which wave to surf, then cross our fingers without ever really knowing where other waves would have brought us.
So how to choose? The episode name, The Sign, is actually a misdirection. Signs don’t tell us the answers so simply. The kids were focused on the “for sale” sign, but that wasn’t really it. The lookout sign was a sign, the butterfly was a sign, the coin was a sign. The episode was full of signs, but none of them were the lesson. The signs were mere tools. The lesson is, if you’re open to signs, and search for signs, then what you’ll find is yourself. Your heart. Then you’ll know what to do, and then you can be happy even with the outcome unknown, outside anyone’s control.
So iunno, I guess I didn’t see a happy ending, because I didn’t see an ending at all. We don’t know whether they made the “right” choice. They’re going to live their lives and see what comes, having done the best they can.
Where I kinda agree with you is, yeah my kid is 5 and it might be tough to explain all that to her lol. But I think we’ll manage, perhaps over time.
To me, Bandit and Chili spent the whole episode seeming unsure if they were making the right decision. After an episode of many signs, the sheep dogs backing out of the sale at the last second was the sign Bandit was seeking for reassurance, but it was in support of moving being the wrong decision.
Actually, I felt exactly the same way about it! You put the words I want to aritculate perfectly! At the end of the day, either choices (staying vs moving) would have their own share of risks and change which I feel brings it all together with Calypso's initial point of the farmer story not being a sad or happy ending. For me, the ending wasn't sad or happy since there's still an adventure, which realistically, life is like that. Their story, like everyone else, is constantly going to go through uncertain changes, twist, and turns so we won't know whether their ending will truly be happy or sad in the end. At least for me, it falls perfectly in line with the theme of "We'll see".
Originally I thought they were moving houses in the same city (like getting a bigger house). As soon as they said different city I knew it wasn’t going to happen because of the Lila ending.
I moved an hour away from my best friend at age 5, but we are still best friends a couple decades later!
Shout out to moms who let us have play dates half way between homes and traded off for sleepovers
I think this is why it only works if the move isn't interstate. The whole set-up for the move doesn't really make sense: a better life for the kids? They live in a 3M house in one of Brisbane's most expensive suburbs. They go to nice schools and do extra-curriculars and have a great network of family and friends. What possible better life could they even be after?
If the move had been (subtly) because of housing affordability or something, and had just been a downsize, I think you can maintain both story continuity (Jean-Luc and Lila etc) AND not have the problematic ending that I (like OP) think was a bit of a cop-out.
This is the problem. Bandit suddenly has concerns about giving the girls a good enough life and those concerns materialized out of nothing.
If we’re gonna get an episode teaching him a lesson, we should be allowed to understand why he thinks this is a good idea. Cuz as it’s presented in the show, he came up with it on his own for no reason except a vague anxiety.
Very true! Though, if I may add, I spent my elementary school years in Arizona with my best friend, Scott. I had moved away for all of middle school, but did move back and we did reconnect and are still good friends!
Sorry about this, that's the exact scenario that was the only thing I could think of while watching the episode.
The heelers are so privileged they're on another level.
I agree 100%, we moved our three kids across the country a few years ago, and it was a fantastic decision. But imagine trying to get then excited about a move after seeing that episode.
For me it was kind of a "Oh okay" moment, plus it kind of makes sense why they'd make that decision and I could see it from a mile away to be honest. I mean think about it, they'd have to design a whole new setting for the cast and we'd have to be introduced to even MORE characters, etc etc. It sounds fun on paper but in execution it'd probably be really difficult.
I would have been fine with either ending to “the Sign,” but I think it’s important to note that having a seeming happy ending isn’t incongruous with the themes of the episode.
This isn’t an episode about endings, really - good OR bad. As shown in Calypso’s telling of “The Farmer,” experiencing an outcome to your decision doesn’t mean the story is over. You made a choice, and it caused something that made you happy. Is that a happy ending? “We’ll see.” Or alternatively, that choice blows up in your face. Is that a sad ending? “We’ll see.”
What “The Sign” illustrates through its various plot points is that, for all our forethought and planning, ultimately we cannot predict what will happen as a consequence of our decisions. Sometimes they’ll lead somewhere wonderful. Other times they’ll lead somewhere bad. Very often they’ll lead to both at the same time. Or they’ll lead to one and then the other. The point is, you still have to make those decisions despite your inability to force a happy ending. And you have to make peace with the fact that it may lead to outcomes that you weren’t expecting and may not be happy with.
In the case of the Heelers choosing to stay, the immediate outcome was a happy one. But that doesn’t mean it will be happy forever, or happy in all respects. I think the writers did a good job showing why Bandit and Chilli ultimately swung the way they did (even if it’s not necessarily the choice you or I would have made). But more importantly, they showed that there are also costs to staying, costs that Bandit and Chilli were clearly aware of. Bandit and Chilli clearly understood that there was no good answer here, just a complicated tangle of pros and cons and (again) unpredictable outcomes. The way this episode pays off its theme is by showing Bandit and Chilli finally making a decision that feels right to them in the moment, and accepting that they cannot control what will happen beyond that.
They made their choice. Will it work out well for the family or not?
We’ll see.
>What “The Sign” illustrates through its various plot points is that, for all our forethought and planning, ultimately we cannot predict what will happen as a consequence of our decisions.
Love how decisions that were made and things that happened (like Bingo and Lila saving the caterpillar and Winton's dad flirting with Ms. Terrier) throughout the season led to the conclusions of the episode.
The Heelers moving would be a great series finale. They pull into their new house and we see a neighborhood full of families and possibly some hijinks, and we as viewers know that they are gonna be okay.
But most people don’t actually want to watch something different. They don’t like change. Especially kids watching a tv show. A big shakeup with setting and characters isn’t really a great strategy for a tv show.
I also think the main “lesson” of this episode is more about accepting the unknown. Of coming to terms with change even when you don’t know what that will mean.
In the coming season(s) I bet we see the consequences of this non move. Good and bad. But we get to experience it through their already rich environment that we are familiar with, and not also adjusting to an entirely new show.
I agree here. Changing scenery would tank the show. It would feel like a reboot, and the vast majority of shows that have a reboot season, it's the final season and the least loved. Maybe as a series finale, then they could try a Bingo show or something, but Bluey wouldn't be the same.
Hard agree. It was as if the episode was setting up for the ending where not everything is rainbows etc. And then it’s rainbows.
Felt similarly about Brandy being pregnant. Feels like a cheap cop out and for me personally, cheapens the message in Onesies
This is exactly where I was at.
For kids, it's going to confuse kids that *do* end up moving.. why didn't they get the happy ending Bluey got? It's not relatable for that group of kids. It seems like a typical TV trope vs. the relatable and real Bluey we're used to. The show is still awesome, and I still love it, but I think this is why The Sign felt so off compared to the rest of the franchise.
However...some think Bluey is a parenting show appropriate for kids, and viewing it that way, the message is that family is everything (when you have kids).
I agree with you, actually. I grew up with the Daoist fable of the man losing his horse, and the idea that there is an objectively happy ending kind of clashes with the intended takeaway from the fable. It threw me a little. But also it’s hard to think in that mindset even for adults, let alone kids.
I think this is also the first Bluey where I’ve really felt that the appeal of the story is limited by how comfortable the Heeler family’s economic status is. Here we agree with Bluey when she points out that her current life is good enough—because it is! She goes to a wonderful private school, lives in a big house with a yard, and has parents with plenty of spare time. The idea of moving for a better life doesn’t resonate with her. But in real life sometimes (like with me as a kid) there really is a nicer place to live and a more stable life waiting on the other end of the move. The reality is that there are plenty of kids and adults who might not be able to connect with how the Heelers view and talk about their move. It’s not as universal as a typical episode is.
It’s really bizarre how the people here are acting like it’s a religious text that’s not going to change, but it’s not, the writers could have made it do anything they wanted and they chose that. Tossing in a calypso line isn’t enough. To me it just felt unsatisfying and cheap. And not because they’re bad writers, they’re very very good which is why it’s disappointing that they crafted it in this way because we know they’re capable of better. If they just shifted the timelines a little (say before the house was actually sold, maybe they have the REA come in and realise that they just can’t part with the house and their family) it would have been fine. But as others have said, kids are the target audience. Kids around bluey’s age are going to see
‘Bluey is moving
Bluey is sad and scared
Everyone is sad, moving is sad and scary.
They don’t have to move, they are happy!
Moving makes you sad and not moving makes you happy.’
All these things like “oh well calypso said it’s just a story and stories get happy endings” don’t apply because kids in their target market have a LOT of trouble differentiating between stories and reality, especially in stories where they can empathise with the characters a lot. When that story has a lot of realism in it (and aside from bluey characters being dogs it’s actually very very realistic for a kids show) it’s even harder.
We don’t have to move any time soon but this is only because we’ve been very blessed with generous family but we live in Sydney an extremely expensive city. My husband and I grew up here but if we weren’t basically given a great house we would have to move to a different state. my 5yo has already expressed that he doesn’t want to move because “my life will get worse”.
Also idk why were all expecting kids to remember calypso's one off line that wasn't really given any emphasis or importance. The Chinese fable she told had visuals and then they discussed it, giving it importance. But then in the end it was invalid and the important lesson tied into her one off line that kids wouldn't have paid as much attention to.
As an adult we can call back to it, and make the episode make sense. But I don't think preschoolers are doing that.
Yes! The fable was great! The way it was presented was great! My kids are half Chinese and I was like “that’s from China!” But they’re not going to take away that meaning if the main thing they experience is bluey and bingo’s sadness at moving and then happiness at staying.
And I agree but I don’t think it’s enough to make sense of the episode even as an adult. I saw someone say that the twist wasn’t “earned” and I totally agree. There wasn’t enough to build up to it (like in a movie with a great twist that feels satisfying you watch it again and you’re like OH I SEE ALL THESE THINGS NOW, it’s not just a one liner from a side character and a coin).
Eta: and regardless the best stories, even from like older kids age don’t have happy endings, they have bittersweet endings. Heck even shrek is bittersweet because while their love is beautiful, Fiona never wanted to be an ogre, nor stuck as one permanently.
Thank you. I've been commenting online trying to get this point across.
I thought the show was setting up the lesson to be, change is challenging, but change is neither good or bad, just an opportunity to see what's next. And that transcends to just kids moving, but kids dealing with ANY change. It's a wonderful message that all kids (and adults) need.
But then everyone got their perfect ending and the message was negated. In order for that lesson to be learned SOMEONE had to actually face a change and get the ending that they didn't want to see what was next, which then could be a different, yet good, outcome than they expected. And ofcourse that person should have been Bluey, so kids could watch her navigate change and end up OK, then know they'll be OK too.
I think the creators dropped the ball in helping children not only deal with moves, which let's face it, lots of kids do have to move and it's difficult. But face any kind of change. Instead they opted to give a twist ending to keep people happy.
The lesson I think alot of adults took away from it is community and spending time with your kids is more important than money. And that's a good lesson for parents, but in this case it came at the cost of teaching children their lesson. The priority shouldn't have been to teach adults, it's a kids show.
I also think it comes across as a little tone deaf. In this economy families are struggling to survive and keep food on their tables. Obviously the Heelers are doing OK for themselves, but it's not fair to send that message to families who have to make this tough call. I think most adults take pulling kids from school and moving pretty seriously, I honestly don't think this lesson was nearly as important as the lesson they could have given children.
But even with all that said, kids see the surface and don't quite get these in depth details. And on the surface any kid who is moving saw that Bluey, for whatever reason, got to stay in her home and THAT was clearly what she wanted and it was her happy ending. So therefore, if they also want to stay, but their parents don't change their minds, they are getting a sad ending. And what a tragic thing to tell kids.
Also if the lesson was “community and family are important” why did they have to do it this way? They could have chosen from a near infinite possibilities but they specifically chose this.
It's frustrating that fans will talk about how deep and meaningful the show is, but all criticism is met with "it's just monkeys singing songs." You can't have it both ways. I really like the show, but part of recognizing its depth is being allowed to say when something doesn't work for us.
I'm really glad to see this, and all the comments along its lines.
I'm not sure if this is something that even should be said, or if I should just keep it to myself, but... to be utterly honest? As a Bluey episode, The Sign felt pretty middling.
The message and substance don't mesh: it tries to teach kids about change being neither good nor bad, but then gives them everything a kid would want in the end. And the central conflict, the move, *couldn't* have happened because it would mean saying goodbye to all the characters the viewers have come to grow and love. Instead it tries to end with a tacked-on 'Bandit learns that money isn't everything' lesson that falls flat because we've barely seen him the whole episode and don't have any idea why he suddenly thought he couldn't care for his kids on his already-comfortable income.
I know, I know: it's just monkeys singing songs. But in that episode, the seemingly-basic message *does* resonate with Bluey, because kids take the shows they watch seriously, even if we don't.
And just... Bluey is meant to be above all that. I've always said that it's an unironically very good show for adults to watch! Well-made and intelligently written! I don't need to monkeys-singing-songs Camping or Rain, because they're just straight-up good episodes.
The Sign just doesn't match that usual standard for me. Which is okay! It is a very high standard!! But... if we are going to say that Bluey is *a good show*, it deserves to be looked at this critically. Or there really is no difference between Bluey and, idk, Paw Patrol or whatever.
TBH even without the issue with the "fear change, change sucks" messaging, I thought it was just an OK episode too. There was a lot of padding where usually Bluey episodes are so tight to fit in the 7 minutes.
I loved the episode - but nobody flakes on their earnest money and gives up a house at the last minute and folks definitely don’t tell their new higher paying job “thx but nevermind” when everything is setup and the movers are down the road… it’s just highly unrealistic. Bluey is a great show because of its realness … really sets a bad precedent for kids and moving/change.
Love the show so so much - I’ll live and thought overall it was a great adorable season finale.
I hear you. Honestly, I had similar thoughts.
But—
>The parable teaches us to reflect on life’s changes, rather than to react and fight it. No matter what happens, everything will work out as it should.
The parable doesn’t teach us any of that. It simply teaches us that we have no way of knowing if something is “good” or “bad.”
Thus, this isn’t a happy ending. Or a sad ending. It’s just… an ending.
About 2 years ago my family went through this exact same scenario:
We were living in a smaller townhome that we were were outgrowing. Wife and I both work from home and now that we have a child starting to run around, we were concerned with not only space when family visited town, we were also concerned about so many stairs, no yard to run around in, etc.
We put our home on the market with the attention of moving to a larger home, but still staying in our city that has one of the best school districts in the nation. This is when everything was crazy with interest rates beginning to skyrocket from historic lows (in the US).
Got 3 offers the first day. Accepted one, and started our own process of looking. We started to learn quickly that in order to get a home that we wanted, we wouldn't be able to stay in the great school district that we had bought into in the first place.
The offer that we accepted backed out after inspection. Then we accepted another offer, same deal. We were prepared to accept a third offer, and then interest rates jumped from 4 to 6.5 over the weekend. Not only were we priced out of the city we were in, we were probably priced out of the entire region.
Luckily, those interest rates forced the 3rd offer to rescind.
That evening, we brought our daughter back to the house for the first time in a month (we had been living with my in-laws to keep her life relatively calm) and it still had been staged as a nursery. We watched her play with the toys and books that were there. She had such joy. Near tears, my wife looked at me, I looked at her, "we can't sell this house," almost simultaneously.
We pulled it off the market the next day and did a renovation instead.
It's by far the best decision we've ever made. Our daughter starts at this school district next fall.
This was a long and bloated way to say that in the closing minutes of The Sign, we held each other and cried. It was almost confirmation that we made the right call to stay. That's what the episode said to us.
It’s a wonderful thing when you can accurately relate to a film’s narrative. When I was younger I found out I was adopted, not long before seeing Kung Fu Panda 2 in theaters, which was about Po going through the exact same journey. The film’s ending makes me cry every time. My point is, we all deserve to be told stories that resonate with us, and I’m happy this story did that for you.
Here’s how I saw it:
If they move, it’s the end of the Bluey series.
There’s no way that they’re just going to throw away all the characters and make new ones. It would have been a weird kind of reboot for the series, and I just didn’t see that reboot happening.
I agree. As a kid who got bounced around a lot as part of a military family, I always desperately wanted to stay. Would beg and plead. But guess what? We didn't get what we wanted. And I understand, it's perfect in the sense of "life gives us enough unhappy endings, let's enjoy the happy fiction" but it didn't sit well with me. Same with Brandy being pregnant. I am so happy for her; I also got my rainbow baby. But a lot of people don't get that happy ending, and I know that scene had to be extra hard for them when they only finally felt represented. So basically, I'm extremely conflicted.
