Look, we get it. Bluey is a show about cartoon dogs, ostensibly made for preschool and kindergarten kids, and it airs on Disney Jr. As someone well outside of that age range or without children, you may not feel this show is for you. Reader, let us assure you: this show is for you. It is a concentrated dose of joy, and it is for everybody.
First, the basics. Bluey is an anthropomorphic, imaginative six-year-old Australian blue heeler who adores playing with her little sister, four-year-old Bingo. Their parents, Bandit and Chili (or Dad and Mum) indulge in their pretend games to often absurd degrees, and the cast is rounded out by an Australian town full of other dogs.
Parents of young children are likely to get the most out of the family's misadventures--fans have joked that this is stealthily a show that teaches millennials how to parent--but if you just want to wrap yourself in a warm blanket of a show, it doesn't matter whether you have kids or not. And since episodes are only about 7-8 minutes apiece, it's easy to marathon your way through it. If you just want to start with the absolute best, though, this list is for you. Here are our favorite episodes of Bluey, from the hilarious to the heartwarming--and often both.
You can find episodes of Bluey streaming on Disney+.
1. "Shadowlands"
One of the rare episodes centered on the dynamics between Bluey and her other childhood friends instead of the family, "Shadowlands" is a cute adventure story focused on a game of make-believe. Bluey and Snickers are frustrated with their friend, Coco, for always bending the rules of their games to make it easier. So the friends start a game of Shadowlands, challenging themselves to cross the playground while only stepping on areas in shadow. In the process, we see what the show does so well, giving a real sense of dramatic stakes to games of pretend that feel authentic to childhood.
2. "Bike"
Everything that's easy for you used to be hard. That's the lesson from "Bike," in which Bluey can't manage to stay balanced and threatens to give up. Bandit takes it in stride and lets her just people-watch on the playground, where they discover a trio of younger kids with their own struggles. Watching them overcome their own obstacles, set to a triumphant rendition of Ode to Joy from show composer Joff Bush, sets the tone and serves as the emotional climax.
3. "Bob Bilby"
A TV episode that laments the prevalence of screen time could feel preachy or hypocritical, but this one manages to strike the right balance. When Bingo gets to take home a classroom puppet named Bob Bilby to help fill up her preschool photo album, the family is horrified to find that all the photos are just of Bob watching TVs, tablets, and phones. It doesn't reserve the critique for the kids either, as the parents are often on their own screens, and too harried or tired to bother telling the kids to stop.
4. "Take Away"
A simple trip to a Chinese takeout restaurant turns more and more chaotic as Bandit demands they wait for spring rolls. His desperate attempts to keep things orderly spin out of control until he discovers an apropos piece of wisdom in a fortune cookie. It's a simple idea done well, with lots of hilarious antics that parents can relate to.
5. "Markets"
One of the funniest Bluey episodes, this one has Bandit taking Bluey to a town fair after she gets five bucks (five bucks?!) for her lost tooth. "Markets" is memorable for an incredible spit-take and some great one-liners, along with fleshing out the universe of characters--including Bluey's granola friend Indy and her mum, and Busker, a recurring musician dog voiced by the show's composer.
6. "Grannies"
The precocious kid trope can easily be overdone, but it's hard to argue when it's done this well. Bluey and Bingo adopt pretend personas as a couple of grannies, Janet and Rita, who get into sitcom-style granny hijinks like being caught shoplifting some beans. It's a funny episode with a sweet emotional core about Bluey letting herself be wrong for the sake of her little sister. And sure enough, the Grannies were so popular they came back a season later.
7. "The Creek"
Lots of episodes of Bluey encourage kids to get out and play and use their imaginations, but this one encourages them to engage with nature too. Bored with the playground, Bluey and her friends convince Bandit to take them to the creek. Bluey is hesitant and a little anxious, but the creek wins her over. This is a simple episode that gets a lot of mileage out of its slow sweeping reveals of nature in all its glory to show us what makes the creek so special.
8. "Fairies"
Most Bluey episodes are fairly grounded--for a cartoon about a family of talking dogs--with clear delineation of what's real and what's make-believe. "Fairies" is the major exception, briefly dipping the show into magical realism territory. When Bandit disappoints Bingo, strange things start happening, and the family quickly realizes they have an infestation of fairies. The fair folk are less magical sprites and more mischievous in this telling, and the show remains almost entirely ambiguous about whether or not they're really there at all. Almost.
