Bluey's The Sign Ending Explained: The Big Special Teaches More To Parents Than Kids
I feel a little sorry for all of the therapists who woke up on Monday to voicemails about how once again, the dogs with square-shaped heads made adults cry into dry-heaving devastation. April 14 marked the release of "The Sign," the highly-anticipated 28-minute special episode of "Bluey." Typical episodes of the hit Australian show for pre-schoolers (that adults can't help but love) range from 8 to 11 minutes, so "The Sign" might as well have been a feature-length film for these beloved canines. "Bluey" is consistently one of the most-streamed shows globally, and in an unfortunate landscape where studios and networks are deprioritizing their entertainment offerings for children, the well of emotional competency, imaginative play, and creativity presented in each story has made the series a must-watch for all audiences — kids or not.
"Bluey" has never been afraid to tackle stories on the difficult realities of life, but has always ensured that the stories are digestible and age-appropriate for small viewers. Aging grandparents, military deployment, evolution, infertility struggles (including miscarriages and premature births), fear of abandonment, heartbreak/divorce, disabilities, and even death have all been discussed tactfully and empathetically. There's a deep root of kindness in all "Bluey" episodes, which allows the show to transcend beyond children's entertainment and has become a comfort watch for many childless adults doing the work to heal their inner child, myself included.
The series' creative team is well aware that "Bluey" is popular with more than just parents and children, which is likely why "The Sign" feels like a special made with adult viewers in mind that kids will happen to love, rather than the children's media standard of formulating stories the other way around. What was advertised as a special celebrating the marriage between two dogs turned out to be a story about navigating an existential crisis and learning to process emotions bigger than yourself.
The Heelers are on the move
There are two major stories at the heart of "The Sign," both related to massive changes in the Heeler family's life. Bluey's Uncle Rad (and brother of dad Bandit) is getting married to Bluey's godmother Frisky (the longtime best friend of mom Chilli) in the backyard of the Heeler family's home. Unfortunately, there's a giant FOR SALE sign in the front yard, because Bandit has accepted a higher-paying job that is forcing the Heelers to uproot their lives and leave Brisbane. Bluey's little sister Bingo and younger cousins Muffin and Socks are beyond excited to be flower girls, but Bluey can't get into the wedding spirit knowing that she's about to say goodbye to the only home she's ever known, all of her friends at school, and her community.
Bandit explains that having more money will mean he can provide more for the girls, but Bluey exclaims, "I don't want a better life!" Chilli tries to placate by calling the move "an adventure." Bingo is blissfully unaware of what "selling the house" actually means for the family, but a now seven-year-old Bluey understands the severity of it all — as do her classmates, who all howl (the show's way of showing extreme duress) in class about her impending move. Bluey's teacher Calypso uses the opportunity to tell a fable based on the traditional Chinese story "塞翁失马(The Farmer)," all about how everything happens for a reason and sometimes things can be happy and sad at the same time. "Why do stories always have happy endings?" Bluey asks. "Well, I guess 'cause life will give us enough sad ones," Calypso replies. The proverb repeats the expression, "We'll see," and this important school lesson and story become the heartbeat pumping through the rest of the episode.
The wedding is off!
After school, Bluey gets it in her head that if she can remove the sign from the front yard, it'll mean that the house isn't up for sale anymore. During wedding prep, Frisky decides to help (temporarily) pull the sign from the yard so it's not an eyesore on her wedding day, which elates Bluey. But as Frisky is about to pull the sign, she overhears that Rad is already planning on the couple moving away after the wedding, so she calls the wedding off, gets in her car, and leaves without telling anyone where she's going. Bluey, Bingo, Muffin, and Socks are the only witnesses to the runaway bride, and tell Chilli what's going on, who takes the girls with her on a trek around town trying to find her.
Their adventure to find Frisky is chaotic, to say the least. Bluey gets to sit in the front seat for the first time because the three smaller ones need the car seats in the back, which means Chilli gets pulled over by a cop (Joel Edgerton!) and starts a chain reaction of near-misses with Frisky and plenty of hijinks from the girls like spilling juice, needing a bathroom break at the worst moment possible, and freaking the hell out when a butterfly ends up in the car. All the while, there are very grown-up conversations happening that might not register with the younger viewers, but certainly will with the adults. Rad admits to Chilli that he didn't talk to Frisky about possibly moving out West because "Clearly, I'm not very good at this stuff," and Chilli figures out that Frisky must be going to the lookout, their favorite place to go as teenagers "to ... um ... think."
Bluey gets a taste of being a big kid
When they all eventually find Frisky, Bluey asks her if she's going to come back to the house and get married, and Frisky lashes out. She's upset that the Heelers are moving away, she's even more upset that Rad planned on moving them out West without consulting her, and she admits in front of Bluey that she thinks the wedding might be a big mistake. Typically the little ones are shielded from these more blunt admissions, but with Bluey getting older, she's starting to become privy to these more adult conversations. Frisky asks Chilli if she thinks moving is the right thing, and in a moment of vulnerability, Chilli admits in front of Bluey that she doesn't want to move and only told her it could be a big adventure to help Bluey be brave.