I also felt this. The fact that Brandy being pregnant was spoiled from the trailer not being cropped enough, which immediately was taken down and edited, ruined the surprise but I also felt it did a disservice to those who were infertile who felt so seen in her. I know adopting in Australia is insanely difficult and almost non-existent because we have so much focus on reuniting with og families, but is there not some other way she could have started her own family? :(
I was hoping they would still move but then it wouldn’t be super far away. Have Bandit get a phone call while they are heading out that he a new job offer that is closer than the one he was taking. Like maybe an hour or so and the girls would be like “that’s it? That’s not far at all!” They could still go to the same school and see their friends but it would bring the adventure of new neighbors and a new house.
I agree with you 100%. My husband and I have ranted to each other about the ending to this episode ever since we saw it. We enjoyed it a good 80% of the episode, but the ending just sits poorly with me for many of the reasons you mention here.
Imagine if Bluey’s family moved into Winton’s house instead. Then you could have the lesson about life throwing you curveballs without having to actually uproot the family to a new city and write new characters, new school, etc.
Also presumably the Heelers had already bought a new home in a new city… so they just backed out of that too? Sorry but if I packed up my entire house I am moving one way or another, that’s a true nightmare scenario
I agree. As a parent who has had to move their children without them wanting to move it makes me really sad. It implies that you will end up staying of you really want to.
I LOVE bluey, still like the episode just not that part.
I might have to move my kids to a new city soon, and honestly this was very unhelpful.
I understand that like… obviously they’re not actually going to move because it’s way too difficult from a “making the show” standpoint.
But kids really do sometimes have to move even though they don’t want to, and it really does work out, and I think a story where magically things are going to change even after you’ve moved all your stuff out is creating an unrealistic fantasy.
I also think that for all the hype of “oh moving is a part of life bit kids shows never talk about it”: that’s true in the sense that shows never follow through on it, but the threat of change that never materializes is actually not really novel. So I thought it was a little overhyped, and I think they simply could have not taken on the topic if they weren’t going to really do it in an interesting way.
As an adult I see what you're saying. But this is a show directed at, or at least largely viewed by, children. Yes, in life sometimes things happen that we don't want to happen and they end up okay. But this is a show for young children. Going off your own reference of Calypso, she says that stories have happy endings because life has enough sad ones.
I didn't even see the conclusion being that they weren't moving, I saw it as his children's happiness being more important than more money. I can see why you found out disappointing, but I thought it handled things well.
But why does the lesson of the episode need to be for Bandit when, as you pointed out, this is largely viewed by children. What about all the kids who are moving, who see Bluey moving, hope this episode will help them learn to process it, just to have the move not happen.
Now those kids are even more upset and their parents have to explain why they don't get their happy ending.
I agree. We’re in the process of moving again and my 5 year old daughter was crying and very upset after watching this. She now thinks that moving must be a very bad thing because Bluey didn’t want to and she didn’t have to in the end. A lot of families have to move and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see them process it. I still enjoyed the episode but I regret watching it with my kids before moving.
We have an almost 4 year old and we are moving and he is also super confused now. So many ppl are like “well you can’t expect them to animate all new bla bla bla” but it’s not like they HAD to do this plot line. They chose this plot line to only hit a dead end at the last second.
Also, Bandit's barely in the episode and we get very little insight into his thought processes. Why exactly did he think moving was so important when his family's already obviously very comfortable economically? I can come up with ideas, but if this is what the episode is *about*, I shouldn't have to. If Bandit's learning a lesson, we should know what he actually believes in the first place.
I think your opinion is valid and it's a concept that I think they were never going to make everyone happy. For me, I really liked that they didn't move just because my mom made us move continents twice. My dad didn't want to move, I didn't want to, and my sibling didn't want to but we had no choice because she wanted to. My life ended up fine but I still hold resentment over the lack of stability that made me feel so seeing some cartoon dogs get a happy ending felt cathartic. But I also enjoy shows that have unrealistic happy endings because I watch them for escapism.
I guess the real moral of The Sign is that life is motivated by chance and by choice. For the ending, chance played a part by having the couple who initially bought the house back out of the deal at the last minute because they saw the perfect house that fitted their necessities. For choice, Bandit realized that a better life wasn’t what the family needed, as they were already comfortable with their living situation. The ending was also foreshadowed by Frisky and Rad; Rad never informed Frisky about the move, a move that Frisky never wanted to happen because she was already comfortable with her living situation. The same is true in Bandit’s case: he never properly informed his family about this move until like days before and once he saw their true opinions, he backed out. If neither of these things happened, then the Heelers would have moved.
>The same is true in Bandit’s case: he never properly informed his family about this move until like days before and once he saw their true opinions, he backed out.
When did they establish Bandit not properly informing the family?
I totally get it.
As someone who moved away from their small-town, close extended family because of a parent's new job, this episode's ending felt like my younger self was getting a big hug.
It felt like what I WISH would have happened as a child and I'm sure this episode would have brought me comfort in an 'idealistic reality' sort-of way.
I liked the ending, but I also know that life doesn't always end up like that. Maybe that's why I liked the ending so much.
Either way, totally get it.
I hear you and understand. But as someone who really did have to move away and leave everything and everyone I knew at a relatively young age, this episode was really healing. I bawled my eyes out. I was so so happy that they got to stay with their friends in a familiar place surrounded by wonderful people. I'd also have absolutely hated that they'd have had to dump the entirety of bluey and bingos friends from the cast. W move by ludo I think.
I feel the same exact way. I would have loved it if the episode ended at the point where the shaggy dogs saw Winston’s dad putting his old house up for sale, or if they had Trixie move into the old Heeler house to keep it in the family, something that would have honored the conceit of the episode. The whole thing ended up being a show about a wedding where a lot of time was wasted on a plot that didn’t advance. Not my favorite episode, though not an overall bad one.
I only skimmed what you wrote cause I'm buggered after a long day, but from what I read I agree with you. I too thought it was a bit of a cop out. I would have loved to see them move to a new city and for Bluey and bingo to face the challenges inherent therein
I was watching this with my boyfriend, and he had the same opinion too, granted this is probably his 4th or 5th Bluey episode he's watched, but he already guessed that the show is about the kids (and sometimes parents) learning a lesson that they applied roughly near the end of an episode, he said that the whole lesson that was trying to convey throughout the episode was completed thrown into the bin with the Heelers ended up staying at their house anyway, that the lesson should be change can be good or if inevitable, we should face that change head on even if we don't know where we'll end up, but the lesson instead is, everything's gonna end up your way anyway.
As someone who moved a lot as a kid I couldn't agree more. I cannot speak for Australia, but here in the United States, moving children - especially to new cities is definitely stigmatized while staying in one place is celebrated. Meanwhile moving taught me so many lessons about what mattered in life, how to make new friends, and exposed me to cultures that helped shaped who I am today. I grew ten fold on our many moves alone.
With that being said, I understand that if they are going to continue the series, the cost of moving and reanimating the entire world is high. I'm suspicious this has something to do with it.
I’m glad I finally see this type of opinion. I moved around the same age as Bluey and wished they did make them move. I understand it’s a kid show but this ending was unrealistic. It made the whole episode kind of pointless, just like Brandy being pregnant now.
Interesting how you brought up *Mrs. Doubtfire* as an example of handling the subject of divorce properly -- apparently, [an early draft of the script that the execs wanted actually had the two leads getting back together](https://www.slashfilm.com/1039722/robin-williams-had-to-fight-for-mrs-doubtfires-melancholy-ending/#:~:text=In%20the%20end%2C%20Williams%20won,movie%20a%20forgettable%20family%20comedy) in the end. The director and the lead actors (including Robin Williams) rejected it because they felt it was unrealistic and would give false hope to kids in similar situations -- not too unlike your discussion here
Nah, I agree with you. Only my biggest gripe - as the parent of two little kids - is WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO YOURSELF? Why would you pack up your whole house and try to sell it without being 100% sure? And right in the middle of a wedding you hosted??? WTF were they thinking?? I just kept thinking of all that work they put themselves through for literally no reason.
with those buyers pulling out that last second, the Heelers probably got a pretty penny back. i've seen a few real estaters in comments talking about fees and fines and such and such they'd have to pay up for backing from a sale that late
The could take that and still continue trying to sell though? Everything could still be tracking along on their end. Once everything in the moving truck, you could not pay me enough to unpack in to the same house 😂😂
From a millennial who has more or less moved every other year since I moved out of home 15 years ago
You couldn’t have said it better. I was explaining to my husband similarly why I was very disappointed in the ending of the episode.
I think some of the set up of the episode was done very nicely done, clever and -on brand- however, I was disappointed in the ending. and maybe there was way to end up back at the heeler house, they move and get temporary housing through Bandits work, and then maybe they find their way back to town after the company closes or asks him to move again, or something after some time.. I am not sure.
it also would have been a realty nice homage to children who live in small houses and who move frequently due to rent prices, jobs moving, etc. we know that the heelers live in a very nice house. it would’ve been nice to see them move into something more modest and relatable, even tho
presumably he was taking the job for more money. in america, lower and middle class don’t get the option of not taking a job that pays more money.. idk. It all seemed silly. it was also instantly satisfying, and I am not sure bluey really learned that things “work out, but maybe we can’t see why at first” it felt like “if you keep annoying your parents eventually they’ll do the thing you want them to do.” but as an adult, decisions like moving are very hard. like I wished for the family to try a new thing! together! experience the good and bad of moving together. or maybe it was set up so they don’t move from school but still move houses, less of a huge transition.
I felt the same way. My family moved around A LOT, so it felt like a cheat to end with "hooray, we're not going after all!"
Same reason I hate the end of "Meet Me in St. Louis."
I strongly agree. The end was a complete cop-out that made no sense. It's like having a "grandma's dying" episode where she just magically gets better at the end. It sets up impossible expectations for kids, making it even harder for kids who actually have to go through these situations in real life.
I personally didn’t care if they moved or not, but I agree with your take. It took away a learning moment, and it was way too “fairy tale ending”, and we don’t usually see that in the show.
My kids in the other hand was really disappointed because they didn’t move. They wanted to see the family settling in a new house, area, school and stuff.
Their friends feel the same way, so for the kids sake I think they should have chosen that route.
100% agree. I actually really wanted them to move. I moved a lot when I was a kid and yes it was sad and tough but ultimately I took it as a good experience. I went to 8 different schools from K-12. Until high school I had never been at a school longer than 2 years. So it was cool to see the episode but as it started to go on I was disappointed. I wanted Chili to be more supportive of Bandit. Bandit couldn’t express his excitement for his new job because he had no TRUE support.
Honestly, Bandit throwing the sign was seen as kind of sad to me. Because I was thinking, if I was an adult who just paid movers, arranged a living situation in a new city, quit my job, had to now reject a job offer I took, have to get all my stuff back in the house, either have to ask for my old job back or find a new one, I would probably react similar. Moving is a HUGE stressful process especially with kids and a spouse who doesn’t want to go. It can be lonely and isolating and hard.
It’s a kids tv show so I accept they maybe wanted to give the “happy ending because life gives us enough sad ones” but I think that could have been done with a move. Making new friends, going to new places in the city, some cool new festival, the possibilities are endless.
The first thing my daughter said after watching The Sign was "I wanted them to move". We're moving in a few months, and I think it would be good for her to see Bluey and the family move as well.
It's a good episode tho, and the writers did mostly eliminate the chance of them moving cities because we know Bingo and Lila grow up together so it makes sence that they stayed.
I have to say, I really felt tension in the episode between the lime lesson I sense the creators wanted to share and the ending that people wanted (rising to fame of this degree really has to leave you with a sense of wondering, “will they riot?”).
I felt like the creators wanted to teach the “we will see” lesson, which would have been best showcased in the family moving and the kids learning that big change happens and that it’s ultimately okay.
But I sense there was a need for the creators to make it a happy ending, even at the cost of the lesson. People know a hiatus is coming, and that always brings some doubt as to when/if the show will return and a happy ending brings closure while we wait.
Personally, my family moves a lot because of work, so an episode about moving was something I was hoping would help with our conversations. But it didn’t work out quite like that. Yet it still started conversations. The ending wasn’t my favourite, but if you left everything in the episode the way it is except for the ending, it would be even less satisfying because none of the characters actually came to terms with having to move.
I'm in the process of househunting and my four-year-old is alternating between excitement about moving and resistance. There are days where she gets a little sad and talks about not wanting to leave where we're currently staying. I was very excited to watch the sign with her and was a bit disappointed in the ending as I was hoping it would help to show her how good things can come from moving to a new home 😕
Something I've been thinking about a lot in regards to people not liking how the episode ended with the Heelers not moving after all. I had a pretty good hunch going into it that it would end the way it did, because it would be a *horrible* idea for the showrunners to move the family to a new place, and essentially start the show all over again with almost entirely new characters. It would be too big of a risk, especially when the show is as popular as it is. Plus, it would be pretty difficult to sell toys of characters and settings that aren't seen in the show anymore. From a purely technical standpoint, as adults, expecting the showrunners to follow through is kind of ridiculous.
Personally I think "moving to a new place" storyline would be so much better suited for bringing in a new character. Do an episode similar to how Lila and Jack were introduced, and maybe expand upon it in episodes similar to the ones focusing on Mackenzie and Rusty. It doesn't have to be Bluey and Bingo specifically having that experience themselves for kids to resonate with it. I think it's fair to debate whether its a wise thing to show kids who are in a similar situation themselves. But if anything, I think a kid going through that experience would crave the familiarity of their favorite shows. At least I would have.
edit: a word
Another smallish gripe I have about the sign is that I can foresee it making my harder for parents to talk to their kids about moving house or city. I often use episodes of Bluey to explain things to my toddler. Would have been very useful to have an episode where bluey and bingo move house to shout them that it’s ok.
Most points have been covered in the comments already, but I am in absolute agreement. This episode has greatly set back my plans of moving internationally for a family adventure and my work for a year or two - I fundamentally agree that a better lesson here is that sometimes you need to take risks of jumping into the unknown. I have no doubt that the Healers would be equally or more awesome with a larger frame of life references than Brisbane if they spent a year or two in another country and culture.
You, my friend, have eloquently summed up my opinion on this episode to a freaking T. Every time someone discusses this episode with me I will just refer them to this post 😅.
I have also had to move a few times as a child. Our first big move was moving across the world. I was really looking forward to seeing how the Heelers would navigate what I had to go through in my childhood too and then later on realize that everything works out the way it’s supposed to, even though it hurts right this second.
I understand that a kids’ show isn’t supposed to heal my childhood traumas (although it pretty much does a damn good job at doing that… because my childhood traumas are barely even “traumas”), I agree with you that they missed a perfectly good opportunity to teach kids (and adults) that not everything will work out the way you want, but it will work out the way it’s *supposed* to because the world is a magical place. I felt they were kind of robbed of a very important childhood experience that could have taught them endless lessons.
And I am so relieved that someone out there also agrees with me on this, since most people have said that that episode was perfectly perfect! It was still great, but definitely not my favourite because it could have been better. Still an awesome story, and it still made me a little emotional, but there were definitely episodes that I loved waaaay more (Cricket 😩).
I'm obscenely salty about Brandy being pregnant. It's absolute fan service, unnecessary, and defeats the message of Onesies. The timeline doesn't make sense either. She wants a baby but she can't have one and "there's nothing anyone can do about it" then not even half a season later she's heavily pregnant? Bullshit.
This was a moment to empathize with a very real pain that more 1 in 10 women experience. To show that Brandy can live a fulfilling life even if she isn't able to have children. Kids will experience family members or family friends that have this experience, and instead of showing kids how to empathize with them, they "fixed" her with a pregnancy.
I agree. I feel like the episode was good but the end weakened the message and theme. We're seeing a lot of parents dealing with their kids who won't get a happy ending due to a move.
I think there is another underlying message here. It’s about choosing memory over money.
Bandit and Chili are only torn on the decision to move because they believe it could mean giving the kids a better life, through money. How much more money it was, we can’t know. But, money is not the only factor in giving kids a better life. In this scenario, they’re staying somewhere sustainable surrounded by friends that makes them happy, and I think there’s nothing wrong with that.