9. "Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound"
An episode that deals with slightly more serious subject matter, this one starts with little Bingo having an extended stay in the hospital. We aren't told why, but Chili's concern and exasperation subtly lets us know that it's serious enough to have her worried. That's when they get a home movie put together by Bluey to help cheer up her little sister, full of hilarious jokes about filmmaking flubs. It ends on a sweet note, of course, with Bluey somehow knowing just what to say to make Bingo (and Chili) feel better.
10. "Camping"
This fan-favorite episode focuses almost entirely on Bluey, who makes friends with a black labrador named Jean-Luc on a family camping trip. Jean-Luc doesn't speak English, and Bluey doesn't speak French, but the two bond over building a fort and playing pretend anyway. Complemented by a beautiful original score that evokes the feeling of childhood adventure, this is an especially touching tribute to ephemeral summer friendships.
11. "Copycat"
One of the Bluey episodes that deals most centrally with darker subjects, "Copycat" starts with a silly premise: Bluey is playing the copycat game to annoy her dad. While on a walk, though, the two discover a wounded budgie and rush it to the animal hospital. The little bird doesn't make it, and we get an up-close look at actual healthy coping strategies when kids learn about death for the first time.
12. "Neighbours"
Sometimes Bluey is at its best when it just shows off some silly domesticity through the eyes of its kids. "Neighbours" has the entire family building a row of pretend-houses out of sheets and blocks, but quickly discover the kinds of suburban drama that would be recognizable to adults: encroaching property lines, noise, and that one guy next door who you just can't stand.
13. "The Pool"
When Bandit's brother is out of town on a hot summer day, Bandit takes the kids to his house to borrow the pool. But he ignored Chili's warning to get the bag of pool supplies, so the kids are disappointed to learn they don't have sunscreen, or floaties, or just about anything. Chili eventually appears to save the day, showing that boring things are still important.
14. "Ice Cream"
Bluey and Bingo repeatedly refer to things as "not fair" in this episode, which serves as the structural underpinning for a hilarious misadventure. When Bandit treats the kids to some ice cream, Bluey and Bingo want to try a lick of each other's flavor. But they bicker so much they end up getting no ice cream at all, following a balletic montage. The ultimate conclusion is cute and a nice reminder that sometimes kids don't need valuable life lessons, they just want ice cream.
15. "Bin Night"
"Bin Night" takes place almost entirely in a series of short vignettes showing Bandit and the kids taking their trash bins to the curb. That story construction means that we're checking in on various plots as they develop over the course of weeks, like Bluey wondering what she might want to be when she grows up, and Bingo's escalating tensions with a misbehaving new preschooler named Banjo. It's a charming way to show that quality time exists within the little moments while life is happening.
16. "Mr. Monkeyjocks"
Mr. Monkeyjocks is a stuffed monkey, wearing jocks (AKA men's briefs). When the parents tell the kids to donate some of their enormous collection of toys and pick a few that are special to keep, things get out of hand, with Monkeyjocks staging a make-believe coup against the family. Bandit and Chili are in top form incorporating an important lesson into the kids' playtime, and the whole event ends with a heartwarming button promoting the act of charity.
17. "Dance Mode"
Dance Mode is one of those ideas you'll wish you hadn't shown your kids. When Bandit accidentally eats one of Bingo's last chips, he gives her three "Dance Modes" to use on him whenever she wants. That means he has to dance on demand, no matter what. But Bluey keeps convincing her to waste them when she doesn't want to, establishing an overbearing big-sister dynamic that's explored more in later episodes. It's all very silly, and even includes another appearance from Joff Bush's Busker dog.
18. "Granddad"
We don't get many Chili-centric episodes, and this is one of the best. Chili's father is getting up in years and should be resting following an operation, but he refuses to take it easy. The kids are thrilled to be his accomplices as he runs himself too hard, giving way to a frequently funny chase sequence that lasts the whole episode. It all culminates in a lovely moment between father and daughter.
19. "Muffin Cone"
Muffin, a recurring relative of the family, is Bluey and Bingo's spoiled younger cousin. She has trouble stopping her thumb-sucking habit, so her mom sticks a dog cone around her head. Clearly embarrassed and frustrated that she can't play normally, Bluey and Bingo find creative ways to incorporate the cone into their games and help her feel included.
