You wouldn't think such a sweet-natured, fun-loving show like Bluey would have such upsetting moments? Think again...
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Season 1
- "Weekend" has an instant where Bingo happens upon a tiny katydid that so curiously wanders onto her nose. Bingo tries to quietly signal to her father her tiny discovery, but Bandit is too preoccupied with Bluey that he doesn't hear. And before she can get his attention proper, it flies away. This saddens her a bit, and she can only bid her new little friend a bittersweet farewell.Bingo: Oh! Goodbye. Have fun... I'll miss you...
- "Bob Bilby" has the titular puppet given to Bingo for a weekend to do exciting things. ...except that the first half is wasted on watching cartoons and television. Bandit and Chili even try to encourage and suggest to the girls they try other activities, but to no avail. By the time they have pictures of their weekend, Bluey and Bingo are disappointed to see the pictures are of boring activities. The hardest part is, there's a shot of Bob Bilby slumped over an iPad, as though he really is miserable and bored with having nothing to do with the Heeler family but watch cartoons. Bingo is especially upset at the idea that she and her family are so boring that Bob Bilby won't want to visit them ever again.
- "Butterflies" has Bingo being deliberately left out of Bluey and Judo's games because the latter keeps pressuring her big sister to leave her out. The next time we see her, she's sadly sitting in the "chrysalis" hammock, sullen over her sister's abandonment, while singing about a "poor little bug" whom no one loves.
- Bingo being unable to speak up when Bandit plays a little too roughly with her in "Yoga Ball". It's not just that she can't speak up, either; she curls up like a scolded puppy and cries. Heck, anytime Bingo gets upset is rather crushing.
- What's worse is that Bandit clearly just didn't realize the problem. After each attempt at playing, Bingo was a little hurt but still willing to keep going, so Bandit just kept at. He would never hurt Bingo on purpose, and she was so unable to speak up that she just kept letting it happen until she cried. Bandit is understandably hurt when he learns he was hurting Bingo unintentionally.
- You can't help but feel a little bad for Indy in "Markets"; due to her family's lifestyle, she can't really try any of the food on offer.
- The beginning of "Fairies." All Bingo wanted was to show her dad the love heart she made out of dominoes for him, but when she tries to get him to come see it, Bandit snaps at her because he's on the phone. Poor Bingo just looks crushed. She then sadly walks back to the love heart and collapses it.
- Bluey sadly watching Bandit leave for work at the end of "Trampoline".
- In "The Dump":
- Bluey is distraught when she discovers that Bandit is about to throw out her old drawings, including one that's a self-portrait. It even causes Bingo to remark that he's "throwing away Bluey".
- What makes this scene so much sadder is that Bluey and Bingo both look up to their father as the "goodie" (their hero) in their eyes, with the episode emphasizing this early on when talking about a superhero movie promotion that was on the side of a bus. The revelation that their dad throws away her sister's drawings leads to Bingo calling him a “baddie”, and Bluey herself says that she no longer thinks he's "the best dad in the world".
- On Bandit's side of things, many caretakers of young children can relate with the pain of being caught throwing away their child's drawings when too many pile up. From the panic when some of the drawing paper slips out of the box he was gonna dump to the look of remorse and regret when Bingo calls him out, it's hard not to feel bad for a father who really wanted to avoid explaining to his young daughter why he can't always keep everything she gives him.
- In "Copycat", Bluey and Bandit find an injured budgie. Despite their best efforts to save it, the budgie dies, leaving Bluey devastated.Bluey: I don't want the budgie to have died.
Bandit: I know, mate. Me neither. But there's nothing we can do. It's out of our hands. - It's subtle, but "Early Baby" has Indy describe the various steps of a premature baby. This includes the mother being worried, the baby needing to stay in the hospital for a long time, and the doctors needing to persuade the distraught mother to let the baby stay overnight. When you consider that children of this age use make-believe to process their emotions, it was likely that Indy and her family had a very hard time when her little sister was born.
- In "Camping", Bluey and Jean-Luc meet and spend three days playing together and having fun, despite the fact that they speak different languages. On the third day, Jean-Luc tries to tell Bluey that he is leaving tomorrow, but Bluey doesn't understand because of the language barrier. The next morning, she goes to find Jean-Luc, only to discover that he's gone. Once she realizes this, she goes back to the place where they'd planted a tree, and simply sits down and cries.
