04/16/2024
I wanna talk about The Sign.
This one brings out big feelings in kids and adults; and however you felt at the end of this episode, I see you.
We know it’s not a kid show. I mean, it is completely safe for kids. But I think maybe it was never meant for them at all. I think Bluey is creator Joe Brumm’s unique platform for sneaking statements and lessons about life into our days with bite-sized stories containing existential whispers, nuggets of wisdom, and universally relatable experiences for us to digest and learn from.
We all know episodes like Rug Island, Flat Pack, Sleepytime, Copycat, The Show, Curry Quest, Onesies, and Space, and how these 7-minute visual poems can have us sobbing in seconds (these episodes alone touch on the meaning of life, kids growing and leaving, death, miscarriage, when parents are gone, bitterness and harmed relationships, trauma and recovery…I promise…it…it is safe for kids to watch…).
But “The Sign”. (Everything from here out is a complete spoiler, so stop here if you want to watch it without influence first.)
It was beautiful. It was terrible. It was comforting. It was torture. It was good. It was bad.
It was lucky. It was unlucky.
It was life.
Bandit gets a new job. A job with more money, but in a different city. More money means a better life, right? So they list their home and prepare to move. But the entire episode, you see uncertainty and distress in each member of the family. Bluey blatantly doesn’t want change. Chile is definitely reserved but determined to make the best. Bandit is resolved, almost desperate that this is the right choice. Sweet Bingo is great until she realizes that selling the house means leaving it (and THAT was its own little trauma nugget).
What is the right thing? So many members of the community ask the question “What should we do?” throughout the entire episode. Should we move? Should we get married? Should we settle for this house? Do we need more money? Should we try love again?
Calypso (the school teacher) shares a parable of a farmer. The farmer experiences things that seem “good” or “bad”, and his neighbors are quick to label all of these events as “lucky” or “unlucky”. The farmer simply says “we’ll see” understanding with great wisdom, that most of life’s events are neutral*. It is so much less about WHAT happens to us, and so much more about HOW we respond. Do we connect with our community? Do we celebrate the good things together? Do we carry one another through the tough things? My favorite Jeff Smith line from his wedding ceremony script, “Together our joys are doubled, and our sorrows are halved”.
So many times, our life choices aren’t even about what is right/wrong, lucky/unlucky, good/bad. We often don’t know the weight and meaning of our experiences until time passes and we keep living. Keep loving. Keep connecting.
For the Heelers, their intention to move seemed motivated by worry and discontent. Go watch “Relax” and “Stickbird”, a partner episode where they go on vacation. Despite the fact that the girls are joyful and thriving, Chile is struggling to relax, to find joy, maybe to experience contentment? Stickbird shows Bandit struggling deeply with negative feelings. What is he worried about? Is he worried about the life he’s providing for his family? Does he feel like he should be better? Maybe this new job and move are attempts to shake things up. Change and pursue something “better”.
But finally this family recognizes that they ARE content in their current life. Their girls ARE thriving. They love their home, their city, and exactly the life they have. Serendipitous events lead to the sale of their home falling through. And under the score of a song going WAY TOO HARD in a show pretending to be for kids, Bandit rips up the for-sale sign, Chile tackles him in sobs, and the girls race through the house in complete gratitude and relief that they get to keep their home. Their beautiful life.
I think your personal feelings at the end of the episode probably give a picture of how your life feels right now. If you are experiencing a season of peace, of contentment, of exciting things on the horizon–you cheered with the Heeler family as they chose to stay in a life where they were thriving, and you probably see mostly the beauty. If you are experiencing a season of uncertainty, of struggle, of making choices out of necessity rather than privileged options, you might feel happy for the Heelers, but hurt for yourself. You may feel the “what if’s” the “what should I do’s” and even the “why did this happen’s” or the “I wish things were different’s”. This is so valid. These feelings are important.
I believe the message is to highlight the lesson in the parable. That it isn’t necessary (or even helpful) to categorize our choices or the things that happen to us as “lucky/unlucky”, but to embrace the connections in our lives. To show that there is always hope on the horizon and a community of people waiting to be found and engaged in our joys and sorrows.
Now, the tearful and triumphant return to their home may cause distress in children (and big people!) who DID move. Maybe moving for you and your family WAS the right choice, but it can still feel hard. Moving can be a right choice. Staying can be a right choice. Relationships can be a right choice. Remember change can be an adventure; it can be “right”. I’m getting Frozen II flashbacks, where we sometimes can’t know a long-term plan, and have to advance step-by-step with the “next” right thing.
If you or your tiny people are in a season of change or choosing, not yet knowing if it is “lucky/unlucky” be sure to point out the subplot and talk about this too. Early in the episode when the pups are sharing hard things at school, Winton says “My dad doesn’t live with my mum and now he’s lonely all the time”. One of the terrier pups says, “Our mum likes your dad.” The conversation is dropped as the kids move on, deeply distressed when Bluey reveals she is moving.
But at the very end, the Sheepdogs purchasing Bluey’s house see their REAL dream home. They back out of the Heeler sale to purchase this house, and a tiny shot of the home shows us the family who is leaving. Winton is in the car with the three terrier pups, and Winton’s dad is embracing the terrier mom. Something new IS happening in another family. This move IS full of joy and new starts. I think it is so helpful to show kids directly that we all experience different times of staying and different times of changing.
The episode carries a motif of “signs” not only through the For Sale sign, but in clues from butterflies, coincidental coins, and so many more sweet, small notes. Just as so many of the Bluey storylines, I feel it asks us to relate and connect to one another in community.
So after you watch, go turn on “Lazarus Drug”, the song that plays at the end, and reflect over the closing words:
I’m nothingness, but shining
And everywhere at once
I’m everything and everyone who is or ever was
And You’re nothingness, but shining
And everywhere at once
You’re everything where everyone who is or ever
Was, forever
Our experiences are intimately personal, but vastly universal. Find one another, look for the signs for people to connect with. Live and love, and find peace amongst all the luckys and unluckys.
*In talking about life’s neutral events, I have to recognize that there ARE some things in life that are morally bad. Abuse, neglect, intentional pain caused from one human to another is bad, and no one deserves these things to happen. Losing a loved one is painful, and though an undeniable part of life, you don’t ever have to reach a place where you are glad you experienced it. These are not the situations where we just shrug and say “we’ll see”. There is justice, there is hope, there is healing.