20. "Sleepytime"
This all-time great episode tugs at the heartstrings by showing us a closer view of Bingo's internal life. It takes place almost entirely in dream sequences, juxtaposed with views of tired parents helping their kids back to bed or sometimes hot-swapping beds out of sheer exhaustion. Bingo wants to sleep in her bed the whole night, and though she never says it, we get the sense this big-girl step feels important to her. The views inside her dreamscape lend context and emotional weight to what's really happening around her, leading to an ending that feels both stirring and triumphant. I've never met a parent who didn't cry at this one.
21. "Fancy Restaurant"
This madcap episode puts the focus on Bandit and Chili's relationship, as the kids try to give them some romance with a pretend trip to a fancy restaurant. Of course, being kids, the whole situation is a disaster. Despite both of them being out of practice with romantic gestures, Bandit shows he's an old softie in perhaps the most disgusting way possible.
22. "Flat Pack"
"Flat Pack" may simply be the best Bluey episode of all time, and a remarkable display of ambitious, efficient storytelling. In one sense, it's a simple story about Bandit and Chili building some flat-pack furniture while the kids play with the discarded packaging. But the kids' game encompasses parenting, the entirety of evolution, and development of civilization--eventually leading to modern society and even space exploration. It's an episode about cooperation and legacy and even religion and the afterlife, all intermingling with and informing each other's themes, in the span of a densely-packed eight-minute cartoon. It's truly incredible to watch and rewards repeat viewings.
23. "Baby Race"
One of only a handful of flashback episodes, "Baby Race" goes back to when Bluey was just a baby and Bandit and Chili were brand-new parents. Chili's pride at Bluey for sitting up early turns to pressure to keep pace with the other babies in her mom circle, who start crawling and walking before her. Ultimately, Chili needs to learn to run her own race, and inside that is a beautiful little message about the importance of community to help encourage and lift each other up.
24. "Daddy Dropoff"
Bandit and Chili have an almost superheroic ability to play along with their kids' improvisational games, and "Daddy Dropoff" takes that to an absurd degree. It's Bandit's turn to drop the kids off at school, but they keep coming up with frustrating, time-wasting games that run the risk of making them late. After all is said and done the kids are a little late, no harm done, and the playtime paid off in an emotionally resonant way. It goes to show that indulging your kids is worth it because it can impact them in ways you never could have expected.
25. "Promises"
Leave it to Bluey to take a simple, kid-tailored message and turn it into something more profound. First in trying to teach the kids to keep promises, and then finding out they're using promises to trick or pressure other people, Chili explains that the point of promises is to build trust. Without that, she says, none of this is possible. It's a message about society as a whole, and she's absolutely right. So when the episode progresses and we see Bluey take that lesson to heart--even though she had a very understandable reason to feel like she should break her promise--it hits that much harder.
26. "Curry Quest"
This somewhat meta episode pairs Bandit and Bingo on an adventure, while Chili and Bluey act as narrators. Chili is explaining how a quest works, going through the broad strokes of the hero's journey archetype, while Bandit leads Bingo on a quest to swap curry with a neighbor. We see Bingo do a lot of growing up in this episode, and it's especially satisfying because it's presented in the context of heroism.
27. "Faceytalk"
One of the best episodes in terms of sheer comedy, as well as one of the most artistically complex. Faceytalk revolves around the spoiled cousin Muffin again, as she hogs the screen during a FaceTime-like call. The hook is that we see the entire episode through the multi-windowed Faceytalk screen, including first-person perspective through a fast-moving hallway and technical glitches when a device gets dropped into a pool.
28. "Rain"
For all of Bandit and Chili's cooperation with the kids' playtime, they are still presented as adults who try to keep their house tidy and normal. In this nearly wordless episode, Bluey sets a simple childlike goal for herself to play in a rainstorm--keeping an advancing puddle of water contained on the sidewalk. But her attempts keep tracking mud in the house, leaving Chili to clean up. The conclusion, when Chili finally notices the childhood simplicity of Bluey's game, is predictable but no less charming for it.
29. "Fairy Tale"
Another flashback episode, this one features Bandit telling the kids a fairy tale before bed: a true story of his own childhood growing up in a magical land called the 1980s, when he was being a mean older brother and got "cursed" by a jinx for it. As a result of the time period it's chock-full of little references for parents to get, but it also lets us see a time when Bandit had to be the kid learning the important lesson. And like all fairy tales it includes a "princess," as it asks the kids (and the audience) to choose what version of the story they'd like to believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.