- "Kids" has Bluey playing a mother while Bandit is her older child Diddums while Bingo is her younger child Snowdrop. As such, "Snowdrop" keeps getting "Diddums" into trouble and making him look like the 'cheeky child'. When Diddums snaps and makes trouble, Bluey sends her elder child to time out and declares Snowdrop's not getting the same treatment because she's her favorite. Out of character, this really hurts Bandit's feelings, to the point he's despondent during his 'time out'.
- "Veranda Santa" has Bluey play a mean-spirited trick on Socks in retaliation for biting her and not apologizing (despite how Bandit points out that Socks is too young to know any better). During the titular game, Bluey gives the 'children' their 'presents'. ...except for Socks. And when Socks finds she didn't get anything, Bluey smugly rubs it in the poor pup's face "I guess Santa doesn't give presents to children who bite people". Poor Socks looks so heartbroken and runs off to be alone. And Bluey later realizes she doesn't really feel better about it when she sees that she hurt her cousin's feelings.
Season 2
- In the episode "Dance Mode", there's the Heeler family noticing Bingo is downtrodden and asking if she wants to talk about it. Considering she went through the whole day as the closest thing to an Extreme Doormat, she simply shakes her head, as though afraid the conversation will be one-sided like all her "decisions". This leads into the Heelers learning (through the yes-no toy) how Bingo feels her family doesn't respect her, since they took her three Dance Modes in one form or another. And the thing is, it wasn't even malicious on their part: it was all Bingo reluctantly saying "yes" to each despite that her heart said "no".
- "Squash": Uncle Stripe has never managed to win against Bandit in the eponymous game and looks ready to give up entirely after his latest defeat.
- Even though it's not particularly sad, "Daddy Dropoff" ends with a Photo Montage, showing Bingo and Lila remaining friends throughout elementary school, a science fair, and eventually graduating highschool together. There's something poignant about this ending: although it's a testament Bingo and Lila's friendship has remained strong over the years, seeing little Bingo grow up into a high school graduate acts as a reminder that life goes by pretty fast.
- "Rug Island" starts off as usual involving Bandit somehow roped into another one his daughters' games... until he must go back to his "ship", which results in Bingo and Bluey (as island natives) giving him a warm yet painful farewell (all in the name of a good play-pretend, of course!).
- "Charades", in which Nana talks about her own grandmother.Bluey: Was your Nana a nice nana?
Nana: (smiling a little sadly) She was about the nicest nana you would ever want to meet, Bluey. - The ending to "Mum School", in which Bluey's most irrepressible balloon child — a helium-filled balloon named Greeny — slips out the window and flies away into the sky. Bluey asks if they can get him back, to which Chilli replies that they can't, but assures Bluey that he'll be fine because he had a good mum.
- "Army":
- You can't help but feel sorry for Jack as he laments how his condition keeps him from focusing and remembering things, and openly believes that there's "something wrong" with him. It’s also implied that he got in trouble a lot at his old school, resulting in him transferring.
- While Rusty clearly looks up to his father, he also misses him due him being away in the Army.
- In "The Show", during the titular show, the blue balloon the girls are using to represent unborn Bluey pops. Chilli's smile fades, Bandit silently takes her hand, and for a moment, everything is very tense.
- Word of God states that the episode is secretly about Chilli having had a miscarriagenote . In this moment, Chilli is reliving her trauma all over again.
- With the confirmation of the miscarriage, it's very telling how distraught Chilli must be given that she remains still on the bed instead of rushing to comfort Bingo as she did earlier in the episode.
- "Flat Pack" takes a simple day of Bluey and Bingo playing with the packaging while their parents assemble a swinging chair and turns it into an eye-mister of a meditation on evolution, spirituality, child rearing, responsibility, life, and death. In the end, Bingo (playing the grown up child) hugs Bluey (playing her now elderly mother), thanks her for looking after her, and takes off into space while her mother waves goodbye and calls out to be safe. Chilli calls her up to join herself and Bandit on the swinging chair, which she does with a smile, and they all look out upon the sun setting over the yard where Bingo plays.Bandit: Ah, this is Heaven!
