Bluey and Bingo want to get ice cream. Bandit decides to make this as difficult as possible by playing "Ragdoll" on the way to the car, in the hopes of teaching them a lesson about hard work.
This episode provides examples of:
- Anything but That!: For once, Bluey and Bingo are the ones who feel this way about a game, specifically the titular "Ragdoll".
- Ascended Extra: Wendy finally gets something to do in this episode aside from reacting to the Heelers' shenanigans; specifically, helping out Bluey and Bingo with getting Bandit into the car, and then driving them to the shops herself when he refuses to come out of ragdoll mode.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Bandit declares that he's playing Ragdoll, leading Bluey and Bingo to exclaim, "Oh no, not Ragdoll!", which is usually what Bandit says about the game of the day. Accordingly, Bandit then reads the title card, the first time in the series he has done so.
- Cliché Storm: Invoked; Bandit spends most of his time in ragdoll mode reciting clichéd proverbs about hard work, perseverance, and overcoming obstacles, to the girls' frustration.
- Disney Acid Sequence: What will a six-year-old puppy feel after finally getting a good lick of a lime-flavored ice cream after spending the whole day trying to get her ragdoll dad outside of the house? A green colored, flavor-packed experience, that's what.
- Foreshadowing: One of Bandit's platitudes is about how obstacles exist to test how much one wants their desired goal. Later, when Bluey and Bingo decide to give up, it's Bingo who remarks that she does want an ice cream badly enough.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Bandit gets stuck at the bottom of the stairs with Bluey and Bingo briefly unable to budge him, but he's only stuck due to being in ragdoll mode and unable to move his own body (albeit by his own choice).
- Hope Spot: The girls finally get Bandit out the door and near the car, so they've reached their destination and have now earned the money for the ice cream they want. The problem is, Bandit is still in ragdoll mode, so he can't possibly drive them to the shops.
- Irony: In order to teach Bluey and Bingo the importance of hard work, Bandit goes into "ragdoll mode", the very opposite of hard-working.
- Leitmotif: The kids' song "Down by the Banks of the Hanky-Panky" serves as the basis for the episode's musical score, and seems to be an in-universe Ear Worm going around the neighborhood, as at the beginning of the episode Bluey and Bingo are seen separately singing it to themselves, while near the end Wendy is humming it on her jog and leads the girls in a sing-along of the song as she drives them to the ice cream shop.