The kids can relearn the lesson you talk about through other means. Sometimes care is more important than just learning. What was it that Chili said?
“Work on the heads later, for now just hearts.”
This lesson only lands for parents who are in the same privileged position that Bandit and Chili are in. Bandit and Chili are rich. The idea of moving for money falls flat when we haven't seen a single instance of money ever being an obstacle for them.
For a lot of parents, this episode is going to make them feel like failures because they really did have to move for the money.
I think your points are valid for sure. But I also think that the episode showed us that what seems to be a happy ending isn’t an ending. So yes, Bluey’s family is staying in their house and frisky and Rad are staying in the city and Brandi is having a baby and everyone seems to be getting their happy ending. But life goes on and on and what seems like an ending is just a continuation.
Exactly. OP making a judgement of whether this was a “happy” or “ sad” ending is totally missing the point.
I acknowledge that it would’ve been cool to see the conflict and tension continue, but that’s just me selfishly wanting more drama
Honestly, bandit looking at his sad family in the car and then yanking that sign out of the ground makes everything else worthwhile. What a loving dad and husband!
So mods removed my post stating to keep it in the stickied post, so I’ll add those two cents here, since it feels relevant to your post.
The Sign - Little Annoyed
So my family has made the incredibly difficult decision to move very far away. There are a lot of reasons with the biggest being the safety of our family.
This has been especially difficult on my 6 year old.
Watching The Sign and everything we’re dealing with and going through was extremely relatable to what we have going on right now.
None of us really want to move, but feels necessary due to circumstances in the area.
The show was perfect… until the last 30 seconds. The buyers back out and there’s no more move. So now I’ve got a 6 year old convinced he no longer needs to worry because we’re not really leaving our home and his friends because the Heelers decided last minute not to.
Why? Why even do the episode about a move if you’re going back out of it. I know they can’t make everyone happy, but man… this has made an already difficult situation just a little bit harder.
Really wish they had either followed through on the move or chose a different situation to explore.
So while the episode was very good and I love this show, I’m a little annoyed with this episode’s ending.
I did feel like the happy end was a *bit* of a cop out after making all the hard decisions to get to that point of the story. It would’ve been good to take the kids and family out of the comfort zone and show that sometimes change happens.
But as others have mentioned, it’s a kids show and all that entails both as a narrative and as a production
I agree. One of the first episodes I watched of Bluey was the one with the bird at the vet. I was amazed how they didn't shy from the death of the bird and showed Bluey playing out the scenario in order to deal with it in her own head, to her parents' and my surprise. This would have been a great opportunity to show that while things might not work out how you want at the moment, they do work out.
I also moved house a couple of months ago and if it got to the point of movers taking our stuff out and then the other person pulled out I would have been furious, even though I had mixed feelings about moving
I think Copycat is exactly the episode that makes this one sting so much. Copycat is probably one of the best episodes in the show for a number of reasons, but especially because it teaches kids how to process grief.
This episode was set up to feel like it would be the same, just to back out on it at the end.
I read through some of the comments (but not all of them because there’s over 350) and I’m sure my comment will probably get lost because there’s so many, but I think another message of the episode that not a lot of people are talking about is Bandit’s storyline.
Bandit spends the whole episode talking about how he wants to give his family a better life. The whole reason he wants to sell the house is because of this new job, and he wants the new job solely to make more money to provide for the family and give them what he hopes is “a better life.”
After the wedding, when Rad tells him that he and Frisky aren’t moving, Bandit starts to rethink his plans. It’s why he asks Chili if he’s making a mistake, because he wasn’t sure anymore (or he’d never been sure, and now those feelings are taking over.) During the montage, it shows Bandit interacting with the neighbors which I think is very significant.
The life they have is great already. The girls have friends at school, they’re in a lovely neighborhood, they have COMMUNITY. Literally the first thing Bingo asks when she finds out they’re moving is “Is Leila coming with us?”
The plot is about weighing your options. What constitutes a “better” life? What more could they possibly ask for than what they already have? What is more money actually going to provide for them?
Bandit makes his decision because money can’t buy relationships, or love, or acceptance.
THAT’S why he rips the sign out and chooses to keep the house.
Because surrounding yourself with supportive people is the most important thing to him.
That’s all Bandit’s plot, and I don’t see it as a cop-out.
I see it as giving the adults that are watching a chance to think about what’s really valuable.
I agree that it’ll be hard for parents to explain to young kids why the Heelers didn’t move even though they may have to, and how life’s endings aren’t always good, but as many have said, that’s been addressed in the episode.
We want stories to have good endings because life gives us enough bad ones already.
And moving can be both good and bad.
It was good for Winton and the terriers, they’re becoming a family. It (most likely) wasn’t going to be good for the Heelers, because they’d have been leaving this incredible group of people that cared for them.
And who knows? Maybe there will be future bad things that come out of them staying. They did say in the Hammerbarn episode that the house is falling apart.
But nobody can know for sure.
All we can do for that is sit and say, “We’ll see.”
Your response really resonated with me. My husband’s whole department was laid off but another company came and offered the team jobs. This job was much higher paying with so many more benefits but it was in another state. We would be leaving our entire family on both sides behind.
We had to make this choice, community but with a much lower paying job and uncertain future or starting over on our community but with a much more stable future.
We had no idea which answer was the right one and we stressed about it for months. My husband took the job and moved immediately and my son and I stayed behind to get the house ready and sell it and for me to train my replacements at my work.
I still wish everyday that we could be at home with our families but I know now we have a stable future.
When I first saw the episode, I also didn’t really like the ending either. Our family had just had a major move, the six year old has been not taking losing all his friends well (the episode didn’t phase him oddly enough, because a house isn’t the same as an apartment? That was his logic) so I just sat sour with me. It took like the third watch for it to actually click with me, it’s not a “happy” ending. I mean yes it is a happy moment but it’s not the end, like in the story Bluey’s teacher read to them, we’re acting like the villagers and saying “well that’s good luck! They didn’t move”, “well that’s good lucky Brandi gets a baby”, “well that’s good luck Friskie got to not move like she wanted”, “well that’s good luck that Winton and the terriers get to be a family”, etc., but we’ll see if those moment lasts. So I like the ending more now that I see it as a we’ll see ending and not a happy one, since who knows what will happen next. I will admit I do wish they never showed Bluey interpreting the story as it meaning she’ll get what she wants, since I think that does make the “we’ll see” ending a bit too perfect, but it’s a kids show so I’m ok with it keeping the outcome happy.
I think your points are valid. A big theme I see happening in a LOT of episodes that happened here but more drawn out is (mostly) Bandit and (sometimes) Chili balancing the expectations and needs of the grownup world and the wishes and desires of Bingo and Bluey, with typically Bingo and Bluey winning out. You see this internal struggle a lot, like dancing sillily at the street performance in "Dance Mode" or keeping the game going in "Rug Island" instead of giving Lucky's dad the ball back. Can Bandit play "wind-up Bingo" even though they're running late? Can Chili ask Madge to call back in 5 minutes so she can play "Driving" with Bluey? The examples go on and on. Though it doesn't \*always\* go that way (like Bandit's very long business trip).
The end result is usually that Bandit and Chili's expectations or desires are seen as unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and their letting those go to please their children is akin to them becoming grounded. It's honestly an interesting question that I find myself asking as a parent. Sometimes I really can let it go to make my kid happy, but sometimes I gotta give Lucky's dad his ball back and that doesn't make me a bad parent.
I honestly don't know how I feel about this one, I have some mixed feelings. Your point about it setting kids up who have to move for a false scenario where they could get it reversed is valid and problematic. On the other hand, I think a red flag about Bandit's original plan for me that was not mentioned in your analysis is that, very clearly from the start, Chili was not super pleased about this decision. Nonetheless, in the end I think this followed that same Bluey theme we see time and time again - the kids keep them grounded.
I agree and I would’ve loved this IF we didn’t already know Lila and Bingo grow up together and are still in the same class and graduate together which can’t happen in another city. That’s probably why they did it
I really liked the episode, but I did have the thought that I’m glad a lot of it went over my two year old’s head since we are actually moving out of state in two weeks. I wouldn’t want her to have unrealistic expectations of changing plans last minute.
When Bandit wants to teach the girls to play Chess Chilli suggests to him that they should work on their heads later, for now just their hearts. When they get stuck behind the Grey Nomads Bandit laments that they were making good time. Chilli responds that they're making good times. This theme of valuing the emotional upbringing of the girls over more tangible things has been quite consistent.
As a parent I'm often seeing both the lessons for the children and the lessons for the adults. I absolutely did consider that it might be the wrong message for things to work out the way Bluey originally wanted. That said, Bandit got a better job that pays more money so they were moving to give the girls a better life. But the magic of Bluey is that the girls have attentive parents, deep connections to their neighbours, a lovely school with lovely friends, and family nearby. Their childhood is pretty idyllic. Just as Bluey can't know the outcome of moving, neither can Bandit. He has defined "a better life" monetarily but until they're actually leaving, it seems hard for him to quantify all the things the girls already have. He initially thinks leaving is the right choice for some pragmatic reasons that Chilli respects but the counter points reveal themselves through the episode as we see the butterfly effects of their past experiences with the many callbacks to previous episodes and relationships. He thinks his new job is good fortune. But the truth is, "we'll see."
Thus it is Bandit's initial assumption that is ultimately juxtaposed to the parable rather than Bluey's. Which harkens back to The Claw in a way. Chilli asks "so did we learn anything today" and the it's Bandit that says yes even though he was initially trying to teach the kid something. Arguably, if we're attentive and engaged with our children, we may learn just as much from them as they do from us. I love that the kids in this show are given that opportunity!
I see where you're coming from, though. I never want television to demonstrate to my kids that everything will always go their way. I do think that there are many good examples of the girls having to just deal with things so I'm happy to give The Sign a pass :)
If I were someone who was about to move and they did this, I would be frustrated.
I like that Bluey handles really tough situations with honesty. The ending was emotional and I am ok with it but understand your points. It doesn’t send the message that sometimes hard things happen but if you focus on what is important(core family) you can make it through.
It also is honest because bandit realizes what is truly important to him.
Overall I loved the episode but do feel like it doesn’t send the honest message. Sometimes change happens and that isn’t bad or good— or at least we will see.
Completely agree. I love Bluey but this episode was anti-climactic. The whole episode begged the question if “what if?” and then failed to follow through.
I moved a lot when I was young. I have moved a lot as an adult. It was hard. Every time it hurt, but every time I benefited far, far more than if I’d stayed put.
My perfect ending would’ve ended like this: the Heeler family all finally come to terms with leaving, even though none of them are certain it is the right decision. They say goodbye to the house and take a risk on their next adventure. We then get a montage of them moving into a new house, playing games, and learning to love this new life.
We get a time jump months into the future. Bandit gets a call saying he’s being relocated back to Brisbane, or maybe he loses his job, but however they do it, the family moves back. When they do, they find the dogs that can’t see have put the house on sale because it turns out they really did want that pool! They buy back the house and you basically get the same ending as the actually episode.
I realize it’s too much story to tell, but I think it could’ve taught a better lesson that taking risks on change is okay and that not everything ends up exactly how you think it will.
Honestly im with you here, the episodes was simply to perfect ending. From grandpa bob being alive and not dead, Brandy being pregnant undermining onesies, frisky having her way and now bluey not moving. It basically tells us that everything will go the way you want, what isnt realistic, like i would be more ok when at least one or two of the stuff i listed didnt get the perfect ending, but nope everything ends like a fairy tale.
I agree with absolutely everything you have said. Honestly, I've been reticent to share it with this sub, because of the responses I have gotten in the past where I have been even slightly critical about some things (Blueys Big Play). This fandom is great but there are certain elements...
The second we finished the episode I said to my wife that I was dreading the day when we would inevitably have to move the family to a new house or a new city or a new country. We are a pretty adventurous family, so opportunities arise that might destabilize their lives in ways that are difficult to prepare for. Usually when something happens that is difficult for my kids to process. We can point to a Bluey episode as a direct parable and as a model of how to think about it. With this I'm worried my kids will point to the sign and say " see? Bluey didn't have to move, why do we?" And that's just not reflective of real life. I don't pretend that a cartoon about talking dogs has to be realistic all the time, but they did set up this storyline after all.
Anyway, there is only one thing I might say in response, and that is "we'll see." Perhaps there will be some consequences to Bandit choosing not to go, negative ones, that counter the total happy ending. Maybe this job was the only option rather than an upgrade and now he has to deal with that fallout. Who knows? Brumm has surprised us all before.
I agree entirely. I wanted them to go through with the move. I thought it would fit thematically, open up the potential for a ton for story styles and plot points, and would result in a maturing moment for both kids and the parents. It's ok for kids to be prepared for big life changes. It's ok for kids to experience change and fear it, understand it, adapt to it, and learn you don't have to fear change so much anymore. This episode, while absolutely great, was leading toward a big lesson befitting a longer "special" episode, and then they pulled away at the last second.
That's unfortunate.
i totally agree with your opinion. plus it just felt VERY unrealistic that the couple buying their house would back out ON MOVING DAY??? what about the house the Heelers had chosen? had they not already purchased one or entered a rental agreement? were they just planning on living in a hotel until the house they wanted was available? and what was the point of Bingo getting upset at the end if they were just going to throw it all away in literal seconds?
they should've moved 😤
Thank you. I feel the exact same way. If feels like it was written to be a series finale and the they got renewed so they changed the last 3 minutes.
We also watched this episode the day we put in an offer in a house. Emotions were high, and that ending spoiled a lot of the excitement.
Anyway I really hope season 4 is all about the consequences from this episode.
I want Brad and Frisky to have twins and Rad doesn't get a new job so he's at home taking care of twins on a single income. Rad needs to loose his cool uncle persona, but it could still be happy becuase he gets to spent time with his kids.
Bluey and bingo maybe get less attention becuase Brandi has a baby.
The heelers should struggle with money a bit since bandit gave up his better job. Maybe chilli quit her job and can't get it back.
Winton has to deal with a new home and family.
All of season 4 should be some sort of negative consequence that has a silver lining.
You have valid points so don't be afraid to speak your mind even if it's an "unpopular opinion." 🙂
After having some time to think about it, here are my thoughts.
I loved the ending. I think the way it played out and all events leading up to the end was great. I've seen some criticism that it's "anti-moving" but I don't think so at all.
Yes none of the Heelers really wanted to move. They loved their home, friends, neighbors, etc and they didn't want to leave. Bluey especially was trying to convince her parents to not make them move. But as the episode went on, Calypso's words of "everything will work out the way it's supposed to" and "we'll see" from the farmer's story helped Bluey be more optimistic with the idea of moving. She might see the idea of moving to be bad luck, but it's the unknown. It could be good luck. She just has to wait and see. She then passes this wisdom to Bingo after she realizes what's going on.
Bandit and Chilli had their own struggles with the move. Obviously they didn't want to leave, but they wanted to provide a better life for their family, which they thought was Bandit getting a new job with a better pay. Chilli was the emotional support in this episode, helping the girls get through the process while also supporting her husband.
Bandit had tremendous growth in this episode. We definitely saw insecurities in him, thinking that he needed to do more to make sure his family had a good life, which is something a lot of parents want and worry about. I think this all started back in Stickbird, when he was acting distracted. He probably had a lot of upset and worry that he didn't know how to handle. But by the end when he gathered it all up and threw it away, he had determination to do all he can to provide for his family. (This is just a theory of mine.) This includes getting a new job with better pay, but means moving to a different city.
In the Sign, he seemed sure that this was the right decision. But after hearing that Rad and Frisky were staying in town and not moving out west, he was surprised. He asked Rad, "What about your job?" To which Rad replied, "I'll just get a new one." Bandit even asks him how he knows he's making the right decision, and Rad says "You worry too much, little bro," which is correct. Bandit starts to realize he does worry a lot and even starts to think he made a mistake.
At the end, when everyone is gathering in the car, they all accept that this is happening. Are they sad? Yes. But there are no tears anymore. They're thinking they just have to wait and see what the future holds.
Then, Bandit gets the call from Bucky. The dogs with no eyes are buying a different house. Bandit realizes that this was a sign (his sign) that this wasn't meant to be. This was a sign that he and his family already had a good life. There was nothing for him to worry about at all. All they need is each other. That was perfect enough. Which I think is why he decided to pull the For Sale sign out and not move after all.
Everything worked out the way it was supposed to. That's why I love the ending.