- "Helicopter": While it's Played for Laughs and he seems to be fine with it, the idea that Winton's parents have broken up is quite sad.
- "Sleepytime": Bingo saying goodbye to her beloved Floppy and then finding Chilli as her sun, warming and loving her. Also interesting to note is that it's the first time we actually hear a character cry, rather than simply tear up.
- "Grandad":
- Chilli spends most of the episode worrying about her father over-exerting himself while recovering from heartworm. When pressed, she admits that she doesn't want him risking himself because she still needs him.
- This conversation between Chilli and her dad at the end of the episode:Chilli: I remember when you used to take me swimming here.
Grandad: Yeah, me too...
Chilli:...that was a long time ago...
Grandad: No... it was yesterday.
- "Seesaw": Pom-Pom running to her mother for comfort after her small size keeps her from playing with Bluey and Bingo.
- "Movies": Bluey briefly shares Chunky Chimp's (the character in the eponymous movie) worries about being too different from everyone else, because (due to her Fear of Thunder and worry that the movies will contain thunder) she's the last in her friend group to go to the movies.
- "Library": After Muffin's antics ruin their game, Bluey and Bingo give up and sit in the kitchen, completely heartbroken over their helplessness to stop Muffin, and when the girls finally voice the "Forget the Rules, I'm Special" nature of Muffin’s disruption, they unwittingly make Stripe guilty over the fact that this whole mess was his fault.
- "Cafe": Bluey becomes upset when she thinks Winnie isn't coming to the park to play like all the other days.
- "Postman and Ground's Lava": Bluey is distraught over the idea of her parents arguing (even if it was just a minor disagreement), openly stating that she doesn't like it when they squabble.
- "Double Babysitter":
- Bluey and Bingo bringing up Frisky's old boyfriend, Bosco, whom she had broken up with after they last saw her. While Frisky is more flustered than upset, Bluey recalls how she had once called him her "true love". These next lines are a sobering testament of the fickle and complicated nature of love:
Bingo: Is true love not forever?
Frisky: It is! I mean, I thought it was...- Bluey confessing to Uncle Rad and Frisky why she didn't like the idea of a babysitter putting her to bed; the last one to do so was Nana, and she went downstairs afterwards, turning on the TV to "something scary" (with the volume turned up due to being hard of hearing). Bluey woke up at one point, and was scared by what she heard.
- "Octopus": Chloe's dad is visibly hurt when Chloe tells him Bandit is more fun than he is.
- Just the delivery of Chloe saying it. It's not just blurted out like her previous petulant complaints about how he plays the game wrong. It's said frankly, coldly and resentfully.
Season 3
- In "Duck Cake", Bandit is struggling to make the titular cake for Bingo’s birthday since Bingo wanted it “exactly like the picture”. Meanwhile, he’s also dealing with Bluey not cleaning her mess of toys and this creates a ton of stress for Bandit. After finally getting Bluey to cooperate and clean her side of the mess, Bandit is close to finishing the cake by putting the “head” on and putting cooking sticks in for it to be stable. Only for the “head” to fall to the floor and ruin it. Bandit goes into a Troubled Fetal Position, thinking he ruined Bingo’s cake and thus feels like he let his daughter down and failed her. Bluey feels awful for stressing out her father and cleans both their mess while giving helpful advice to make things easier for both. Bandit was going to clean up his mess when he notices she cleaned it and is genuinely thankful. Crosses into Heartwarming when Bingo loves the flawed but well-meaning result of Bandit’s finished Duck Cake.
- In "Handstand" the sequence of Bingo gradually fading into the background as the scene gets so hectic that not even viewers may notice when she finally accomplishes her goal for the first time, followed by Nana's own trouble being taken seriously and being allowed to be needed. Add in a flourish of their needs meeting each other in a heartwarming ending to put Pixar to shame.
- "Baby Race" treats us to a sadly cinematic shot. When Chilli is downcast that she couldn't somehow get baby Bluey to walk before baby Judo and win the titular one-sided race, she decides against meeting with the other moms. Bandit (holding baby Bluey) wonders why she's not going. Chilli can only sigh and say she just doesn't feel like it. In that instant, we get a shot of baby Bluey's point-of-view as she reaches out to her despondent mother. There's something sad about how poor Chilli is so lost in her self-pity at failing to teach her baby to walk, she doesn't realize that baby Bluey doesn't want the perfect mom: she wants her.