It's an extremely honest look at the importance of being transparent with your children about your feelings, because in doing so, you may be validating theirs. Chilli's voice breaks as she says she thinks it could be good for the family to move, but Bluey counters and says it could be bad. Rather than contradict her, Chilli admits that Bluey is right, and that she wishes she could tell her daughter whether or not this will be a good decision or a bad one, but there's no way to know, and "I guess we'll see." It's a callback to Calypso's story, which helps Bluey understand the situation beyond her immediate feelings, and really hammers home the heart of the episode: Life is full of unknowns, and what is meant to be, will be.
Bluey's butterfly effect
Calypso's telling of The Farmer is one of butterfly effects, and how we can't always know whether or not an event is good luck or bad luck until we see how it plays out down the line, because everything we do is connected in some way. "The Sign" is one giant butterfly effect, but it doesn't show itself until the very end. Rad wanting to move with Frisky is what makes her call off the wedding, inspiring the girls to find her. Bluey sitting in the front seat causes them to be pulled over, but it's the same cop who pulled over Frisky 10 minutes earlier for speeding near a juice shop, which sends the group that way. At the juice shop, Bluey finds a lucky coin, and the girls all get juice. Muffin later spills her juice in the car, forcing them to pull over to clean up the mess, which is when Socks sees Frisky's car on the road.
Socks drinking too much juice catches up to her just before they've caught up with Frisky, forcing a bathroom break where Bingo sees a butterfly that follows her into the car when Socks is finished. Muffin and Socks panic about the butterfly, forcing Chilli to pull over to let the butterfly out of the car, which is how she notices the sign for the lookout and helps her realize where Frisky is. At the lookout, Muffin, Socks, and Bingo are trying to use a coin-operated binocular machine but can't because they don't have any money. Bluey uses the coin she found on the floor at the juice shop, but it gets stuck in the machine. They all decide to leave the coin there, heading back to the house so Frisky and Rad can get married.
In a bit of happenstance, the dogs who were intending on buying the Heelers' house are at the lookout the following day to get a view of their new neighborhood, finding the coin lodged in the binocular machine and using it as intended. It's then that they see a different house in the area, one with a pool (which the Heelers' house does not have) and call the real estate agent to rescind their original offer and buy the other house instead.
The stories come full circle
"The Sign" also wraps up a multitude of stories from previous episodes, with a few that will certainly pull on the heartstrings. Bucky Dunstan is the smooth-talking real estate agent, but fans may recognize that Bucky was the kid Bandit alluded to in "Dragon" that made fun of his drawing abilities as a child and stifled his desire to pursue art as he got older.
Flappy the butterfly is a callback to the episode "Slide," where Bingo and Lila save a caterpillar from getting squished on their slip 'n slide. Greenie the balloon (from the "Mum School" episode) flies above Bingo and Bluey's head as Bluey comforts her little sister. The house the dogs with no eyes move into is Winton's house, which we know from the "Helicopter" episode has a pool, and because we see him and Winton moving in with the Terriers because Winton's dad and the Terriers' mom are seen hitting it off in the background of "TV Shop."
Bluey and Bingo's grandparents are seen flossing (as in the dance move) at the wedding, a callback to the existential crisis the girls have over whether or not old dogs can still learn new tricks. When the movers take Bluey's bed out of the house and Bingo realizes what "selling the house" actually means, she finally uses her big girl bark, which she learned in "Yoga Ball" to use when she wants to speak up. It's also believed that Bandit being so distracted in "Stick Bird" while the family was on vacation is because this is when he got the job offer and was deciding what to do next for the family. But the biggest reveal is that Chilli's sister Brandy (Rose Byrne), who was shown in arguably the most devastating episode, "Onesie," as struggling with infertility, shows up to the wedding and is pregnant. Yes, I did burst into uncontrollable tears over the pregnancy of a cartoon dog.
All of these moments from previous episodes come together beautifully, another layer of the butterfly effect.
Things happened the way they were supposed to happen
Considering the narrative framing of "The Sign," this is the ending that was always supposed to be. When Bandit gets the call that "the dogs with no eyes" (I think they're sheepdogs) are buying a different house instead, it's the sign he needs that the better life for the Heeler family is not falling into the capitalist trappings that try to convince us a better life is a wealthier one, but that the best life he can provide for his family is one that allows them to stay exactly where they are. This isn't an episode about teaching children how to adjust to big changes, but instead, learning how to navigate huge emotions that come from decisions made by adults that are bigger and more complicated than what they can wrap their heads around.
At the same time, it's a lesson for parents that sometimes the best thing you can do for your children is to be emotionally available, transparently honest, and meet their needs on a personal level — not what is "expected" or "assumed" to be the better option. Bandit could have absolutely kept the house on the market after the sale with the other dogs went through, but he didn't, because he realized that moving was not the best thing for his family. Anything can happen at anytime good or bad, and sometimes we need those little signs in life to guide us to where we're meant to be. "The Sign" is about the moving sign, yes, but it's also about learning to listen to the little signs the universe gives us. Bandit put the well-being and happiness of his family before his career, a lesson many adults definitely need to hear.
Many have feared that "The Sign" marks the end of "Bluey" for good, and if this is the way the show wants to go out, it's one hell of a high note. If they decide to continue with the show, it certainly marks a great end to this chapter for a fresh start. There's no confirmation as of publication as to what the future of "Bluey" holds, but ... I guess we'll see.