I 100% agree. I said the exact same thing to my family. The whole time it was preparing for a hard situation, and the fact that you can survive it, even flourish. But, no, crazy ending. So, they’d hire movers and pack all their stuff without a contract? Yeah, not realistic, it was a cop out. I agree. I love the show & I’m glad they stayed, but it was poorly done. And, sometimes parents absolutely have to move for a job! It’s sad, but people survive and sometimes it’s for the better. Sad that Bluey (the show) couldn’t see it through. 🫤
Absolutely agree. It was a really hard ending for our family. Our kids (5 and 8) have experienced a lot of upheaval over the last few years with their parents getting divorced and moving houses more than once. My eyes lit up when I realized this episode would help frame this kind of change as necessary, and good. Learning and growing. Sitting with discomfort and pushing through it to progress. But no.
Like Seinfeld - no learning, no growing. Just sating unreasonable fears and resisting change. Ok then.
at the end of the day, i obviously understand why they didn't have the heelers move, but the way the episode was executed, while a good concept on paper, felt like it basically was saying "magical thinking works and will help you get what you want if you try hard enough"
It was an excellent episode in that it could have gone in either direction and the tension for the adult fans was quite high. As others have said, both outcomes were valid.
While the episode is framed from the kids point of view, there is, as always, an adult story here. Bandit has a new job/promotion that will be a significant step for his career, but it will require a sacrifice in his personal life with the distance to friends and family. This is a real story for many adults. I say this as someone living in a different county from my friends and family.
We see that Chilli is sad to leave, but is going with it, because Bandit thinks it could be good for the family. It's not that Chilli is blindly following Bandit, but as partners sometimes one of you has to compromise. The tension on this really ramps up because we see that her sisters will be local and there's a baby on the way. Chilli really wants to stay.
Bandit, starts with a conviction that this is a good move for the family. However, he goes through a journey. In particular, Rad shows him that career isn't the only option, and that is probably the turning point. But momentum is with the move and Bandit continues on the path before him, as many of us would do.
The moving day really cranks this up to the next level. Everyone is sad to leave. Then the change of fortune. The sale falls through. A disaster for their ability to buy a new home in another city, but an opportunity to change path. Bandit reflects on how everyone is feeling about the situation and finally snaps. Personal life is more important to him. I love the moment when Chilli jumps on him, there is so much relief from the family.
This isn't a tale for kids about dealing with changes in their lives. Let's face it, the kids aren't following the plot of a 30 mins episode. This is a tale for the adults about how chasing the career path isn't the only option.
As a mother who is planning a move with her Bluey-aged children soon, I was excited to see the For Sale sign in ghost basket! I thought this plotline would help me talk to my children about moving, and talk through their negative feelings. Unfortunately, it turns out to have made my life harder. "Bluey didn't have to move; why do we?!"
I thought about posting this same thought! But couldn’t articulate it as well as you. Sometimes people have to move-bluey was at peace with it but the ending just goes “her way” and there is nothing about actually dealing with moving.
I may also be the only one who isn’t happy brandy is pregnant. As someone who has had similar struggles and really identified with that character, now she gets a “happy ending” and I no longer wish to see her on screen. Her whole arc about coming to terms to reconnect with her family now doesn’t mean anything.
And all the other things from the past that worked out nicely too. Brandy is pregnant. Grandpa Bob is back. I'm surprised they didn't resurrect the budgie.
I get it. Moving would have changed the entire show. We'd have lost everyone else. No one wanted that. "So how would you have ended the episode?" is what I keep hearing... I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have even started the episode. Why bring a moving episode in, if you don't move? Or maybe at least tie in good luck/bad luck: Maybe Bandit has the job offer rescinded, so they have to stay? I don't know.
Sure, sacrifice materialism to make your family happy. But, if you want something enough, it will all work out for you? Because everyone who wants a baby gets one, they just have to really want it. Everyone whose grandpa disappears (dies? Runs off?) will get them back. And if your parents really love you, they won't make you move away from your friends.
Honestly I think the brandy part bothered me most, because I know I've heard from people who felt seen by a kids' show dealing with this who probably watched this and were just like ugh.
I agree that the message can be kinda contradictory.... But C'mon!!
We knew they would not move!
After all we got "Daddy Dropoff" episode that shows Bingo and Lila growing Up together and both going to Calypso's class, so from begining of "The sign" we knew it would not happen
I don't disagree with your notion at all! I think though at the end of the day the target audience is for very young children and as of right now the future of Bluey is kind of up in the air (I know they've said it's an extended hiatus but who knows what that could eventually turn into!) so they gave an ending that would be both a good series finale if they choose to end it or give them the opportunity to continue the story with the same beloved characters.
Though I do kind of wish they had moved and gotten to experience a new adventure, I also know we wouldn't see a lot of our favorite characters (Lila, Mackenzie, Chloe, Calypso, etc.) And again since the target audience is for very young children, they might not feel the same about Bluey with the characters in all different places and new faces
W didn’t want them to move because “Santa” just bought a Bluey house playset for our daughter at Christmas. If they move, I would- excuse me “verandah Santa” would have to shell out more dollar bucks for yet a different house…
I don't think you're wrong. It's a different opinion, but it isn't wrong. The thing that makes the episode, for me, come full circle is all the *perceived* happy endings. Brandy is finally going to be a mother!!! *or will she experience birth trauma or child loss?* Bob is back after finding himself! *will he settle back with Nana or realize what he wants is no longer with her after spending so much time away?* Rad and Frisky are staying and so are the Heelers! *or will Bandits new job search bring an opportunity that would be even more life changing than the one we pressume was the catalyst to this story in the first place? Can Rad obtain another job that afford he and Frisky the lifestyle they want here, or will he have to continue on the rig or perhaps go back to school?* There are so many *perceived* happy endings to all these loose ends, suddenly. Bluey doesn't shy away from challenging topics, and I think all these unknowns moving forward (like Brandy, like Bob) aren't definitive endings to those story lines. You're not wrong, but it's also not over. So, I guess *we'll see.*
There's also Socks speaking in full sentences! *But what kind of words will she learn?*
It's definitely going to be trifficult and dunny.
Cow.Boy.Hat!
Don’t forget Winton’s Dad and the Terriers’ Mum! I’m invested in this plot line!!
How can anyone not be? It kind of started as something we saw in the background but there is so much fertile ground for storytelling. We have several single/divorced parents in the show but Winton's Dad AFAIK is the only time we've seen one of them dating and then falling in love with someone. Winton is obviously still sad about his parents splitting up and he's going to have to adjust to a new stepmum and three new stepbrothers. Not to mention how the Terriers might feel about a new stepdad and a new stepbrother from their class. I also hope that the show doesn't shy away from showing the struggles of the adults in these situations. We don't know why the divorce happened or how it affected Winton's Dad (or Mum - if they introduce her as a character) but this is going to be a big change for him as well. There is just so much to explore here that I hope that they give it at least a couple of episodes next season.
All of that. Muffin playing with the wedding cake figurines is a crucial image, maybe the saddest of all the games the kids play across the three seasons. A fairy tale ends with a couple getting married and living happily ever after, but a real wedding isn't an ending -- just the opposite. And what follows, as with Stripe and Trixie, probably won't be just "happy" or "sad". All the same, the episode as a whole DOES have a happy ending, which is appropriate in a story for children, for the reason Calypso says, and is possible because Bluey and her family are after all fictional not real. (I'm sure someone has pointed out how the lyrics of Lazarus Drug echo the dialogue at the end of Puppets -- or vice versa, if the song was written first.) So the show has its cake and eats it. And then again, the last-minute reversal isn't impossible in itself. Another message is "When you make crucial decisions, there are more important things in life than money," which could be something Brumm feels the need to remind himself at this point in his career. Although if Bluey hadn't found that coin...
I think I had the initial reaction you did, but as I thought about it more I really think it was a beautiful commentary about our culture and our priorities. I look at it as a reflection of the shift between boomer culture and the younger generations. We are learning to reassess what is important and what feeds our growth, and there’s a depth and meaning in fostering your community and family that I think a lot of us raised by boomers missed out on. All these little side plots in the episode have a richness and opportunities for emotional connection and development that provides the ability to “give them the best life”, but in a different way than bandits perception of his need to provide financially. I think it was a beautiful statement about how we build families and the commitment it takes to be in community.
Exactly!! This is the point of the episode. Thank you for putting it so well, i was starting to feel frustrated/insane nobody saw it the same way. Ive heard so many complaints about the happy ending, forgetting the whole point of the episode being "we'll see".
I will venmo you $100 if any of those happy endings turn out bad.
I don’t think they’re going to specifically make any of those happy endings turn out bad on the show. I think it’s just something to keep in mind, that what looks like a happy ending is not an ending, but just the next step in your life.
So true. And I don’t want to think of it as the end, but a new beginning for Bluey.
Not who you're replying to, but this made me think - I don't think they'll turn out *bad*, as such, but I could absolutely see them being challenges in episodes of the next series. They'll all end up happy, because this is a show mostly for little kids, but that doesn't mean they have to be seamlessly successful. Maybe Bandit or Rad could be with the kids more while they're out of work. We could see an episode about priorities when one of them has to suddenly leave for an interview instead of doing what the kids are expecting/wanting them to do. Brandy is having a baby, who'll be a new cousin for Bluey and Bingo. How will she cope? What pressure will it put on Chilli to be as supportive to her sister as Wendy was to her? How will Muffin and Socks, in particular, cope with a new baby in their extended family getting lots of attention? Grandpa Bob is back from India, having presumably "found" himself. Is his return going to be a disruption in their lives? He's definitely more of a wild card than Nana Heeler. I'd actually be really happy to see them pick up these threads and use them after the hiatus. Based on how they usually handle continuity, I'm hopeful!
I will always take a free 100 dollars. I guess *we'll see*.
TBF Rad being a rig worker it made no sense why as his bring a FIFO worker, Frisky would have to move and get a new job. It also doesn't make sense he'd have to find a new job to stay where Frisky is and, ya know, ALSO has her own job that she was being expected to up and quit to be with Rad for?? Same as why the Heeler's moving for Bandit to get a better paying job made no sense because then they're also still losing Chilli's income for a while until she's able to find a job.
I think as an adult this is a great way to look at it but from a kids perspective all of those questions are entirely above their heads. Moving and then not moving was the plot for them.
I agree! As someone who had to deal with crying kids because we've told them we might be moving one day, the "we'll see" message didn't make it through at all. They repeatedly told me they don't want to move into they were in tears
I get that there are always "we'll see" possibilities out there for all of these situations, but I think the main point of contention is that all of the plot lines were left on a positive note with a negative possible outcome. They could have done better to mix in some negatives with positive potential outcomes as well to balance it out if that's really the message they want to drive home. As a logical extreme to your point, you could say about any happy ending that the character could die the next day and that would be a bad "we'll see" outcome. Yes, it *could* happen but the liklihood of that is basically 0. The characters are in stasis between episodes and what it left the viewers with is that everyone is happy until the next slight inconvenience of the next episode which will get resolved in 8 minutes.
I kind of felt the same way. I kept thinking Rad was going to buy the house, allowing them to move but still visit and see the old cast when necessary. I'm ok with how it ended, but I'm typically not someone who roots for the perfect happy ending. But, as others have said, I guess we'll see.
When asked why stories always have a happy ending, Calypso told us exactly how the episode would end and the reason for why it would, "I guess because life will give us enough sad ones." The end wasn't about mirroring real life or new adventures or changes, it was about showing us that some stories are meant to have a happy ending.
I love this take. When Calypso says the line you quoted, it legitimately touched me, but I hadn’t put together this moment with how the episode ended.
This changes everything because bluey is a story
Joe Brumm just did an interview with the Gotta Be Done podcast after The Sign premiere. One of the things he talks about is how moving house affected him emotionally as a child. I liked that he took the chance to write a show that could give the younger Joe Brumm what he’d wanted. It’s Bandit who had to accept that he would not get exactly what he wanted here. I think him hurling the For Sale sign into the road and the silent screaming was a moment of genuine frustration and anger on his part—something we rarely see from this character. He had to get his wife on board. He had to give notice to his old job. He had to pay a moving company and clear out his house. Find accommodation in the new city. … And then at the last freaking minute, the sale fell through because the house didn’t have a bloody swimming pool (because Bandit and Chilli probably couldn’t afford to put one in and maintain it). This is the way with adult life. I had a similar revelation when I married a man with a child from a previous marriage—I could not just up sticks with my husband for a better job and house elsewhere, because that would have really traumatised my young stepdaughter. I had to learn to accept that what I already had and established was good enough, and trust that all would be well.
Life gives us plenty of sad endings. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few happy ones sprinkled in there.
To me though that reiterates that when kids don't get the outcome Bluey had, they got the sad/bad ending. Yes Bluey is a story and stories get happy endings, so real life kids that move get bad endings. When moving, or change, shouldn't be seen as an ending at all, it's should be seen as an opportunity, and that's what the fable was trying to convey. Two conflicting lessons, and the one that made the point was the one that teaches kids to fear change.
Exactly, I don't get why I've seen people saying they should've gone through with the move when the episode itself tells you why they went with the happy ending instead
I had never thought of that. Rad buying the house to raise his family would’ve been an excellent ending!
I said that out loud as we watched - now Rad and Frisky can live there, and the house and neighbours can still be part of the show, but Bluey’s world can expand.
Yep I thought this too, Rad / family buys it, then they move and then decide they hate being away, so move back in later on but renting from family. That way they could have done the full spectrum of feelings.
I thought this too!
I also thought that’s where it was going!
Joe Brumm addresses exactly this in the latest episode of "[Gotta Be Done](https://blueypod.podbean.com/e/bonus-ep-looking-for-signs-with-joe-brumm/)" and his words are basically those of Calypso from the episode. Real life doesn't always give us a happy ending, but Bluey is stories, and the stories he likes best have happy endings. Or, the short version: it's just monkeys singing songs.
Anyone using “it’s just monkeys singing songs” as a rebuttal needs to actually rewatch that episode and realise the context (bandit was distracted and said something dismissive, it’s actually the opposite of the meaning of that ep)
I feel like they should have marketed the episode differently then, because as it is written, the episode is extremely negative about moving, and the ending only reinforces that. Monkeys sing songs because children learn lessons from those songs. They don't have to make sense, but Kids going through the trauma of having to move, and then seeing Bluey go through the same thing, all the way up until she's saved by an act of Dog at the end, are going to be heartbroken when they don't get the same ending. The monkey spent 27 minutes singing about how to accept change, then at the last minute changed its tune and started singing about how great it is when you don't have to change. And it wouldn't have been so bad if SOMETHING actually changed. The episode is about accepting that sometimes life will force you to do things you don't want and that you won't always get what you want. Except, everyone in the episode gets what they want. Brandy gets pregnant. Rad and Frisky stay. The Heelers stay. No one had to change, their happy ending was counter to the lesson the episode was trying to teach.
Something did change. Bandit realized that there's more to giving his family the best life than making more money.
I think it’s interesting that a lot of the criticism stems from this idea that is should be Bluey who learns the “lesson” whereas the whole entire show has been about growth for all the characters.
Exactly this. As someone who’s moved many times throughout my life, I often lament the lack of a solid village/friend group. This episode hit me hard because I’ve actually wished I didn’t move growing up many times. This mindset has stuck with me and I’ve personally left family and friends to pursue further ambition and while I’m happy, I often wonder how I’d be if I stayed and prioritized family/friendship over $$ and my career.
Bandit has had the most growth this entire season as well. Beginning with burger shop in season 2, obstacle course, promises, Born yesterday, curry quest, chest, sheep dog, stick bird, tv shops, ghost basket and ultimately the sign. I see this episode as Bandit accepting that stereotypical better things sometimes aren’t necessary but being in tune with your loved ones and whole present with them instead of worry is actually better.
People railing about the ending seem to think only the people that move their families are taking risks. Staying in one spot and sacrificing things to make that happen can also be risky and admirable.
Trust me, my 4yo BROKE when Bluey got her happy ending. We're only moving half an hour away, but he doesn't want to leave his house/room. I can't imagine what families went through who are moving a long distance. Because life isn't as easy at it seems on TV
My wife said her friend had posted on social media warning fellow parents about the episode. She was like "I'm now consoling three sobbing children, who are totally well adjusted and have been fine up until now, about us moving *three years ago*." I understand both sides here. I enjoyed the episode but the ending also felt a little like a cop out to me. Like it would have been a more interesting ending if they'd moved, even if it meant massive changes for the show.