- "Perfect" has Bluey try and try to draw the 'perfect' picture for Bandit for Father's day, but no matter what she tries to draw, she doesn't feel it's good enough. What drives it home is the reason she's come to develop this lack of confidence all of a sudden: a little earlier, Chili was praising Bingo's picture as 'perfect' and put it over Bluey's rather decent picture, planting the idea that anything short of "perfect" just wasn't good enough.Chilli: [comfortingly and apologetically] I'm sorry, kid. I'm not perfect, I'm afraid.
- Even harsher, the picture in question was one professing Bluey's affection for her mother. Chilli didn't mean to underappreciate such a drawing, but it must've planted a sobering thought in Bluey to essentially be told her love for her mom meant nothing if it wasn't perfect.
- It becomes sobering when it's revealed in "Dragon" that Chili had a supportive mother who encouraged her drawing skills. Chili must've felt awful that (even unintentionally) she did quite the opposite towards Bluey and hurt her daughter's self-esteem.
- "Promises" has a small but sobering moment where the family's having trouble keeping promises. As a short-sighted solution, Bandit declares that from now on, they'll simply make no more promises. To this, a broken-hearted Bingo points out that Bandit has always promised he'd always love them, taking it to mean he's rescinding such a promise.
- "Mini Bluey" sees Bluey and Bingo painting Bingo with fur chalk and having her be Bluey's little double. It's hilarious until Bluey takes a turn at being "Big Bingo", who likes helping with chores and putting her library books away, and Bandit says he could definitely get used to double Bingo. Bluey is absolutely crushed. She knows full well she can be a lot, but desperately needs to know her parents — especially Bandit, her hero — love her for it at the end of the day. But the episode ends without her ever really getting that.
- In "Sheep Dog," a stressed out Chilli admits that she's needs "twenty minutes where no one comes near her." Bluey hears this and actually believes that she did something to upset her mom. It even comes to a point where Bluey thinks that Chilli wishes that she never had any kids. Luckily, Chilli assures her young daughter that she didn't do anything to upset her and she still loves Bluey.
- In "Pass the Parcel", while Pat (AKA "Lucky's Dad") wants to do the titular game the old fashioned way and is adamant it’s the "right way”, he ends up accidentally ruining his younger son Chucky's birthday by making the kids cry since there’s only one gift in the middle and they feel sad about not getting anything like how the new way the game is played (with one small prize in each layer). After realizing that he’s essentially ruined his son’s birthday party and all the kids are miserable about not getting anything, he tries to give the kids some money so they can feel better, only to make things worse by trying to give away Chucky's birthday presents, much to Chucky's horror. Made slightly less sad by one of the kids getting the prize after all the ruckus and crosses into Heartwarming when the families eventually come around to "Lucky's Dad's rules" in a positive way at the end, but it’s still painful and sad to watch a well-meaning father try and make things "better" only for it to blow up in his face in the worst way.
- There's a low-key moment in "Phones". Bingo and Bluey invite Grandad Mort to play a game where he's a tourist ordering food over the app. Unfortunately, the game hits too close to home, as it soberly satirizes how technology has decreased social interaction, and how normalized it is to be isolated. Bluey even discourages Grandad Mort from talking to Bingo when she delivers the food, driving home that it's all but normal not to talk to one's fellow man.Grandad Mort: (Beat) ...are you sure we're playing this right?
- In short, there's something sad about how Bingo and Bluey are unwittingly isolating their grandfather from even talking with them in their game.
- A small one in "Pizza Girls". When Chili asks Trixie if she likes the new car she and Stripe bought, Trixie soberly expresses she misses the old car because it has history, as they brought their daughters home from the hospital in it. Unlike Bluey who learned how precious her old car is, Trixie doesn't have the luxury to ever get that back.
