Curry Quest is the ninth episode of the third season of Bluey.
Synopsis
Bingo and Dad must brave a swooping magpie protecting its nest, when they go on a curry swap to Mackenzie's house through the park.[2]
While Mum is teaching Bluey to crotchet, she reveals she's on a ‘quest' to find the perfect wool, prompting Bluey to ask what ‘quest' means.Meanwhile, Dad invites Bingo on a curry swap with him to Mackenzie's house. At first Bingo refuses to go, until she hears there will be face painting!
As Mum explains the hero's journey to Bluey, we follow Bingo's quest. As Bingo and Dad walk through the park, they have to get past a swooping magpie before delivering the curry. Success!
But when Bingo finds out that Dad is going away to work for a few weeks, Bingo must be braver than ever.
Episode Recap
Warning Spoilers!
Right at home, Bingo rests on her mum's lap as she teaches Bluey how to crochet. It's also when Bluey wonders what a "quest" is. So Chilli tries to explain with an example. In fact, her example fits well to what Bingo is about to go through soon enough!
That is when Bandit comes and asks one of the kids to help him carry the naan for a curry swap with Mackenzie's family. With Bluey occupied, he asks for Bingo to do the job.
Initially, she doesn't want to leave the house, but Bandit also has another offer: face painting from Mackenzie's mum.
Excited, Bingo agrees and off they go. Along the way, Bandit gives Bingo some challenges along the way: walking backwards, one foot, etc. That is also when they meet Doreen, who warns them of a magpie guarding its eggs at the park, since they are going through it. After showing them the proof of a bird having had attacked her, she gives them an advice: never take their eyes off the magpie.
Eventually they reached the park. With knowledge on how to handle the magpie, they proceed.
It wasn't very smooth, however, and a small slip has the two narrowly attacked by the magpie.
Nevertheless, they finally get to Mackenzie's house. As the dads switch curries and Bingo is beginning to have her face painted, Mackenzie comes and spills her something: that her Dad is about to leave for a 6-week work trip the next day.
Disheartened, she hears a call from Mackenzie's mum for her face painting. As she does the painting, she laments on how she doesn't think that she's good enough at it. In fact, she has been practicing face painting for an upcoming fair. Bingo assures her to press on anyway, since without her, nobody will get their face painted.
Assured, Mackenzie's mum finishes Bingo's face paint: a tiger's face, a symbol Bingo accepts dearly.
When it's time to go back, suddenly Bingo makes one more request from Mackenzie's mum. Then the two once again make their way to the park.
The first few seconds of the second ordeal against the magpie is yet another stare-off with the magpie. However, the two have another ace up their sleeves: a face painted at their back, as if they're staring at the magpie the whole time. That way they can walk straight back safely.
They get back home safely, with some of Mackenzie's dad curry with them too. And so was a Hero's Journey.
Bluey goes on to ask her mum why do heroes go on quests, regardless on how dangerous they may be. She tells her that it's the very reason they are heroes: "They go anyway."
The episode closes off with Bandit leaving via the airport, the magpies eggs have hatched and the babies' parents now busy with giving them food, no longer too worried about others' eyes, and Mackenzie's mum giving kids different facepaints eventually. The family get to have a video call with Bandit while he works, and six weeks have passed and Bandit returns to his family at last.
Appearances
- Bingo
- Chilli
- Bluey
- Bandit
- Doreen
- Winton
- Mackenzie's Dad
- Mackenzie's Mum
- Mackenzie
- Buddy (cameo)
- Indy (cameo)
- Honey (cameo)
- Pretzel (cameo)
- Mia (cameo)
- Captain (cameo)
- Pony Lady (cameo)
- Rusty (cameo)
- Jack (cameo)
- Bentley (cameo)
- Buddy's Mum (cameo)
- Indy's Mum (cameo)
- Cornelius (cameo)
- Hospital Kid (cameo)
- Hospital Kid's Mum (cameo)
- Bulldog Dad (cameo)
- Bulldog Kid (cameo)
- White Mum (cameo)
- Checkout Dog (cameo)
- Checkout Lady (cameo)
- Chloe (end credits cameo)
- Winnie (end credits cameo)
- Pom Pom (end credits cameo)
Trivia
- This episode relies heavily on the work of American author and professor Joseph Campbell, who popularized the field of comparative mythology with his 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In it, Campbell theorizes that all mythological heroes, regardless of their cultural origin, go through the same archetypal phases over the course of their adventures, many of which are referred to in Chilli's narration.
- Towards the beginning of the episode, when Bandit tells Bingo to come with him to curry-swap, Bingo says “I am not interesting in that!” which is almost identical to a line that Chilli claims she said in the episode Promises.
- Chilli claims to be on an endless quest searching for a rainbow yarn ball for her knitting, however in the episode, Zoo, she uses this same type of yarn ball for Oo-oo's (Bandit's) bait. Meaning it was her last and she's been in a quest to get another one since then.
- When Bandit greets Doreen as she waits for the bus, you can see her jump in surprise, as she didn't notice Bandit and Bingo.
- The bus that Doreen gets on has the livery of the Transport for Brisbane, an organisational division of the Brisbane City Council that operates the public bus service across Brisbane's metropolitan area.
- The bus shown has an advertisement for the Chunky Chimp film that Bandit, Bluey and Bingo saw in Movies.
- Mackenzie's Mum's design has changed. The brown patch on her head now covers both eyes.
- The exterior of The Border Collie Family's House is shown for the first time in this episode.
- Mackenzie's room was briefly seen in Fruitbat.
- The line "Airport? I'm not going to the airport." has become a popular internet meme, mainly on TikTok through 2023, due to Bingo's pronunciation of "airport" sounding like "ehpowt" instead.
- This episode reveals Mackenzie's family name is Border Collie.
- Long Dog: There are two long dogs in this episode. Both are visible during Bandit and Bingo's hug at the airport, especially during the close-up.
- The first is a white long dog logo on the phone case of the dog sitting down on the left side of the screen.
- The second is a sticker or patch of a pink long dog with purple ears on the back of the kid's green backpack in the background on the right side of the screen.
- By the end of the episode in the montage, where there is a sunset shot of The Heeler House, red and yellow lidded bins are seen on the kerbside, as the moon in shot is a full moon, indicating both recyclable and general waste; this detail is a throwback to Bin Night (other episodes, such as Double Babysitter and Unicorse).
- At the school fair:
- Pony Lady can be seen with the ponies in the background.
- Jack and Rusty both have camouflage face paints on, as a call back to the game and episode Army.
- Captain and Mia, the buddies from Barky Boats, can be seen together on what appears to be a date.
- While painting Buddy, Mackenzie's Mum can be seen smiling with a slight tail wag, happy with her work.
- Bluey is replaced with Chloe, Winnie, Buddy and Pom-Pom with face paint in the end credits.
- When this episode aired on Disney Channel in the US, it was paired with Unicorse and Born Yesterday.
- Doreen mentions to Bandit and Bingo that there is a magpie defending its nest. In the real world Australia, magpies nest around June through December, and they do have the tendency to swoop at anyone who comes near their nesting grounds.