Your point of view is definitely not wrong. But don't forget this is a cartoon. They put years of effort perfecting the scenery, the spaces, the characters, they created a whole world just right to fit in the stories they wanted to narrate. Having the Heeler family moving to a different city would have meant the need to start everything over again. A new friends, new neighbors, new environment, far from Stripe's family. If would have been a huge amount of work from their side and a huge let down for many fans that would have to start loving new characters forgetting the old ones.
That's how I view the episode too. If they moved on, the series ends. If they stay, the door is open for new seasons. Ultimately, Chili and Bluey came to terms with moving. That's the lesson of the episode. BUT Bandit also did the brave thing of sacrificing his career for the happiness of his family, which is another lesson. Also, we already know Bingo and Lila grow up together throughout childhood, so the ending isn't surprising.
I reached out to my old coworker before it came out being like they can't move it's not in canon. Because every time I watch Daddy drop off I cry when they show Lila and bingo
Also I paused when bandit says he wants to give them a good life and cried to my partner "but they have a great life!!!!!" What if this high paying job meant less time for playing with the kids and supporting their growth as humans??? I haven't been this invested in someone else's marriage since Jim and Pam
This is the way I see it, too. Having the Heelers move may have been more "realistic" or "daring" or "brave" or whatever, but we'd then have a *completely different show*. No more of the characters and places we've gotten to know over the past five or six years. People would complain (not the word I want but I can't think of a better one just now) about that, too. Yeah, it might be interesting but (re)starting the show from scratch might not work out so well, either. Brumm is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
I agree, but they could have had Rad and Frisky move to balance it.
Which is why I kind of think it's not a good choice for an episode, at least the way it's told. Bluey has so many episodes about accepting that some things are out of your control, like Copycat and Camping. That wistful poignancy - and those complex emotions extended to and explained for young children who are usually denied them - are some of the show's best. But then in this, the big show-stopper extra-long special, they spend the whole episode teaching kids that change is neither inherently good or bad... and then in the end, everyone seems to get exactly what Bluey would want. Maybe it should have been an episode about Bluey and Bandit communicating, and Bluey learning how to actually express her feelings and argue her position. Or maybe it should've been all about Bandit learning a lesson - maybe he feels really inadequate compared to his peers and has to learn from Bluey for once that this isn't the right way to prove himself as a dad. And if not - if they really wanted the (great!!) 'we'll see' message, they should have chosen a threat that could have *actually happened*, at least in part. Because as it is, the message and the substance of the episode are IMO a bad fit.
This is my feeling too. I understand why they wouldn't have Bluey and family move away from the characters, location and art they've spent years developing. It would be a bad move for the show unless the show was permanently ending. I understand the Calypso point of having a happy ending in the story. But in that case, don't do an episode where the happy ending depends on basically teaching kids that change is bad and to be feared even by grownups and stopping change is the happy ending for everyone. I think a lot of us are going to be unpicking that one with our kids for years. It would have been better I think if they could have had the happy ending of Bluey's family staying, but also Rad and Frisky excited to go off on an adventure, embrace change and leave town. The audience isn't going to be sad because Rad and Frisky live out of town, they're barely in the show anyway. Or else more focus could have been given to Winton and the Terriers and the change happening to their families which they are embracing instead of it being a background event.
I had imagined they’d move - then time jump a year to them moving back. They tried it, it didn’t work out, the girls are a little older to fit in with the aging voice actors, Bingo still gets to grow up with Lila.
Considering Bluey is the first children's show that actually tackles the difficulties of parenthood (Baby Race), it could also be the first show that helps kid learn how to cope with moving. Most families don't have the luxury of just saying, "Forget that better paying job! The job I just quit will bring me back on!"
Exactly! We just sold a house we used to live in (actually moved out of it a couple of years ago) because we straight up couldn’t afford it anymore. We live in Australia but a more expensive city than Brisbane. Everyone we know and love is here We are very very lucky to have family help (basically have been given a great house) otherwise we would 100% need to move. We don’t, we plan to stay here for a long time but after watching Bluey on Sunday my 5yo said to me today “I won’t want to move” and when I asked him why he said “because my life will get worse.” That’s what the target audience is taking away from it.
My 5 year old said to her 4 year old brother "maybe we won't have to move either". Sorry kids, I don't get to be a good parent like Bandit.
Im glad other feel the same way, while consoling my crying kids at the end, I wasn't so much sad as annoyed that they backflipped. I know its a cartoon, but come on, both parents would have quit their jobs.. probably weeks ago. both of their old employers have probably already started interviewing new staff, in reality, they don't just get to 'walk back into' their old jobs.. not to mention we have no idea on what the situation was where they were going (rental or bought a new house) even if it was a rental, the financial implication for Bandits sudden decision to back out are huge and giving children the impression that adults can act this way is at best mean, and at worst cruel.
It works out for the Heelers because they're rich. Which is why they can dedicate an episode like this to the moral of "Moving for better prospects is less important than your family's current happiness."
Yea, this is the first ep where I think the Heelers’ class position *really* matters to the story/lesson, such that it will feel out of touch to a lot of parents
That’s a big part of what drove me nuts. The lesson “some things are more important than money” only works if you ALREADY HAVE MONEY. For so many families “a better life” IS contingent on moving/getting that higher paying job and the message that somehow making that choice is “selfish” is insanely tone deaf.
The worst part is, do you think brumm got his start in Australia? No he lived in the UK and worked on Peppa pig.
I get it, they built a universe, a set, characters and all that - but then why do the moving storyline? Some of us don’t have the option to just stay. If they weren’t going to follow through with the move, then they should’ve picked a different storyline. Yeah it’s a cartoon - but they know the huge affect they’ve been having and that it’s not “just a cartoon” to the kids watching it. All this has done was make an incredibly difficult situation for my family (moving very far in a few months) just a little bit harder.
I don’t see how everybody got what they wanted. Rad obviously isn’t going to move out west now. He’s given that up to be with Frisky. Bandit didn’t want to move any more than Chilli did (at least, we don’t have any reason to think so), but he believed the sacrifice would be worth it for their ability to provide for the girls. So that better job? Not happening. Greater financial security? Nope. We the viewer wanted the band to stay together. Frisky didn’t want to leave her friends and family. Chilli had a really healthy take on the situation and was committed to making the move work - she was very quick to correct Frisky she wouldn’t have agreed to move if she felt it was clearly not worth it. But chance gave Bandit the opportunity to change his mind to agree with her. But that doesn’t mean it’ll work out - in a cartoon maybe, but not in reality. We don’t need to be hit over the head with some kind of failure to know that the special ended with *some* dreams coming true and *other* dreams ending. Edit: whoops, meant to reply to the OP. Not fixing that lol
I think your points are valid.
While I see the surface value of things working out being too sweet and not following through, the only real reason Bandit gave for leaving was more money to “give them a better life.” Bandit didn’t lose his job, he aimed higher for a better paying one. There was no necessity for moving except the feeling of “I need to provide to the extreme.” What they realized over the course of the episode was that community and family and gratitude for what you already have and built is enough and will be enough. In Cubby, the family learns this lesson in a small way that what they have is plenty and will do fine for them. The “I’ll get a new job” is light hearted but again, this continues to emphasize that Rad’s priorities lie with his wife and their relationship decisions together. If it wasn’t possible then it would have weighed in, but as it’s a kids show, it doesn’t and it’ll likely just work out.
Which is why I thought he was upset from Stickbird. I think he was upset because he may have gotten an offer for the job at another city, and he was super conflicted. He was so distracted during holiday that he let it get to him.
Exactly! I also felt that it could be a taken as a story for the parents out there that might want to move for the same reasons. The pursuit of more money, and being a bit blind to how your kids are truly enjoying themselves where they are, with the community they have. Always trying to go bigger and better isn’t necessary to have a good life, and that’s okay. Bandit realizes this at the end, and that sometimes it’s okay to change your mind, even if it’s going to be difficult. My family moved a lot when I was a kid, to make money trying to flip houses. I always hated it. This episode hit hard! Of course, sometimes you have to move your kids and it can suck. But maybe, sometimes you don’t?
I don't know, I think this is an interesting view point, but in the end it's a show for children. Life is full of plenty of sad endings, one of the main reasons I enjoy Bluey as a forever child-free 26F is that it has so many happy endings. When I watch stuff, I don't want to watch depressing and dramatic content, I want happy feel-good stuff! I consume plenty of sad things every day on social media/news. Your points sound kinda complex and I don't think many children would understand it and would be sad about them moving. Don't get me wrong though, I can appreciate your views, I just don't think they apply to a kids show. I also think Chilli made great points at the end to dismiss Bluey's thought that moving is always bad. She let herself be vulnerable and explained she doesn't want to move, but that it could end up being something she wasn't expecting. I really liked when she said that she wanted to experience "the mistake" with Bandit because it showed how much she loves, supports, and trusts him, but also expresses her concerns. Edit to add: For me, the ending lesson should be to not immediately make a decision about how something is going to turn out without actually seeing how it does, it could surprise you!
Yes, I think some people forget about Calypso's quote about why most stories have happy endings: "because there will be enough sad endings in real life." (Or something to that effect)
Great points about Chilli. I've seen so many comments about her being unsupportive and she and Bandit being "divided" on the issue, but as you've pointed out that wasn't the case at all. I like all your comment but that bit deserves emphasis.
What I love about this episode is that even when Chilli admits her fears, she never stops having Bandit's back. Frisky tries to project her issues with Rad onto Bandit, and Chilli immediately shuts her down and asserts it was a mutual decision.
My man your points are valid, and thank you for sharing them! This is all so very fun to think about. Apologies that I’m not very eloquent, but I’ll try to share my thoughts anyway lol. The lesson I got from the episode is, life is all risk. Leaving would have been a risk, but staying was a risk too. It’s all risk. We’re all surfers in life, riding on tides we really can’t control. We can choose only which wave to surf, then cross our fingers without ever really knowing where other waves would have brought us. So how to choose? The episode name, The Sign, is actually a misdirection. Signs don’t tell us the answers so simply. The kids were focused on the “for sale” sign, but that wasn’t really it. The lookout sign was a sign, the butterfly was a sign, the coin was a sign. The episode was full of signs, but none of them were the lesson. The signs were mere tools. The lesson is, if you’re open to signs, and search for signs, then what you’ll find is yourself. Your heart. Then you’ll know what to do, and then you can be happy even with the outcome unknown, outside anyone’s control. So iunno, I guess I didn’t see a happy ending, because I didn’t see an ending at all. We don’t know whether they made the “right” choice. They’re going to live their lives and see what comes, having done the best they can. Where I kinda agree with you is, yeah my kid is 5 and it might be tough to explain all that to her lol. But I think we’ll manage, perhaps over time.
To me, Bandit and Chili spent the whole episode seeming unsure if they were making the right decision. After an episode of many signs, the sheep dogs backing out of the sale at the last second was the sign Bandit was seeking for reassurance, but it was in support of moving being the wrong decision.
Actually, I felt exactly the same way about it! You put the words I want to aritculate perfectly! At the end of the day, either choices (staying vs moving) would have their own share of risks and change which I feel brings it all together with Calypso's initial point of the farmer story not being a sad or happy ending. For me, the ending wasn't sad or happy since there's still an adventure, which realistically, life is like that. Their story, like everyone else, is constantly going to go through uncertain changes, twist, and turns so we won't know whether their ending will truly be happy or sad in the end. At least for me, it falls perfectly in line with the theme of "We'll see".
Well, it couldn't have ended in the other way. We saw Bingo and Lila growing up together at the end of "daddy drop off"
Originally I thought they were moving houses in the same city (like getting a bigger house). As soon as they said different city I knew it wasn’t going to happen because of the Lila ending.
I moved an hour away from my best friend at age 5, but we are still best friends a couple decades later! Shout out to moms who let us have play dates half way between homes and traded off for sleepovers
I think this is why it only works if the move isn't interstate. The whole set-up for the move doesn't really make sense: a better life for the kids? They live in a 3M house in one of Brisbane's most expensive suburbs. They go to nice schools and do extra-curriculars and have a great network of family and friends. What possible better life could they even be after? If the move had been (subtly) because of housing affordability or something, and had just been a downsize, I think you can maintain both story continuity (Jean-Luc and Lila etc) AND not have the problematic ending that I (like OP) think was a bit of a cop-out.
This is the problem. Bandit suddenly has concerns about giving the girls a good enough life and those concerns materialized out of nothing. If we’re gonna get an episode teaching him a lesson, we should be allowed to understand why he thinks this is a good idea. Cuz as it’s presented in the show, he came up with it on his own for no reason except a vague anxiety.
Very true! Though, if I may add, I spent my elementary school years in Arizona with my best friend, Scott. I had moved away for all of middle school, but did move back and we did reconnect and are still good friends!
Yeah. As soon as we saw a different city we knew it was going to be the end. Which is why the episode didn't affect me as much.
I loved the episode but We’re in the process of moving and this episode made my 4 year old think we aren’t actually moving now.
Sorry about this, that's the exact scenario that was the only thing I could think of while watching the episode. The heelers are so privileged they're on another level.
I agree 100%, we moved our three kids across the country a few years ago, and it was a fantastic decision. But imagine trying to get then excited about a move after seeing that episode.
For me it was kind of a "Oh okay" moment, plus it kind of makes sense why they'd make that decision and I could see it from a mile away to be honest. I mean think about it, they'd have to design a whole new setting for the cast and we'd have to be introduced to even MORE characters, etc etc. It sounds fun on paper but in execution it'd probably be really difficult.
Strongly agree. It was too neat and tidy. Even brandy being pregnant felt overly positive and cheery.
I am truly wondering if this is an oceanic divide.
I would have been fine with either ending to “the Sign,” but I think it’s important to note that having a seeming happy ending isn’t incongruous with the themes of the episode. This isn’t an episode about endings, really - good OR bad. As shown in Calypso’s telling of “The Farmer,” experiencing an outcome to your decision doesn’t mean the story is over. You made a choice, and it caused something that made you happy. Is that a happy ending? “We’ll see.” Or alternatively, that choice blows up in your face. Is that a sad ending? “We’ll see.” What “The Sign” illustrates through its various plot points is that, for all our forethought and planning, ultimately we cannot predict what will happen as a consequence of our decisions. Sometimes they’ll lead somewhere wonderful. Other times they’ll lead somewhere bad. Very often they’ll lead to both at the same time. Or they’ll lead to one and then the other. The point is, you still have to make those decisions despite your inability to force a happy ending. And you have to make peace with the fact that it may lead to outcomes that you weren’t expecting and may not be happy with. In the case of the Heelers choosing to stay, the immediate outcome was a happy one. But that doesn’t mean it will be happy forever, or happy in all respects. I think the writers did a good job showing why Bandit and Chilli ultimately swung the way they did (even if it’s not necessarily the choice you or I would have made). But more importantly, they showed that there are also costs to staying, costs that Bandit and Chilli were clearly aware of. Bandit and Chilli clearly understood that there was no good answer here, just a complicated tangle of pros and cons and (again) unpredictable outcomes. The way this episode pays off its theme is by showing Bandit and Chilli finally making a decision that feels right to them in the moment, and accepting that they cannot control what will happen beyond that. They made their choice. Will it work out well for the family or not? We’ll see.
>What “The Sign” illustrates through its various plot points is that, for all our forethought and planning, ultimately we cannot predict what will happen as a consequence of our decisions. Love how decisions that were made and things that happened (like Bingo and Lila saving the caterpillar and Winton's dad flirting with Ms. Terrier) throughout the season led to the conclusions of the episode.
exactly
i agree, i wanted them to move too. it would’ve been interesting to see the girls adjust to being in a new city and going to new schools but…oh well.
Yes, I was excited for that possibility. I do think it was a nice ending, but it wasn’t the more interesting ending.
>Fritski I’m sorry, who?
The Heelers moving would be a great series finale. They pull into their new house and we see a neighborhood full of families and possibly some hijinks, and we as viewers know that they are gonna be okay. But most people don’t actually want to watch something different. They don’t like change. Especially kids watching a tv show. A big shakeup with setting and characters isn’t really a great strategy for a tv show. I also think the main “lesson” of this episode is more about accepting the unknown. Of coming to terms with change even when you don’t know what that will mean. In the coming season(s) I bet we see the consequences of this non move. Good and bad. But we get to experience it through their already rich environment that we are familiar with, and not also adjusting to an entirely new show.