- In "Fairytale", even though it was his own cruel bullying of Stripe that brought it on himself being jinxed by Rad, it’s easy to eventually feel awful for young Bandit being abused and mistreated by his own parents, with his dad forgetting his son’s name and his mother physically punishing him for eating the family's whole stock of mini-cereals. He even starts to feel like he deserves to be cursed forever for being so horrible to his younger brother. He thankfully grows out of this attitude and starts to be kinder to Stripe, and his jinx gets broken by a girl who might have been a younger Chilli.
- "Onesies" introduces Chilli's older sister Brandy, who hasn't visited Chilli and her family for years but is now making an effort to reconnect with them. It's heavily implied that the reason why Brandy has stayed away from her sister for so long is because she wants children but can't have any of her own due to being infertile, and seeing Chilli's family is a painful reminder of what she can never have.Chilli: You know how you really want Bingo's cheetah onesie?
Bluey: Yeah, more than anything.
Chilli: But it doesn't fit you, so you can't have it. And there's not really anything anyone can do to make it fit.
Bluey: Yeah...
Chilli: Well...there's something Auntie Brandy wants more than anything else as well. (Cut to Brandy laughing and playing with Bingo on the lawn.) But she can't have it. And there's not really anything anyone can do.
(Bingo suddenly gets off and runs away, leaving Brandy still reaching for her, no longer laughing.)
Bluey: Why can't she just have the thing she wants?
(Brandy rolls back to look silently up at the sky, where a little cloud floats between two larger ones)
Chilli: Because it's not meant to be.- A gutwrenching scene, in particular, is Brandy realizing Bingo looks just like her. She's standing in front of a living, breathing reminder of what could have been.
- It's really hard to overstate how painful it is seeing Bingo run off leaving Brandy alone when you really think about it. As Bingo is pretending to maul her, Brandy is laughing and having fun. For the first time since she arrived Brandy is happy. And why shouldn't she be; after all this is the feeling she has been after for years. For a minute, the rest of the world melted away and Brandy has the one thing she truly wants.... only for it to be ripped away just as quickly.
- "The Decider" is a poignant (if cleverly told) allegory about two parents splitting up, and their child having to be the decider as to which parent he'll go with. Lucky's parents have each chosen a different opposing sports team to cheer for. Lucky's dad will cheer for the purple team at Bluey's house, Lucky's mom will cheer for the blue team at their own house. Meanwhile, Chucky eventually has to choose which parent to watch the game with, and Lucky points out there's no middle ground. After a moment of contemplation, Chucky chooses to join the purple team. Lucky's mom is supportive of her younger son's decision, but she's not entirely happy about it. And it adds insult to injury when the blue team loses, and Lucky's mom has little more to do than sadly call it a night all by her lonesome, as her son watches on with sympathy.
- Bandit, at the end of "Stickbird", trying Bluey's method of gathering up his anger and sadness and casting it out into the ocean. We never do find out what's got him so upset, but whatever the case, it's one of the very few times we've seen him so low.
- The end of "Dragon", the plot of which involves Chilli remembering her mother, who urged her to keep practicing drawing horses.Chilli: You're not coming, are you?
(The horse drawing snorts. Chilli gently touches her forehead to its.)
Chilli: Thank you.
(She sadly removes its bridle. The horse rears up, sprouting white wings, and the family watches as it flies away into the stars.)- Although not tear-jerking, there's something tragic about how Bandit's past influenced his drawing skills and how they turned out. He used to love drawing cars as a boy, but a classmate criticized it and, taking it to heart, young Bandit chose to give up drawing in general. It's a sobering commentary on how deconstructive criticism can greatly affect one's self-esteem, and how giving up on a passion or talent ensure that nothing gets better.
- Coco howling dejectedly in "Wild Girls" after feeling left out by the others.
- The Wham Shot showing a "For Sale" sign next to the Heeler house at the end of "Ghostbasket", especially for any adult viewers who had to move away from their childhood home in one form or another. Just to drive it home, even the credits are silent, and no objects or characters are on the screen as the credits play.
- "The Sign" has enough to get its own page.
- While it's funny for the most part, the ending of "Surprise!" has a poignant tinge to it, as the audience is witness to Bluey growing up in the blink of an eye, and the once vital Chili and Bandit are aging grandparents in a heartbeat.
- I remember when you used to take me troping here.
Yeah, me too.
That was a long time ago.
No, it was just yesterday.