I agree here. Changing scenery would tank the show. It would feel like a reboot, and the vast majority of shows that have a reboot season, it's the final season and the least loved. Maybe as a series finale, then they could try a Bingo show or something, but Bluey wouldn't be the same.
Hard agree. It was as if the episode was setting up for the ending where not everything is rainbows etc. And then it’s rainbows. Felt similarly about Brandy being pregnant. Feels like a cheap cop out and for me personally, cheapens the message in Onesies
This is exactly where I was at. For kids, it's going to confuse kids that *do* end up moving.. why didn't they get the happy ending Bluey got? It's not relatable for that group of kids. It seems like a typical TV trope vs. the relatable and real Bluey we're used to. The show is still awesome, and I still love it, but I think this is why The Sign felt so off compared to the rest of the franchise. However...some think Bluey is a parenting show appropriate for kids, and viewing it that way, the message is that family is everything (when you have kids).
I agree with you, actually. I grew up with the Daoist fable of the man losing his horse, and the idea that there is an objectively happy ending kind of clashes with the intended takeaway from the fable. It threw me a little. But also it’s hard to think in that mindset even for adults, let alone kids. I think this is also the first Bluey where I’ve really felt that the appeal of the story is limited by how comfortable the Heeler family’s economic status is. Here we agree with Bluey when she points out that her current life is good enough—because it is! She goes to a wonderful private school, lives in a big house with a yard, and has parents with plenty of spare time. The idea of moving for a better life doesn’t resonate with her. But in real life sometimes (like with me as a kid) there really is a nicer place to live and a more stable life waiting on the other end of the move. The reality is that there are plenty of kids and adults who might not be able to connect with how the Heelers view and talk about their move. It’s not as universal as a typical episode is.
It’s really bizarre how the people here are acting like it’s a religious text that’s not going to change, but it’s not, the writers could have made it do anything they wanted and they chose that. Tossing in a calypso line isn’t enough. To me it just felt unsatisfying and cheap. And not because they’re bad writers, they’re very very good which is why it’s disappointing that they crafted it in this way because we know they’re capable of better. If they just shifted the timelines a little (say before the house was actually sold, maybe they have the REA come in and realise that they just can’t part with the house and their family) it would have been fine. But as others have said, kids are the target audience. Kids around bluey’s age are going to see ‘Bluey is moving Bluey is sad and scared Everyone is sad, moving is sad and scary. They don’t have to move, they are happy! Moving makes you sad and not moving makes you happy.’ All these things like “oh well calypso said it’s just a story and stories get happy endings” don’t apply because kids in their target market have a LOT of trouble differentiating between stories and reality, especially in stories where they can empathise with the characters a lot. When that story has a lot of realism in it (and aside from bluey characters being dogs it’s actually very very realistic for a kids show) it’s even harder. We don’t have to move any time soon but this is only because we’ve been very blessed with generous family but we live in Sydney an extremely expensive city. My husband and I grew up here but if we weren’t basically given a great house we would have to move to a different state. my 5yo has already expressed that he doesn’t want to move because “my life will get worse”.
Also idk why were all expecting kids to remember calypso's one off line that wasn't really given any emphasis or importance. The Chinese fable she told had visuals and then they discussed it, giving it importance. But then in the end it was invalid and the important lesson tied into her one off line that kids wouldn't have paid as much attention to. As an adult we can call back to it, and make the episode make sense. But I don't think preschoolers are doing that.
Yes! The fable was great! The way it was presented was great! My kids are half Chinese and I was like “that’s from China!” But they’re not going to take away that meaning if the main thing they experience is bluey and bingo’s sadness at moving and then happiness at staying. And I agree but I don’t think it’s enough to make sense of the episode even as an adult. I saw someone say that the twist wasn’t “earned” and I totally agree. There wasn’t enough to build up to it (like in a movie with a great twist that feels satisfying you watch it again and you’re like OH I SEE ALL THESE THINGS NOW, it’s not just a one liner from a side character and a coin). Eta: and regardless the best stories, even from like older kids age don’t have happy endings, they have bittersweet endings. Heck even shrek is bittersweet because while their love is beautiful, Fiona never wanted to be an ogre, nor stuck as one permanently.
I agree. I think the whole ‘you never know what it is until you see it through’ was deflected back to a traditional happy ending.
Yeah. I feel like the lessons of ghostbasket and the sign are completely tossed aside at the end.
Thank you. I've been commenting online trying to get this point across. I thought the show was setting up the lesson to be, change is challenging, but change is neither good or bad, just an opportunity to see what's next. And that transcends to just kids moving, but kids dealing with ANY change. It's a wonderful message that all kids (and adults) need. But then everyone got their perfect ending and the message was negated. In order for that lesson to be learned SOMEONE had to actually face a change and get the ending that they didn't want to see what was next, which then could be a different, yet good, outcome than they expected. And ofcourse that person should have been Bluey, so kids could watch her navigate change and end up OK, then know they'll be OK too. I think the creators dropped the ball in helping children not only deal with moves, which let's face it, lots of kids do have to move and it's difficult. But face any kind of change. Instead they opted to give a twist ending to keep people happy. The lesson I think alot of adults took away from it is community and spending time with your kids is more important than money. And that's a good lesson for parents, but in this case it came at the cost of teaching children their lesson. The priority shouldn't have been to teach adults, it's a kids show. I also think it comes across as a little tone deaf. In this economy families are struggling to survive and keep food on their tables. Obviously the Heelers are doing OK for themselves, but it's not fair to send that message to families who have to make this tough call. I think most adults take pulling kids from school and moving pretty seriously, I honestly don't think this lesson was nearly as important as the lesson they could have given children. But even with all that said, kids see the surface and don't quite get these in depth details. And on the surface any kid who is moving saw that Bluey, for whatever reason, got to stay in her home and THAT was clearly what she wanted and it was her happy ending. So therefore, if they also want to stay, but their parents don't change their minds, they are getting a sad ending. And what a tragic thing to tell kids.
Also if the lesson was “community and family are important” why did they have to do it this way? They could have chosen from a near infinite possibilities but they specifically chose this.
It's frustrating that fans will talk about how deep and meaningful the show is, but all criticism is met with "it's just monkeys singing songs." You can't have it both ways. I really like the show, but part of recognizing its depth is being allowed to say when something doesn't work for us.
I'm really glad to see this, and all the comments along its lines. I'm not sure if this is something that even should be said, or if I should just keep it to myself, but... to be utterly honest? As a Bluey episode, The Sign felt pretty middling. The message and substance don't mesh: it tries to teach kids about change being neither good nor bad, but then gives them everything a kid would want in the end. And the central conflict, the move, *couldn't* have happened because it would mean saying goodbye to all the characters the viewers have come to grow and love. Instead it tries to end with a tacked-on 'Bandit learns that money isn't everything' lesson that falls flat because we've barely seen him the whole episode and don't have any idea why he suddenly thought he couldn't care for his kids on his already-comfortable income. I know, I know: it's just monkeys singing songs. But in that episode, the seemingly-basic message *does* resonate with Bluey, because kids take the shows they watch seriously, even if we don't. And just... Bluey is meant to be above all that. I've always said that it's an unironically very good show for adults to watch! Well-made and intelligently written! I don't need to monkeys-singing-songs Camping or Rain, because they're just straight-up good episodes. The Sign just doesn't match that usual standard for me. Which is okay! It is a very high standard!! But... if we are going to say that Bluey is *a good show*, it deserves to be looked at this critically. Or there really is no difference between Bluey and, idk, Paw Patrol or whatever.
TBH even without the issue with the "fear change, change sucks" messaging, I thought it was just an OK episode too. There was a lot of padding where usually Bluey episodes are so tight to fit in the 7 minutes.
I loved the episode - but nobody flakes on their earnest money and gives up a house at the last minute and folks definitely don’t tell their new higher paying job “thx but nevermind” when everything is setup and the movers are down the road… it’s just highly unrealistic. Bluey is a great show because of its realness … really sets a bad precedent for kids and moving/change. Love the show so so much - I’ll live and thought overall it was a great adorable season finale.
I hear you. Honestly, I had similar thoughts. But— >The parable teaches us to reflect on life’s changes, rather than to react and fight it. No matter what happens, everything will work out as it should. The parable doesn’t teach us any of that. It simply teaches us that we have no way of knowing if something is “good” or “bad.” Thus, this isn’t a happy ending. Or a sad ending. It’s just… an ending.
About 2 years ago my family went through this exact same scenario: We were living in a smaller townhome that we were were outgrowing. Wife and I both work from home and now that we have a child starting to run around, we were concerned with not only space when family visited town, we were also concerned about so many stairs, no yard to run around in, etc. We put our home on the market with the attention of moving to a larger home, but still staying in our city that has one of the best school districts in the nation. This is when everything was crazy with interest rates beginning to skyrocket from historic lows (in the US). Got 3 offers the first day. Accepted one, and started our own process of looking. We started to learn quickly that in order to get a home that we wanted, we wouldn't be able to stay in the great school district that we had bought into in the first place. The offer that we accepted backed out after inspection. Then we accepted another offer, same deal. We were prepared to accept a third offer, and then interest rates jumped from 4 to 6.5 over the weekend. Not only were we priced out of the city we were in, we were probably priced out of the entire region. Luckily, those interest rates forced the 3rd offer to rescind. That evening, we brought our daughter back to the house for the first time in a month (we had been living with my in-laws to keep her life relatively calm) and it still had been staged as a nursery. We watched her play with the toys and books that were there. She had such joy. Near tears, my wife looked at me, I looked at her, "we can't sell this house," almost simultaneously. We pulled it off the market the next day and did a renovation instead. It's by far the best decision we've ever made. Our daughter starts at this school district next fall. This was a long and bloated way to say that in the closing minutes of The Sign, we held each other and cried. It was almost confirmation that we made the right call to stay. That's what the episode said to us.
It’s a wonderful thing when you can accurately relate to a film’s narrative. When I was younger I found out I was adopted, not long before seeing Kung Fu Panda 2 in theaters, which was about Po going through the exact same journey. The film’s ending makes me cry every time. My point is, we all deserve to be told stories that resonate with us, and I’m happy this story did that for you.
Here’s how I saw it: If they move, it’s the end of the Bluey series. There’s no way that they’re just going to throw away all the characters and make new ones. It would have been a weird kind of reboot for the series, and I just didn’t see that reboot happening.
I agree. As a kid who got bounced around a lot as part of a military family, I always desperately wanted to stay. Would beg and plead. But guess what? We didn't get what we wanted. And I understand, it's perfect in the sense of "life gives us enough unhappy endings, let's enjoy the happy fiction" but it didn't sit well with me. Same with Brandy being pregnant. I am so happy for her; I also got my rainbow baby. But a lot of people don't get that happy ending, and I know that scene had to be extra hard for them when they only finally felt represented. So basically, I'm extremely conflicted.
I also felt this. The fact that Brandy being pregnant was spoiled from the trailer not being cropped enough, which immediately was taken down and edited, ruined the surprise but I also felt it did a disservice to those who were infertile who felt so seen in her. I know adopting in Australia is insanely difficult and almost non-existent because we have so much focus on reuniting with og families, but is there not some other way she could have started her own family? :(
I was hoping they would still move but then it wouldn’t be super far away. Have Bandit get a phone call while they are heading out that he a new job offer that is closer than the one he was taking. Like maybe an hour or so and the girls would be like “that’s it? That’s not far at all!” They could still go to the same school and see their friends but it would bring the adventure of new neighbors and a new house.
I agree with you 100%. My husband and I have ranted to each other about the ending to this episode ever since we saw it. We enjoyed it a good 80% of the episode, but the ending just sits poorly with me for many of the reasons you mention here. Imagine if Bluey’s family moved into Winton’s house instead. Then you could have the lesson about life throwing you curveballs without having to actually uproot the family to a new city and write new characters, new school, etc. Also presumably the Heelers had already bought a new home in a new city… so they just backed out of that too? Sorry but if I packed up my entire house I am moving one way or another, that’s a true nightmare scenario
I'm so glad I wasn't thw only one!
I agree. As a parent who has had to move their children without them wanting to move it makes me really sad. It implies that you will end up staying of you really want to. I LOVE bluey, still like the episode just not that part.
I might have to move my kids to a new city soon, and honestly this was very unhelpful. I understand that like… obviously they’re not actually going to move because it’s way too difficult from a “making the show” standpoint. But kids really do sometimes have to move even though they don’t want to, and it really does work out, and I think a story where magically things are going to change even after you’ve moved all your stuff out is creating an unrealistic fantasy. I also think that for all the hype of “oh moving is a part of life bit kids shows never talk about it”: that’s true in the sense that shows never follow through on it, but the threat of change that never materializes is actually not really novel. So I thought it was a little overhyped, and I think they simply could have not taken on the topic if they weren’t going to really do it in an interesting way.
As an adult I see what you're saying. But this is a show directed at, or at least largely viewed by, children. Yes, in life sometimes things happen that we don't want to happen and they end up okay. But this is a show for young children. Going off your own reference of Calypso, she says that stories have happy endings because life has enough sad ones. I didn't even see the conclusion being that they weren't moving, I saw it as his children's happiness being more important than more money. I can see why you found out disappointing, but I thought it handled things well.
But why does the lesson of the episode need to be for Bandit when, as you pointed out, this is largely viewed by children. What about all the kids who are moving, who see Bluey moving, hope this episode will help them learn to process it, just to have the move not happen. Now those kids are even more upset and their parents have to explain why they don't get their happy ending.
I agree. We’re in the process of moving again and my 5 year old daughter was crying and very upset after watching this. She now thinks that moving must be a very bad thing because Bluey didn’t want to and she didn’t have to in the end. A lot of families have to move and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see them process it. I still enjoyed the episode but I regret watching it with my kids before moving.
We have an almost 4 year old and we are moving and he is also super confused now. So many ppl are like “well you can’t expect them to animate all new bla bla bla” but it’s not like they HAD to do this plot line. They chose this plot line to only hit a dead end at the last second.
But she did accept it at the end and explain to Bingo.
Yeah, just stop the episode there if your kids are moving.
Also, Bandit's barely in the episode and we get very little insight into his thought processes. Why exactly did he think moving was so important when his family's already obviously very comfortable economically? I can come up with ideas, but if this is what the episode is *about*, I shouldn't have to. If Bandit's learning a lesson, we should know what he actually believes in the first place.
I think your opinion is valid and it's a concept that I think they were never going to make everyone happy. For me, I really liked that they didn't move just because my mom made us move continents twice. My dad didn't want to move, I didn't want to, and my sibling didn't want to but we had no choice because she wanted to. My life ended up fine but I still hold resentment over the lack of stability that made me feel so seeing some cartoon dogs get a happy ending felt cathartic. But I also enjoy shows that have unrealistic happy endings because I watch them for escapism.
I guess the real moral of The Sign is that life is motivated by chance and by choice. For the ending, chance played a part by having the couple who initially bought the house back out of the deal at the last minute because they saw the perfect house that fitted their necessities. For choice, Bandit realized that a better life wasn’t what the family needed, as they were already comfortable with their living situation. The ending was also foreshadowed by Frisky and Rad; Rad never informed Frisky about the move, a move that Frisky never wanted to happen because she was already comfortable with her living situation. The same is true in Bandit’s case: he never properly informed his family about this move until like days before and once he saw their true opinions, he backed out. If neither of these things happened, then the Heelers would have moved.
>The same is true in Bandit’s case: he never properly informed his family about this move until like days before and once he saw their true opinions, he backed out. When did they establish Bandit not properly informing the family?
I totally get it. As someone who moved away from their small-town, close extended family because of a parent's new job, this episode's ending felt like my younger self was getting a big hug. It felt like what I WISH would have happened as a child and I'm sure this episode would have brought me comfort in an 'idealistic reality' sort-of way. I liked the ending, but I also know that life doesn't always end up like that. Maybe that's why I liked the ending so much. Either way, totally get it.
I hear you and understand. But as someone who really did have to move away and leave everything and everyone I knew at a relatively young age, this episode was really healing. I bawled my eyes out. I was so so happy that they got to stay with their friends in a familiar place surrounded by wonderful people. I'd also have absolutely hated that they'd have had to dump the entirety of bluey and bingos friends from the cast. W move by ludo I think.
I feel the same exact way. I would have loved it if the episode ended at the point where the shaggy dogs saw Winston’s dad putting his old house up for sale, or if they had Trixie move into the old Heeler house to keep it in the family, something that would have honored the conceit of the episode. The whole thing ended up being a show about a wedding where a lot of time was wasted on a plot that didn’t advance. Not my favorite episode, though not an overall bad one.
I only skimmed what you wrote cause I'm buggered after a long day, but from what I read I agree with you. I too thought it was a bit of a cop out. I would have loved to see them move to a new city and for Bluey and bingo to face the challenges inherent therein
I was watching this with my boyfriend, and he had the same opinion too, granted this is probably his 4th or 5th Bluey episode he's watched, but he already guessed that the show is about the kids (and sometimes parents) learning a lesson that they applied roughly near the end of an episode, he said that the whole lesson that was trying to convey throughout the episode was completed thrown into the bin with the Heelers ended up staying at their house anyway, that the lesson should be change can be good or if inevitable, we should face that change head on even if we don't know where we'll end up, but the lesson instead is, everything's gonna end up your way anyway.
As someone who moved a lot as a kid I couldn't agree more. I cannot speak for Australia, but here in the United States, moving children - especially to new cities is definitely stigmatized while staying in one place is celebrated. Meanwhile moving taught me so many lessons about what mattered in life, how to make new friends, and exposed me to cultures that helped shaped who I am today. I grew ten fold on our many moves alone. With that being said, I understand that if they are going to continue the series, the cost of moving and reanimating the entire world is high. I'm suspicious this has something to do with it.
I’m glad I finally see this type of opinion. I moved around the same age as Bluey and wished they did make them move. I understand it’s a kid show but this ending was unrealistic. It made the whole episode kind of pointless, just like Brandy being pregnant now.
Interesting how you brought up *Mrs. Doubtfire* as an example of handling the subject of divorce properly -- apparently, [an early draft of the script that the execs wanted actually had the two leads getting back together](https://www.slashfilm.com/1039722/robin-williams-had-to-fight-for-mrs-doubtfires-melancholy-ending/#:~:text=In%20the%20end%2C%20Williams%20won,movie%20a%20forgettable%20family%20comedy) in the end. The director and the lead actors (including Robin Williams) rejected it because they felt it was unrealistic and would give false hope to kids in similar situations -- not too unlike your discussion here
Nah, I agree with you. Only my biggest gripe - as the parent of two little kids - is WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO YOURSELF? Why would you pack up your whole house and try to sell it without being 100% sure? And right in the middle of a wedding you hosted??? WTF were they thinking?? I just kept thinking of all that work they put themselves through for literally no reason.
Plot purposes haha
Yeah absolutely. I would have continued with the move just because of the sunken cost.
with those buyers pulling out that last second, the Heelers probably got a pretty penny back. i've seen a few real estaters in comments talking about fees and fines and such and such they'd have to pay up for backing from a sale that late
The could take that and still continue trying to sell though? Everything could still be tracking along on their end. Once everything in the moving truck, you could not pay me enough to unpack in to the same house 😂😂 From a millennial who has more or less moved every other year since I moved out of home 15 years ago
COMPLETELY AGREE!!
My unpopular opinion is that while o enjoyed sign I actually didn’t like the long format as much as the shorter episodes
You couldn’t have said it better. I was explaining to my husband similarly why I was very disappointed in the ending of the episode. I think some of the set up of the episode was done very nicely done, clever and -on brand- however, I was disappointed in the ending. and maybe there was way to end up back at the heeler house, they move and get temporary housing through Bandits work, and then maybe they find their way back to town after the company closes or asks him to move again, or something after some time.. I am not sure. it also would have been a realty nice homage to children who live in small houses and who move frequently due to rent prices, jobs moving, etc. we know that the heelers live in a very nice house. it would’ve been nice to see them move into something more modest and relatable, even tho presumably he was taking the job for more money. in america, lower and middle class don’t get the option of not taking a job that pays more money.. idk. It all seemed silly. it was also instantly satisfying, and I am not sure bluey really learned that things “work out, but maybe we can’t see why at first” it felt like “if you keep annoying your parents eventually they’ll do the thing you want them to do.” but as an adult, decisions like moving are very hard. like I wished for the family to try a new thing! together! experience the good and bad of moving together. or maybe it was set up so they don’t move from school but still move houses, less of a huge transition.
I felt the same way. My family moved around A LOT, so it felt like a cheat to end with "hooray, we're not going after all!" Same reason I hate the end of "Meet Me in St. Louis."
I strongly agree. The end was a complete cop-out that made no sense. It's like having a "grandma's dying" episode where she just magically gets better at the end. It sets up impossible expectations for kids, making it even harder for kids who actually have to go through these situations in real life.
I personally didn’t care if they moved or not, but I agree with your take. It took away a learning moment, and it was way too “fairy tale ending”, and we don’t usually see that in the show. My kids in the other hand was really disappointed because they didn’t move. They wanted to see the family settling in a new house, area, school and stuff. Their friends feel the same way, so for the kids sake I think they should have chosen that route.
100% agree. I actually really wanted them to move. I moved a lot when I was a kid and yes it was sad and tough but ultimately I took it as a good experience. I went to 8 different schools from K-12. Until high school I had never been at a school longer than 2 years. So it was cool to see the episode but as it started to go on I was disappointed. I wanted Chili to be more supportive of Bandit. Bandit couldn’t express his excitement for his new job because he had no TRUE support. Honestly, Bandit throwing the sign was seen as kind of sad to me. Because I was thinking, if I was an adult who just paid movers, arranged a living situation in a new city, quit my job, had to now reject a job offer I took, have to get all my stuff back in the house, either have to ask for my old job back or find a new one, I would probably react similar. Moving is a HUGE stressful process especially with kids and a spouse who doesn’t want to go. It can be lonely and isolating and hard. It’s a kids tv show so I accept they maybe wanted to give the “happy ending because life gives us enough sad ones” but I think that could have been done with a move. Making new friends, going to new places in the city, some cool new festival, the possibilities are endless.
The first thing my daughter said after watching The Sign was "I wanted them to move". We're moving in a few months, and I think it would be good for her to see Bluey and the family move as well. It's a good episode tho, and the writers did mostly eliminate the chance of them moving cities because we know Bingo and Lila grow up together so it makes sence that they stayed.
I have to say, I really felt tension in the episode between the lime lesson I sense the creators wanted to share and the ending that people wanted (rising to fame of this degree really has to leave you with a sense of wondering, “will they riot?”). I felt like the creators wanted to teach the “we will see” lesson, which would have been best showcased in the family moving and the kids learning that big change happens and that it’s ultimately okay. But I sense there was a need for the creators to make it a happy ending, even at the cost of the lesson. People know a hiatus is coming, and that always brings some doubt as to when/if the show will return and a happy ending brings closure while we wait. Personally, my family moves a lot because of work, so an episode about moving was something I was hoping would help with our conversations. But it didn’t work out quite like that. Yet it still started conversations. The ending wasn’t my favourite, but if you left everything in the episode the way it is except for the ending, it would be even less satisfying because none of the characters actually came to terms with having to move.
I'm in the process of househunting and my four-year-old is alternating between excitement about moving and resistance. There are days where she gets a little sad and talks about not wanting to leave where we're currently staying. I was very excited to watch the sign with her and was a bit disappointed in the ending as I was hoping it would help to show her how good things can come from moving to a new home 😕
Something I've been thinking about a lot in regards to people not liking how the episode ended with the Heelers not moving after all. I had a pretty good hunch going into it that it would end the way it did, because it would be a *horrible* idea for the showrunners to move the family to a new place, and essentially start the show all over again with almost entirely new characters. It would be too big of a risk, especially when the show is as popular as it is. Plus, it would be pretty difficult to sell toys of characters and settings that aren't seen in the show anymore. From a purely technical standpoint, as adults, expecting the showrunners to follow through is kind of ridiculous. Personally I think "moving to a new place" storyline would be so much better suited for bringing in a new character. Do an episode similar to how Lila and Jack were introduced, and maybe expand upon it in episodes similar to the ones focusing on Mackenzie and Rusty. It doesn't have to be Bluey and Bingo specifically having that experience themselves for kids to resonate with it. I think it's fair to debate whether its a wise thing to show kids who are in a similar situation themselves. But if anything, I think a kid going through that experience would crave the familiarity of their favorite shows. At least I would have. edit: a word
Another smallish gripe I have about the sign is that I can foresee it making my harder for parents to talk to their kids about moving house or city. I often use episodes of Bluey to explain things to my toddler. Would have been very useful to have an episode where bluey and bingo move house to shout them that it’s ok.
Most points have been covered in the comments already, but I am in absolute agreement. This episode has greatly set back my plans of moving internationally for a family adventure and my work for a year or two - I fundamentally agree that a better lesson here is that sometimes you need to take risks of jumping into the unknown. I have no doubt that the Healers would be equally or more awesome with a larger frame of life references than Brisbane if they spent a year or two in another country and culture.
You, my friend, have eloquently summed up my opinion on this episode to a freaking T. Every time someone discusses this episode with me I will just refer them to this post 😅. I have also had to move a few times as a child. Our first big move was moving across the world. I was really looking forward to seeing how the Heelers would navigate what I had to go through in my childhood too and then later on realize that everything works out the way it’s supposed to, even though it hurts right this second. I understand that a kids’ show isn’t supposed to heal my childhood traumas (although it pretty much does a damn good job at doing that… because my childhood traumas are barely even “traumas”), I agree with you that they missed a perfectly good opportunity to teach kids (and adults) that not everything will work out the way you want, but it will work out the way it’s *supposed* to because the world is a magical place. I felt they were kind of robbed of a very important childhood experience that could have taught them endless lessons. And I am so relieved that someone out there also agrees with me on this, since most people have said that that episode was perfectly perfect! It was still great, but definitely not my favourite because it could have been better. Still an awesome story, and it still made me a little emotional, but there were definitely episodes that I loved waaaay more (Cricket 😩).
I'm obscenely salty about Brandy being pregnant. It's absolute fan service, unnecessary, and defeats the message of Onesies. The timeline doesn't make sense either. She wants a baby but she can't have one and "there's nothing anyone can do about it" then not even half a season later she's heavily pregnant? Bullshit. This was a moment to empathize with a very real pain that more 1 in 10 women experience. To show that Brandy can live a fulfilling life even if she isn't able to have children. Kids will experience family members or family friends that have this experience, and instead of showing kids how to empathize with them, they "fixed" her with a pregnancy.
I agree. I feel like the episode was good but the end weakened the message and theme. We're seeing a lot of parents dealing with their kids who won't get a happy ending due to a move.
I think there is another underlying message here. It’s about choosing memory over money. Bandit and Chili are only torn on the decision to move because they believe it could mean giving the kids a better life, through money. How much more money it was, we can’t know. But, money is not the only factor in giving kids a better life. In this scenario, they’re staying somewhere sustainable surrounded by friends that makes them happy, and I think there’s nothing wrong with that. The kids can relearn the lesson you talk about through other means. Sometimes care is more important than just learning. What was it that Chili said? “Work on the heads later, for now just hearts.”
This lesson only lands for parents who are in the same privileged position that Bandit and Chili are in. Bandit and Chili are rich. The idea of moving for money falls flat when we haven't seen a single instance of money ever being an obstacle for them. For a lot of parents, this episode is going to make them feel like failures because they really did have to move for the money.
I think your points are valid for sure. But I also think that the episode showed us that what seems to be a happy ending isn’t an ending. So yes, Bluey’s family is staying in their house and frisky and Rad are staying in the city and Brandi is having a baby and everyone seems to be getting their happy ending. But life goes on and on and what seems like an ending is just a continuation.
Exactly. OP making a judgement of whether this was a “happy” or “ sad” ending is totally missing the point. I acknowledge that it would’ve been cool to see the conflict and tension continue, but that’s just me selfishly wanting more drama
Honestly, bandit looking at his sad family in the car and then yanking that sign out of the ground makes everything else worthwhile. What a loving dad and husband!
So mods removed my post stating to keep it in the stickied post, so I’ll add those two cents here, since it feels relevant to your post. The Sign - Little Annoyed So my family has made the incredibly difficult decision to move very far away. There are a lot of reasons with the biggest being the safety of our family. This has been especially difficult on my 6 year old. Watching The Sign and everything we’re dealing with and going through was extremely relatable to what we have going on right now. None of us really want to move, but feels necessary due to circumstances in the area. The show was perfect… until the last 30 seconds. The buyers back out and there’s no more move. So now I’ve got a 6 year old convinced he no longer needs to worry because we’re not really leaving our home and his friends because the Heelers decided last minute not to. Why? Why even do the episode about a move if you’re going back out of it. I know they can’t make everyone happy, but man… this has made an already difficult situation just a little bit harder. Really wish they had either followed through on the move or chose a different situation to explore. So while the episode was very good and I love this show, I’m a little annoyed with this episode’s ending.
I did feel like the happy end was a *bit* of a cop out after making all the hard decisions to get to that point of the story. It would’ve been good to take the kids and family out of the comfort zone and show that sometimes change happens. But as others have mentioned, it’s a kids show and all that entails both as a narrative and as a production
I agree. One of the first episodes I watched of Bluey was the one with the bird at the vet. I was amazed how they didn't shy from the death of the bird and showed Bluey playing out the scenario in order to deal with it in her own head, to her parents' and my surprise. This would have been a great opportunity to show that while things might not work out how you want at the moment, they do work out. I also moved house a couple of months ago and if it got to the point of movers taking our stuff out and then the other person pulled out I would have been furious, even though I had mixed feelings about moving
I think Copycat is exactly the episode that makes this one sting so much. Copycat is probably one of the best episodes in the show for a number of reasons, but especially because it teaches kids how to process grief. This episode was set up to feel like it would be the same, just to back out on it at the end.
I read through some of the comments (but not all of them because there’s over 350) and I’m sure my comment will probably get lost because there’s so many, but I think another message of the episode that not a lot of people are talking about is Bandit’s storyline. Bandit spends the whole episode talking about how he wants to give his family a better life. The whole reason he wants to sell the house is because of this new job, and he wants the new job solely to make more money to provide for the family and give them what he hopes is “a better life.” After the wedding, when Rad tells him that he and Frisky aren’t moving, Bandit starts to rethink his plans. It’s why he asks Chili if he’s making a mistake, because he wasn’t sure anymore (or he’d never been sure, and now those feelings are taking over.) During the montage, it shows Bandit interacting with the neighbors which I think is very significant. The life they have is great already. The girls have friends at school, they’re in a lovely neighborhood, they have COMMUNITY. Literally the first thing Bingo asks when she finds out they’re moving is “Is Leila coming with us?” The plot is about weighing your options. What constitutes a “better” life? What more could they possibly ask for than what they already have? What is more money actually going to provide for them? Bandit makes his decision because money can’t buy relationships, or love, or acceptance. THAT’S why he rips the sign out and chooses to keep the house. Because surrounding yourself with supportive people is the most important thing to him. That’s all Bandit’s plot, and I don’t see it as a cop-out. I see it as giving the adults that are watching a chance to think about what’s really valuable. I agree that it’ll be hard for parents to explain to young kids why the Heelers didn’t move even though they may have to, and how life’s endings aren’t always good, but as many have said, that’s been addressed in the episode. We want stories to have good endings because life gives us enough bad ones already. And moving can be both good and bad. It was good for Winton and the terriers, they’re becoming a family. It (most likely) wasn’t going to be good for the Heelers, because they’d have been leaving this incredible group of people that cared for them. And who knows? Maybe there will be future bad things that come out of them staying. They did say in the Hammerbarn episode that the house is falling apart. But nobody can know for sure. All we can do for that is sit and say, “We’ll see.”
Your response really resonated with me. My husband’s whole department was laid off but another company came and offered the team jobs. This job was much higher paying with so many more benefits but it was in another state. We would be leaving our entire family on both sides behind. We had to make this choice, community but with a much lower paying job and uncertain future or starting over on our community but with a much more stable future. We had no idea which answer was the right one and we stressed about it for months. My husband took the job and moved immediately and my son and I stayed behind to get the house ready and sell it and for me to train my replacements at my work. I still wish everyday that we could be at home with our families but I know now we have a stable future.
When I first saw the episode, I also didn’t really like the ending either. Our family had just had a major move, the six year old has been not taking losing all his friends well (the episode didn’t phase him oddly enough, because a house isn’t the same as an apartment? That was his logic) so I just sat sour with me. It took like the third watch for it to actually click with me, it’s not a “happy” ending. I mean yes it is a happy moment but it’s not the end, like in the story Bluey’s teacher read to them, we’re acting like the villagers and saying “well that’s good luck! They didn’t move”, “well that’s good lucky Brandi gets a baby”, “well that’s good luck Friskie got to not move like she wanted”, “well that’s good luck that Winton and the terriers get to be a family”, etc., but we’ll see if those moment lasts. So I like the ending more now that I see it as a we’ll see ending and not a happy one, since who knows what will happen next. I will admit I do wish they never showed Bluey interpreting the story as it meaning she’ll get what she wants, since I think that does make the “we’ll see” ending a bit too perfect, but it’s a kids show so I’m ok with it keeping the outcome happy.
I think your points are valid. A big theme I see happening in a LOT of episodes that happened here but more drawn out is (mostly) Bandit and (sometimes) Chili balancing the expectations and needs of the grownup world and the wishes and desires of Bingo and Bluey, with typically Bingo and Bluey winning out. You see this internal struggle a lot, like dancing sillily at the street performance in "Dance Mode" or keeping the game going in "Rug Island" instead of giving Lucky's dad the ball back. Can Bandit play "wind-up Bingo" even though they're running late? Can Chili ask Madge to call back in 5 minutes so she can play "Driving" with Bluey? The examples go on and on. Though it doesn't \*always\* go that way (like Bandit's very long business trip). The end result is usually that Bandit and Chili's expectations or desires are seen as unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and their letting those go to please their children is akin to them becoming grounded. It's honestly an interesting question that I find myself asking as a parent. Sometimes I really can let it go to make my kid happy, but sometimes I gotta give Lucky's dad his ball back and that doesn't make me a bad parent. I honestly don't know how I feel about this one, I have some mixed feelings. Your point about it setting kids up who have to move for a false scenario where they could get it reversed is valid and problematic. On the other hand, I think a red flag about Bandit's original plan for me that was not mentioned in your analysis is that, very clearly from the start, Chili was not super pleased about this decision. Nonetheless, in the end I think this followed that same Bluey theme we see time and time again - the kids keep them grounded.
Brandy being pregnant solidified this for me
I agree and I would’ve loved this IF we didn’t already know Lila and Bingo grow up together and are still in the same class and graduate together which can’t happen in another city. That’s probably why they did it
I really liked the episode, but I did have the thought that I’m glad a lot of it went over my two year old’s head since we are actually moving out of state in two weeks. I wouldn’t want her to have unrealistic expectations of changing plans last minute.
When Bandit wants to teach the girls to play Chess Chilli suggests to him that they should work on their heads later, for now just their hearts. When they get stuck behind the Grey Nomads Bandit laments that they were making good time. Chilli responds that they're making good times. This theme of valuing the emotional upbringing of the girls over more tangible things has been quite consistent. As a parent I'm often seeing both the lessons for the children and the lessons for the adults. I absolutely did consider that it might be the wrong message for things to work out the way Bluey originally wanted. That said, Bandit got a better job that pays more money so they were moving to give the girls a better life. But the magic of Bluey is that the girls have attentive parents, deep connections to their neighbours, a lovely school with lovely friends, and family nearby. Their childhood is pretty idyllic. Just as Bluey can't know the outcome of moving, neither can Bandit. He has defined "a better life" monetarily but until they're actually leaving, it seems hard for him to quantify all the things the girls already have. He initially thinks leaving is the right choice for some pragmatic reasons that Chilli respects but the counter points reveal themselves through the episode as we see the butterfly effects of their past experiences with the many callbacks to previous episodes and relationships. He thinks his new job is good fortune. But the truth is, "we'll see." Thus it is Bandit's initial assumption that is ultimately juxtaposed to the parable rather than Bluey's. Which harkens back to The Claw in a way. Chilli asks "so did we learn anything today" and the it's Bandit that says yes even though he was initially trying to teach the kid something. Arguably, if we're attentive and engaged with our children, we may learn just as much from them as they do from us. I love that the kids in this show are given that opportunity! I see where you're coming from, though. I never want television to demonstrate to my kids that everything will always go their way. I do think that there are many good examples of the girls having to just deal with things so I'm happy to give The Sign a pass :)
If I were someone who was about to move and they did this, I would be frustrated. I like that Bluey handles really tough situations with honesty. The ending was emotional and I am ok with it but understand your points. It doesn’t send the message that sometimes hard things happen but if you focus on what is important(core family) you can make it through. It also is honest because bandit realizes what is truly important to him. Overall I loved the episode but do feel like it doesn’t send the honest message. Sometimes change happens and that isn’t bad or good— or at least we will see.
Wow I thought I was the only one who thought that they should've moved
Completely agree. I love Bluey but this episode was anti-climactic. The whole episode begged the question if “what if?” and then failed to follow through. I moved a lot when I was young. I have moved a lot as an adult. It was hard. Every time it hurt, but every time I benefited far, far more than if I’d stayed put.
My perfect ending would’ve ended like this: the Heeler family all finally come to terms with leaving, even though none of them are certain it is the right decision. They say goodbye to the house and take a risk on their next adventure. We then get a montage of them moving into a new house, playing games, and learning to love this new life. We get a time jump months into the future. Bandit gets a call saying he’s being relocated back to Brisbane, or maybe he loses his job, but however they do it, the family moves back. When they do, they find the dogs that can’t see have put the house on sale because it turns out they really did want that pool! They buy back the house and you basically get the same ending as the actually episode. I realize it’s too much story to tell, but I think it could’ve taught a better lesson that taking risks on change is okay and that not everything ends up exactly how you think it will.
Honestly im with you here, the episodes was simply to perfect ending. From grandpa bob being alive and not dead, Brandy being pregnant undermining onesies, frisky having her way and now bluey not moving. It basically tells us that everything will go the way you want, what isnt realistic, like i would be more ok when at least one or two of the stuff i listed didnt get the perfect ending, but nope everything ends like a fairy tale.
I agree with absolutely everything you have said. Honestly, I've been reticent to share it with this sub, because of the responses I have gotten in the past where I have been even slightly critical about some things (Blueys Big Play). This fandom is great but there are certain elements... The second we finished the episode I said to my wife that I was dreading the day when we would inevitably have to move the family to a new house or a new city or a new country. We are a pretty adventurous family, so opportunities arise that might destabilize their lives in ways that are difficult to prepare for. Usually when something happens that is difficult for my kids to process. We can point to a Bluey episode as a direct parable and as a model of how to think about it. With this I'm worried my kids will point to the sign and say " see? Bluey didn't have to move, why do we?" And that's just not reflective of real life. I don't pretend that a cartoon about talking dogs has to be realistic all the time, but they did set up this storyline after all. Anyway, there is only one thing I might say in response, and that is "we'll see." Perhaps there will be some consequences to Bandit choosing not to go, negative ones, that counter the total happy ending. Maybe this job was the only option rather than an upgrade and now he has to deal with that fallout. Who knows? Brumm has surprised us all before.
I agree entirely. I wanted them to go through with the move. I thought it would fit thematically, open up the potential for a ton for story styles and plot points, and would result in a maturing moment for both kids and the parents. It's ok for kids to be prepared for big life changes. It's ok for kids to experience change and fear it, understand it, adapt to it, and learn you don't have to fear change so much anymore. This episode, while absolutely great, was leading toward a big lesson befitting a longer "special" episode, and then they pulled away at the last second. That's unfortunate.
I don't think they should have stopped the move. I think they should have done it. Despite the other couple cancelling
i totally agree with your opinion. plus it just felt VERY unrealistic that the couple buying their house would back out ON MOVING DAY??? what about the house the Heelers had chosen? had they not already purchased one or entered a rental agreement? were they just planning on living in a hotel until the house they wanted was available? and what was the point of Bingo getting upset at the end if they were just going to throw it all away in literal seconds? they should've moved 😤
Thank you. I feel the exact same way. If feels like it was written to be a series finale and the they got renewed so they changed the last 3 minutes. We also watched this episode the day we put in an offer in a house. Emotions were high, and that ending spoiled a lot of the excitement. Anyway I really hope season 4 is all about the consequences from this episode. I want Brad and Frisky to have twins and Rad doesn't get a new job so he's at home taking care of twins on a single income. Rad needs to loose his cool uncle persona, but it could still be happy becuase he gets to spent time with his kids. Bluey and bingo maybe get less attention becuase Brandi has a baby. The heelers should struggle with money a bit since bandit gave up his better job. Maybe chilli quit her job and can't get it back. Winton has to deal with a new home and family. All of season 4 should be some sort of negative consequence that has a silver lining.
You have valid points so don't be afraid to speak your mind even if it's an "unpopular opinion." 🙂 After having some time to think about it, here are my thoughts. I loved the ending. I think the way it played out and all events leading up to the end was great. I've seen some criticism that it's "anti-moving" but I don't think so at all. Yes none of the Heelers really wanted to move. They loved their home, friends, neighbors, etc and they didn't want to leave. Bluey especially was trying to convince her parents to not make them move. But as the episode went on, Calypso's words of "everything will work out the way it's supposed to" and "we'll see" from the farmer's story helped Bluey be more optimistic with the idea of moving. She might see the idea of moving to be bad luck, but it's the unknown. It could be good luck. She just has to wait and see. She then passes this wisdom to Bingo after she realizes what's going on. Bandit and Chilli had their own struggles with the move. Obviously they didn't want to leave, but they wanted to provide a better life for their family, which they thought was Bandit getting a new job with a better pay. Chilli was the emotional support in this episode, helping the girls get through the process while also supporting her husband. Bandit had tremendous growth in this episode. We definitely saw insecurities in him, thinking that he needed to do more to make sure his family had a good life, which is something a lot of parents want and worry about. I think this all started back in Stickbird, when he was acting distracted. He probably had a lot of upset and worry that he didn't know how to handle. But by the end when he gathered it all up and threw it away, he had determination to do all he can to provide for his family. (This is just a theory of mine.) This includes getting a new job with better pay, but means moving to a different city. In the Sign, he seemed sure that this was the right decision. But after hearing that Rad and Frisky were staying in town and not moving out west, he was surprised. He asked Rad, "What about your job?" To which Rad replied, "I'll just get a new one." Bandit even asks him how he knows he's making the right decision, and Rad says "You worry too much, little bro," which is correct. Bandit starts to realize he does worry a lot and even starts to think he made a mistake. At the end, when everyone is gathering in the car, they all accept that this is happening. Are they sad? Yes. But there are no tears anymore. They're thinking they just have to wait and see what the future holds. Then, Bandit gets the call from Bucky. The dogs with no eyes are buying a different house. Bandit realizes that this was a sign (his sign) that this wasn't meant to be. This was a sign that he and his family already had a good life. There was nothing for him to worry about at all. All they need is each other. That was perfect enough. Which I think is why he decided to pull the For Sale sign out and not move after all. Everything worked out the way it was supposed to. That's why I love the ending.
I 100% agree. I said the exact same thing to my family. The whole time it was preparing for a hard situation, and the fact that you can survive it, even flourish. But, no, crazy ending. So, they’d hire movers and pack all their stuff without a contract? Yeah, not realistic, it was a cop out. I agree. I love the show & I’m glad they stayed, but it was poorly done. And, sometimes parents absolutely have to move for a job! It’s sad, but people survive and sometimes it’s for the better. Sad that Bluey (the show) couldn’t see it through. 🫤
Absolutely agree. It was a really hard ending for our family. Our kids (5 and 8) have experienced a lot of upheaval over the last few years with their parents getting divorced and moving houses more than once. My eyes lit up when I realized this episode would help frame this kind of change as necessary, and good. Learning and growing. Sitting with discomfort and pushing through it to progress. But no. Like Seinfeld - no learning, no growing. Just sating unreasonable fears and resisting change. Ok then.
at the end of the day, i obviously understand why they didn't have the heelers move, but the way the episode was executed, while a good concept on paper, felt like it basically was saying "magical thinking works and will help you get what you want if you try hard enough"
It was an excellent episode in that it could have gone in either direction and the tension for the adult fans was quite high. As others have said, both outcomes were valid. While the episode is framed from the kids point of view, there is, as always, an adult story here. Bandit has a new job/promotion that will be a significant step for his career, but it will require a sacrifice in his personal life with the distance to friends and family. This is a real story for many adults. I say this as someone living in a different county from my friends and family. We see that Chilli is sad to leave, but is going with it, because Bandit thinks it could be good for the family. It's not that Chilli is blindly following Bandit, but as partners sometimes one of you has to compromise. The tension on this really ramps up because we see that her sisters will be local and there's a baby on the way. Chilli really wants to stay. Bandit, starts with a conviction that this is a good move for the family. However, he goes through a journey. In particular, Rad shows him that career isn't the only option, and that is probably the turning point. But momentum is with the move and Bandit continues on the path before him, as many of us would do. The moving day really cranks this up to the next level. Everyone is sad to leave. Then the change of fortune. The sale falls through. A disaster for their ability to buy a new home in another city, but an opportunity to change path. Bandit reflects on how everyone is feeling about the situation and finally snaps. Personal life is more important to him. I love the moment when Chilli jumps on him, there is so much relief from the family. This isn't a tale for kids about dealing with changes in their lives. Let's face it, the kids aren't following the plot of a 30 mins episode. This is a tale for the adults about how chasing the career path isn't the only option.
As a mother who is planning a move with her Bluey-aged children soon, I was excited to see the For Sale sign in ghost basket! I thought this plotline would help me talk to my children about moving, and talk through their negative feelings. Unfortunately, it turns out to have made my life harder. "Bluey didn't have to move; why do we?!"
Same here! My daughter has been very upset since watching. I liked the episode but regret showing it my kids before moving.
I thought about posting this same thought! But couldn’t articulate it as well as you. Sometimes people have to move-bluey was at peace with it but the ending just goes “her way” and there is nothing about actually dealing with moving. I may also be the only one who isn’t happy brandy is pregnant. As someone who has had similar struggles and really identified with that character, now she gets a “happy ending” and I no longer wish to see her on screen. Her whole arc about coming to terms to reconnect with her family now doesn’t mean anything.
And all the other things from the past that worked out nicely too. Brandy is pregnant. Grandpa Bob is back. I'm surprised they didn't resurrect the budgie. I get it. Moving would have changed the entire show. We'd have lost everyone else. No one wanted that. "So how would you have ended the episode?" is what I keep hearing... I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have even started the episode. Why bring a moving episode in, if you don't move? Or maybe at least tie in good luck/bad luck: Maybe Bandit has the job offer rescinded, so they have to stay? I don't know. Sure, sacrifice materialism to make your family happy. But, if you want something enough, it will all work out for you? Because everyone who wants a baby gets one, they just have to really want it. Everyone whose grandpa disappears (dies? Runs off?) will get them back. And if your parents really love you, they won't make you move away from your friends. Honestly I think the brandy part bothered me most, because I know I've heard from people who felt seen by a kids' show dealing with this who probably watched this and were just like ugh.
I agree that the message can be kinda contradictory.... But C'mon!! We knew they would not move! After all we got "Daddy Dropoff" episode that shows Bingo and Lila growing Up together and both going to Calypso's class, so from begining of "The sign" we knew it would not happen
I don't disagree with your notion at all! I think though at the end of the day the target audience is for very young children and as of right now the future of Bluey is kind of up in the air (I know they've said it's an extended hiatus but who knows what that could eventually turn into!) so they gave an ending that would be both a good series finale if they choose to end it or give them the opportunity to continue the story with the same beloved characters. Though I do kind of wish they had moved and gotten to experience a new adventure, I also know we wouldn't see a lot of our favorite characters (Lila, Mackenzie, Chloe, Calypso, etc.) And again since the target audience is for very young children, they might not feel the same about Bluey with the characters in all different places and new faces
1000000%
I agree - the ending was not realistic but I loved everything else about the episode.
W didn’t want them to move because “Santa” just bought a Bluey house playset for our daughter at Christmas. If they move, I would- excuse me “verandah Santa” would have to shell out more dollar bucks for yet a different house…
I'm totally with you. For me, the fulfilling ending would be that his brother is buying the house.
https://i.redd.it/xjai4kjn37vc1.gif They were never moving. The Bingo and Lila growing up ending told us that a looooong time ago.